The plan was to fly into Batam from KL on Air Asia and visit a few islands i had missed in the Riau on my last trip. But you have to expect the unexpected with budget airlines and 2 days before my flight, Air Asia decided to can their KL - Batam service. Instead they put me on a flight to Singapore. The Lion City is not one of my favourite destinations, especially when you are trying to travel cheap. But the option of catching a boat out of Singapore harbour to Indonesia was appealing. Arrived in Changi and immediately caught the metro system to be shuttled across and under Singapore to the waters edge - bit like a conveyor belt with the end only being moments before you get dumped in the harbour. The boat ... read more

Kalbar - the name meant nothing when I first saw it. But the more I came across it - on banks, football guernseys, government signs; the more I pondered on its significance. Then in a moment of clarity, I took an educated guess and realised it was the usual Indon abbreviation - this time for Kalimantan Barat. With this knowledge in mind, I began to imagine a new country, pretty much isolated from the rest of the world. Just one road connection winding through highland country to Kuching, Sarawak. No roads as yet to the rest of Kalimantan and only a slow boat to Jakarta. Other than than, Kalbar depends on air transportation to connect to Asia. Capital of the province is the sprawling city of Pontianak, situated on the equator and a delta mouth of ... read more

Belaga is about as far as you can go up the Rajang river by either boat or 4WD. The Bakun Dam is 60 kms further but I dont really want to see an environmental disaster; the whole project is probably just an excuse for intensive logging. Belaga's isolation is attracting travellers and you see more orang putih in this village than in Sibu. The peaceful tranquility absorbs you though there is nought to do at night except drink a cold ale or rice wine at 1.50 rgt a shot. But Belaga is a base for long house visits and travellers tend to stay a few days and unwind. There are basically 2 ways to get into Belaga so I made it a round trip from Sibu. First leg was bullet boat from Sibu's ever busy marina ... read more

One week into Ramadan and succeeding beyond expectations. For an orang putih who enjoys a beer in the afternoon; fasting is a mind control exercise to get through the day to celebrate with food and drink on sunset. Not easy but when you are living with your wife's family, its a must do. The reward comes at days end so with any luck I'll make it through till the end of the month. Meanwhile, I am settling into this bustling micro city on the impressive Rajang river which is to be my future home. Renovating a shophouse floor into hopefully a slick designer apartment. Long way to go but here is a photo of the cleared space after all the gerry built partitions were pulled out. Now have an envelope to work with so i'll see ... read more