5:04 pm Miri Marina
Here is the 2nd catch up email; it’s about our minibus experiences. A minbus is just a large van with 3 rows of spassenger eats like a large van and could probably hold 11 adults comfortably. For all of our trips there were at least 3 people in the front driver’s seats and 4 or 5 per row and some on makeshift seats facing backwards. It wasn’t so terrible unless someone started smoking. There was a tiny No Smoking sign but it was ignored. There was usually no AC but luckily the windows let in air while we moved. But we did only pay 4 ringits for the 40 minute ride. The public minibus and the private resort minibuses were all about the same. Our definition of, “the van is full,” and the driver’s version of “the van is full,” were about 3 or 4 people. But everyone was always polite and friendly and the children well behaved.
Taking a Minibus
Randal and I went to Kuching one day; just to go for lunch. We spent 45 minutes waiting for a minibus that never came. There were 8 cruisers waiting so cars couldn’t offer us a lift. Finally a “resort” minibus stopped but was charging 10 ringits instead of the public minibus fare of 4 ringits. Two cruisers got in; the rest of us opted to wait for the public minibus which would be coming by anytime soon. We waited and waited and waited. Early in the morning several go by and even private minivans charge 4 ringits. About midday the first school shift ends and the second one begins so school kids apparently are taking the minibuses around Santubong so fewer make the trip to Kuching. Finally a cruiser in a hired taxi went by and Randal and I got in because Cliff and Ruth and Jennie and Eddie were going together to the motorbike rental store and not all of us wouldn’t fit into the taxi anyway.
Jeanette in the blue hat, Ruth sitting next to her, Randal, Eddie and Cliff. Jeanette and Eddie are from New Zealand though he is Dutch by birth. Te Wai Paunamu is the name of their boat. It means something in native New Zelandese that is quite nice but I can’t remember. I think Paunamu is a bay there.
While we were waiting I walked up to take a photo of this which is just near the “bus stop.”
It’s the tomb of a past Sultan who was the Sultan of Brunei, I think. Apparently his family has a home near Santubong, I think.
We heard later that our friends had waited another 45 minutes and then it took 40 minutes to get to town. I’m sure they were starving by the time they got to Kuching. Our taxi driver told us about life in Kuching. I’m not sure how much education he’d had; but his first job in the early 80s was as a PR guy for the Kuching Government. He was paid 250 ringits per month; less than $100 US. He had to travel a great deal too. After 3 years he quit to work in a hotel, stay put and make more money. He owns his own taxi and will pay off the 7 year loan next year. He married at age 30 and waited 4 years to have his first child. He has 4 and tells them to wait to marry so that they “won’t have to share.” He explained that when you marry and you have 1 ringit; you get only 50 cents and your spouse gets 50 cents. If you are not married then you get to keep the whole ringit for yourself. You get to do as you wish and not have to do as someone else wishes. This is the advice he gave to his almost 20 year old daughter. He told her to work and wait to marry. At dinner time when the whole family sits to eat together he teaches his children by telling them his thoughts about life. Jarfar is in his early 50s. Very, very reasonable. We arrived in Kuching about 12:30, ate lunch, bought new hose for our water catchers, some paint brushes for Randal to repaint the dings in the hull we got in Terengganu, and then went to catch the public minibus back to Santubong.
As I’m writing this about 10 days later, I can’t actually remember the point of the story…. But I’ll end with a description of a typical minibus ride back to Santubong. If there are only 2 or 3 cruisers in the van, then it is filled with at least 10 or 12 local people going back to Santubong. (One time we had 18 though 3 of them were small children.) Each person is dropped at his or her door! It reminded me of taking the airport shuttle when I’d visit my parents in Florida. We’d leave the airport and then stop at 2 or 3 condo complexes along the way to drop off passengers. I seemed to always be the last one off on the way to my parents and the first one on returning to the airport. Santubong actually resembles Florida with the foliage. We drove down small lanes to small villages to small homes and a passenger or 2 would get off the van. One time, it was so neat to see, we dropped off one man whose kids just looked so happy to see him. There was a small home at the end of a double board path along the river. A small boy and his smaller brother in diapers were waiting at the door. The baby was jumping up and down with joy seeing his dad. Another boy came from where he had been swimming with his buddies and followed his dad down the path. The dad had groceries and also a new bicycle wheel rim which seemed to be for the older boy. Then the van turned around and retraced its way back down the lane to another lane to drop off another passenger. By the end of the trio the van felt very roomy and comfortable!