Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Sarawak Laksa for breakfast

Steamed buns and beef balls for lunch



The ABC special for dinner

A day in the village

Spent part of the morning helping the women prepare lunch of locally grown veggies.



Then, sang and danced the hokey pokey with my new friends.

They weren't kidding about Kampung Kiding

20 scientists, staff members and village porters set off to Kampung Kiding at 10 am. Three hours and 17 bamboo bridges later, we arrive!

Forget Dr. Scholl's ...

Came back from the jungle village a day early. Got me a one hour foot massage for $12 from a Chinese guy, alongside 6 other clients with their massage therapists in the same room, had dinner and a lime-ade for less than $2; and watched two telenovelas: one from India; and the other from Malaysia. Didn't understand a word anyone said all day, but I got my day of pampering in. :)

One Ringgit, Ringgit

· 1 guava Danish – 1 ringitt (30 cents)

· 1 iced lemon tea – 1.50 ringitts (50 cents)

· 1 liter of bottled water – 1.35 (40 cents)

· 1 bowl of Laksa – 4 ringitts (small: $1.05; medium: $1.55; large $2)

1 way taxi ride for 4 – 20 ringitts (almost $7 per cab; less than $2 person)

· 1 small package of cookies – 3 ringitts ($1 for Malaysian brand, $3 for US brand)

· 1 massage with reflexology (70 minutes) – 28 ringitt (less than $10)

· Oh, and their gas is subsidized. They are part of OPEC and are exporters of oil.

No surfing or soaking here

It is Sunday afternoon after 4pm and two thirds of my time in Sarawak have passed by. Thinking about what life would be like to live here, two comments come to mind. Sabim, one of our Gawai hosts in Kampung Apar, is also a musician with a wonderful smile, a warm personality and free spirit. When asking about the beaches here, he hinted that he knew how to surf, but didn’t. Why? Because people here don’t have that kind of free time to spend. When there is free time to spend, it is dedicated to time with family; and not something as solitary (aka selfish) as ocean surfing.

The second example of how life is spent here comes from a brief interaction with the owners of the condo here at Village Grove. They received a report from their plumbers that fixing the master bathroom’s tub stopper would be more difficult than anticipated. They were scared at what kind of damage had occurred to it, so they stopped by to investigate. After briefly assessing the possible solutions, they decided it was easiest and cheapest to simply remove the drain stopper when showering. In fact, in all the time they owned the condo, they had never used the tub, only the shower. The owner said, “We don’t have that kind of time to spend for soaking in a tub for half an hour or more (like you in America do). Five minutes in the shower, at most. We’ve got work to do.”

This leads me to ponder on the following question: Is our American culture SO self-indulgent and pampered that personal activities and hobbies are accepted as valued and much needed re-charging time? Here however, those same activities are dismissed, and maybe, even judged as an extravagance.

If this is what housework does to your bumm, I'm out