Singapore: Little India was fantastic. The rest of the city, not so much. But the cloth and spices people sold along the street in the Indian district were fabulous. Basically, all we did was go out to for drinks and pool. It was pretty cool. We met a random guy who used to work at the south pole. And then we went to…………………………

BORNEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, there aren’t enough good things to say about Borneo. We arrived in Kuching, “the city of cats”. We wandered about. We saw a Hindu temple, a Catholic church, Anglican church, a Buddhist temple, a Sikh, and a Mosque within about 20 minutes. It was so cool. We explored a shopping mall and the Chinese food court outside. Someone taught us to say thank you in Chinese, which made this one guy laugh uncontrollably. That’s us, just spreading the joy. We went down to the ferry around sunset. The river made calming noises, in the foreground were palm trees and the background was the outline of a mountain with a mosque. The sky was just cloudy enough to make it turn all different colors. There were hues of blue, purple, red, yellow, and orange. It was so picturesque. And then it was five oclock. At least six mosques began the call to prayer. Regardless of a person’s religious beliefs, there is something curiously haunting about the call to prayer. Just the sound of it somehow carries your thoughts toward God. At the end, there was one crier who was just a little behind all the others. His lone refrain lasted about 10 seconds longer than everyone else’s. It was really an amazing moment.

Then we were hungry. We went back to the Chinese dude who laughed at us for saying thanks. We thought the night was over. We could not have been more wrong. We make our way to the guesthouse, walking past one of the many Chinese Buddhist temples in the town. This one happened to be having a party. And we were invited. For no apparent reason. We looked as we were walking by, and they invited to sit down. So we sat. And they gave us beverages, attempted to give us food, and explained what they were doing. Apparently the god of heaven was having a birthday the next day. So everyone got to together to set and eat and make offerings and eat some more. And drink. There was a lot of drinking. We sat there chatting with a few middle aged fellows. Then we learned that one of these guys was the mayor of the town. We met the mayor less than six hours after arriving in the town! The best part: he’s a Catholic named James. Go figure. When he left the party pretty much broke up. So we went to the only logical after-party spot: McDonalds. Understand that there are no McDonalds in Cambodia. And in most other countries (Including Borneo) Mickey D’s is a lot nicer than in the states. So we went for sundaes. While we were waiting in line, we noticed an African. We played a game that we had started in Kuala Lumpur called “Where is that foreigner from”. Kelsey voted Kenya, I said Nigeria. I won. Obviously the only way to know who wins this game is to ask. So Kelsey did. And the four of had ice cream together. They were students at the university, and they were celebrating his birthday. It was cute. Then we went back to the hostel. Surely the night was really over by no. Wrong again. Chinese poker and Bollywood movies. Oh yes, both of these things were happening. The Chinese use playing cards that are shaped like tongue depressors. The poker is also more similar to rummy. It was fun to watch. But not as fun as bollywood. We had fun at that hostel, but it didn’t have breakfast or a toilet in the room, so we shopped around the next day. That was a stellar decision. We found Tracks, a cool little hostel run by some really cool guys. They’re Iban, one of the many ethnic groups in Borneo. Traditionally, Iban men got tattoos to mark events in their lives. Since colonization by the British, many gave this custom up. But these guys also run a tattoo shop. They were on National Geographic’s Taboo: Tattoo. If you haven’t watched it yet, you should. Anyhow, when they’re not tattooing folks, they just kind of hang out at the hostel and play the guitar. So we spent most of our time in Borneo hanging out and watching movies while the guys played guitar. It was very nice to be able to sleep in and do whatever we wanted. In Cambodia there are always people in your business, and so it was nice to just spend our days wandering around the city and nights chilling with our new friends. We did walk around a lot. We went to a lot of religious buildings, museums, and ethnic districts. We even saw orangutans. There is a rehabilitation centre where you can watch the feeding. There was a little baby and it was really cute.

After the orangutans, we went to the tattoo shop. We just dropped by and watched a guy get tattooed. There was a lot more blood than I expected. It was weird to be in the shop, there were posters and pictures of famous people he’d tattooed. If you want to check it out, the website is borneoheadhunter.com. So between tattoos (and there were a lot breaks) we watched movies and drank coffee. We got sharpie tattoos. It was a pretty cool day.

Borneo is an interesting place. It is technically Malaysia because Malaysia defended Borneo from the Japanese invasion. But most Malay people are actually Indonesian. The native people don’t particularly like them, because they took their land and tried to make them Muslim. Borneans are Malay in name only. Going to Borneo from Peninsular Malaysia requires a trip through immigration, even though they are technically the same country. According to Borneans, the reason Malaysia is so rich is that they take the oil found in Borneo and keep all the money from it.

Borneo was really awesome. It is strange coming back to Cambodia. When I first arrived in Cambodia, I found it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was expecting everyone to live in cardboard boxes. I have gotten used to Cambodia, and leaving made me realize just how bad it really is. Honestly, I would have rather stayed in Borneo. I didn’t come to Cambodia for myself, but because it was what I needed to do. It was good to be reminded of why I’m here. I chose to be here, not somewhere else, because here, people need help. So now it’s back to Kravanh. A new school year will be starting soon, a new start for everyone.

Love and miss you all!