Last day in Kuching (Borneo)
Fun fact. I quit my job. Or rather, I'm taking a pause. When I said there were a lot of reasons I was ending my contract early, it was true. Around three years' worth of reasons, stress, and feeling undervalued, I figured it was time to call it a day. At least for a while. I want a few months to just breathe and not have to wake up at 5am or 6am. Or go to bed at a grandma hour. Or go to bed without Marcus!! Or feel unseen.
That leaves a significant vacuum in my days, one that I'm not unfamiliar with, but I'm trying to approach it differently this time. I'm trying to value this time, rather than be scared of it. I'm usually scared at how long my time in between jobs is going to last, and I stress about whether and when someone is going to hire me. This time, I know I'll get hired. I don't know when, but it's just a question of time. And I don't want to waste this time, I want to treat it as precious and to use it wisely. Even if using it wisely is just sitting, or walking at the Botanic Gardens, or reading a book. I don't want to let the abundance of time scare me, I want to embrace it.
My last day was on February 28th, and when Marcus scheduled a work trip that week, I thought, fuck it! I'm going on a trip, too. And voila, here I am in Kuching, one of the big destination cities in Borneo. When I think of Borneo, I imagine someplace untamed, on the further reaches of the earth. I think parts of that are true, but Kuching is a built-up city with big, beautiful modern buildings.
And not-so-modern gorgeous old buildings.
And street art. Because a city must have street art these days. I do like this hornbill, though.
I have to say, this trip has had far more rain than expected. It was pouring when my plane landed, which made it super hard to get a cab. (I got my elbows out.) It rained so hard, my AirBnB had a giant puddle of water when I checked in and got an even bigger one the next night. Apparently this amount of rain is not normal for Kuching, even during the rainy season. Despite it not being very cold when it's raining, it's not much fun touristing around in the rain. And the boat tour I booked for the Santubong wetlands, got canceled due to the weather. It did go ahead the next night, though perhaps it shouldn't have.
This is how it started.
We even saw a group of proboscis monkeys, though they weren't close enough for a good picture. They're the ones with the giant nose, which apparently helps them regulate temperature. These monkeys are also great swimmers, I'm told, with webs on their hands and feet, and a belly that helps them float. The things you learn!
It started well, but then...well...the rains came.
The rain started pouring, actually, accompanied by lightning and thunder. I'm not going to lie, it was unsettling. We had to backtrack and pull over for a while, waiting for the rain and wind to pass. When it was finally clear enough to go, the driver pretty well floored it back to the jetty. It felt dangerous, but sometimes you just don't know, you know? I'm not on boats very often so I don't have a great sense of when fast is too fast or when the bumps are unsafe bumps. I had a sense of awe, fright, and curiosity, speeding through dark waters (where, despite our not seeing them, there are crocodiles), holding onto the side of the boat and watching the sky light up in a show that made up for our missing the fireflies. It was scary. And also invigorating, somehow. The risk, the vulnerability. And feeling like I had no control over any of it, like I was just along for the ride.
I think it was fine, though on our drive home, our guide said he kept getting texts from people checking in on him to make sure he was okay. Maybe it wasn't so safe. We were all soaked and shivering, so that pretty much sealed in my evening.
Today I had the perfect indoor activity--a cooking class. The thing is, I don't actually love cooking classes, but I love food, I love markets, and I love getting introduced to new foods and means of preparing food. Maybe I do love cooking classes but haven't truly admitted it to myself yet. The class today started off with a trip to the Medan Niaga Satok market and I got an introduction to all kinds of foods I'd never seen before.
Terung kuning -- or yellow jungle eggplant. This went in our laksa dish today.
Belimbing merah aka jungle star fruit. Which is good for digestion, the lady at the market told us. Unless you eat too many. Then...well...you know.
It was tasty. Sweet, a little sour, and just a little chalky. I'd eat it again.
Midin or jungle fern. This was an ingredient in a coconut and pumpkin soup we cooked up.
Salak, a palm fruit
Soursop. I've had soursop juice quite a bit, but I didn't realize this is what they looked like. Apparently they call it Dutch durian here in Borneo. Even though the Dutch never colonized Borneo or Malaysia. Weird.
Beautiful torch gingers. These are on my list of foods to experiment with.
More ginger varieties than you can shake a stick at.
Lots of bananas, too, including the red-skinned bananas we tried (very banana-y). I actually have a neighbor back in Singapore that grows red bananas, though they look bigger and I'm not convinced these neighbors even eat them.
I also loved these giant bananas that are the size of a child's arm.
I balked at buying jungle honey in Desaru, and I regretted it. Now I've made up for it by buying some from the lady who told us about the digestive benefits of jungle starfruit. Jungle honey!!!
Only a few pictures from the cooking class.
Torch ginger flower, ginger, shallots, turmeric leaves, and another fresh herb that I can't remember for the life of me. We mixed these and freshly grated coconut into rice. What??!! I've had rice mixed with fresh coriander, but this is another ball game. Delicious, fresh, pungent. A pure delight.
Left to right:
- Gula apong chicken made with a palm sugar that's like gula melaka but it's a local variety. With shallots, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and tamarind juice--this was my favorite dish, it was caramely and sweetly addictive.
- Pumpkin, jungle fern, coconut soup.
- Sarawak laksa with the yellow eggplant, chicken, torch ginger flower buds, coconut milk, and yet again the magic combination of lemongrass, ginger, shallots, and garlic.
- The most beautiful, fresh rice you've ever seen.
- Rojak with jicama, cucumber, pineapple, and grated carrot with salt, sugar, and calamansi juice.
How is that for a delicious meal?? And a ridiculous amount of food for one person to eat. Who knew I'd be eating leftovers.
After walking some of that food off, I headed out to one of the big attractions here--Semenggoh Nature Reserve where you get a chance to see rehabilitated orangutans.
I was in luck! I saw this mama and her little one munch through durian, sweet potatoes, and some other orange jungle fruit.
And as if I hadn't had enough food, I took myself out for ice cream. I mean, it was the gula apong ice cream, I couldn't pass it up. It was delicious, and I was surprised that the flavor didn't overdose into sweetness. Cornflakes and crushed oreos seemed like the right toppings, and they were. They complemented the not-too-sweetness of it all.
That's it for now. I'm tired and need to get back to my leftovers, with some tuak on the side to celebrate my big life decision to quit my job. Tomorrow it's off to the Borneo Cultures Museum which gets rave reviews. I'm excited.
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