04-Jul-2024
As advertised in my slightly depressing June review, July is kicking off with a quick bit of travel.
We're flying to Kota Kinabalu, and will be flying back from Brunei. Of course, I feel a little guilty about that, as we try hard to avoid short plane journeys. With a little stretching, it just about fits the guideline that Stuart McDonald suggests (ie, 1. a flight is permissible if the journey would take more than 48 hours, and it would take more than 48 hours to get to KK -- well, it would take US more than 48 hours, as we find bus journeys of more than about six hours a bit hard to handle, and end up stopping off; and 2. if you do fly, stay at least a week for every 1,000 km flown, which we are doing).
We're looking forward to it. We've been a bit immobile lately. Not that it has not been exceedingly pleasant blobbing in Kuching (well, apart from June, but June would have been horrible wherever we had been). It's just that I think it's past time we were out on the road a bit more.
Anyway, this is a tidying post, recounting the changes of the last few days:
Our friends at Indah are opening up a new venue at Think & Tink. We're very excited about this because there's gallery space and a bookshop in this building, and we think they'll be the perfect partners
A great breakfast at Thian Fock Cafe, farewelling people heading in various directions
No idea what's happening at the waterfront... Loads of popular eateries have been dismantled, and when we walked that way yesterday evening, there was a marked lack of all the things that create the usual unique atmosphere: Happily chomping people; buskers (of varying quality); and large pink koalas or green rabbits (I'm told they're really people in inflatable, fan-coolable outfits, but I don't believe that for a minute, and neither do their adoring kiddy fans). I hope this isn't part of some sanitization campaign that ends up making everything bland and tedious...
Other early-July thoughts:
It has been quite rainy here lately. Which is odd, because July is not normally known for being wet.
And, of course, we're hoping that Britain will do the right thing later today...
But at the moment my focus is not on either of these things. Because we're heading out for a bit. Hurray!