Suffering a Cold

Thursday, June 11, 2009--Kuching (Continued)

When I went back to the room, I had every intention of going back out in the evening. However, in response to some suggestions I had been given by one of my Internet contacts about where to visit in Romania, I pulled out my travel literature and began marking and reading about the places. I had not read any of the literature I had brought with me for my travels in Eastern Europe in August and early September. So I read the entire Romania section and marked things that sounded interesting to me. Then, I started thinking about where I would cross the border to enter Romania. That made me start researching two of the adjoining countries I will visit--Bulgaria and Moldova. I pulled out the literature for them and started reading and underlining. Before I knew it, time had passed and it was almost 22:00! I just snacked on some chips and some nut candy that I had in the room and never went out. All the research, however, was worthwhile and has me really thinking about routes I will take, what I want to see, etc.

Friday, June 12, 2009--Kuching

I am using the best earplugs I have ever found this year. The brand name is Flents. They are longer than most earplugs and are tapered. These features make it easier to insert them. And when they expland (after I have rolled them in my fingers and inserted them), they fit nicely without putting too much pressure on the edges of the ear where they seal out the sound. Previous earplugs I have used have been too short, their pressure has caused soreness, and have not blocked out the sound as well as the Flents.

What I thought was a cold starting a few days ago actually was. Yesterday, I was quite miserable with my nose dripping on the left side. One problem I always have is that I do not usually have a cold on both sides of my head at once. Therefore, only after it migrates to the other side do I know that I will eventually become well in a few days. Well, last night, it migrated. Today, my left side is much better and my right side is stuffy. Maybe I will be better by the time I fly on Sunday. I don't want to have a cold that causes a slight fever that day. The way the world is panicking about the H1N1, they might pull me off the plane and put me in isolation for a couple of weeks! I was just reading about the diplomat who has been stranded in China under quarantine because he just happened to be on a plane with someone else suspected of having the flu!!

Today, I went wandering in a village area outside of town. It had been recommended to my by a man at the tourist office when I told him I liked to see the old wooden houses and liked to walk through neighborhoods to see how people live their lives. I encountered several local people while walking. They all seemed so happy to see a tourist in their neighborhood--and surprised, too! I stopped for a while just to listen, because someone in a house was playing some type of native musical instrument.

I can see why the boom and bust economic cycles seem to affect Asia worse than the rest of the world on a regular basis. Everywhere here has too many shopping malls, too many hotels, too many office buildings, too many high-rise apartment buildings, etc. Some of them are built in horrible locations. There must be a problem with lending practices for money to be approved for many of these projects. What seems to happen is that a project gets approved. Then it is either built, or partially built. If only partially built, a construction hulk can stand on a piece of land for years until someone takes it over and finishes it. (Last year, a huge abandoned project from the last big bust in Asia about 10 years ago, was finally completed.) If it is completed, then there is the problem of lack of demand. That causes maintenance to be poor and the building to look bad quickly--fading paint, broken escalators, etc., and lots of unused space within. And sometimes the locations just make no sense. Today I saw a nice hotel that is away from the downtown area in a part of town occupied by run-down markets and poor housing, yet when I checked online the Dormani Hotel has rates in the high range for Malaysia (145 ringgets [$40 U.S.] vs. the 65 ringgets [$18 U.S.] I am paying for a decent business hotel). I know that U.S. banks have taken a big hit on their easy lending practices related to home ownership lately, but at least cities of 400,000 there don't have 5 malls with only 1/3 to 2/3 of the space in each one rented out. And if a construction project is abandoned there, it is usually because of a lawsuit rather than it not being a viable project.

For lunch today, I had barbecue pork with crispy skin on the edges. It was served with rice, a nice sweet soy sauce, and a spicy sambal sauce.

As I wander around town today, I can see families that have come here for the weekend. This is the last weekend of the school holidays here, so people from small towns and villages are apparently coming to the city before they get tied down to regular routines again. One group asked if they could have their photo taken with me. That's a common thing in Asia, and I never object to it.

I've done lots of research on the computer today. I came up with many questions as I did my travel planning last night. I wrote them all on a piece of paper, and I have been keeping Google busy.