Changes in Plans Can Be Good!

Sunday, May 31, 2009--Tenom (Continued)

I realized I might need more money, since I would be taking ferries and traveling a different route from originally planned. But then I couldn't find a bank in this small town. It has 3 gas stations, two cyber cafes, and two supermarkets. But I traveled up and down all the major streets. Finally, on the last possible stret I found BSN with an ATM. I was later told that it is the only bank in town. I'm glad it was there.

I went to a restaurant for dinner that had a large crowd. I walked up to the area where the woman was preparing food and watched her make two plates. They looked so good, that I ordered the same thing. Later, I learned the name is gado gado. She started by unpealing banana-leaf wrapped rice paste. She cut several slices of it to go on the plate. Then she cut half a boiled egg into pieces and placed it around the plate. Next came four slices of chicken. Then four slices of tofu. She blanced some cabbage in her soup pot and placed it on top. Then she drizzled it with a peanut sauce and a sweet soy sauce. She put two slices of cucumber on the side along with some puffy rice chips. It was wonderful, especially the peanut sauce. UMMMM!

Monday, June 1, 2009--Tenom to Sipitong to Labuan

I was the first person at the bus station at 5:55 this morning. I had been told to be there by 6:00 or 7:00 to try to get with a group of others to take a shared taxi to Sipitong. A few minutes later a taxi driver asked where I wanted to go. Then he explained that the cost is 100 ringgets no matter how many (1-4 persons). He also told me that it was an hour to Sipitong and that the boat from there to Labuan would not leave until 10:00. Therefore, I told him I would wait for more passengers. He worked everyone who came. One woman was planning to go to another place that has a slow ferry to Labuan, and he convinced her to join us. Eventually, he went to his home and got a woman and her child who he knew planned to go to Labuan and convinced them to go with us, too. So at 7:45 we set off. He drove FAST, cut corners all the way, and even sometime drove in the wrong lane. But we got there safely, and the boat had just arrived. We were the first passengers to sign on for the 10:00 a.m. departure. The taxi cost me only 25 ringgets that way and then the boat cost another 35 ringgets. That's a total of about $17 U.S.

The boat was a thin fast boat. It had two large motors, and he drove it at full speed the whole way. We got to Labuan in just 35 minutes, whereas the ferry the lady was going to take leaves from a closer port and takes 2 hours! She said that going through Sipitong is a better plan and that she will follow it in the future. So I taught a Malaysian who is a resident of Labuan a better way to get from and to her home when she visits her friends in Tenom again in the future.

The woman I met on the trip was very friendly. She has converted to Christianity via a charismatic church and has taken a western name. She has a car and insisted on showing me around the island after we arrived.

First, I bought my ferry ticket to go to Brunei for tomorrow and went to the hotel I had chosen and checked in. The hotel has changed names and has been remodeled since my guidebook was written. It was so nice that I decided to pay the added price. It had a new bed; new curtains; wonderful tilework, floors and ceilings; a mini-bar; TV; air conditioning; etc. Still, it was only $28 for a night.

Imelda, the woman from the boat came in her car at noon and picked me up. I treated her to lunch next to the hotel. Then she drove me around the island, first showing me the downtown and then taking out along the coast. We saw the financial center and all the duty free shops, because Labuan is a duty free port. We stopped at the Chimney which is a local historical spot that has been unlexplained. We stopped at the Lebuan War Cemetery from WWII. We went to where the Japanese surrendered on Borneo. We drove by some of the resorts here. And we stopped at the beach to have an ABC, the ice drink which I had yesterday, except that the lady making it today put much more fruit, corn, and beans in it and put it in a bowl.

Labuan is really a beautiful and nice place. My guidebook did not make it seem so special. But is a clean city and island. Inside the city, there are many big trees along the streets and in the center islands of the streets. It is the nicest place I have visited in Borneo so far, so I am glad I came here. If I had known it would be so nice, I might not have bought my ferry ticket for another day. But I have now seen it and can move on tomorrow morning.

I wandered through a couple of the duty free shops just to see what their prices are like. They have liquor and candies from all over the world. They even had Brazilian cachasa for about $14 U.S. per bottle. A liter of Jose Cuervo Gold sold for $16 U.S. And the Hornitos brand of gold sold for only $21. That's the best buy I saw of the items I knew from pricing at home.

I bought three more of the potato curry pies at a night street market and ate them for my dinner. Now I will go back to the hotel for the night. I have to be at the ferry terminal at 8:15 tomorrow for my trip to BSB, the capital of Brunei.