“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Quote by Mark Twain
We left Saskatoon Thursday October 19 around 5:45 pm for Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia.The 2 1/2 hour flight to Vancouver in a Dash-8 turboprop was almost the low point of our trip.Air Canada now has free beer and wine onboard to drum up business.We had an 5+ hour layover in Vancouver, then off to Singapore on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft for the perfect 16 hour flight.When we landed in Singapore we breezed through customs.This is due to having already filed our SGAC.All travellers are required to submit the SG Arrival Card with Electronic Health Declaration before arriving in Singapore.We had a very short wait for the luggage and then stepped outside to transfer from terminal 2 to terminal 4 via a shuttle bus.In no time we were in terminal 4 and had our bags checked on discount airline, Air Asia.We ended up with time to spare.It’s awesome when you plan something with no idea if things will work out and they actually work out flawlessly.
We found a lounge in terminal 4 and had something to eat.Our flight departed at 11:45 am for Kuching.Technically it was almost lunch time in Singapore which is 14 hours ahead of Saskatoon. By now we were 24 hours into the trip and about 35 hours since we got out of bed.
We arrived in Kuching on a jam packed A320 where our knees rubbed the seat in front of us.Air Asia discounts on leg room the most. This flight AK1776 was not as cheap as previous flights on Air Asia due to the need to buy a flex ticket, just in case our Air Canada flight was delayed.
We purchased SIM cards at Hotlink for our phones getting the fastest speed and largest download amount for the next month.It was around $34 CAD for both phones.Good price!We booked a Grab using our phone with the new SIM card for Malaysia.The fare was about $6.15 to to the hotel, around 12 km away.
Check-in went smooth mainly because we know the idiosyncrasies of Malaysian tourism.The booking includes a 10 Malaysian ringgit tourism tax per night. The proof of payment is sent by email which you must save in order to prevent getting charged twice.Yes, we have the emails and the downloaded receipts, all three of them as we are staying 14 nights in this hotel.We made 3 separate bookings in order to have the opportunity to cancel if something went wrong, God forbid.The first 2 bookings of three days each were made through agoda.com and the third booking for 8 nights was made through Aeroplan.We made use of the Aeroplan promotion to get a free night for every 3 nights paid for.That’s 8 nights for the price of 6 plus we made use of the 33% discount on Aeroplan points and the 2,500 Aeroplan bonus on top of it all. Almost free you might think.Wrong. Aeroplan is our rewards program of choice for a reason.We have much time invested in figuring out the different angles to milk the rewards.It’s hard work.
Sarawak State Capital Building
Our first night in the hotel was great.The air conditioning was just the right temperature and the bed was dreamy.We even got a complimentary plate of fruit consisting of 3 bananas, 2 apples, 1 orange, 1 kiwi and 3 beautiful big strawberries. Gary’s total sleep was 8 hours 45 minutes plus another hour and 43 minutes of being awake.Over 10 hours in bed and we were going by 7 am.Breakfast was an oink-fest of coffee, yogurt, pastry, watermelon, oranges,noodles and Gary had his favourite, Sarawak Laksa. Laksa is a spicy, curry-coconut-based noodle soup that originated from the Peranakans, who are of mixed Chinese-Malay heritage. It comes with chicken, shrimp, strips of fried egg and vermicelli noodles.It’s a spicy way to wake up!
Sarawak Laksa
Our first day in Kuching was pretty good, we walked about 8 km, had a one hour massage for 65 ringgits each, that’s $21 each, for one of the best massages we’ve had.We wandered by the Ceylonese restaurant and had a mango lassi, it was really good so we decided to head back for supper. Our supper cost us 51.80 ringgit, $16.60 CAD. We had lemon iced tea, Tikka chicken, Aloo Gobi, Garlic Naan and some assorted sauces like mint chutney.Aloo Gobi is a simple Indian vegetarian dish made with potatoes, cauliflower, spices and herbs. Supper was excellent! We headed back to the hotel in a blustery 28º wind with a few drops of rain.We tried our umbrella and they turned inside out.It was windy so we walked fast and didn’t really get wet.Off to bed for another great sleep. We are tired and no where near recovering from the jet lag.
Pedestrian bridge with towers over the river
Our hotel is in the top right corner of this photo with the blue emblem.
Our dinner view on our third night here while eating and the James Brooks Bistro Cafe
Our tour guide Albert picked us up at 8 am. We had a good sleep that night with a warmer and quieter room.We put on our green Borneo Expedition t-shirts which we had received from our guide Albert the night before.
We were riding in a 1998 series 100 Toyota Land Cruiser, it was in mint condition, totally restored. Our second guide John was in the second vehicle ahead. We headed to a hill overlooking Kota Kinabalu where we took a few shots of the city far below.
Kota Binabalu below
Kota Kinabalu
We continued our trip into the local wilderness. A four wheel drive vehicle out on these roads is a good idea but we did see a few low riding cars, like a sporty Toyota that made us wonder how they navigate the gravel and potholes. We stopped by a rice paddy that had bird scare clappers throughout the field to keep the birds from eating the rice.The clappers were all connected by a string to a central location where someone was pulling the string when a bird arrived.Manual labour.
