Borneo!

"I can't believe this is how we're spending the first day of 2023!" I said as we walked along a narrow road leading to the Sarawak State Legislative Building and Fort Margherita.

"If you had told me even a few months ago I would be spending New Years on Borneo, I wouldn't have believed it," Jacob said.

It's hard to say exactly why, but even after an afternoon and evening here, it doesn't feel real. I suppose some people have this feeling when they finally have their dream vacation – perhaps to Paris, Hawaii, Italy or Israel. Mind you, I haven't dreamt of Borneo all my life – but for long enough. More importantly, it's just not someplace I thought I would ever be. I know only a handful of people who have – and three of them I met two nights ago at Tony's wedding in Singapore. If you take away those three Singaporeans, then I know only one person who has ever been to Borneo – and none on the Malaysian side.

A very nice gentleman at Tony's wedding told me Kuching is a very slow, relaxed town with very good food. That about nails it. Although Kuching has a few tall buildings – half of which are aging hotels – it feels more like an extended village than a city or a town. The Lonely Planet recommended a particular neighborhood for its beautiful foliage and traditional vibe. It was indeed pretty, traditional – and the people were SO nice. We tried some of the chicken satay the local Malay population was barbecuing and were invited to sit and listen to the live music in front of the restaurant. However, neighborhood was a generous word – the area was more of a row of homes, a couple of bakeries and a restaurant lining a small road branching off from the north shore of the Sarawak River. Honestly, most villages in Bali are larger.

Bali loomed in my mind from the time we landed. Emily, my friend Ryan Conlan (whose first name I only use for introductions) and I went to Penang, Malaysia in 2011. Penang certainly had a slower pace than many cities and was bedecked with culture – Chinese, British Colonial and Perenakan – but it was considerably more developed than Kuching. Really, Kuching feels to me a lot more like Denpasar, Bali's sort of unappealing but necessary main town. Like Denpasar, Kuching isn't ugly or offensive – in fact it has a lot of beauty, especially by the river – but it isn't a stunner. I can't imagine coming to Borneo to spend large amounts of time in Kuching. 

After landing at about 2:30 and schlepping our bags to our Kuching Airbnb condo, Jacob and I wasted no time getting out into Kuching to see all we could in the remaining afternoon hours. We had reviewed The Lonely Planet and found so many suggested places to see, that we assured ourselves we had Thursday afternoon and Friday to see what we would inevitably miss. It turned out that without even trying, we began checking things off the list. Kuching is really pretty small and after we saw one sight and walked down the road thinking we were heading somewhere to find a taxi, we instead found another sight. This happened again and again to the point that while heading down one road, we looked to the right and saw Little India. While Jacob was taking a photo, I turned around and noticed that behind us was Chinatown. And we had just passed the Old Court complex while trying to leave an outdoor market.

Kuching isn't a city to describe the way one might describe Paris which is itself a living work of art from the grand boulevards to the gorgeous buildings to the style and vibe that radiate through it. Paris is a city meant to impress everyone including its residents and itself. Kuching is not about impressing anyone. It's not even necessarily cohesive. But it is golden and warm. Golden roofs of Kuching's most special buildings glow under the golden light of the afternoon sun among the green banks of the river that winds through it and the warm people who inhabit it.

When it comes to finding a city with a similar color palate, the closest I can think of is Vientiane, Laos – only Kuching's rivers are surrounded by lush green and the town has none of the dry dustiness of Vientiane. Similarly, the Lao people are some of the kindest and most gentle I have ever met. Kuching's are kind, warm and inviting. When I use my limited Bahasa Indonesia on them (which is very similar to their Bahasa Malayu in the way that British and American English are the same, but different), I get smiles and a sense of appreciation for trying to use their language. Of course, they all speak English too and generally relieve me of my burden in short order after appreciating my efforts. 

Along our path today, Jacob tried Bandung, a pink fruity-ish milk-tea drink with a flavor I can't fully describe but borders on children's medicine. He enjoyed it more than anyone else I have known. We also tried rendang chicken bao – a fusion of a Malay/Indonesian curry stuffed inside a Chinese steamed bun. Fantastic. I also have a special appreciation for it because rendang is usually made with beef and while I love the flavor of the curry, I can't eat beef. The nice ladies at the bao stand near the Old Court unlocked rendang for me.

I am writing this post early – the night before I would usually post – and setting it to post automatically. Why? Because our tour operators come for us at 8am and take us upriver to an Iban tribe longhouse and then onto a lodge in the rainforest. Jacob and I will spend four days and three nights in the Borneo rainforest – the second and third days will largely be hiking and looking for wild orangutans. Will I be able to continue posting to this blog? I don't know. I will try. However, it's completely possible I'll go dark for a couple of days. If so, don't cry for me Argentina. We are expected to reemerge from the rainforest Thursday afternoon here – Wednesday night at home – and I will undoubtedly post then if I haven't done so sooner.

In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. The people of Borneo are neither truly Malay nor Indonesian. Discuss.