Kuching, Borneo

Kuching Sunday

Well we arrived OK and after going through a very friendly immigration control where we were given a three month visa , we were met by Nick from the Singghana guest house .It had been raining ,it rains a lot but not for long .It has rained four times since then so going without a brolly is not a great idea!In fact it gives a whole new meaning to the word downpour!The guest house is nice, very young and you have to take your shoes off before going in so it looks like a Chinese temple outside.

There IS a Chinese temple just opposite in fact and you can smell the joss sticks smoking so much we both smell as oriental as a bottle of patchouli oil! We were starving so we wandered down to the waterfront for some food ...and ended up in another food hall ! The food was great and I had a lemon grass to drink to follow . It`s also very cheap ...as cheap as chips, no even cheaper !

The Malay people are really smiley and friendly. It was great to see Raffy (our friends` son) who helped us out when we got here.He`s working at the reception and is really enjoying himself.

Got up quite early on Sunday cos Pat didn`t want to miss breakfast which we had on the roof in an amazing bar . We then headed off to the Sunday market .We took a taxi because it was SO hot.The taxi driver was really friendly and helpful and gave us his card .The market was amazing – I`d love to know what food they were selling ! Fruit , fish ,sea food , spices etc .The smells are unbelievable , a mixture of everything … and the flowers ,especially the orchids were absolutely unbelievable . We hardly saw any other Europeans,maybe they don`t go there BUT you know Patrick ..where food is involved there he`ll be.

After that we walked back in the heat … getting lost a bit and trying to cross roads. Kuching is definitely not pedestrian friendly + the roads and pavements are never smooth .I came a cropper and have the bruises to prove it ( and got wet through `cos I fell into a puddle!!)We then went for a sushi in a great little Japanese place + miso soup which is good for a lot of things apparently. There are loads of herbalists ..Pat says there are very few old people so they all died from too many herbs but I think they are old but look young! Oh yes , I have found the Body Shop and a Mac Donalds – IS NOTHING SPARED !!Oh yes we also had a full body massage BUT we were fully dressed on a special chair – it really felt like human hands ( maybe there was a little man hidden beneath the chair!!)

We then went down to the river where all the action is ..action meaning lots of people strolling along or sitting down in one of the numerous mini restaurants .It all looks good and smells even better !We the nipped into the Chinese museum which turned out to be more interesting than I`d imagined ! They were definitely proud of their achievements in Borneo -70 percent of the population are Chinese.The curator was a really miserable twit who hustled everyone out at 3.45pm... it closed at 4pm and he was obviously on work to rule! We are going to see some orangutangs tomorrow we hope .Some might ask why bother Beverley ...you wake up to one every day!!!