Our flights were ordinary to say the least. Sydney to Melbourne and then a 6 hour wait until our 3am flight to KL. Another 4.5 hour wait until our flight to Kuching and that took care of 24 hours! Strangely enough, neither of us were too jet lagged, managing to keep ourselves awake until 8 pm wandering up and down the Kuching waterfront getting our bearings and soaking up the fact we were now is Borneo.
Kuching is a wonderful little city and easily accessible by foot. We were struck by how kind and helpful everyone was; always willing to chat-wanting to know where we were from and commenting about Sydney's beautiful harbour. Our hotel was across from the Hilton so enjoyed fabulous views of the river but also the wonderful price tag of $30AUD. Wandering through the back streets filled with Chinese and Indian heritage, joss stick burning temples and narrow alleyways we spotted street art, mosques and museums. Our days were filled with trips here and there to gain a better understanding of Malaysian Borneo: Sarawak as well as settle into our new lifestyle of full time travel.
We were so looking forward to beginning our voluntour-being able to switch our brains off for two weeks whilst someone else took out the hassle of organising accommodation and transport. Getting close access to the Orangutans and making a large financial contribution to their future wellbeing was also important to us. Moving from our new home at the waterfront to the guesthouse where the tour began, we were beginning to wonder why we didn't just travel independently. Sitting by the pool (an unexpected luxury!) we saw our fellow travellers begin to filter in and feelings of previous tours crossed our conversations. Comfortable in our own company we tried hard to spot potential Volmeisters or kindred spirits and our first meeting over dinner was both a relief to begin and a nervous wait of anticipation.
Cutting a long sort short, after meeting our guide and hearing that the itinerary had changed substantially, Tony and I decided that this was not what we had signed up for. Getting our money refunded to us in full the next day, we were incredibly saddened that it had not worked out the way we had hoped, yet knew we had made the right decision based upon our values. Thrown back into the world of independent travel, we made plans for our next two weeks. iPad filled with ebooks of Lonely Planets, we quickly realised that Sarawak was incredibly simple to travel around with easy to use public buses, super kind local and amazing wildlife. We had definitely made the right decision and were excited by the prospect of being able to tailor it perfectly to what we wanted to do.