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Published: August 17th 2009
Hi Ho, Hi Ho......
It’s a hot and humid morning. Mark wrestles with the four wheel drive as he negotiates peak hour traffic in downtown Kuching. The air conditioning is keeping up nicely. Not too bad for a vehicle that has done 250,000 km’s and which I suspect has run the AC on everyone one of them.
We are heading to the local engineering consultants office where I shall be working for the next nine months. This is going to be my first day at work.
The radio is tuned to the local funky FM station. A man and a woman DJ talk inanely to callers in between 80’s songs. Today’s topic is about road rage. The girl DJ speaks with a strong American accent to a man who is frightened of his wife when she gets behind the wheel. “She goes a little crazy”, he says. The male DJ sympathises with him in an English accent. The DJ’s then both laugh and go to an advert about a local yoga studio.
Just like Brisbane radio then.
Down to Business
We arrive at the Kenyalang Park shopping centre, only a couple of kilometres from my
hotel. Built in the late sixties, it is a medium sized sprawling shopping centre with mostly one or two storey shops sandwiched together. My new work place is the exception. It takes up four storeys at the end of a dozen or so shops.
From the outside the building looks tired. Probably hasn’t had a coat of paint in 40 years. The inside reminds me of the outside.
Mark introduces me to Noni in the reception area. She is a young Malaysian girl who will be our administration support. She smiles but doesn’t say anything. I’ve had that reaction from girls before.
As we go up the stairs to the third floor I peek through the doors on every floor. There are people at desks working. Thought there might be.
On our floor there is an open area immediately inside the door. In the middle of the room are several desks together with plans strewn across them. My desk and Noni’s are right next to the door, side by side. Mark has his own office nearby with new furniture, new air conditioner, new phone, new PC and new in tray.
My desk is small and
brown. My chair is tiny and unstable. It is very low to the ground. My knees are somewhere near my ears when I sit on it. I don’t have PC. I share a phone with Noni, though it’s not near either of us. There is one blue, one black and one red pen on my desk.
All set to go then.
Meet the Gang
The local consultants will be working with myself and Mark on a project for a local authority. Mark is a senior engineer and the project manager. He is ultimately responsible for delivering the project. He arrived here two weeks before me to get things going. Mark is an Englishman who has been working in Brisbane for the last three years. Before that he worked in Scotland. Mark is a little older than me (I am 46, but have been told recently I could pass for 44), a little shorter (I am 6’2” but have been told recently I could pass for 6’3”) and has a little more hair (I got nothing). He and I have a similar sense of humour and get on well.
Tony is the local senior engineer and the
main liaison with the local consultants. He was born in Kuching of Chinese ancestry and like a lot of professional people here, was educated in Australia. He is tall and slim and in his forty’s. He is very helpful and fusses over us, making sure we are ok. His small office on the floor below is crammed full of reports and plans. What he doesn’t have is a PC. Tony doesn’t use one. He’s has a Smartphone with email and organiser, so he’s not a technophobe. He just doesn’t have a PC.
Lim is a local engineer who will also be working with us. Around 30 years old, he went to University in Perth. He is of medium height and solid. He smiles and laughs a lot.
Today Mark has a lunchtime phone conference with our Melbourne office. So, for my first lunch in this country Tony and Sim decide to take me to the “Spring”, a nearby shopping centre recently opened. We go to a Sushi Restaurant. It is staffed by locals and African students. Apparently, they come to Kuching to study. The food is good and about half the price you would pay in Australia.
A Place to Stay
Mark has made contact with the building management at the Riverbank Suites to ask about apartments for rent. He rents a place there himself on the 3rd floor from Mr Cheung, a partner from the local engineers. I have seen his place and like it. The Riverbank Suites overlook the Kuching River in downtown Kuching right next to the Grand Margherita Hotel, where I am staying. The management has organised for me to meet an owner who wants to rent out his place.
We meet Mr Wee in the lobby after work. He is an elderly retired Chinese banker. He is quite short and walks with a shuffling awkward gait as if his back is troubling him. I find out later why that is. He reminds me of the old Chinese character in the Kurt Russell 80’s movie “Big Trouble in Little China”. He buys us a beer in the little pub near the lobby.