Rice field with bird scare clappers/flags
One of the rivers we crossed
The road to Kundasang, Sabah, Malaysia
some interesting flowers
We stopped for a sampling of fruit in Kundasang at a local market.We tried Tarap a tropical fruit only found in Borneo, it was excellent.We also sampled the infamous Durian which Gary likes, but Linda not so much.We also tried the Lansat fruit, a small tan coloured ball smaller than a golf ball.Once you peel the Lansat skin there is a sweet juicy fruit inside.We were soon full of fruit so we went for a light lunch. We probable could have skipped lunch but we forced ourselves. We enjoyed the satay including chicken, chicken liver and lamb. As soon as we finished eating we went to the Kundasang War Memorial.
The Kundasang war memorial honours a total of 2428 POWs that did the the death march from Sandakan to Kundasang about 236 km through he Borneo jungle.There were 1787 Australians, 641 British, 1047 died on the march, 1381 died at Sandakan.There was a total of 2434 POWs that started in Sandakan and 2428 that perished at the hands of the Japanese.There was only 6 survivors.The Japanese soldiers didn’t fair really well either because of the lack of food and medical supplies.There were reports of starvation and even cannibalism.
Kundasang War Memorial Gate
The Kundasang war memorial honours a total of 2428 POWs that did the the death march from Sandakan to Kundasang about 236 km through he Borneo jungle.There were 1787 Australians, 641 British, 1047 died on the march, 1381 died at Sandakan.There was a total of 2434 POWs that started in Sandakan and 2428 that perished at the hands of the Japanese.There was only 6 survivors.The Japanese soldiers didn’t fair really well either because of the lack of food and medical supplies.There were reports of starvation and even cannibalism.
name plaques for all that perished
Contemplation Garden and Pond
We got to our camp spot at Kisakot Campsite, Kota Belud, before sunset where we had the fortune of watching the sun light the clouds on fire over and around Mount Kinabalu.
Mt Kinabalu shrouded in clouds as seen from the Kisakot Campsite Kota Belud
We set up camp and prayed for the clouds to clear. As the sun set Mt Kinabalu really came shining through.
The rocks in this river were washed her after an earthquake caused a slide
Our campsite. We slept in the tent on the Land Cruiser
Mount Kinabalu and the clouds glow in the sunset
Albert and John treated to a gourmet meal of Angus steak, deep fried soft-shell crab, lettuce salad and all the fixings including mushrooms, beer and wine. Of course we were so hungry we didn’t get a single picture of the food in the dark.
John got us this amazing shot of Mount Kinabalu from on the river as the sun was setting.
November 27th was our final night in Labuan. We had the most amazing weather with rain only occurring at night or early morning. It normally rains every night but we had two or three nights with no rain at all.
the path of our daily walk
The only days we missed our morning walk were Remembrance Day and November 10 when we went shopping for long pants for Gary. We averaged 8.3 km every day but our morning walk varied between 5 km and 7.5 km. Our hotel room in Labuan was on the 4th floor, which is actually the 3rd floor if you don’t take the elevator.We did the 3 flights at least 4 times every day, some days more.We feel like we built a bit of leg strength and stamina. Three flights of stairs is 120 steps.A minimum of 480 steps up each day. Going down was easier.
Our little spot to have iced lemon tea each day on our walk.
Wood fired pizza and beer
6:16 pm feels like 34º Perfect for pizza and beer.
Our final day in Labuan we missed breakfast as we headed to the airport at 5:30 am.We hate those early mornings.We had a bite to eat at McDonalds inside the Labuan airport.It was icky, but at least the the coffee was like back in Canada.
We landed in Kota Kinabalu and our luggage arrived without grief.A quick and cheap Grab ride got us to the Promenade Hotel 4 hours before check-in.We left our luggage at the hotel lockup and went for a walk.We stopped by the massage place where we went last year, to our dismay they don’t take credit cards.We had a fruit smoothie next door to the massage place to tide us over.After a refreshing mango and yogurt smoothie we started walking again.
There are some new massage places along the street.We decided to try one that offered a 2 hour oil massage for RM115 which was $33 CAD.They took credit cards. It actually was an amazing workout!
Our first night at the Promenade Hotel presented a challenge.The rooms are freezing cold and the thermostat does nothing. Even shutting off the thermostat does nothing to warm up the room.Secondly, the water from the sink faucet and shower was not even hot, tepid at best!No hot shower to warm up.The biggest issue was our room had a door to an adjoining room.The gap under the door, actually 2 doors, did nothing to stop the loud party sounds next door that kept us awake.Being situated right off the elevator was the final flaw with our room assignment. People are fairly inconsiderate when they get off the elevator at 1 am.Loud.
The next morning we got moved to the 11th floor.As soon as you step out of the elevator you can feel the hallways are warmer.Our new room was good, a long way from the elevator, no adjoining room and hot water!!
The next morning we went camping.If you want to hear about tenting at the base of Mount Kinabalu and our trip to the most northerly point in Borneo, read our next blog in a few days.
A teaser, Mount Kinabalu in the clouds.
Our next blog will have our full camping summary with some amazing photos.
Since Remembrance Day we have not done much off the hotel property other than our daily morning walk. The other night we took the hotel shuttle into town, about a 20 minute drive.Our destination was JJ Nazar Utama Jaya Restaurant.We have enjoyed the other JJ Nazar restaurant location several times, we thought a switch was in order.This second JJ Nazar restaurant is located near the UTC and Labuan Central Market.Unfortunately the market vendors were all packing up around the time we arrived. The market is a huge building that contains hundreds (we guess) of vendors.They sell all kinds of things from fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, stingless bee honey and clothing.We need to get back to buy some stingless bee honey. We got some last years and it’s great in tea for a sore throat.It tastes much much better than Buckleys! The honey is dark and has a citrus flavour.
