July has definitely given us more peaks than troughs, which is always good to record.

Once again, the month has been spent entirely in Kuching, and once again, we seem to have done an inordinate amount of eating out with friends, which is, of course, a very pleasant thing to be doing. Kuching's eatery scene is vast, diverse, and high-quality, and Sarawakians are great foodies.



In terms of excursions, the highlight was undoubtedly our night walk at Kubah, but we also did some other interesting little trips (checking out some more Chinese heritage, visiting the Matang Wildlife Centre, and -- just today -- doing the short walk to Satow Waterfall).


In addition, we've been making the most of Kuching's superb Botanic Garden, enjoying the extensive (and still ongoing) celebrations to mark Sarawak's 60th birthday, and continuing to observe the amazing work under way on the Tiong Hock Kiong temple:







Oh, and we celebrated Tynwald Day, and our 36th wedding anniversary (our obligatory selfie is here).

On the home front, I've read some amazing books this month. In the crime-fiction category, there were a couple of golden oldies, Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh (think trains and New Zealand scenery), and Coroner's Pidgin by Margery Allingham (crime in a bombed-out London), plus a really great read from Maria Oruna called Secret Haven (set in Cantabria, and alternating between the aftermath of the civil war and the present). By authors long deceased we had Aziyade by Pierre Loti (annoying to read, but interesting to follow up on); The Aspern Papers by Henry James (whose questions about authorial privacy sound startlingly contemporary); and The Secret Battle by A.P. Herbert (a painfully moving account of one man's fate during World War I). By authors very much alive, meanwhile, there was The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, a Malaysian novelist I admire a lot (and this is his best so far, I think); On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (beautiful and sad in equal measure); Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney (perceptive but somehow frustrating); and Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata (thought-provoking but thoroughly macabre, definitely the most unsettling thing I've read in a while...).

Our pleasant trip to Satow today stopped the month ending on a low note. It's interesting how a few butterflies and cascades can lift your mood... Just this morning I'd written about some bothersome issues, the most acute being the return of the smoke pollution that afflicts this region from time to time. Early in the day the air quality index stood at 99 (just one point away from the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" category). Obviously, we're not the only ones in the world dealing with this kind of thing, and many are dealing with much worse. But it does deflate the spirits, especially as we know there's more to come.

Still, onwards and upwards. Let's hope the celebrations outweigh the negatives next month too.