Blogs from Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 52

Well, its been a long time since we last wrote and tons has happened. Much too much to write about, but we'll hit the highlights. The good news is we have our backpacks ... yes, both of them ... it was an ordeal getting them but they are safe and sound as are we all in the group. We spent a day touring Kuching, mainly shopping, but the highlight was all four of us getting full body, one hour massages for equivalent to $40 Canadian (for all of us!). Jon was a little worried coming out of his massage because he got a little rub down to increase his "staying power" by a 100-pound blind, male. It didn't seem weird at the time it was happening until he found out that Mike didn't get the same ... read more

I was trying to create a group address on web mail and that is why you may have received a blank message a few hours ago. Well last night we did go to a really nice authentic Japanese restaurant where we sat in our own little room, with sliding doors and a small foot well for our feet in (we sat on cushions with no shoes on); it was very comfortable for all. I will attach just a couple of snaps; we still have no response from the blog site and if they don’t sharpen up I will send some more via Picasa when we get back from Kuching (we go there tomorrow-Thursday afternoon and come back Sunday evening). The food and service was excellent. Sophie has real talent for designing clothes and I will send ... read more

I have sent 17 snaps by Picassa tonight and will copy some snaps onto this blog. Jo cooked a fantastic meal; the red snapper was the star centree piece and was delicious. Richard and I will play 9 hole sof golf early tomorrow and then we all leave here at about 12.45 to fly from Miri to Kuching. I am not sure about the connection in the Hilton so you may not be bombarded with sights of us besprting ourselves in the tropics whilst you are in less pleasant climes. Love John & Dot... read more

Kuching Kris: We flew from Kota Kinabalu in Sabah on one side of Borneo (Sabah) to Kuching on the other (Sarawak) for a brief outing to sample a bit of Sarawak life. Although it's still Malaysia, Sarawak's effectively another country, on the other side of Brunei. Sarawak has a strange colonial history too. Basically a rich English bloke called James Brooke went adventuring one day in south east Asia (bit like me and Kate, right?). He met the Sultan of Brunei who persuaded him to help quash an uprising in Sarawak. In return he ended up being in charge of the place (the story is probably more complicated but I don't want anyone getting to bored). He became known as the White Rajah and ruled Sarawak as his own private kingdom. Cool eh? Most people just ... read more

Mon 22nd 15min into our walk to the caves it starts raining and I mean really raining- the insides of my trainers are wet because of the rain running down my trowser leg. There is a shelter near the caves and when we get ther it just about stops raining!! We visit Lang cave which has lots of stalagtites and mites and we spot shapes and pictures in them. AN dthen walk through the huge Deer cave that could easily fit St Pauls cathedral in to it. It is full of bats which means it it full of bat poo which means it is full of cockcroaches eaing the bat poo!! At dusk we come our and back to the sheltr to wait and see if the bats will all fly out of the cave and ... read more