We spent the last day of 2019 kayaking down a rapidly rising river in the drenching rain!

On average December is the 3rd wettest month of the year in Kuching with around 20.6 inches of rain!  I reckon that all of those inches and maybe more fell on us yesterday.  But what’s a bit of rain when you’ve got an outdoor activity planned?  Our guides seemed to think that the weather was cold with all that rain coming down, but it seemed okay to us.  After a safety briefing, we headed off down a tributary of the Semadang River (the Upper Sarawak River).

Our guides were monitoring the water levels and volume in the river the whole time.  See the gap in the riverbank in the photo above?  We watched and heard a tree slide into the river at that point, creating some magificent waves.  We moved quickly downstream, covering around 6km in around 45 minutes.  Apparently this is MUCH faster than usual.

Floating down the river with us was a variety of fruit (that’s durian in the earlier photo) and plenty of bamboo (along with stray thongs and plastic bottles).  We were drenched, but excited and full of adrenaline.  So much fun!

We pulled over for a rest at a village along the way.  A risk assessment of our intended destination indicated that the water level was rising too quickly at our intended destination for us to be able to land safely, so we needed to finish paddling where we were.  It was essentially a case of flash flooding.  As much as we’d have liked to continue on, safety always comes first.  We explored the little village that we’d stopped at, examining the variety of fruiting plants that were growing in the gardens there (wing beans, oil palm, bananas, pineapples, coconuts, and soursop among others).  Eventually we drove back to Semadang Kayaking‘s base, where we were able to shower and change into dry clothes, and were treated to a delicious lunch.

The drive back to Kuching city took a little over an hour, driving through pointy mountains, winding valleys, past roadside cemeteries and churches, then through villages and housing subdivisions, past shopping malls (they’re everywhere), back into the centre of the city.  I have finally remembered to google the geology of Sarawak, and discovered this: the base of rocks that underlie Borneo, an island in Southeast Asia, was formed by the arc-continent collisions, continent–continent collisions and subduction–accretion due to convergence between the Asian, India–Australia, and Philippine Sea-Pacific plates over the last 400 million years. The active geological processes of Borneo are mild as all of the volcanoes are extinct. The geological forces shaping SE Asia today are from three plate boundaries: the collisional zone in Sulawesi southeast of Borneo, the Java-Sumatra subduction boundary and the India-Eurasia continental collision.

We giggle every time we pass a Petronus, always thinking of Harry Potter!  Sarawak actually specialises in the export of oil and gas, along with timber and palm oil.  Manufacturing and tourism are also significant industries.  The Sarawak government has this interesting article on the quality of life in Sarawak, clearly aimed at foreigners.

We were back at our accommodation mid-afternoon, so took off through the local streets again.  It’s very hit and miss as to what shops/businesses will be open; I can’t seem to work out any logic about the opening days/hours.  I love the way that the coffin shop sits between a framer and a cafe, directly across from a pepper and honey wholesaler, right near the waffle shop and massage business.

Much of what we did in our afternoon and early evening wanderings involved food and drink.  We enjoyed excellent Sarawak coffee at Black Bean Cafe, admired and wondered at the ingredients going in to dishes at a variety of hawker’s stands, then eventually settled ourself down in a cafe to dine on local dishes.

That’s Kampua Mee on the left and Kolok Mee on the right.  We figure that ‘mee’ just means ‘noodles’.  According to my Sarawak food guide, Kolok mee is light yellow egg noodles stirred with pork lard, soy sauce and black vinegar, topped with slices of bargequed and minced pork.  Kampua mee uses slightly straighter and thicker noodles and onion oil instead of vinegar in the coating.  It’s accompanied with a bowl of clear sop.  And it’s SO yummy.  Even the girls ate it!

Dan enjoyed another bowl of Sarawak laksa, this one slightly different to the one he’d had for breakfast the day before (they were out of prawns).  We also ordered rice topped with omelette, holding the customary chilli in the hope that the kids would eat more of it that way!  This type of street food comes at bargain prices – it was 27 ringit for four dishes and two drinks, which translates to around A$10. We also had a chat with the cafe staff.  Our 70 year old waiter used to be an income tax accountant, but he likes to help out his friend the cook who owns the cafe, and used to be a librarian!  Lots of interesting locals.

The girls and I headed back to the Marian to rest and read, while Dan enjoyed a sake in the little Japanese bar nearby then checked out the entertainment that was being planned for the evening along the waterfront.  There were huge stages set up with performers, the trees were all decorated in sparkling lights, but the rain continued to pour down.  So disappointing for the New Year’s Eve celebrations along the waterfront!  There were very few people willing to brave the weather at this stage.

We did what we usually do on New Year’s Eve – we were in bed before 10.00pm!  But we certainly were wide awake when the clock clicked over to midnight.  There were MASSES of loud fireworks set off along the waterfront, which is only about 200 metres from where we are staying!  We could hear, feel and smell them.  I eventually got out of bed and watched them from the window, with spectacular colour and plenty of smoke.  Most were going off from ground level (we are used to fireworks being sent from the tops of buildings in Melbourne) and I’m actually rather glad that we weren’t any closer!  There was a sustained ten minute light show, and the rain even held off for the hour before and after midnight.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of my family are still in bed.  Today will be a day of rest, a visit to the laundromat, and definitely more food.  It’s chill time!  Happy New Year to all.