Ending My Travels on Borneo

Saturday, June 13, 2009--Kuching

Today is my last full day on Borneo. Tomorrow morning I will fly to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, where I will spend one night. Then Monday morning I will fly to Bangkok for my usual visit to see the dentist, buy my new ticket, go to films, etc.

I finished reading another book today: The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. It was an interesting story about the people living in the Dust Bowl during the 1930s drought--those who stayed there through all the dust storms and hard times. It centered around persons living in Dalhart, Texas; Boise City, Oklahoma; and Baca County, Colorado. I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 4. I gave the book to an Irish man staying at my hotel this morning so I won't have it among my luggage when I travel tomorrow.

I walked through park areas behind my hotel this morning. I knew they were back there but had not been there yet. It was so HOT, though. Kuching is a pretty city with nice parks, however. And I have seen no shanty towns here like are often seen in other parts of Asia. Somehow, Malaysia has reached a balance economically that other area countries have yet to find in terms of basic living conditions for their citizens.

I returned to town to the riverside. I sat in the shade with a slight breeze and read from a new book I have started. Then I bought a Chinese barbecue pork steamed bun and ate it for my lunch.

Tonight is a big Harvest Festival event here. However, it is across town in a stadium that would difficult for me to reach. Instead, I think I will go back to the park behind my hotel. They are having free outdoor films this weekend. At 19:00 today, they are showing the feature-length cartoon Madagascar II. It should be fun to watch the film outdoors among local people.

I will be flying Air Asia for the first time tomorrow. It is one of the major low-cost airlines in Asia. I bought several supplemental tickets on Air Asia when planning my travels, since the Star Alliance could not get me out of Borneo and over to Thailand without sending me backwards to Seoul (which would cause me to have to backtrack to Kota Kinabalu and then have too many extra miles added to my ticket). It will be interesting to see how much seat room there will be on the airline. Also, I had to pay extra for luggage, since my checked luggage is heavier than their 15 km limit. Still, my ticket from here to Kuala Lumpur, including 5 extra kg of checked weight, a meal on board, and transportation from the airport into town, cost me only 217 ringgets--about $62. And my ticket from there to Bangkok with an extra 5 kg of checked weight and a meal cost me only 138 ringgets--about $40.

Related to the above, I have read that some people are now choosing to skip the purchase of around-the-world tickets when they are traveling around the world. Instead, they are putting together itineraries using low-cost airlines. One advantage of that is that not as much advance planning is needed. They can fly from Bangkok to India, for instance, on a one-way low-cost ticket. Travel around India as much and as long as they want (including using low-cost tickets there), then move on from India to the Middle East or Europe on another low-cost one-way ticket. Etc., etc., etc.