Kuching - City of Cats`

Kuching is Malaysian for Cat, hence there are lots of cat statues and cat references throughout the city (its more of a big town tho). Theres a really nice waterfront, with cafes and stalls, and a night bazaar where u can get food after dark at the far end, near the wet (fish) market and open-air (covered) market. Theres also a million and one souvenir & handicraft stores, selling loads of stuff that I watned to buy.

Larry from 97

Ok this guy pretty much deserves his own mini blog entry...Larry is basically one of the Mulu National Park guides, that was working at the park in 1997, when I first went there on me schoool trip...and hes still working there....and he remebers me! :) Ok so the fact that i was wearing the exact same clothes i had back in 97 when i bumped into him might have been a dead giveaway, mebe lol, but it was just completely random how he remembers me. Apparantly people dont generally return to the park, once theyve visited once. So anyway, then we had to chat for hours about old times etc etc (in slightly simplified english) and along the way i got a free ride on teh back of his motorbike to the net cafe at teh next resort (my first time on any motorised two-wheeler, malaysian-stylee) and an open invitation to learn how to dive when Larry get his PADI diving qualifications (he wants to move on from Mulu NP and retrain as a diving instructor). I really wasnt expecting to bump into any ppl that remembered me from 97, so taht was incredibly cool.
Anyway, as it happens i still need to go back to the park, as i didnt manage to climb to the summit of Gunung Mulu because u can only go as a group and no one else wanted to go (ok so its the hardest climb that available in the park, but still...) - seeing as my shcool group didnt manage to climb it in 97 is exactly the reason i wanted to prove i could....so might be coming back in January.

To Mulu and back - 2/2

Ok iv just spent teh best part of the last 3hrs uploading pics to here:
www.flickr.com/photos/patriciah
ok so they could do with some organisation, and labelling and maybe a bit of rotating too, but ive discovered that flickr isnt that user-friendly to use when u have tons of pics to upload, plus its hard to reorder the pics ie sequentially...all this i found out after i upgraded my acount to a 'pro' one ie one that costs money, cos id already exceeded my monthly upload limit!

To Mulu and back - 1/2

Just got back from nearly a week at Mulu National Park, actually ran out of space on my digicam i took so many pics cos i did so many cool things! Will try n upload pics later when i can find a pc with w2k/xp _and_ broadband!! To summarise ive been caving, trekking, climbing the Pinnacles, viewing caves and i did this canopy skywalk thing, stay tuned...

Revisiting Miri - 2/2

Ok this is only gonna be a quick post cos im running out of net time and this pc has only got winME so wont recog/work wiv me digicam so no pics at presetn. Ive been without net for several days, so hve actually written loads that i need to type up etc.
Anywasy Im back in Miri (I say back, cos this is one of the places I visisted n 1997,when I was 17 and went on a school expedition to Borneo), and its just so unbelievablly cool!!! I remembered the airport whne we arrived, and last night I had a wander round dark in the hot humid stickyness that is 30degrees, and found my oldhotel that i stayed in lasttime (DeCentral Inn) and the shopping mall that was down the roadetc, itwas just so weird seeing everything again!
Tomorrow Im taking a little Twin Otter (small 10seater plane) to Mulu and Ive spent RM200 on climbing Mount Mulu, climbing hte Pinnacles, seeing some caves and I might even do some caving...and I'll get to sttay overnight in the jungle, which ismostly why I wanted to come back.
Addendum - saw on the news the toher day the KL is currently covered in smog from all the Indonesisna farmers that are burning their fields as part of their farming, hopefuly that will clear up before i get to KL

Revisiting Miri - 1/2

I meet some random Germans at Miri airport, and after booking accom/activities for Mulu national park and anther flight over there on tues, we commandered a bus going into town, and found a hotel to stay at...its not to my liking cos it was actually a hotel, not a hostel/backpackers inn,but it was getting late and i didnt have much in the way of a map to know where anything else was! I went for a wander into town, which is whne i found the hotel i stayed at last time, and managed to order soem food/drink off a menu that i barely understoood - here everythings written in malaysia and ppl only speak broken englihs, so i really must learn more malaysian! [will add more stuff later, this isnt exactly gonna be a literary masterpiece, esp with these keyboards that i cant get used to, its mostly gonna be a factual account of stuff, but feel free to comment etc]
Also,if anyone wants any physical postcards, send me ur mailpoint/address and ill prob send u some from Mulu National Park

