Back to Kuching.. The Final Stretch!

  Kuching, Malaysia
Saturday, August 11, 2007

This final leg of the Borneo adventure had a really early start to it! Discounting the food/pee stop of the overnight coach, the day commenced at 5.40am at the Indonesian-Malaysian border where we had to leave the (not-so) creature comforts of the coach and wait among throngs of travellers eager to enter Malaysia.. It sure was a surreal feeling.. as though I'm among refugees escaping a war-torn country.. heh.. Anyway, once the gate opened slightly after 6am, it was a mad dash to the immigration checkpoints where only the fastest and fittest could escape the queues that ensued (Ok la.. I'm exaggerating).. Good thing there were no more passport 'hustlers' at 6am.. at least they have normal working hours.. heh..

Refugees!

Mad rush into Malaysia

I must admit there was some relief once back into Malaysia, where things seemed to be more.. 'in placed'.. better amenities and infrastructure.. cleaner.. more on the beaten track.. First thing we did upon alighting from the bus was to find makan.. There were some coffee shops across the road but the one that looked rather decent had absolutely bad food.. Daun Kari Cafe.. Don't eat there!!! I think I would have rather endured the hunger and returned to Kuching main town for a good ol' meal.. Like Mohammad Lim's chicken mushroom noodles.. Mmmm.. (See earlier entry) It was not a very long ride on public bus to town anyway..

We couldn't get a private room at Singgahsana as it was a last min. walk-in, and on a Saturday somemore.. Only dorms beds left.. and for personal reasons, cannot get dorm! It was not really our luck.. Harbour Hotel was full, Borneo B&B was closed for renovations, Holiday Inn and the Crown Plaza were too ex.. Walk walk walk.. until we reached the Borneo Hotel.. Not too bad, though a little old.. But when u're filthy after a whole night of travelling, anything goes! Showered, rested, then it was time for some final documentation at the Datu Peninsula.. again. I guess it was more fruitful for Imp this time.. plenty of old houses.. And this time we were not alone! A minbus-load of tourists pulled up beside us and the cameras went on a snapping frenzy.. Dang! We should have signed up for such a tour! Sigh.. my poor aching feet..

Old-Houses-Seeking Tourists

Another old gem

The Bustling Weekend Market

A local shopping.. ;)

After what seemed like hours (though I think the entire walking tour took less than an hour), Imp finally wrapped up his documentation and it was to more exciting stuff, like the weekend market! The shopping was not THAT fantastic and food variety was a little lacking, but the atmosphere was good.. plenty of locals buying foodstuff.. and other services like.. mole removals (HAHAHAHAHAHA!) Cool stuff..

A local shopping.. ;)

Mole Removal.. Haha!

 

Pot Shopping

A slow stroll back to the centre of town brought us through a quiet street that passed the Islamic History Musuem, which (fortunately for me) was closed.. but nonetheless, Imp 'broke into' the compound and started snapping pics of the building.. sigh.. lucky we were not arrested for trespassing or anything.. More snapping of buildings and some souvenior shopping along the way to dinner by the Sarawak River and then it was the end of a wonderful trip to Borneo!



Ok, not quite! There was a stupid delay at the airport for our AirAsia flight back to JB.. goodness!! Lucky there were Famous Amos cookies and free magazines to kill time.. (and boy was it a LOT of time to kill.. 4 - 5 hours?) *FAINT* So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, lesson to take home from this blog entry is.. .. to check for your flight status before heading off to the airport! And beware of cookie thieves!!

Cookie and Mag @ Airport

Who Stole The Cookie From the Cookie Packet??