Friday October 12

After a lovely nights sleep (not cat naps), my first one since arriving in Malaysia, we set off to visit a longhouse. It took us about 45 mins, on a fairly good road. Longhouses are common here, they are like a small community all living together. Families have their own private rooms, with a small kitchen in the back, but share communal areas (sometimes the cooking may be done in the shared area. About 600 people were supposed to live in the one we visited, though we actually only saw about 30. The wooden buildings all join together, with open verandas, and we kept going up steps and finding more and more rooms and areas. There were satellite dishes, wifi, fridges, etc., so were not as basic as we first thought. It was located out in the countryside so they grow rice, vegetables, etc. They did a welcome dance (and a few others), which we participated in this time. Not sure if we had the right moves but we gave it a go! We then went back to Kuching and had some lunch. Chris offered to walk anyone who was interested around Chinatown, along the waterfront (river), and then to the Islamic museum, so we went along. People in Malaysia are mostly Islamic, but are very modern (no fanatics here, apparently if anyone gets that way they are sent for counselling, everyone wants to mix and get along, sounds like a nice idea!). We have a couple of hours off now, before we go out for dinner. It is so humid, a cool shower is first on the list.