Alcohol and chocolate

Hi!

I last left off on my last day in Brunei. I awoke that morning and savoring the last few precious moments in the Sheraton, I ended up leaving the hotel late and got to the bus station a half hour late. But I had all day to travel and nothing was lost. I got to where I had to go without any trouble (partly thanks to a friendly man from Brunei I met the other day) and while waiting for the bus met Mah. Mah is from Malaysia and had come to Brunei on holiday for a few days. He is originally from penisular Malaysia but is currently living in Kota Kinabalu. And so, seeing as that was where I was headed, we spent the day traveling together. He is a dentist specializing in oral surgery and is working off his required three years of government service. In exchange for a degree, he gave them three years - not a bad deal. But they can place him wherever they like, hence he is far from home in Borneo. We got on the bus and headed to the ferry. The trip was divided into three parts - bus to ferry, ferry to Labuan, ferry to Kota Kinabalu (from now on referred to as KK). Labuan is the connecting point for this journey and is a part of Malaysia so I went through immigration in Brunei and again in Labuan. Labuan, being an island and a semi-autonomous region, is a duty-free haven. Alcohol and chocolate are sold at very cheap prices and as a result many people flock here to purchase them and there are stores selling only alcohol and chocolate on every corner. Labuan is also a historic city of sorts as this is where the Japanese mounted their invasion of North Borneo during WWII and where the Allied forces began their campaign to liberate Borneo. Mah and I headed to a WWII memorial and graveyard on the island and spent a bit of time there. I've written about the war on several occasions and have spent hours reading about the events and stories from that time period. It's very interesting to be in these places - places which have such significance yet are seemingly unmentioned in American classrooms and seem so far from reality. But there is something very real in walking through a graveyard passing by the graves of Australians and Britons, many of whom were my age or younger. It was also interesting to speak with Mah about WWII and his impression of thees events in Malaysia and throughout the world. He said the Japanese invaded Borneo because of its vast oil reserves which were necessary to sustain a larger invasion of the Pacific.

Coincidentally enough, Mah had a friend working in a government clinic across from the hospital. He had mentioned that he had a friend on the island (one of the advantages of being placed by the government at different clinics throughout the country - you have friends throughout the country) and was surprised to see that the cemetery was across from the clinic. We met his friend and got a tour of the clinic and then had lunch together. Mah's friend gave us a ride into town where he bought a few bottles of whiskey and I some chocolate. I was tempted to buy some wine, but given that I was on my way to climb a mountain I thought it better to go with chocolate. Plus, I'd been resisting the urge to by M&M's for a while since they were so expensive but here they price was reasonable so I indulged. We boarded the ferry and 3 hours later I was in KK.

Mah gave me a lift to the hostel and we made plans for dinner the following day and then I was on my own to explore yet another new city. I checked in and hit the streets running. I ran across some kids hanging out on the boardwalk along the harbor and after returning their shouts of hello struck up a conversation and ended up spending about a hour just hanging out on the boardwalk with them. They would try to show off in which ever way they could. Some would showcase their dance moves while others their diving skills (several of them were swimming in the harbor and were jumping off the boardwalk) and others would continuously speak to me in English. It was a blast. Before I knew it the sun had set and I was starving and they had to run home so we parted ways and I had dinner on the boardwalk at a little cafe. Night market walking and an ice-blended fruit juice finished out my night and I was off to bed.

The next day came and went without too much to write about. I spent the morning at the museums in town and the afternoon at an orangutan sanctuary outside of town. I could write about the orangutans but I've lost my motivation and there isn't much to tell. As Borneo is developed the orangutans are displaced and many young orangutans find themselves without parents or lost and are rescued and brought here before be transferred to the larger sanctuary on the other side of the island.

I did have dinner with Mah and he drove me around town showing me all the sights. As we were driving I saw a sign for the Observatory Tower and thought that would be neat. We went and the "tower" turned out to be a patch of dirt alongside the road where you could park your car and have a view of the city. And that's it. I'm sure more interesting and exciting things happened, but at the moment they are eluding me and for that I apologize.

RM