To keep our restaurant comparison fair we ordered Vegetable Pakora, Dal Makhani, Chana Masala, Garlic Naan and Mango Lassis to drink.The verdict is in.The Naan and Mango Lassis are better, the Chana Masala is similar and the Dal Makhani is much inferior at this second location.Also, the air conditioning is run by the women with long sleeves, long pants and head scarves. We were cold.Actually the muslim women wear clothing that would be comfortable in 15ºC. It never goes below 27º here.Black long sleeve t-shirts are common for the men. Hot! Hot! Hot! They must think we are wimps. Supper was RM64.40 under $19. CAD
Mango Lassi at JJ Nazar Utama Jaya Restaurant
Vegetable Pakora - chutney dip not included ☹️
Dal Makhani (top), Chana Masala (bottom)
Garlic Naan Bread
After we left the restaurant we walked around a night market and ate some Apam Balik, one of Malaysia’s favourite snacks. They are made with watery sweet dough painted into a little pan and cooked for a minute or less.Peanuts and chocolate are sprinkled on top and when removed from the pan they are folded in half. See video below from last year.
After we walked around the market we checked out the super store nearby. They have everything from booze to food and soap.We were now killing time until our 7 pm pickup.We got out of the huge mall and store area and went across the street.There was too much traffic for our driver to easily find us.Once across the street we went into an Indian store in search of some coconut oil and deodorant.The guy at the till was glad to sell us India’s most popular hair coconut oil.Its 100% pure oil and works great as a skin moisturizer and protectant. It seems to keep from getting heat rashes and fungal rashes which can happen when you are constantly sweating in 80% humidity.Gary swears bugs get stuck in the oil before they can bite. Conversation with the Indian store guy went much like this – Where are you from sir? Reply, Canada! We then hear how great a place Canada is and they have welcomed so many Indian immigrants.As hard as Trudeau tries to discredit us, we still receive a favourable welcome, even from Indians. Yay Canada! 🇨🇦
We found a landmark to wait for our pickup. We never went in to the bar.
We have mentioned previously how welcoming the people of Malaysia are.Here in the East Malaysian States of Sarawak and Sabah as well as the Malaysian Federal Territory of Labuan where we currently are located, people are even more friendly and welcoming! We had a little baby across from us at breakfast, he really gave us the stink eye! He was pretty cute! His parents said he stares at any stranger – we think they were being kind!The Hotel was busy this weekend with the Malaysian Airforce group stationed here in Labuan.There was lots of little kids, many families here have 3 or 4 kids.There were lots of people around and in the swimming pool.
The next day, Sunday was not nearly as busy.We had a late start to our daily walk.We left the hotel around noon and did our usual stop at the Warung Chailuk pit stop for lemon iced tea. We enjoyed 6 little donuts and 4 pieces of deep fried banana. Tomorrow the owner/cook is taking a week off.Unfortunately this coincides with our last week in Labuan. One full week of walking each morning with no iced tea.We may switch to ice cream at the little store nearby. Either way we are going to miss the table and chairs overlooking the beach while enjoying the cooling breeze.It was a great way to cool down before the walk back!
On November 11 we attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Labuan Commonwealth War Cemetery.
"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in it's preservation" General Douglas MacArthur
Labuan War Cemetery is a Commonwealth World War II graveyard in Labuan, Malaysia.
There must have been more than 200 people including dignitaries, military and civilians attending and participating.The service was occasionally paused for flyovers of jet fighters, a helicopter and huge propeller cargo planes.There weredignitaries from Labuan, and representatives from the UK. For example the British High Commissioner representing Brunei. Also the Malaysian, British and Australian military were well represented.The wreath laying took some time as every group took their turn laying their wreaths.
Wreaths ready for ceremony
There are British, Australians, Indians and Malay soldiers buried at this cemetery. The religious portion of the service was interesting.The Muslim, Hindu & Sikh groups consisting of close to half the attendees went off to the other side of the cemetery for their respective service and wreath laying.The Christian service officiated by an Anglican minister here in Labuan continued where we were seated at the Colonnade. There were familiar prayers followed by The Last Post bugle, wreath laying, bag pipes and the marching of soldiers from Malaysia, Australia and Britain.The soldiers were impeccably dressed and in perfect timing and alignment.The sun was hot and so were they.It had rained until about 6am that morning and the temperature was well over 30ºC. The honour guards stood motionless in the full sun whereas we had tents shading us with electric fans blowing everywhere. They even supplied everyone with one of the old fashioned personal fans, like a ping-pong paddle that is embossed with ❤️ Labuan. Everyone but the soldiers.
The Memorial for the Muslim, Hindu & Sikh
The Labuan War Cemetery was primarily intended to commemorate the officers and men of the Australian Army and Air Force who died as prisoners-of-war (POWs) in Borneo and in the Philippines from 1939 to 1945; as well as fallen men who fought during the 1945 operations to recover Borneo.The POWs of Sandakan, the perished war heroes of the Australian 7th, 8th and 9th Divisions, as well as those of the Punjab Signal Corp and a few locals are buried here.The site was officiated by the Australian government in June 1953.The cemetery contains 3,908 graves of soldier in perfectly squared platoons, much like they would have stood in salutation when alive.The soldiers buried here are from Australian, Great Britain, India, New Zealand and Malaysia.Of the 3,908 graves, 2,156 are unidentified and their headstones are inscribed “Known Unto God.” Of the 1,752 identified graves, 1,523 were soldiers, 220 airmen, 5 sailors and 4 civilians of which 814 are British, 858 Australians, 1 New Zealander, 43 Indians and 35 Malayan. The other 34 Indians soldiers were cremated and commemorated on the memorial at the Indian Army plot.
