Borneo Blues

Arriving back to the hotel from the Kayak trip left me feeling overly tired and a bit nauseous. I assumed it was due to my not wearing a hat or enough sunscreen while on the river. An hour later my stomach was cramping and soon I was settled in the bathroom for what turned out to be a long engagement. For the remainder of the evening I painstakingly evacuated all bodily fluids from my system from whatever cavity was most accessible. Bryan and Mark never did feel any unpleasant effects. They went to dinner while I stayed entombed in the lavatory. When my body was fully depleted, I crawled into bed and thankfully slept the night through. By morning I was feeling better, although I still had no appetite. I took a few breaks and left the room with Bryan and Mark for some last day errands in Kuching. By the next morning I was pretty much back to normal.

Our final day in Kuching was mostly uneventful. We were given the name of a laundry service around the corner from the hotel, and we had them do our laundry. The price was very reasonable and the owners, Marco and Mary, were extremely friendly and helpful. Turns out that Marco visited Arkansas for a while and took college classes in Fort Smith. What a small world.

We finally figured out why the Chinese, Indian, and Riverwalk market areas were not as busy as we expected. It gets hot here, really hot, during the day. Many places open early, close during the day, and reopen again in the evening. The Riverwalk was absolutely packed with vendors, entertainers, and pedestrians when I showed up after 10 PM Friday night. So much for expecting a nice quiet walk along the river.  

Malaysia is a Muslim country, and the influence of Islam can be seen everywhere. In the USA we see someone at the airport with their head wrapped and everyone panics and starts looking for the exits. Here by far the majority of people are religious. Most women wear a hijab, which is the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women. But here there are no threats or fears or concerns with different religious groups. We are used to hearing about radical Islams, but these are typical Islams. They are kind, engaging, and seem as “normal” to us as any woman in the states, perhaps because they ARE normal. I’m afraid in the U.S. we have color coded Islam with a broad stroke of evil which isn’t any more accurate than Westboro Baptist representing the typical Christian.

We went to bed early, then got up and headed to the airport the following morning at 6:00 AM. The airport security was basically nonexistent, and we were at the gate waiting for the boarding call just moments after arriving at the airport. We had a short layover in Kuala Lumpur, and then on to Vietnam. We landed in Hanoi in the early afternoon. It was sad leaving Borneo. With the exception of my extended visit to the bathroom, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.