Cool as cats in Kuching........

Hey everyone, hope all is well back home! Starting to miss it.....in a way!

So in just under two weeks our Asian adventure will draw to a close, before that a Borneo adventure awaited us as we boarded our flight for the short swing over the south china sea to Kuching.

Before we knew it, we were on another packed highway, in a place that looked not one bit like the Borneo images you might conjure up in your head, you know, all dense rainforest and smiling Orang-utangs. In reality, this could be any-city, Malaysia. We were excited to be here and couldn't wait to explore but the huge malls and the rampant traffic just reminded us of other cities in peninsular Malaysia, not really what we had in mind but we'd give it a good go!

At the hostel we plonked our bags down then went in search of food. We found in the guidebook a place called the top spot food court which had rave reviews. Turns out this place took the whole top level of a large multi-storey car park and was inundated with stalls, all selling every kind of seafood you could possibly imagine, it was unbelievable. Whole Malay and Chinese families, some fifteen or so strong, sat around a large round table where waitresses piled plates of lavish seafood on top of each other. You just cannot believe that people can eat so much, it was incredible. Giant prawns, crabs and huge fish swam around in tanks all waiting to be chosen by the next customer. The prices were much cheaper than at home, maybe ten pounds for a kg of crab and maybe the same price for a huge whole sea bass or red snapper. Very cheap but still out of our budget unfortunately but we did manage to gorge on giant juicy prawns and the most tender calamari, beautiful.

Back at the hostel we were just shattered, we felt and looked ill. For the last four weeks we had steamed around towns and cities in the tropical heat and in flip-flops and it had last caught up with us. The next day, we slept late, ate an even later lunch and then took a picturesque boat tour up and down the Sarawak river that splintered it's way through the city like a giant brown snake. Kuching itself was instantly appealing and they had done a great job of sprucing up the waterfront to make a fantastic riverside walk all with the backdrop of the opposite side of the river to keep you entertained. On the opposite side stood a small White palace, an old fort, many traditional houses and the Sarawak state parliament, which has my vote for most impressive building in the world, it is simply stunning. Whichever way you look at it it doesn't fail to make you smile. It rises up like a solid gold circus tent but much grander and in perfect symmetry, whoever designed it must have been listening to an inspirational speech or something whilst he was putting his plans together, I can't express how great it is.

The next day we woke at 5.30am in preparation to go and see the Orang-utans in their semi-wild open habitat at Semangoh. We would have to catch a public bus twenty kms out of town and then be dropped off 2kms away at the park entrance. Funny thing was that when we went up to pay the park entrance fee we were met with a huge White notice with the words 'we now in fruiting season, chances of seeing orang-utans are zero, or maybe less than zero', in typical Malaysian gusto. Typical we thought, but on we went up the hill and through the trees to the centre where thankfully we were the only people around, this would not last...

About forty minutes later a few other people started to arrive. By 9am, just before feeding time, there must have been 200 people there. After a short briefing by the park ranger we were off into the woods to try and catch a glimpse of these amazing creatures. The park ranger had drilled it into everyone that noise would not be welcomed. This didn't stop the hoards of Chinese and Malay tourists who let their children run wild. it was infuriating, more so that they just didn't care. Morons!

Anyway, after about half an hour the tree tops started to sway and people started to get excited. All of a sudden two young ones appeared to peruse the selection of fruits available. Due to it being fruiting season many of the beasts were capable of finding food for themselves but for these little ones the chance to have food provided for them was too much to turn down. The best bit was watching the youngest of the two grab a coconut and spend the remaining thirty minutes trying his hardest to get inside it! He tried everything he could and eventually the coconut split and he could enjoy it's contents. The centre was a good place to visit and they are obviously doing a gallant job with these creatures but you can't help but feel that this is just another zoo showpiece.

The following day we decided to follow the lonely planet walking tour, taking in a slice of kuching's long history of British colonialism mixed on with it's obviously large Chinese population. I think we really got a feel for the place and sampled some fantastic local Sarawak coffee. We also had smiles and hellos from a lot of people, something which always warms the cockles in a new land! By now we were fully integrated into local Kuching life. We knew the best places to eat and drink and had some great games of scrabble back at the hostel (rock and rollers us).

The next morning shell and I got up at six to catch a very early bus up to Bako National Park, one of the highlights of Borneo's many natural sights. On the bus we met a couple of german guys so we could share out the cost of the boat journey to the park. When we got to the jetty the rain was already heavy and we also had to wait for nearly an hour as the tide was so low. Once on a boat though the beauty of Bako became instantly apparent, even though it was wet and miserable. We did a 7km looping trek through the jungle with one of the german guys called Sebastien. We were pretty shattered at the end as it took us through some wild and undulating terrain and as the rains were particularly heavy the tracks had turned to rivers, a real rainforest experience.

We did manage to spot a few bits of wildlife on the trek including a truly huge spider (biggest I've ever seen), a cheeky macaque monkey and a family of wild boars but the elusive proboscis monkey (the ones with huge red noses) remained to be seen...up until the journey back. Our boat driver suddenly pulled the boat to the right where there, high amongst the trees, was a small family of them. They were incredible and amazing to see in the wild.

Kuching and Sarawak had been great. Much like our journey north into Sabah, our options would be cut really short by how expensive it is to actually do anything in Borneo. It's incredibly cheap to stay somewhere and to eat but any tours and activities are just so expensive! Even so, for a few days Kuching is a great place to kick back and recuperate after mistreating our bodies for the past few weeks!

Anyway, were really missing everyone at the minute. We think its just the fact were right in the middle of our trip. Its also incredibly hard to keep having to say goodbye to new friends all the time, i really hate goodbyes.

Just a few days now until we leave Asia after nearly six months! Hope we can speak to some of you soon!

Much love, Tommo and shellface xxx