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Hello everyone!!!
Well first of all, sorry for not updating my travel blog in nearly 2 months. Well I am not that sorry, I am just too lazy to write about same same but different! But now I am in new places though, I have decided to start writing again.
I arrived here in Kuching, Sawak (Malaysia) 2 days ago from Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Airlines. A 1 1/2 hour journey, of which i managed to book 3 days in advance for 108MYR (god knows how!) or 19 quid with food and checked luggage! much better/cheaper than Ryanair (not hard to beat!).Although the big thing I do not like with booking flights is a hate being tied into travel arrangements, I almost always book my tickets an hour or two before I leave... but with airlines this isn't possible. I just happened to meet some really cool people in KL who i could of hung around with for an extra day, but hey...never mind :)
The first thing I see when flying in is that the whole place is jungle, with a city perched in the middle along a river. I arrive at Kuching International Airport in the morning and are promptly greeted by medical staff in gas masks. They seem to be taking the H151N Swine Flu virus very seriously here, and had to give them details about where I am from and any illness etc. They were hardly impressed when they ask where I am staying and i tell them I do not know as I like to just turn up somewhere... no good if they need to come find me! I also bizarrely had to immigrate back into Malaysia again and get a new Visa, even though its a domestic flight, as the states of Sawak and Sabah are semi-autonomous and are very much in there own certain ways seperate to Malaysia.
So since I have been here, I have not done too much. I have slept ALOT, easily still getting in 12-14 hours of sleep a day. Although I have taken in Fort Magherita, which is pretty much just a Fort built by the British in 1839 to fend off the likes of Pirates and invaders. Also I have spent some time roaming around China Town, and I also went to the cinema just around the corner from my Guest House. A good Guest House at that, although I seem to be one of the only ones there, and still the only person in a 8 man dorm! Lonely, but a welcome break off the 'beaten path' and proberbly going to be good for me! I have spoken to so many locals while here and now have the low down on the place and where to go next, including which places sell the beer that's been smuggled into Borneo. Wouldya believe it, there is a smuggling black market here for beer and cigerates, as to avoid high malaysian tax. Suddenly that 8RM can of Heiniken @ a 7/11 in KL is now 3-4RM in one of the Chinese eateries around here. I am trying my dam best not to drink any more beer as the doctor advised, but there just making it more and more difficult for me!!
Interestingly, I am told there is also a high Christian presence here, and alot of places were closed when I arrived here on Sunday. A first for me in SE Asia to see most places close on a Sunday!
As for backpacking, there is not much in the way of backpackers here, it seems to be mainly package tourists who are staying in the very large hotels overlooking the river. Although i imagine I am just staying in an unpopular place (which is bizarre as its in the Lonely Planet) , there is plenty of dormitories here to cater for a backpacker budget...but my overall opinion of Kuching for tourists is one that its only good for what is around it, and I shall be leaving it for the first time tommorow.
So from here, I plan to go to Bako National Park, 2 hours from here by bus and boat. I will stay there overnight and am looking forward to getting some good pictures of wildlife. Infact I am really excited about it, my first trek out into the Borneo jungle. I must buy some new DEET though, as it looks like the one I use can give you skin cancer (100 percent DEET).I don't know why i waited to be told that, the clue is that it melts clothes and plastics..... I am SUCH! a dum ass lol (Thanks Andy for making me emphasise 'such' like that when i speak lol)
At the moment from there my internery is a boat to Sibu (takes half the time a bus does), on to Miri, boat to Lampit, 4X4 or boat to Mulu National Park, where I will visit the worlds biggest cave entrance (Deer Cave, which you may of seen in the Planet Earth series with the bat poo going up to 100m height). From here, I will either have to emmigrate out of Malaysia to travel by road through Borneo, or I might be able to get a pick up truck to take me down some jungle path around Brunei and on to the Malaysian state of Sabah, were I will have to stamp in again. I should be at Kota Kinabul I imagine in the next 10 days and leave for Indonesian side of Borneo (Kamiltan) in the next 14-18 days. But not before trying my luck at being the 10-15 percent of people who manage to reach the top of Mt.Kinabulu, near KK, a mountain half the height of Mt.Everest. But who knows, since when do i ever stick to plans, that's where the fun is :p I was 'meant'to go to Cameron Highlands and I was 'meant' to be in Bali by now, but ah well :) i will still get to them places, although I don't think missing Bali will upset me too much.
So anyway, hope your still with me. You will hear from me in a couple of days once i return out of the national park. Chow for now. Feel free to drop message on my message board :)
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