Does the rain ever stop in Borneo?
2.3.16
Woke up to our alarm at 6.45am.
Bucketing rain again, no way we’re going to Bako National Park today even though we swore we would still go.
Laksa at the same spot for brunch.
An elderly man, who had a learning disability, came over and shook our hands and introduced himself as Robert.
He asked where were from and then wanted to know how many soldiers we have, do we have any special forces, what war planes and ships do we have and told us about Japan dropping bombs in 1943. Our knowledge was very limited and I think he was very disappointed in us.
Mocha and chocolate ice drinks by the river at 5 pm.
There were a few differences in between so it wasn’t a complete groundhog day.
Yesterday I got a t shirt with wall art on it of Orang Utans. The art is by the same guy that did the children on the bike in Penang in 2014.
https://www.theborneopost.com/2014/04/28/lithuanians-street-art-ape-scape-goes-viral
So we went off to India Street to find it and really pleased we did, love it
John asked about glasses in the optician in the Mall.
Super helpful man explained about different brand lenses. John hasn’t been happy with his Turkish transition lenses, they’re very scratched and his glasses fall off frequently.
Anyway, a very good price was agreed, and he decided to get 2 pairs and also had an eye test.
They had the lenses in stock and need an hour to make them.
We had a wander around the mall, I bought a couple of tops in H&M, we visited a huge supermarket, of course, and John bought me a fluffy Orang Utan and another pair of Flipper flip flops for my birthday, by which time the glasses were ready.
We went to Sarawak Museum, its next to the Ethnology Museum, Natural History and Art Museum, which is in the process of being restored.
There’s also an aquarium.
The museums were interesting, the Natural History one not so much as its tiny with a few mounted butterflies and some stuffed things.
We’d read about a legendary Kuching Story in Lonely Planet, also a story about penis piercing, but couldn’t find that.
https://share.google/images/jhxtW12zYUtr1qtX4
There was a scale model of an Iban Tribe Longboat. The Queen has visited with Prince Phillip.
We cut through the mall on the way to the river and spotted these beauties.
John tested one to see if they were egg custard as we know it, luckily it is so that’s tonights post dinner desert sorted, really miss these in Turkey.
Spotted this little one by our iced drinks lady at the river
Amazing how he clings on. Saw him yesterday, or his brother, but he was running across roofs and wires very very fast and couldn’t get a photo.
When we got back to tribal Lodge John went off for a run while I chilled with a bit of UK tv. When he came back we had another monsoon and tried to look into ordering pizza from Pizza Hut to save getting soaked, but it just wouldn’t recognise our address.
By the time we gave up the rain had stopped.
We went to a restaurant called Sharing just up and round past the steamboat barbeques, there’s even more of them than we saw last night, and all busy.
We had pasta dishes, was pretty good and made a nice change.
The waiter there told us we must make sure we go to Top Spot before we leave. I’ve read about it in Trip Advisor, its top floor of a car park and is famous for fantastic seafood.
As we got in, more monsoon, thunder as well!
Couldn’t eat our custard tarts, our food portions had been so huge and we’re wondering if ‘Sharing’ was supposed to be just that.
We move to new accommodation, about 20 minutes walk away with outdoor space and a pool, tomorrow morning.
To enjoy the non monsoon March weather in luxury surroundings and chill for a couple of days !
Hmmmmm.
