Tamara's First Days in Miri

The hotel view. Need I say more?

After what seemed like a really long time (almost eternity), I finally arrived in Miri. It’s my first day here: first day on my own (while Nozar is at work), and first day with all the insects and creepy crawly things on the island. Until we get settled into our apartment, we are staying at a hotel. Even at the relatively modern hotel, as I am sitting on the veranda, I am joined by a beautiful brown frog, lots of flying insects, a couple of variety of ants, two spiders dangling above my table, and a nearly dead beetle (I’m living in denial that this could be a roach). I am just pretending to be alone, so I won’t be so creeped out.

The frog visiting my veranda yesterday.

Getting here from Singapore was…uhmm….fun? We flew into Kuching, the largest city near Miri. There, we needed to alight (disembark) from the plane and go through customs. We failed to understand - also, no one mentioned - we were supposed to go through customs until we were boarding the next (although it was the same plane) flight bound for Miri. In a panic we thought we would have to stay over in Kuching and catch a later flight, but alas, no….here in the relaxed state of Sarawak, they held an entire plane of 213 people for us to: run to immigration, find not a sole working there, track down an employee, wait while they did a shift change, change all immigration stamp dates, get our passports stamped, and then run back to the plane. As we finally boarded, not a sole gave us a dirty look or thought it unusual that an entire 737 would be held up by 2 ignorant foreigners. So our lives here begin, with a new relaxed state of mind and patience to match the locals…hopefully…someday. I understand from the non-locals (expats) that I will need an enormous amount of it; patience that is. For those who know me well, you know that I am being punished for all past sins.

Daily life here will take a bit of getting used to. This morning, while I was waiting to be served my iced cappuccino, I was reading an article in the paper where female illegal immigrants (from the Philippines), if convicted, may receive a punishment of caning. Yeah, wrap your head around that juxtaposition. I’m still having difficulty with it myself. The article prompted me to read more about the practice of caning as punishment here. Wikipedia offers a surprisingly accurate portrayal of the punishment. Keep in mind that two laws rule this country; something similar to what we would consider federal law, and Sharia (Muslim religious law). That means that technically a person (if Muslim) could be caned twice for the same crime. Yikes!  It makes my coffee service not quite so appealing. I have a feeling this will be the first of many occasions where I just need to swallow hard and move on. As a visitor here, I have no rights, especially the kind which would allow me to voice an opinion.

On a more positive note, my first night dinner here was a lesson against gluttony. We, not really understanding how to order, ordered food for about 5 people. We will not make that mistake again. I can say however, that I was served the best snapper and fried rice I have ever had. The food was beautiful, even if served up, in a dirty (on the outside), road-side restaurant, with tailless cats begging under the table, and lizards on the wall. I was served an entire gutted snapper, about 18 inches long, deep fried (no breading folks), with amazing sauce, lemon grass, and green onion on top. I didn't want to seem like a total ignoramus so I didn't snap a pic, but since it was so good, I'll be going back and will provide a pic at that time. The local food here is fantastic, fresh, varied! Total yummy-ness.

As you can see so far, it’s an odd mixture of experiences and emotions we are having. I’m excited and open about proceeding, and can’t wait to share all experiences with you.

Unusual flowers in bloom.

Coming up, I have two more blog entries to finish writing and post. One with pics and info about our time in Singapore and what Felix was up to during his travels, and a second with Nozar’s adventures during his first two weeks alone here in Miri. I hope you all follow along.  I am only going to notify on Facebook and via email a couple of more times about the blog. I don’t want everyone to get burned out with my notifications. If you are interested in following, please choose to subscribe or follow, in the links provided on the right or bottom of the blog page; or, you may just make a note of the blog location, felixsadventures.blogspot.com so that you may visit at your leisure. Either way, we are happy to have you with us.

Attempting Life :)

Tamara