23-24/2 - The Incredible Adventure

At 8AM we meet up at the conference room. The entire group is now complete. Apart from the people I’d already met, there are seven people from Malaysia here, three Filipinos, three Indians. A very varied group. Introductions are made, HSE lectures are given and without them telling us much else we are told to get from Miri to Kuching before 4:30PM the next day, a 1000km trip.

We’re divided into groups, and we start planning our trip. Our little group of seven people decided to split up even further to do as many tasks as we can. I’m going to travel with Chia. He’s a Chinese Malayan, an extremely friendly, patient and helpful guy. We get along very well, and as we take the bus towards Bintulu, our first stop, he tells me all about his country.

Sarawak is wild. There’s few towns, and outside of them, there is wilderness. The jungle is all around us, and according to Chia, it’s a place you go into but don’t come out of. Full of bugs, snakes, crocodiles and other nasties. A couple fo hours later this is demonstrated rather clearly. We’re driving towards a tiny town called Bekennu, and suddenly the driver breaks. I turn my gaze away from the side window and look out, but I don’t see anything. Then I notice the road, and in particular the black shape moving over it. It’s a huge snake, about 2 meters long, thick as my arm. I scramble for my camera but it quickly slithers away into the bushes. I ask Chia if its poisonous. ‘Very poisonous’ he answers. Yup, Sarawak is a wild place indeed.





We continue on to Bintulu. It’s Chia’s hometown, and we manage to quickly complete a number of tasks there, including a visit to his old high school teacher… We continue on as the sun goes down. The treetops of the forest are drawn sharply against the darkening sky. At the Bintulu bus station we are reunited with Simon, our French colleague, and Mai, a tiny Bruneian girl who always seems to have a smile on her face. We have a tiny dinner, and our other teammates arrive as well. Nick, one of the Americans, Shariza, a Malaysian mother of a 7 month year old baby and Sarita, and Indian girl join up with us and we continue together around 9:30 on our night trip to Kuching. I’m not looking forward to it; the roads in Sarawak are not very good, the bus is old and stinky and we have over 600 kilometers to go.



The trip is long and boring. The bus bounces over the road, and I’m not good at sleeping in transportation as it is, so time passes slowly. My iPod gets me through most of the night though. At around 4AM we stop in a tiny town, and I walk around for a bit. Chia calls me, says he’s chartered a car to get us to another of our tasks. The guy can do anything! We arrive in Engkilili village 15 minutes later. An old man points us to a longboat moored of a small jetty. We snap some shots of the town, and drive back to the bus, which is about to leave without us.



The drive through he night continues. The jungle looks like it’s made of marble in the white light of the bus, it’s very surreal. Around 6:30AM dawn approaches, and barely a half hour later it’s day. We arrive in Kuching around 9, and we split up once more to do our tasks. Chia manages to arrange a car to get us to Bau village. We pass through the hills around Kuching. Mountains covered in mist rise up around us. We pass kampongs and mines, and arrive in Bau. It’s not much. We take a picture of the lake, which is polluted with arsenic and we return to Kuching.





We have plenty of time to spare now, and Chia’s cheap but effective way of traveling has made sure that we still had plenty of money left on our budget. We treat ourselves to a Coke, and wait for our teammates to arrive. Leisurely we set out for the Shell depot, our last task, and the end of journey, Damai Beach Resort. We arrive nicely on time, and are enthusiastically greeted the relieved organizers of the course, Jonathan, Betty and Ru, a countryman of mine, whom we met in Miri. He’s worked for Shell all his life, and he’s teaching us the first two weeks of the course. A real Shell man, always working as an expat, he’s now working as a consultant for the firm.



After having our score verified by Jonathan, we can check in to the hotel and I go to my room, where I can finally wash of the dirt from being on the road for two full days. I crash on the bed for an hour until dinner.

All groups have arrived safely, and it’s time to eat. No one has had a decent meal for two days, so we dig in. After that it’s karaoke time. This pastime is very popular in Asia, and Malaysia is no exception. Every time needs to have a person perform, to get some bonus points. I’m still not sure why, but I decide to volunteer. I choose to do ‘It’s not unusual’ by Tom Jones. My singing isn’t great, but my sunglasses score well with the crowd and everyone is in a good mood, so I get off easily. It was an experience. After that it’s off to bed, to catch up on sleeping…