After the service
We caught a ride to the service with the owner of our hotel. Our hotel is 15-20 minutes away from the cemetery and the shuttle times didn’t work so we really appreciated the ride.After the almost 3 hour ceremony, which was quite interesting, we were invited for a light lunch by the hotel owner at one of his other hotels.While the intention was a light lunch, the Canadian’s in fact left stuffed like little piggies. Linda was smart and only ordered chicken satay and peanut sauce but it was still a bit too much.
After lunch we spent an hour or two at the pool.Pool time goes by so fast sometimes because we don’t take our watches, we just check the time on our Kindles when needed. One day our first dip in the pool saw us in the water for over an hour.If we float around the one pool edge we can catch some shade or sit on a set of steps that are under some trees where we can stay cool and out of the sun. We do spend some time in the full sun while in the water, but even with a heavy layer of sunscreen you have to be careful. Our lounge chairs are always in the shade.It’s just too hot otherwise!
Our flight to Labuan was on time.It’s a short flight, only 35 minutes.We feel it’s important to mention the flight cost $50 each.It’s approximately 175 km. That’s one tank of gas at home, or 1/2 a tank on our truck. Flights in Malaysia are so affordable.
Welcome to Labuan
Room 2317
The hotel shuttle picked us up at the airport.We have the same room as last year, room 2317 so it feels like home!
After we got settled we headed out for a walk.We walked 7.2 km, the temperature was 31 and felt like 39.Later by the pool it was 32 and felt like 42.While we have not actually been in the ocean, we overheard a couple say the pool is much cooler. The pool is NOT that cool.Plus the other thing about the ocean is they have posted there are stingrays, to shuffle your feet in the water. The hotel supplies water shoes for your use.In addition, it’s a long stretch of grass and sand to the ocean and as we have found the grass is full of sandflies that love to bite some of us, more about that later!We are content at the pool overlooking the ocean and life is good. It is the same pool attendants and they remembered us from last year and which room we are in! They are so friendly! We had supper at the hotel and called it a night.
Our days here are settling into a bit of a routine.We have breakfast, Gary has one or two bowls of Sarawak Laksa that he loves and Linda has scrambled eggs or one of the noodle dishes they have.We haven’t gone hungry yet, there is always something you can find on the buffet.We always have a big plate of fruit too.After breakfast, we’ve been heading down the local street that runs along the ocean.For most of the journey you get a nice breeze off the ocean which helps keep us going.It’s been very hot and humid, hotter than we remembered from last year!We’ve been averaging around 5-6 km each day.
All the locals wave and greet us, even those driving by wave like crazy!There is a little shop about 2.5 km from the hotel where we often stop for a cold water or drumstick ice cream treat. There’s also a little food stall on the beach named Warung Chailuk (Warung = shop, Chailuk is the area) where we stopped last year as she had fresh homemade donuts.We were disappointed to see it was closed but Friday when we walked by she was there cleaning.We asked her if she was opening and she said Monday she was reopening.We then asked if she still made donuts, she was shocked that we knew about them and we explained we had enjoyed them last year.So Monday, we made the hike.It was cloudy and overcast and the walk actually was pleasant.We arrived just in time as there was a rain shower.The donuts weren’t quite ready but we had an iced lemon tea and we soon had 6 hot mini donuts.It’s good thing it’s a bit of a walk as we can’t do that everyday! We spent RM 10 on our donuts and iced tea, an amazing $2.95 CAD.
Hot donuts, 60 cents CAD for 6 donuts
Refreshing lemon iced tea, $1.20 CAD each
The staff here at Palm Beach are very friendly.Our cleaning gal remembered us from last year and greeted us when she saw us.She is very accommodating and for the most part starts her cleaning day at our room!The day after we arrived she came to clean so we grabbed our Kindles and went to find somewhere to read for a bit while she cleaned.We finally decided to sit on some lounge chairs under a palapa towards the beach on the grass.At one point Linda thought she saw something on her leg and rubbed it only to find it was a tiny bug and there was some blood.Turns out Linda gotten eaten by sandflies – over 30 bites on her legs and ankles.Considering we are the same blood type, bugs seem to love Linda as Gary never got one bite.It’s now day 4 of the bug bites and they are still red, inflamed and itchy.We were chatting with the pool guys today and he took one look at the bites and said “sandflies!”Linda is very diligent with the bug spray now and we avoid the grass. Paradise in not perfect.
The hotel has a shuttle that is free and will take us in town and pick us up at a designated time.It’s been great to have that available.We’ve been into town a couple of nights.Picked up some beer, snacks and a few essentials.We also plan it so we are there for supper and head to our favourite Indian restaurant JJ Nazar.The food is great. We leave the hotel at 4:15pm and leave town for the hotel at 7pm.On our recent trip to town a couple of guys were catching a ride to the airport to fly home to Kuala Lumpur.We got to talking and asked them about Indian food in KL.They gave us a restaurant name that we will check out when we are back in KL. They were quite curious how we ended up here in Labuan, it’s a quiet place we told them. While we were in the mall that night a young guy about 16 asked to have a selfie with Gary.We had a good laugh and he got a selfie.We wouldn’t call it celebrity status but we do stick out!
