Update
From Uncle Tan's we went back to Sandakan for one night and then back to KK via the mountain where we walked around for a couple of hours which was nice (fairly cool). One night in KK and then onto Labuan which was a nice clean duty free island. A carlberg beer cost RM1.80 (less than 1 au$). We stayed in a pretty dodgy place that had a simple latch (that was nailed to the door) with padlock on the outside to lock the room and only a loose bolt lock on the inside. There was a great fire escape though, just as easy to go up to our floor as down. Anway nothing got stolen and we were only there for one night. While aiting for the ferry to Brunei I had a chat with a guy who was originally from KL but had been working on Labuan for 11 months, he tried to help us with suggested itineraries but his english was very hard to understand. Before we got on the boat Jon and Tanya turned up, they too were on there way to Bunei. After an hour delay we got on the boat and had a smooth trip to Brunei.
We all stayed in the Apek Utama hotel which was nice (cheap by Brunei standards) we were told exactly what we were going to see and do by our very friendly overly helpful hotel Lady. So we dropped our bags and started our walk up the hill for our photo opportunity at sunset. It was a nice walk, 800+ steps and 2 1/2 hours later we were back at the hotel to shower and race out to the night market. We had to walk to the water taxi stop then walk for about 20 mins through the city to get to it. The night market was more a few food stalls than a market but hey. We made a huge mess trying to eat a crab that was supplied without any utensils and without having its limbs cracked for us, it was fun though.
The next day after a bit of a sleep in we started our 15-20 min walk to the museum via the sultans tomb. After about 20 mins we got to the tomb/office
after about 20 mins more we got to the museum only to find it was closed. Luckily a bus went past so we hailed it and went strait into the city and found aircon and icecream. Feeling rejuvinated we ventured over to the floating village which was another world. The city was imaculate the village was neat at house level but underneath was a rubbish dump. We couldn't tell in parts if there was ground underneath or just an island of trash. There were lots of cats some of which were quite fat (lots of rats and mice). We went off to see when the mosque would be open to non-muslim visitors (4:30-5:00) so we went for food and internet. At 4:30 we went back to the mosque only to find that it was not open to non-muslim people at all that day. Katie and I went back to the internet and Jon and Tanya went to see a movie.
Later we had tea at a different set of food stalls and then went back to the hotel. The next morning we met our ride to Miri (Sarawak, Malaysia) he was a news paper delivery man called Richard. It was much nicer to go all the way to miri by car instead of the 5 buses we would have had to catch to get there otherwise.
We stayed in miri for one night (in a brothel) and then got the early bus to Sibu. Sibu was a fairly nice town but we were woken in the middle of the night by a man in our hotel yelling (screaming) in an angry way and banging on doors. There was lots of commotion which sounded like other men trying to calm him down. He was locked outside for a while but he just kept on yelling and banging on the gate so someone let him back in. Although it was a bit scary Katie and I didn't really think anything of it till the morning when we realised it was all a bit wierd. Anyway we got up early to try and get on the 7:30 boat to Kuching but it was full so we had to wait for the 11:30 boat. It was mostly a smooth trip but it got a little rough when we got out to sea a bit and there was a bit of storm activity.
Well now we are in Kuching we will be flying to KL tomorrow to start the next leg. Kuching is a pretty nice city, full of western tourists and western tourist prices for things but hey. Anyway will write again soon.
Dylan
We all stayed in the Apek Utama hotel which was nice (cheap by Brunei standards) we were told exactly what we were going to see and do by our very friendly overly helpful hotel Lady. So we dropped our bags and started our walk up the hill for our photo opportunity at sunset. It was a nice walk, 800+ steps and 2 1/2 hours later we were back at the hotel to shower and race out to the night market. We had to walk to the water taxi stop then walk for about 20 mins through the city to get to it. The night market was more a few food stalls than a market but hey. We made a huge mess trying to eat a crab that was supplied without any utensils and without having its limbs cracked for us, it was fun though.
The next day after a bit of a sleep in we started our 15-20 min walk to the museum via the sultans tomb. After about 20 mins we got to the tomb/office
after about 20 mins more we got to the museum only to find it was closed. Luckily a bus went past so we hailed it and went strait into the city and found aircon and icecream. Feeling rejuvinated we ventured over to the floating village which was another world. The city was imaculate the village was neat at house level but underneath was a rubbish dump. We couldn't tell in parts if there was ground underneath or just an island of trash. There were lots of cats some of which were quite fat (lots of rats and mice). We went off to see when the mosque would be open to non-muslim visitors (4:30-5:00) so we went for food and internet. At 4:30 we went back to the mosque only to find that it was not open to non-muslim people at all that day. Katie and I went back to the internet and Jon and Tanya went to see a movie.Later we had tea at a different set of food stalls and then went back to the hotel. The next morning we met our ride to Miri (Sarawak, Malaysia) he was a news paper delivery man called Richard. It was much nicer to go all the way to miri by car instead of the 5 buses we would have had to catch to get there otherwise.
We stayed in miri for one night (in a brothel) and then got the early bus to Sibu. Sibu was a fairly nice town but we were woken in the middle of the night by a man in our hotel yelling (screaming) in an angry way and banging on doors. There was lots of commotion which sounded like other men trying to calm him down. He was locked outside for a while but he just kept on yelling and banging on the gate so someone let him back in. Although it was a bit scary Katie and I didn't really think anything of it till the morning when we realised it was all a bit wierd. Anyway we got up early to try and get on the 7:30 boat to Kuching but it was full so we had to wait for the 11:30 boat. It was mostly a smooth trip but it got a little rough when we got out to sea a bit and there was a bit of storm activity.
Well now we are in Kuching we will be flying to KL tomorrow to start the next leg. Kuching is a pretty nice city, full of western tourists and western tourist prices for things but hey. Anyway will write again soon.
Dylan
posted by Dylan at 4:10 PM
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