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Kuching is the administrative capital of Malaysian Borneo located at its most South Westerly point near the border with Indonesia.It has a British colonial history with lingering architectural testaments to the fact dotted around the city.Its main feature, the Sungai River meanders through its centre and is the lifeblood of its economy.It's strange to find such a progressive and stylish place on the edge of Borneo.As with so many parts of Malaysia, there are several cultural confluences all meeting in an architectural, religious and gastronomic melting pot, making exploring and experiencing what's on offer a quite an adventure.

My plan was to spend a few days here before heading into the Borneo Jungle again to see the largest caves in the world and trek among the leaches and native tribes people for a week or so before heading further north to Sabah in search of some of the best dive spots in Asia. Unfortunately, both of these missions are not possible as everywhere is booked solid for the rest of August. I think half the world's credit crunched unemployed have decided to come out here. I have decided therefore to spend a few more days in this charming little city before heading out for some more beach and dive fun on the Perentian Islands, or back to the Gili's where I spent ten glorious days about a week ago. These are the kind of life and death decisions I'm having to make at the moment.Although I'm disappointed not to be able to complete my Borneo mission, I might actually save some cash this way, and further develop what has become the best tan of my 30 years of life so far.If any of you can offer some good advice to help me through this turbulent time, I'd be much obliged.

Today has been a bit odd but quite interesting. After meeting a very international group of 20 something's last night who are due to attend a friend's wedding outside Kuching on Monday, I agreed to help the best man find an x-box 360 guitar hero guitar, which apparently is a vital piece of kit for his karaoke plans at the wedding. I'm not quite sure why I committed helping the guy having only met him for 10 minutes, but I did.He is an interesting chap, a synthetic biologist at MIT soon to go to Harverd, and is the first person since university who understands and actually cares about the useless microbiological knowledge that I now realize is still locked away in the back of my mind. After a few beers, I took his mobile number and agreed to go in search of the guitar in the morning.He promised me several beers and an optimistic thought that such a mission might actually some fun.

After stopping in china town for lunch, (two bowls of spicy meat noodle soup, a large beer and a 10 minute chat with an 85 year old half deaf ex local dentist in front of his surgery) I set off on foot hoping to catch a cab to a large shopping complex that I'd heard about 4k outside the city. After walking in the blistering equatorial sun (32 degrees 90% humidity) for 15 minutes I realised that cabs are a scarce commodity outside the centre. Having no water, and feeling slightly wobbly from the lager and the spicy food (and the chat with the 85 year old Chinese dentist), I realised that walking the whole way was not an option. I managed to find a bus stop on a major road and waited for 20 minutes for a very rickety old bus to arrive which dropped me off (for the bargain price of 12p) about half a km from the shopping complex which now towered overhead in the distance.

Once inside, I milled around the ground floor which was filled with seemingly endless rows of electrical shops, and tiny Malaysian shoppers all tapping away or talking on their phones (they are obsessed with technology out here). After asking around, I was directed to a games shop on the third floor. It was clearly the right place as there was a whole set up near the front door of "musical equipment", drums, microphones and guitars all connected to an X-box ready to be demoed by potential customers. After waiting for both store assistants to finish their rather intense looking round of...whatever brutal war game they were playing, I managed to communicate my need for the Guitar Hero Guitar. They were out of stock, but I managed to barter for one of the demo guitars. While I waited for one of the assistants to call the boss, I sat playing my first ever round of Guitar Hero. What an amazing thing! After attempting Livin on a Prayer by Bon Jovi and The Joker by the Ben Miller Band I was hooked.As Laura knows, I play the guitar, and am now seriously considering investing in an X-Box. The boss eventually turned up, a young guy who leases the shop from the department store, and we cut a half price deal on a second hand guitar. I ended up having lunch with him in a food court on the bottom floor. It turns out he lived in the UK for three years (which is why his English was so good), and we whiled away about an hour chatting about bad British weather and bad British food. He introduced me to sugar cane and coconut ice tea, which is delicious, and a very spicy noodle dish who's name I can't remember. Eventually his friend arrived, a very tiny but attractive young lady, and I was invited to their friend's BBQ about 5 k outside the city. I would have gone for the offer, but I was exhausted from the crazy walk in the sun and also, a painful mystery shoulder injury that I think I picked up while asleep about four days ago. I decided to head home in a cab to drop off the guitar at the best man's hostel. I'm now looking forward to the beers he has promised me and a nice dinner, after a bit of a power nap.

I'm not sure if there's a moral to this story, or even whether its merits were worthy of this blog, but there you have it. I guess Good Samaritan missions in far off lands can create interesting experiences. Maybe I'll work on an invitation to this wedding. Perhaps that is the fatalistic end point to this story. I'll let you know.

Next stop, sandy beaches and more diving until the 21st when project India begins.

Peace out ladies and Gentlemen