Monday, March 21, 2005

Cayce and the Giant Pineapple

Oh Lordy, Sarikei has an internet cafe..

The internet connection's fast, it's nice and clean and the best part is that it's only RM2 per hour!!... (I was going to add, "and quiet" but a bunch of noisy, obnoxious teenagers just came in)

We're staying in the Wawasan Inn; it's pretty decent so far. My field assistant, Steward, was keen on staying at his friend's inn, which was only RM30 per night (Wawasan Inn is RM60 per night for a double). Cheap yeah, but I'm concerned about staying in what may be a whore hotel so I rather pay a little bit more for security.

Feeling rather stressed because it was a hard day's drive through the pouring rain, plus I almost had a car accident.

I was driving down this steep hill when I turned into a sharp bend, and suddenly there was this car that just stopped on the road, to gawk at an accident. In turn, HE almost caused an accident!! I wasn't going fast because of the rain and steep decline but when I braked to avoid hitting the suddenly stationary car, my tires locked and I skidded on the road. It was probably less than a minute, but yet those seconds were really terrifying. I ended up on the shoulder of the road, safe yet very much shaken.

Moments like this make me wish for an ordinary normal job.

I was just thinking about how this work puts me into a lot of risk: the extended hours of driving, working in the jungle with no communication to the outside world for weeks.. It's scary when you think about it. So, I try not to think about it much. But I'm at the point of my life where I am starting to feel whether all this is necessary. There are other fieldwork out there that doesn't require driving long hours, or have proper communication.

I'm also stressed because the guy who is supposed to show me the way, has decided to stay in Sibu instead and he's currently incognito. We better meet up tomorrow or I'd bash his head in.

Hee.

Saying that out loud has made me feel better.

Well, enough about the bad stuff. The good include having my field assistant, Steward, with me. I've worked with him for a year and feel comfortable around him. As well, the drive to Sarikei was interesting: I never knew that there were so many interesting stops along the way! A couple of them advertised "adventure river cruises" but what cracked me up was this huge road sign that said, "Fort Lili and the Occasional Tidal Bore - 11 km".

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of roadtrip through Sarawak and Sabah. The drive to Sarikei was intriguing enough for me to really want to do this. There's also a stop to Rentap's Fortress which I think would be amazing to visit. There are also some resorts along the way - not sure what they're like but hey, a nice alternative to staying in small towns like Sarikei. I have a couple of conditions though: a great travel buddy, and I don't want to drive all the way back home - I rather leave the car in Sabah and fly home).

There's a Giant Pineapple somewhere around this town.

Now, all I need are a couple of human-sized, talking insects and I'm all set to fly away from here.

4 Comments:

At 9:04 PM, Blogger Cayce said...

aww.. thanks.. and thank you for being on YM! :-D I feel so much better talking to you and Dee.

 
At 10:23 PM, Blogger cabiria said...

if you'll wait a couple of years I would looove to go back there and take that road trip with you. how about that?

 
At 3:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope you have a good time, and take care on those roads ! Looking forward to
your pics :-)


SP

 
At 12:04 AM, Blogger Cayce said...

Lets, darling - I'd LOVE to go on a roadtrip with you. :-D I'm so happy of the possibility of you coming back here! My dad wants to set up you again! (he he)

SP - trip was good, and took some pics. :-)

 

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