His first name is Richard. We sit down and start some small talk. Suddenly I have one of those moments when the information at hand is processed and somewhat inappropriately announced in your head. Fortunately I had a
cultural sensitivity briefing before I left Australia or I would have surely stood up and giggled, pointing to him and repeating “Dick Wee, Dick Wee” over and over again.
Still fighting the urge to nudge Mark and share my revelation, we head up to the 7th floor to the apartment. The layout is exactly the same as Mark’s. It’s a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with the main bedroom adjoining the balcony overlooking the river. The ensuite is large with a full sized bath and shower. Some of the furniture appears quite new like the beds and the dining suite. A slightly weathered black leather lounge suite sits on the tiled floor in the living area next to the generous kitchen. There is a small television with an in built video player. On the walls are a variety of pictures, small and large. Some of them are ok. Some, not so. Mr Wee (I could refer to him as Richard, and indeed that is what I call him, however, it’s more fun for me to use his last name) tells me he had some really nice pictures but a prospective tenant from Mexico stole them when he borrowed the
keys to check the place out. It’s not every day you hear about a Mexican thief in Borneo.
All the rooms have air conditioning and ceiling fans. The walls look a little faded and marked and could probably use a coat of paint. I do like the place though. There is a great view from the balcony. We agree on a price and Mr Wee says he draw up a rental agreement. He gives me the keys. I check out of my hotel and move in the next day.
Mr Wee's Special Tour
It’s Saturday morning and I am to meet with Mr Wee in the lobby to go over the rental agreement. I am feeling pretty good because yesterday my new PC and chair arrived at work and I can finally surf the net.....err I mean work.
I meet Mr Wee and read and sign the rental agreement. He asks if Mark and I would like to join him for breakfast. We jump in his new Toyota and he takes us to a local eatery a couple of kilometres away. It is definitely not on the tourist map and is crammed full of locals.
As I tuck into a delicious bowl of Laksa, Mr Wee tells us about his Harley Davidson motorcycle. A 1350 cc brute with a top speed of 180 km/h, he says he is going to sell it as it costs too much to maintain. His wife will be happy he grins. He is part of a bikie group (I’d use the word “gang”, but it just doesn’t seem right) which have ridden to Sabah and back several times. That’s a round trip of 1200 km. The roads are good; he says when we quiz him. A few years ago though he hit some wildlife while ravelling at considerable speed (I didn’t catch what wildlife he hit, but I’m assuming it wasn’t an orang-utan). He catapulted off his bike and made a bit of a mess of himself. He has screws and bolts plates in his spine, shoulder and leg. No wander he walks a little funny.
We finish and he asks if we would like a little tour of Kuching. Sure thing. First stop is the Sarawak Club, formerly the Planter’s Club. A remaining slice of colonial Borneo, it is a large a sprawling complex with a 50m pool,
tennis courts, squash courts and a large fully equipped gym. They used to have a nine hole golf course too but they sold it off for development. The membership fees are steep and only those with money need apply.
After, we go to a new supermarket out towards the airport. It has a lot of imported goods from Australia and Europe, things you cannot find in the local shops. It has a good variety though it is expensive. A small box of Kellogg’s Special K will cost you $10.
We had been talking about alcohol prices with Mr Wee. Beer is relatively expensive here. A can of Tiger beer can cost you as much as a meal. Ever helpful, Mr Wee says he knows of a nearby place where you can buy cheap beer. Now he has my attention!
We pull into a market area just off the main highway and go into a shop that has cases of beers stacked up. The man there says we can buy a carton of Tiger beer cans for 64 MYR (One Malaysian Ringgit is equal to about 40 cents). Considering you buy single cans in the supermarket for 8
MYR, that is good value. We buy a case.
Nearby are cases of Becks and Stella’s. I ask how much. 43 MYR and 48 MYR per case. Wow, that’s about 60 cents a can! In Australia you will pay around $3 a can. We buy a case of each.
I think I’m going to like it here.
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Inge Mathewson
non-member comment
Travel good...home better...
It sounds as if you're settling right in now that you've discovered the evasive affordable beer...cheers! Everything else will be a snap from here on out. I am really enjoying your blog Toddy, thank you. Hugs!