Chilling in Kuching- Borneo 2011- Day 3

Dear pipsqueaks,

Being given an extra 1.5hr to sleep was compariable to a breath of fresh air in a designated smoking area: sweet! Not that I'm complaining about the lack of sleep, as long as it's worth the sacrifice, which the night definitely was! We had such a blast with the italians- it was awesome that the group chemistry matched ours so well! Too bad we didn't have more time to spend with them. Oh wells, there'll be next time- can always visit them in Singapore! But yah, returning to the hotel around 1ish n finally in bed by 2:30ish, surely u can understand what an extra an hour n a half to a 6am wake-up call meant to me. Good thing I randomly decided to check with the front desk after my shower- almost sleepwalking- when the pick-up time will be in the morning because it went from 7:30am to 9ish. Except, I couldn't get a hold of either of the boys about the change in time- yes, I stood at the boy's dorm door knocking for a good 5mins almost 3 in the morning- so I just left them a text n hopefully they'll read it in time. It would suck being all ready to go sitting in the lobby waiting only to find out departure isn't for a while.

Side note: after checking with the front desk that I'd be the only one in the girl's dorm again tonight, u can imagine my face when I pushed opened the door to find 2 beds with bodies in them. Yes, I immediately closed the door n ran to ask the front desk again just in case I was seeing things. But luckily, I wasn't going crazy at 3 in the morning. Dorms can have late check-ins, so don't go freaking urself out! P.S. I felt so guilty going in n out showering n forgetting to grab things that I ended up just feeling my way in the dark by the 2nd re-entry. Let me tell u, walking into the pole of a double bunker? Not fun at all. So if ur ever staying in a dorm, be considerate of others, but also don't try n knock urself out in the dark.

Anyways, we had a chillax morning, which I really looked forward to because all the other mornings were quite early n slightly rushed. Seriously, this guest house had the coolest restaurant/lounge at the roof top! Just so out of this world! It was so beachy n islander-feel with a "writer's corner" that looked out to the city. Definitely recommended! But yah, since we'll be flying off later tonight, not wanting to carry all our stuff out with us, we locked it up in their storage room n headed for Damai beach resort. It's a near-by "county", I guess, where it's certainly less "city", with a village that showcased the different native tribes of the island. Of course, the boys wanted to hit the beach first, so as they soaked up the sun, I laid on a beach chair in shades. For the longest time, I've had a thing about sleeping in open area- maybe it's the sense of the lack of security? Not sure, but somehow, the breeze, the distant chatters, n the clash of the waves...I actually fell asleep! Until the boys came back n we decided to grab some lunch. Being in Sarawak- the state's name- we had to order something local! So I ordered the Sarawak special marinated beef- yes, if u can't tell, obviously I don't remember the name of it- n it was yummy! I guess it's just a Malaysian thing to be so "mixed" that even the food here's exotic. So if ur here in Malaysia n there's a malaysian food section on the menu, u know u don't need to look any further. With a side of fruit juice, we enjoyed lunch at the beach side for the last time this trip.

(A change in scene...)

(My hideout at Damai beach)

There was a trail that one could take from the beach resort, looping around the forest from the right, n ending at the village- which would have been a 10min walk if u turned left out the resort. The boys were contemplating whether we should take the long way there, except, we didn't really leave enough time for that n we didn't want to miss the 3:15pm shuttle back, or else it won't be for another 2hrs for the next pick-up. So, we went left directly to the village. Being relatively educated n having many chances to explore that human history within the century, it wasn't too much of a "experience" for me. Though, it's good to be reminded once in a while how lucky I am to be in the right place for the "now"- u can argue that some parts of the world still live that way, so yes, I'm glad I'm in the city n living in 2011. Maybe it wouldn't be much of a difference if I lived 100 years ago because that would have been the standard, but knowing me, it would've been difficult anyway. if anything, I appreciate what I have so so much more after that visit to the village. After that, we were in just in time for a dance performance of the different tribes n let's just say, the boys had their chances to try tribal dances on stage too.

The trip back to Kuching felt like forever, not because it was far, but because we kept looping back to pick up more people. Now come to think of it, we went back after a 5min drive about 5 times? So even if we managed to get picked up 15mins earlier, we were now leaving 15mins later than expected- a malaysian feature u'll just hv to accept, or u might go crazy. Finally reaching our guest house, we lost no time n walked around for postcards (kinda silly because our guest house actually had a stash AND they had stamps- which we were actually more in need of than postcards). But we did find a few eventually. Not wanting to complicate by showering n having to store our stuff again- yes, traveling requires some logic thinking so, one, ur not wasting time, n two, ur not complicating things- we went for dinner first. Due to wanting some time for postcard-writing after showers, we ate around the corner where a collection of food stands were. With a small selection, it didn't take long for me to order: 3 beef noodles. To my relief, the boys enjoyed it along with our iced drinks. Even so, they were still a little hungry, but not wanting to disturb my meal, they went in search for themselves. Upon their return, as expected, they had no idea what they really ordered. In any case, u couldn't go wrong here because they know what they're cooking! Good stuff :)

We crossed the street back to our guest house to take a shower before our taxi to the airport- a very good idea because I wouldn't wanna be stuck in a tiny seat all sticky from a day's walking. A nice n hot shower did the trick. I quickly wrote myself a postcard- something that I've always kept up since 2008 Contiki Europe Tour- from every city that I've been fortunate enough to visit (though, I'm missing one from Bali, Jakarta n the Vatican City- literally the hardest place to find it but probably due to, yet again, shortage of time). Soon after we've completed our postal services, we were on our way to the airport. Side note: attempting to self-check in for all of us at the kiosk- AirAsia charges an extra RM10 if u use counter check-in- I managed to pull another "Jessy is airport-challenged" moment (for those of u that know about the several wrong counter encounters, u know exactly what i mean). Trying to enter our flight number, I stood there poking the screen wondering whether it was broken. Turned out, it was attached to a mouse (n I failed to notice the curser at the bottom right corner =.="). I blamed it all on the lack of sugar in my system, which was quickly dealt with by swallowing a good-old Cadbury chocolate granola bar. Yums. From here on, it was another routin: board, fly, "disembark"- we were trying to figure out the term for "getting off the plane" n "deboard" or "unboard" was just obviously wrong. But then again, why was I trying to figure out English with 2 French guys in the first place?! *sigh*.

(Just moments before my awesome friends tried to flip me over)

Back in KL, another adventure ended. But of course, with an end comes a new beginning- except, a beginning to where? Uncertain. Even so, with a good rest, I'm up for "anywhere but here"!