Blogs from Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 50

Hey guys, this is the second time i've had to write this - I did it before, but just as I was about to publish it, the computer crashed - an hour of effort, wasted! So this is going to be a bit more concise. Anyway, last post I mentioned that we were about to fly to Kuching I think - Kuching is the capital of Sarawak, one of the two Malaysian Borneo states (the other being Sabah, where we are heading next). Actually, we weren't originally going to stay there, but a girl on the plane convinced us to - she was going on about all the local dishes and cheap places to stay, so we did. Glad we did - tried all kinds of stuff - a soup called Laksa (noodles, soup, meats and ... read more

It's Friday night and we're off out tonight to a local restaurant owned by an Englishman which serves western food and tapas - a nice break from rice and noodles! It has been a rewarding and challenging but we have both learnt a lot of new things and hopefully we have made a difference to the animals' wellbeing at the centre. The days normally start at 8.00am with cleaning out the Sun Bears and monkeys in the quarantine area. This is normally followed either by babysitting 'Gus' the baby orangutan or helping Lisa with the environmental enrichment programme. This may involve collecting grass or leaves for the cages, preparing food parcels & hiding them, or placing balls in the cages with corn or seeds inside so the animals have to work a bit harder to obtain ... read more

Took Air Asia this morning across to Kuching, Borneo - Cat City - the place to be if you like cats - there are statues everywhere! We arrived at a boutique hostel in the city centre - very nice rustic furniture & wooden floors. Then we walked alongside the muddy coloured river, lined with cafes and stalls, to see the sights, with magnificent mountains acting as a backdrop. The architecture is a mix of colonial buildings, Chinese temples, mosques - all very beautiful & not as expected! The city is composed of numerous tribes, who all live in harmony alongside each other, with a population size of approx 500,000 within Kuching itself. It started to pour down with rain - a welcome relief as this caused the temperature to become more comfortable. In the afternoon we ... read more

New favourite city! And if any of you come here you simply must stay at Singgahsana Lodge!(www.singgahsana.com) Delicious showers, real coffee at breakfast, pillows which envelop your face...all the things you crave when on the road! The weather was decidedly wet and grey, so I leapt at the opportunity to check out the renowned museum. Unfortunately photos were not allowed, because the archaic collection of taxidermied animals truly had to be seen to be believed! Either a small child stuffed these poor critters, or they were done some time at the beginning of the last century and have been slowly getting lumpier ever since. Expressions the Muppets would have aspired to looked back at me through the glass. ... read more

By the subject line of the title, you should have been able to figure out where we have been lately. This place was absolutely amazing. We have never known what its ever felt like to be royalty, but we were certainly treated as such from the minute we were picked up in Kapit from our hotel by small motorboat. We were greeted with glasses of rice wine and cold towels and a bunch of smiling faces and quickly learned that we were the only four guests at the resort at this time. The grounds were plunked in middle of the jungle along the river, only a 30-minute boat ride upriver from Kapit. We spent three days at the jungle resort, every minute filled with either a relaxing moment by the pool or reading by the rushing ... read more