Three Days Three Countries

So, I'm now in Borneo at one of the only internet points in Kuching, a city in the east. There is also a queue and I have been waiting one hour, so this won't be the long prose I intended.

It is Thursday night at 21:45 and I thought the title was appropriate as I have indeed crossed into three countries in the last three days.

I will write more later but my reflections on all three are as follows:

Mumbai, India (Monday 10th August 2010; c.12 hours).

1. It helps to have a good, local guide. My guide was called Freni, incredibly well-informed and she took me to a myriad of places in the short time we had - Gandhi's sometime residence, the place where the Dhobi washermen wash clothes outdoors - this includes a hot and cold wash and ironing spot, the gateway to Mumbai, a large fort entrance at the South of the city built for British Royalty, a huge variety of architectural styles courtesy of the many occupants and two groundwater fed gardens at the highest point of the city.

2. The international airport is new and does not represent any of external Mumbai; even the arrivals area is muted and controlled by soldiers, not the baying masses I expected to see.

3. The city proper is hot as hell, visceral and in your face on all levels.

4. There is a real spirit of endeavour and enterprise in all the people. We could learn a lot from their aspirational desires and will to work.

5. Small idiosyncratic things that become apparent to you like the universal rolling of the head when things don't quite go the way they should.

Singapore, Wednesday 11th August.

Singapore is about everything Mumbai is not. From the moment you arrive in the airport you can then carry on with the minimum of thought or worry. I did feel a bit like a robot with a constant presence and guiding arm around me. I can imagine that if I spent a lot of time there the urge to rebel would be massive.

What I sampled of the food though is amazing. My friend Sam took me to a local restaurant called Longhouse and we ate like Kings sampling a vast array of food types - indian, malay, chinese, whatever dish you fancied.

Kuching, Borneo, Thursday 12th August.

On the flight over I could see the patches of slash and burn and smoke rising from cleared virgin forest. A sign of our global demand to consume and quite stark when seen from above.

Kuching is a large city, although sleepier than I imagined. I spent the day strolling around, then took a boat across the Sarawak River (I'm staying on the south side) to walk around. There is an orchid garden, an amazing array of flowers but the most interesting bit was the 'rehabilitation centre'. Lots of poor, wilting plants taken away for tlc. Cute.

I took a small boat down the river at sundown and had some stunning views of the Sarawak mountains as the sun set. Simply stunning.

Tomorrow I'm going to a nearby National Park to get a taster for the hardcore jungle trekking I'm planning later in the week.

Malaysian are very kind and hospitable. I have already experienced this on numerous occasions.

The heat is enduring. It makes me wilt, but it also slows everything down which is nice.

Finally, after 2.5 years of flight abstinence I did not enjoy my longhaul, 2 night flights in a row experience. There is only so many ways you can bend your legs on an economy flight and it doesn't help that you are fed curry and beer at 12.30am. Of course I didn't have to eat it, but it seemed rude not too!