We’re in Kuching!  Where is that, I hear some of you ask?  It’s in the state of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo.

I’m writing this early on Sunday morning. The sun isn’t up yet, but the first call to prayer was heard at 5.00am. My body is still on Melbourne time, and thinks that it is three hours later than it is. We left Melbourne late Friday afternoon, and flew to Brunei. Flight time was just over six hours. We were originally meant to continue on with a connecting flight, but due to technical difficulties with the connecting plane identified a couple of days earlier, Royal Brunei Airlines put us up in a hotel near the airport and we continued on with the two hour flight to Kuching the next morning. As it turned out, it probably turned out in our favour. Much better to sleep horizontally in a bed than arrive at what would have been 4.00am in our bodies’ time!

Flights and transfers all progressed fairly smoothly. Clare vomited on each flight, as she pretty much always does. Air sickness is such an unpleasant malady! Fortunately she feels fine after the event. Then we checked in to our hotel, The Marian Boutique Lodging House, which is right in the centre of old Kuching.

I still have a significant amount to learn about the culture and history of Malaysian Borneo. The Marian, where we are staying, was originally built by a Chinese businessman as a family home, completed in 1885. In 1933 it was sold to the Anglican mission and turned into St Mary’s boarding house that operated until 1967. It then became a Diocesan guesthouse until renovated and opened as a private hotel in 2013. While our room is quite small, the property is extensive and has many common areas for guests to relax in and enjoy. Just a note for those of you who might be interested in staying herer – this property isn’t suitable for those who can’t handle steps and stairs. There are plenty of both!

We enjoyed a wander around the local streets, scoping our location and eating options. We’re quite close to the waterfront and many places of interest to tourists. My family always enjoys popping in to a 7-11 and local cafes to see the similarities differences in food and drink availability and packaging between home and here. Milo seems to be a big hit locally!

When we arrived at our hotel there was a bride and grooom having photos taken on the property – as you can see, the hotel is lovely – and there were people setting up for a marriage proposal that was going to take place there in the evening!  Stella was quite concerned that it was a lot of trouble to be going to, and what would happen if the future bride didn’t say yes?  Fortunately we could tell from the clapping we heard at 8pm that she did say yes!

As I write this the rain is pouring down outside.  The weather in Kuching at this time of year is generally tops of around 30 degrees and lows of around 24 degrees.  It will rain at some stage every day – humidity is extremely high.  Just what you’d expect in the tropics!  As long as we’re somewhere with airflow it’s actually very comfortable.  And there are sweet cool drinks to buy everywhere we go.

Today we plan to visit museums (lots are open on Sundays) and generally take in the local sights.  Many shops and restaurants are closed on weekends, even moreso because it’s between Christmas and New Year.  The city is extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion.  This is our first holiday in a predominantly Muslim country, and we are looking forward to learning more about the people and the history of the country in general.  We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and enjoy the benefits that travel brings to us as a family.  Hopefully this will make us – and especially our daughters – more resilient and well-rounded people who see all the similarities between people as well as enjoying and understanding the differences.