On our trip to town, Gary got haircut as soon as we arrived.Just after 4:30pm. Wouldn’t you know he had the same your guy cut his hair as the last time were were here.After an excellent haircut for RM 10 about $3 CADthe barber needed a selfie with Gary.Of course every one in the shop had to be in the picture.Gary handed the kid his phone to take another selfie… Check out his celebrity status below.
Barber shop group photo (barber on left)
November 10 we headed out early to town to buy Gary a shirt for remembrance day.In the end he bought very dark, almost black pants with a metallic dark blue thread in them along with a white short sleeved shirt.We are now set for Remembrance Day.We sorta planned on buying some light weight dress pants for him here, but not ones made from recycled bottles. Did we mention they still use plastic straws here? They are magnificent, and don’t collapse.Total price of dress pants, hemmed in 30 minutes and a white shirt, under $60 CAD.
We arrived in Miri and caught a Grab from the airport to our hotel, The Imperial.There was a large line up for check-in.When it was finally our turn the representative informed us that they had upgraded us – said something about an issue with the room we were booked in.We didn’t get into what the issue was, maybe we don’t really want to know.After seeing a live bedbug in Kuala Lumpur let’s just say ignorance is bliss. FYI: we scour the room and bed before unpacking everywhere! Anyway, our upgraded room was on the 23rd floor, the top floor of the hotel.It is a large room and we are enjoying the extra space.
Our hotel, the Imperial - centre high rise building.
We went for a walk around the immediate area around the Imperial Hotel.We picked up some extra drinking water and some beer to bring back to our room.Directly across the street from the hotel there is a boulevard with small containers that open up to small kiosks and they put out tables along the street for patrons to sit at.There is a huge variety of food.We enjoyed our supper along the street.Two plates of Mee Hoon and 2 bottles of water were RM 12 ($3.48 CAD).The Mee Hoon was delicious.On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the Satay kiosk and bought 8 skewers of chicken satay that also came with a cup of hot peanut sauce for dipping.They were great and only RM 1 each – so 8 pieces were all of $2.32 CAD.There is no place in Saskatoon we could get a meal for the 2 of us for under $6!
Sunday morning we headed down for breakfast.It is a huge restaurant and it was pretty much packed.We did find a good table.There was lots of hot food choices, fruit, breads, juices and coffee.We both thought the breakfast in Kuching was slightly better but truthfully we both had all we needed to eat.We caught a Grab from the hotel to Canada Hill, The Grand Old Lady and the Petroleum Museum.It is a ridge overlooking Miri and home to the historical oil well #1, known as the Grand Old Lady.
Malaysia's first oil well in Miri, Sarawak
Oil was first struck here by Sarawak Shell in 1910.It was a Canadian driller, Charles McAlpine, who erected the first rig and drilled here.Apparently he was also responsible for recruitment of locals and foreigners to work on the oilfields.The museum was interesting but we almost froze to death as the AC was cranked.
We walked around the museum to the hill overlooking the city of Miri where there is a huge sign.Same idea as Hollywood except it says Miri.
Petroleum Museum
The hilltop Miri sign near the Grand Old Lady
We caught a Grab back to the hotel and then wandered around the adjoining mall.The mall was packed, obviously most of the local tourists were here to shop in the air conditioned mall.We escaped and grabbed a couple of beer and some ice from the restaurant and headed back to our room for a bit.
We spent some time at the pool which was nice.We managed to drag a couple lounge chairs to a shady spot.We had the whole pool to ourselves.The water was warm but still refreshing.The pool was very clean unlike the pool in Kuching that was cloudy.Every hotel has some little place for improvement.The Imperial Hotel in Miri had the nicest pool!The Astana Riverside had a better breakfast.How do you weight breakfast vs swimming pools?
Pool on the 5th floor
The shelter from rain across the pool by the restaurant
We ended off our night back at the street vendor that sold us the chicken sticks the previous nights.We order Mee Goreng Ayam, Literally, noodles fried chicken.It was delicious and slightly spicy, not over spicy.When we finished the noodle dish we ordered 6 chicken satay and peanut sauce.They were delicious.You could eat too many satay without trying because they are so good.And the sauce, Mmmm!
Day 3 in Miri
After breakfast we went in search of souvenirs at the local hand craft market.There were some beautiful things to buy.For us luggage space and weight are always a concern so we only got a couple of things.Gary bought a Sarawak tribal art shirt. It features Iban (tribe) art which we were told is the tree of life. We both bought wrist bracelets and another item for a gift.
We spent the afternoon at the pool reading in the shade and floating in the pool which was once again like our own private pool.We watched the guys on the scaffold painting our hotel. Probably not a sought after job dangling 23 floors above ground in the heat, wind and occasional rain shower. The strangest thing we have ever seen, rain falling from a perfectly cloudless blue sky! We had to duck into a covered area by the pool for 15 minutes until the rain shower disappeared.
It's hard to tell but these guys are fully covered from head to toe - including full face coverings.
They are painting near the top - around 20th floor!
For supper we met our friend at the Ming Cafe.The name of the cafe is a bit misleading, it’s a bar.We drank way too much beer, sampled deep fried pork hock and ate a pineapple full of rice.To end the night we had to sample some wine! We keep telling ourselves we are old enough to know better!After we were done for the night we walked 200 metres back to our hotel.We may have been slightly wobbly.
