With nothing more than a few paragraphs of text in a guidebook to go by, we headed to the Singapore Airport leaving for the mysterious island of Borneo. If it wasn’t for a few bouts of pure luck we would probably still be at the airport wandering around with no place to stay, not knowing what to do. After crossing into Malaysia from Singapore, it becomes very clear that these two countries share little in common other than their geographic location.

After a full day of deliberation, a few meetings with Deborah, the pushy "you-should-do-a-package-tour-to-Penang" travel agent, and a last-minute price increase by Singapore Airlines for a flight to Bali (nearly tripled overnight), we decided on our own to fly to Kuching in the state of Sarawak on Malaysian Borneo. Since Borneo was never on our original plan of places to see, we figured it would make a perfect place to start our travels. With nothing more than a few paragraphs of text in a guidebook to go by, we headed to the Singapore Airport where we were treated to the most efficient air-transit system I have ever seen. We booked our ticket in no time and we're on our way.

Let me point out a few obvious differences between Singapore and Malaysia that I noticed on the airplane. Singapore Airport is large and spacious; Malaysian Airlines' planes are not. The service at the Singapore Airport is second-to-none; on Malaysian Airlines there is none. Food service at the Singapore Airport consisted of every possible ethnic food at every range of service and quality the star-ranking system; on Malaysian Airlines they said it was food. I recognized the fork, knife and spoon ... the other stuff on the tray was a mystery. I know it had something to do with curry. Roughly translated, the menu consisted of "Styrofoam Curry Platter" with a side of "Curry Plastic Wrap" and a desert of "Curry Custard Cup."

We were the only “westerners” at the airport and probably the only travelers on the airplane from what I could tell. When we arrived at the Kuching airport, things were not as smooth as they were in Singapore. We were hustled off the airplane and lead to the baggage claim area where we waited for our packs to come around. At this point we only had to accomplish a few things: change money (new country=new currency), book a hotel and find a taxi to take us to said hotel. In reality, we had nothing. We didn’t even know where Kuching was on the map. If it wasn’t for a few bouts of pure luck we would probably still be at the airport right now wandering around.

We knew of only one hotel in Kuching, Sarawak that we wanted to stay at, but had no confirmed booking. There are a great number of mega-resort hotels along the waterfront in Kuching (Hilton, Marriot, Holiday Inn), but we didn’t want that type of hotel experience. We had sent Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites an email right before we left Singapore to see if they had any available rooms and at what price. Naturally, we didn’t expect to get a response in time, but figured it was worth a try. As soon as we left the baggage claim area at the airport we found a row tout-booths. These are counters at airports and popular travel destinations where they try to get you to book a hotel, minibus or car. There is usually a pretty good game of deception going on at these places.

The strange, or lucky, thing was that the only booth for hotel booking was for the Merdeka Palace Hotel itself. And, as a bonus, the price was considerably lower than what was listed online. I think the price came out to be around US$40 a night, including breakfast. I should also mention that it was a 5-star hotel fashioned after 1950’s Havana, Cuba? Pretty cool place, very kitsch. Having booked the hotel room, I stood in line to buy a Taxi voucher while Susanne tried to find an ATM or Money Exchange counter. In Malaysia it seems to be customary to pre-pay for a taxi, either at the airport or at your hotel. It’s unusual to see a taxi with a meter available, much-less working. But the ones that we hailed down on the street seemed pretty honest. Nearly every time we took a taxi in town, it was 6 Ringgit Malaysian (RM), or US$1.57.

As far as how the Taxi Queue worked, it’s easiest to simply say everything was an all-for-one battle to get a taxi from the airport. Fortunately, we met a local man was just returning from Brunei where he had just led a tour of 50+ year-olds from England. Knowing the system much better than us, he helped us grab a taxi. I’m pretty sure this was a way for him to get a free ride into town, but considering we weren’t waiting on the curb fighting with the rest of the blood-thirsty locals anymore, I was ok with the non-spoken arrangement. In addition, he was extremely helpful in suggesting things to do and see while in Sarawak. Although it seemed that after returning from Brunei, a very Muslim country where alcohol is illegal, our helpful local guide was more interested in seeing the inside of a brew pub than the National Parks he was suggesting we visit.