It's time for our monthly away-days again... How fast the weeks roll round...

We decided to repeat the pattern of last time, and use our hire car to do a day excursion, a little road trip, and a breakfast outing.

The goal of the day trip was Simunjan, which we'd passed through on our way back from Sri Aman last month.

But first you need lunch. It has become traditional for day-trip lunches to be sourced in the sprawling conurbation of Kota Samarahan, and TK Cafe rose to the occasion with a great bee hoon belacan. Belacan is fermented shrimp paste, and loads of our Malaysian friends seem really surprised that we like it... Well, we do, and at restaurants, we often order vegetables prepared with belacan. But we'd not tried bee hoon belacan until today. We thought it was a really impressive combo of tastes and textures: smooth noodles, chewy cuttlefish, creamy century egg; and a fishy broth, rounded out with the tastes of lime, sambal, and peanuts. Yumz.


Duly fuelled up, we headed on to Simunjan.

One of this little town's claims to fame is that Alfred Russel Wallace -- he of Wallace Line fame -- spent nearly nine months near here, back in 1855.

More prosaically, its history is tied up with coal-mining. Sources seem fairly unanimous that this industry started about the middle of the 19th century. I haven't gained much clarity as to when it stopped, but the source I've just quoted reckons that the mines ceased activity in the early 1900s, only to be reopened by the occupying Japanese forces during the war. Stories of atrocities during that period have given rise to many reports of ghost sightings. (You can visit the old mine sites, but you need a guide, and it's an activity more suited to the dry season.)

Anyway, just outside Simunjan you can see a boiler that dates back to the coal-mining era (or some part of it, anyway).


You can see a historical picture of it here. These days it obviously makes a fine place to go to sleep under on a hot day.




Simunjan itself is a really pretty little town. That's what had drawn our attention on the way through last time. First up, there are some handsome shophouses, and some curious sculptures in the pocket park that is the focal point of the town-centre.










Most striking, however, is that there's somehow a special sense of beauty in this place. I'm sure the locals would laugh at these highfalutin notions. But the houses along the main road are remarkably attractive, with their planks and stilts and carvings. And the gardens are wonderful. People seem to take particular pride in making their homes look pleasing.

Some examples (of many):




On our way back to Kuching, we stopped to inspect some more of that extensive drainage system that fascinated us on our first trip. I know no more at this point than I did then about the mechanics of it all, but I'm now even more in awe of its complexity:










Awesome day out. And like all the best days out, it has spawned more ideas for next time.

Tomorrow, we head west!