Our companions for the night at the Ming Cafe
Day 4 in Miri
Slightly hungover and tired we managed to eat some breakfast. We got back to our room and resisted the urge to crawl back into bed.
We went for lunch at the little restaurant down the street.We had eaten here the afternoon before and had ice cream and orange juice, if you call that eating.So for lunch we had Mee Goreng Ayam – bigger diameter noodles with a darker sauce, similar to soya sauce but only in looks.There was small deep fried chunks of chicken in it. The waiter really wanted us to pay in Canadian dollars so he could see the money.Too bad we didn’t have any on us.
We ended up at the pool for the afternoon. Supper consisted of street food Mee Hoon Ayam – vermicelli noodles with chicken, pretty good tasting and lemon iced tea.The tea here is similar to what we have had in Thailand, it’s a black tea with some kind of spice added.According to google: about 1 teaspoon loose black tea leaf (to taste),1 star anise clove, 1 sliver of vanilla bean, 1 or 2 cardamom cloves, 1 small cinnamon stick and sugar to taste. This may be wrong but the taste was good.
We headed back to our room to get packed up for our departure the next morning and get to bed in good time.
We took a RM 1 each (30 cents) ferry boat across the river and walked up the hill to the Fort Margherita Museum.The fort was constructed by Charles Brooke the Rajah (ruler) of Sarawak. Also know as the White Raja.Charles was born the UK.He was the beginning of a dynasty that ruled Sarawak.The museum was interesting and from the top of the fort we had some good views across the river.
Looking across the river towards our hotel - the tallest looking building in the centre.
Looking the other direction with the Sarawak State Legislative Building
From there we walked back to the ferry boat and went back across the river.Our admission from the Fort also included admission to the Ranee Museum.The Ranee Museum is located in the Old Court House.It was a short walk from the ferry and our hotel.The museum centres on the life, legend and legacy of Margaret de Windt, wife of the second Rajah Brooke, who became the queen of Sarawak at the age of 19.It wasn’t a huge museum but was well laid out and was very interesting to learn about the Brooke family and their legacy.There was a restaurant in another wing of the Old Courthouse.
Sarawak Advances and Prospers
Sarawak became one of the states of Malaysia in 1963, marking the beginning of a new chapter of development and progress. Over the past 60 years, the state has made significant strides in various sectors, especially in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and tourism. The Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) initiative has attracted investments and contributed to the development of industries such as agriculture, aquaculture, and renewable energy. Sarawak’s cultural diversity has also been embraced, and the state has become a popular tourist destination with its natural wonders, indigenous cultures, and festivals. Moving forward, Sarawak has set its sights on becoming a high-income state by 2030 through its Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy and the continuation of infrastructure development. The state’s rich biodiversity and cultural heritage will also continue to be preserved and promoted for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.
Arbor near Ft Margherita Museum
After touring the Ranee Museum we stopped at the adjoining building’s restaurant. We sat outdoors and had a cold orange and dragonfruit soda and shared a slice of olive oil chocolate cake.The cake was tasty although a bit rich, the soda was delicious.From there we hiked farther up the hill to the Borneo Cultural Museum.It is a huge and impressive building.However, while some of the displays and artifacts were interesting the lighting was so low that you could barely read the information! By the time we were done we both felt like we had headaches from straining to see and slightly dizzy from peering down trying to read.The information plaques were too low and poorly lit.Maybe more suitable for school children, which we saw an abundance of.Some wearing masks, some not.While there was some really interesting items we both felt we got more out of the other museums.
This is not the entrance, you enter the museum around back!
Huge Sarawak tribal wood carving. These trees were gigantic!
We stopped along a market street and checked things out.We made our way back to the hotel and picked up a couple of T-shirts for Gary. We also saw a display for school uniforms.
Mr Big school uniform. We haven't seen anyone this huge!
On the walk back to our hotel we found a small convenience store that had canned beer so we picked up a couple of those.Supper was back at The Top Spot.Gary had butter grilled prawns 30 RM, Linda had black pepper chicken 20 RM, we shared a small rice and mixed vegetable again.The meal was excellent. RM 71 was $20.60 CAD for supper. We did share a large Tiger beer for RM19 $5.50 CAD. The large bottle is about 640 m
One interesting fact. When Linda worked at SaskEnergy (a long long time ago) a couple of the service technicians made a business trip (also a long long time ago) to Kuching and Miri, Sarawak. They were representing SaskEnergy International. Nobody but those two guys knew what a great place they got to visit! Kuching is a beautiful and clean city. You won’t find litter anywhere!
We noticed this sign immediately. The similar fleaf as SaskEnergy. (Flame leaf = fleaf)
On our last day in Kuching we went for a walk in the morning and checked out the business area back of the hotel.During our hot sweaty walk we did find a massage place.We spent some time cooling off in the hotel and then hiked back to the massage place about 3:30.Our massages were unbelievable.The women were so strong and they attacked all the knots!We staggered back to the hotel and then headed down the waterfront to the James Brookes Bistro.We both ended up having the Green Curry with Chicken – it was amazing.We both love green curry and this certainly didn’t disappoint.While at the restaurant we met a young couple who are just launching their YouTube channel.Think we are subscriber #6.He is from Malaysia and she is from the UK but they live in Australia.