Singapore > Johor Bahru, Malaysia

On Friday I left Singa and tookthe bus to Johor Bahru, across the cuaseway in Malaysia, havng to get off twice to go thru immigration checkpoints and fill in yet anohter immigration form, but im now getting kool stamps in my passport :). I must say that compared to Singa, with its effiecient transport system, roadsigns in 4 languages (englihs, malay, chinese and hindu/indian) and most ppl spekaing good english, Johor was completely confusing and competely mad, and it didnt help that i hadnt planned/booked any accomodation! Plus I didnt realise that the airport at Senai was actually about 1hrs bus ride outside of town, and noone at the bus station seemed to know when the bus left!!Anyways I eventually got to Senai, stayed overnight in a v cheap hotel, and caught the plane to Miri. Cheap also meant dubious decorative order, but I got an ensuite, altho it was rather random (pics later). But i also manged to get my laundry done for RM5, which would be well impossible in england, that <1 pound. Yeah having to convert currencies in ur head is a little tricky...in singa [theres no pound symbol on this keyborad!] 1GBP=3S$, while in Malaysia 1GBP=6.6RM/Ringgit

The first pub nite...

Well Ive managed to get thru my first day/night ok, after checking in at hostel, went for a wander round town, got some food (see pic), worked out how the MRT (underground train) worked and wandered round other parts of town. Think i might goto a night safari thing tomorow, there also a bungy jump thing from a tall tower near the harbour. Then i really need tobe moving onto malaysia. Foubd out where u can buy all the cheap elec goods from eg digicans, proper brands too (Orchard St), email me if u want summat, lol.
But ive not lnog come back from the pub, where there was a bbq thing organised by the hostel, where i made lots of instant freinds (which isnt really like me) and chatted to ppl bout where theyd all been travelling to/from etc and several of them tried this indian shish thing (u know, that smoking pipe thing with flavours eg apple) which was amusing to watch... I also think i might have met the most Hoegarden drinkers in one go (4 of them, excl me), and also the msot ppl who dont seemto like cats, lol!
[havnet managed to figure out how to make pics appear nicely after blurb, soz]

The first pub nite...

Well Ive managed to get thru my first day/night ok, after checking in at hostel, went for a wander round town, got some food (see pic), worked out how the MRT (underground train) worked and wandered round other parts of town. Think i might goto a night safari thing tomorow, there also a bungy jump thing from a tall tower near the harbour. Then i really need tobe moving onto malaysia. Foubd out where u can buy all the cheap elec goods from eg digicans, proper brands too (Orchard St), email me if u want summat, lol.
But ive not lnog come back from the pub, where there was a bbq thing organised by the hostel, where i made lots of instant freinds (which isnt really like me) and chatted to ppl bout where theyd all been travelling to/from etc and several of them tried this indian shish thing (u know, that smoking pipe thing with flavours eg apple) which was amusing to watch... I also think i might have met the most Hoegarden drinkers in one go (4 of them, excl me), and also the msot ppl who dont seemto like cats, lol!

OMG Im here!

I still cant quite believe this, Im here, Im finally here!!! I arrived at Changmi airport around 8am local time (midnight uk), managed to find the right MRT train to take me into town, got some local Singapore dollars out the ATM, found a youth hostelly place and booked a couple of nites, for want of something better to do, lol. I havent exactly planned what Im doing where yet! But will try and sort that out later on today :) I still cant belive Im here, but heres some pics to prove it, lol

One mad night...

Last night was just mad, I know Im a last minute kinda person, but last night was ridiculout, the sheer amount of stuff I was trying to cram into an increaingly small amount of time. Thankfully I had the rather sane Keef wiv me, who helped me realise that packing my rucksack _was_ actually more important that finishing the diy!! However, that does mean I have a few huge favours to ask off some mates....more later. Keef, bless him, also hung out wiv me til the wee hours of the morning, well 1.20am anyways, to take me to the station and catch my coach to Heathrow, I thank u Keef.

Terminal 3...

Well here I am at Terminal 3, Heathrow, as T4 doesnt open til 5am! Note for furture reference, the shops/food places arnt 247 like I thought they would be, although Ive obviously managed to find an internet cafe place (still no food tho) 10p/min tho.