Brunei is nice, but man is it expensive! The Brunei $ is almost a 1 to 1 with Australia and you certainly don't get value for money when it comes to accommodation. We were happy to leave it, but sad to leave the rain forest.
I have actually never gone through a serious country border crossing by land. The last time I did a border crossing by land was going to Windsor in Canada, and that was when all you needed was a driver's license and not even a passport. That and they just got on the bus to make sure you were legit. This border crossing certainly took way more effort and it wasn't even a hard one! It was a simple stamp out, get on a bus, stamp in kind of thing. I am not looking forward to when we have to actually do a more serious one once we head up towards Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
We decided to tough it up and continue on from the bus stand in Miri and overnight bus it to Sibu. There is a major cultural festival that is happening right now in this state, Sarawak. They celebrate a festival called Gawai Dayak. Gawai Dayak is a huge indigenous tribe celebration that occurs starting on 31 May. The people get 2 public holidays following it. From what I can tell, its a bit like a Thanksgiving Harvest Festival. People all go home to be with their families. There is singing and dancing. There is cultural costumes and rituals. People have their weddings around this time.
I figured it would be cool to see. That's how we ended up here... I didn't realize it's a HUGE deal here. When we rocked up to the bus stand in Miri to get our tickets to Sibu, the market was in chaos. We got there at 6:00 and they only had a few tickets to the 9:30 p.m. buses - and those buses were extra buses. We were charged high season prices. Everybody is taking the Friday off so they can have a nice long 5 day weekend and try to get home. This is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! I had no idea!
Of course, now we are a bit stuck in high season. We better see this darn festival. I don't care if its touristy or not. I want blowpipes (at least to try it out, as long as I don't end up like Elmer Fudd in a bad Looney Toons episode where he ends up swallowing it instead of blowing it). I want rice wine. I want to see longhouses. I want dances. I can't wait!
Let's see if we stay in Sibu or start making our way down to Kuching.
I have actually never gone through a serious country border crossing by land. The last time I did a border crossing by land was going to Windsor in Canada, and that was when all you needed was a driver's license and not even a passport. That and they just got on the bus to make sure you were legit. This border crossing certainly took way more effort and it wasn't even a hard one! It was a simple stamp out, get on a bus, stamp in kind of thing. I am not looking forward to when we have to actually do a more serious one once we head up towards Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
We decided to tough it up and continue on from the bus stand in Miri and overnight bus it to Sibu. There is a major cultural festival that is happening right now in this state, Sarawak. They celebrate a festival called Gawai Dayak. Gawai Dayak is a huge indigenous tribe celebration that occurs starting on 31 May. The people get 2 public holidays following it. From what I can tell, its a bit like a Thanksgiving Harvest Festival. People all go home to be with their families. There is singing and dancing. There is cultural costumes and rituals. People have their weddings around this time.
I figured it would be cool to see. That's how we ended up here... I didn't realize it's a HUGE deal here. When we rocked up to the bus stand in Miri to get our tickets to Sibu, the market was in chaos. We got there at 6:00 and they only had a few tickets to the 9:30 p.m. buses - and those buses were extra buses. We were charged high season prices. Everybody is taking the Friday off so they can have a nice long 5 day weekend and try to get home. This is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! I had no idea!
Of course, now we are a bit stuck in high season. We better see this darn festival. I don't care if its touristy or not. I want blowpipes (at least to try it out, as long as I don't end up like Elmer Fudd in a bad Looney Toons episode where he ends up swallowing it instead of blowing it). I want rice wine. I want to see longhouses. I want dances. I can't wait!
Let's see if we stay in Sibu or start making our way down to Kuching.
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