Saturday, Oct. 28, we had our breakfast, packed up and checked out.We caught a Grab to the airport.The Air Asia flight to Miri was pleasantly on-time and in fact, we landed 20 minutes ahead of schedule.A nice change from our delayed flight earlier in the week.
Our hotel in Kuching was quite nice. The location was excellent and very picturesque. It would be important to mention that we booked and paid for a king bed at the Astana Riverside Hotel in Kuching.We ended up with 2 queen beds. Slightly disappointing when you don’t get what was offered and paid for.
Bamboo Crab displayed at Top Spot Food Court
The Top Spot Food Court where we ate the first night was a bit hard to find. Especially in the sleep deprived state after sitting in the airport for half the day watching it rain.Actually, it rained so hard at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) that you could not see the runway.A plane taxiing out was barely visible.There was quite a bit of lightning so maybe we were ok being 3 hours late.We are not really sure what the holdup was. The plane was late coming in from Bangkok. Then they said that our flight had not been given clearance to board.By that time there was a full on storm. Anyhow, Top Spot Food Court was upstairs, above a restaurant.Hard to explain, but you had to walk through a dining area of a restaurant to go up more stairs to a rooftop foodcourt.It’s like the top level of a parking lot with a cover for protection from the sun and rain.Apparently they can serve over 1000 people in one night.There are multiple food stalls all around the perimeter but they pretty much have the same menu.Beverages are ordered from “beverage stalls” they are different entities from the food vendors.Between several food stalls there is a beverage stall, they all work their own section of tables.
Prawns, they are large but there are bigger ones available.
The view from our hotel.
Our first morning in Kuching started out great with the inclusive breakfast. Fresh coffee, croissants, danishes, dragon fruit, watermelon, honeydew melon, orange wedges, fruit salad with apples, raisins and walnuts, toast and peanut butter and Gary’s favourite Kuching Laksa also called Sarawak Laksa.This Laksa is a coconut based soup broth with fine vermicelli noodles, chicken, shrimp, strips of scrambled egg, bean sprouts, tiny pieces of fried shallots, Thai chilli, lemongrass, ginger, galangal, tamarind and a dollop of sambal on top.Sambal is a spicy thick red paste made from beleclan or belechan which is fermented shrimp. Honestly, you’d never know it had shrimp paste or anything else other than hot chilli peppers. A bowl of Laksa will clear your sinuses and wake you up faster than coffee.
We walked around Kuching along the river walk and crossed the bridge that took us over to the Sarawak Legislature.Basically we got our bearings.We did meet a guy from Toronto along the way.Gary’s Toronto Maple Leaf hat is a real conversation starter.Later in the afternoon it clouded up and rained.We ended up at a small bar down from our hotel and tried a local beer followed by our usual Tiger beer.After the rain let up we headed back to the hotel for a bit.We ended up back at the bar for supper, Linda had a burger and Gary had the chicken pot pie along with another beer.The meal was ok but not one of the best we’ve had. We’d rate it on the low end for bar food.
Low clouds cover the top of Merdeka 118 the world’s 2nd tallest building.
We left Saskatoon October 18, 2023 on the 5:25 pm flight to Vancouver. We then endured a 7 hour layover in Vancouver. Thankfully we have lounge passes to the Air Canada lounge through our Aeroplan credit card. Free food and beer and a relatively peaceful and comfortable place to stay. The lounge closed at 12:15 am so we went to our gate for the second flight from Vancouver to Taipei on EVA Airways. We left on time around 2 am Vancouver time (3 am Saskatoon). Yes this sounds tiring. After our meal, which was chicken and rice, or in Linda’s case, “silicone chicken”, we fell asleep in our seats which were ok. We arrived in Taiwan’s capital Taipei about 11 hours later. We had a short layover of one and a half hours. Our flight was perfect, at least for us. We landed in Kuala Lumpur about four and a half hours later around 11 am. We were met by a person holding a sign with our names on it. The bad news, our luggage was not on our flight, it would arrive in 3 hours with a China Airways flight CI721. We could either wait or have it sent by midnight to our room in downtown Kuala Lumpur. We were so tired by then, we couldn’t even think straight.
We proceeded to get SIM cards for our phones at a 7-11. It took forever as the place was extremely busy. After we got our phone SIM cards activated we have Malaysian phone numbers with unlimited data. The cost was about 45 RM (Malaysian Ringgit) or $13 CAD for one month. Unlimited texting and voice calls in Malaysia. To activate, you need to take a photo of your passport page with your picture and then take a selfie that apparently needs to match the passport picture. Our passports were issued in 2017 and after being up for 40+ hours, our selfie looked bad. Terrible in fact! It took a dozen selfie photo tries to get each SIM card approved. Our 3 hour wait for luggage turned in to less than an hour.
We bought a bottle of water and ate some trail mix while we waited. We went to the “missing luggage” area and they allowed one person to go fetch the luggage. Gary went and walked the whole length of the baggage area, around a dozen sections to the very last spot where we were told to report. Once there, he was directed back to the carousel that had the China Airline flight’s luggage. Gary waited on a bench beside a guy from Vancouver that had been on the same flight as us. He was in the same boat. Finally bags started dropping onto the carousel. The guy from Vancouver got his immediately, so Gary was hopeful. It wasn’t long and both bags came around. Gary texted Linda and we met at the arrival hall. We got outside and to the Grab (like Uber) pick up area. In about 15 minutes we were on our way to the Bukit Bintang area of Kuala Lumpur. Destination Hotel Swiss Garden.
