Monday 23 December. Back to normal and Top Spot
I woke up to a lovely sunny day - a massive contrast to yeaterday. I dawdled a bit and finally checked out and left my bag in the storeroom at about 10.00. With the need to be back at 2.30 for the boat, this restricted my ambition for a trek but I decided on the one to the waterfall and to see how far I got. To start with, it is a common trail to yesterday's but a lot busier with the fine weather that had brought day trippers. I was linked up with a family of four whose sons leapt ahead and then waited while the tortoises caught up. At the shelter I struck off on the Tajor trail. This proved to be a series of ridges and valleys through the forest - all very pleasant and reasonably taxing as one is constantly picking one's way among the roots. The distance posts along the way seemed to take a while to show a decent total being notched up but in the end and after about an hour on this trail I got to the 2.4km marker. This was the point that the trail to the beach and to the waterfall separated and was marked by a handy bench. There was still 1.1km to go to the waterfall and rather more to the beach and I decided to call it a day. It was precisely midday and I enjoyed the bench for my lunch.
Suitably energised, I made the return probably more quickly than the outbound, despite stopping to photograph lizards and the sheer difficulty of the path in places. Where the Tajor trail met the others, I found the family of four resting in the large hut and we compared our achievements.
I got back to the HQ at about 2.15, collected my bag and went down to the boat station. There was a bit of hanging around tick by rather slowly and it transpired I had been subcontracted to one of Nomas's friends. He rather ominously filled his tank with the last drops of petrol he was carrying and off we set at the usual Nomas furious pace. Anyway, despite the revs, the petrol lasted and we were in perfect time for the 3.30 bus which cost 5 ringit.
Back at the hotel, I washed myself and my clothes and got used to the normal life again. For the evening, I had thought that I'd go to the Life Cafe again. It proved a disappointment. The waiter had a heavy mask on and said he had 'fever'. The airconditioning was fierce and they had run out of all vegetables. The last piece of news made my decision to skip it and go elsewhere. This proved an excellent outcome as I went to Top Spot Outlet 25 and had the most delicious fish (a red snapper grilled with garlic) that I've ever tasted. It was quite amazing and ridiculously good value - the whole fish plus rice and vegetables for about 40 ringit. A very good last meal in Kuching.
Finally I went up to the LimeTree bar for my complimentary Lime drink before hitting the sack.
Suitably energised, I made the return probably more quickly than the outbound, despite stopping to photograph lizards and the sheer difficulty of the path in places. Where the Tajor trail met the others, I found the family of four resting in the large hut and we compared our achievements.
I got back to the HQ at about 2.15, collected my bag and went down to the boat station. There was a bit of hanging around tick by rather slowly and it transpired I had been subcontracted to one of Nomas's friends. He rather ominously filled his tank with the last drops of petrol he was carrying and off we set at the usual Nomas furious pace. Anyway, despite the revs, the petrol lasted and we were in perfect time for the 3.30 bus which cost 5 ringit.
Back at the hotel, I washed myself and my clothes and got used to the normal life again. For the evening, I had thought that I'd go to the Life Cafe again. It proved a disappointment. The waiter had a heavy mask on and said he had 'fever'. The airconditioning was fierce and they had run out of all vegetables. The last piece of news made my decision to skip it and go elsewhere. This proved an excellent outcome as I went to Top Spot Outlet 25 and had the most delicious fish (a red snapper grilled with garlic) that I've ever tasted. It was quite amazing and ridiculously good value - the whole fish plus rice and vegetables for about 40 ringit. A very good last meal in Kuching.
Finally I went up to the LimeTree bar for my complimentary Lime drink before hitting the sack.
Comments
Post a Comment