We got checked in to room 1301 which we booked through the agoda.com booking site. We got unpacked, charged our phones a bit and headed out to the Jalan Alor street food night market. When approaching Grand Sky Restaurant we were met by the staff that remembered us from the previous year. How do they do that? Our waiter Janson gave us hugs and remembered our names. Ok, he remembered Linda’s name for sure! Amazing. We ate a great meal and had a few well deserved beer. It wasn’t long until we headed back the few blocks to our hotel. It was raining by then and we were fine with the warm wet air. The airplane had dried us out like prunes.
Shrimps, sweet and sour chicken and stir fry vegetables.
The next day we tried to make some flight and hotel bookings for the next 12 days. We had purposely not booked any flights or hotel rooms that did not have adequate cancellation in case we got delayed or something worse. Our Aeroplan card was useless because when we tried to book flights online the two factor authorization went to our Canadian mobile number. We ended up using a different card that authenticates via an email address. Aeroplan’s card failed us. We got some hotels booked for Kuching on October 24 and Miri on October 28. Both places are in Sarawak the Malaysian state located on the island of Borneo, also known as East Malaysia. When we called the credit card company, they gave us a work around that was supposed to allow us to add another phone number to our Aeroplan card profile. We tried their suggestion but when we tried to verify the number, a process where the credit card sends a text message, we could not receive the message. We eventually figured out we flipped two numbers around when we recorded Gary’s phone number. Stupid mistakes are easy when you are tired.
We went to a nearby mall for some lunch and a few batteries for the GoPro camera. We returned to the room for a rest, then headed back to our favourite spot, Grand Sky Restaurant. Supper was great. We got back to our room in decent time around 8 pm. Exhausted. Linda killed a bug right by the door on the tile floor. A quick google search identified our bug. Gary took a photo and the bug on a piece to tissue in a ziplock bag to the front desk. He showed the picture on the phone to our favourite bellman and he took Gary’s phone to the manager. Not a question was asked and we got upgraded to a slightly nicer room down the hall, room 1309. Maybe not far enough for our liking, but what can you do? We had washed and hung up shirts, undies and socks in 1301 earlier in the day so we had to haul everything to the new room. Once in the new room we realized the safe was locked shut and dead (no light came on the touchpad). We made countless phone calls and a trip to the front dest to get that resolved. We never got to bed til after midnight. We were wrecked by then. Of course a day later the safe quit again, another trip to the front dest, a chat with our trusty bellman and we had new batteries in the safe. To be honest, our trusty bellman Sabuj was the main reason we booked a return stay to the Hotel Swiss Garden. Sabuj is the nicest guy!
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Our upgraded room 1309
The next day we took a Grab to the butterfly park. It was warm, humid and an enjoyable outing. Grand Sky again for supper. We met a few guys from Miri, Sarawak where we will be going October 24. Gary sat at their table and next thing he has another beer in front of him. These guys are commercial divers that do rig inspections. You couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch of guys. Finally Linda moved over from our table. She too had a beer in a flash! We had asked what frog tasted like and before we knew what happened they ordered a frog for us, We both loved it. Even Linda tried it! Yes!. We chatted with these guys for at least an hour, probably more. One of the fellows is Iban, an ethnic tribe of Borneo. We had lots to talk about from diving to Malaysian politics. Finally, Gary went to pay for our supper and to buy a few beers for the guys! John, one of the guys shows up and has a chat with the waiter (in Malaysian) and it appears we are unable to proceed because they insist to pay for our meals and drinks. We already know how this ends, you can’t pay. They are so generous it brings tears to your eyes. We got John’s contact information and went back to our room. We kept one eye open for blood sucking insects that crawl into bed. Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite!
The next day we went hotel shopping for our next trip back to Kuala Lumpur. We found a couple of nice options. One is very nice, newly renovated and right in the same area. It may be slightly more money. We have not booked it yet, but that’s our plan.
A little frog for supper
We checked out of our hotel October 24th. We allowed for one hour travel time to the airport so we’d arrive 2 hours before departure. On the way down the elevator with our bags we got a message that our flight was delayed. Due to the delay we arrived at the airport with extra time to spare. We checked in for our flight and were politely informed that we would need to show a return flight to KL from Borneo before they’d issue our boarding passes. Malaysian Borneo runs their own immigration. In some ways, it’s like a different country. We ended up standing off to the side at the check in counter and booked a return flight on Gary’s cell phone for December 6 from Kota Kinabalu. Guess what? The Aeroplan credit card does not work, again! So we re-do the booking and used a different credit card. We get the return flight confirmation and finally get checked in. The Dec. 6 return flight we booked cost RM 999 for a 2 hour trip. That’s $288 CAD for 2 people one way. We paid extra for a flex fair because we didn’t know what day we wanted to return. We have an overland wilderness adventure planned on November 30 for 2 nights and wanted to keep our options open.
We were 3 hours late arriving in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak. We got into our room and went to the Top Spot Food Court for supper. The food was great. 6 huge shrimp served in Asam (sour sour). The prawns are like chicken drumstick for $8.65 CAD Linda had sweet and sour chicken and we shared one small rice and a plate of stir fried vegetables. Our meal cost RM74, including a huge bottle of water. That amounts to $21.30 CAD. We actually were too full to eat it all – we left no prawns.
