Sayang Sarawak

"... travel makes us porous to new customs, beauties, ideas, and dreams. I can't think of a better vaccine against dogmatism or a quicker cure for self-satisfaction. As we struggle to reconcile what we're experiencing with what we take for granted, we strip away what's arbitrary in cultural practice and approach what is universal." - Robert Fuller

1. For the record, Sungai Sarawak is not narrow, no matter what the song said...

2. Hubby was there for a day over a week due to an assignment. He already told me that even if I joined him, he wouldn't be able to spend much time with me, but I insisted on joining him for a few days anyway.

3. It is a tradition of sort for us to explore a new place together to celebrate our anniversary. We played tourist in Tokyo during our second anniversary. Explored Nikko a week before our third. Spent one night in Singapore to commemorate our fourth. And this year, Kuching it was.

4. For the first time ever, we spent our annual 'anniversary' holiday away from the kids. Which was both nice and kind of weird. I missed my boys, but spending some time just with hubby helped making us feel closer and more connected to each other. Not that we've never done things together back home, we do. But those outings felt more like a routine rather than a bonding experience.

5. Like I told my newly-graduated-and-now-a-medical-doctor cousin (congratulations Dr Hafiz! *winks and grins*), I missed traveling. Yes, I still travel every now and then as part of my job requirement but after a while it starts to feel "same old, same old". I yearned to explore someplace new, view new sights, taste new stuff, meet new faces. Sarawak provided an excellent opportunity for me to do just that.

6. It was my first time to Sarawak - and hopefully it won't be the last. I must admit that alhamdulillah, I had better luck than hubby when it comes to having a nice journey to and fro Kuching. We both took AirAsia flight - hubby went there on 18 December and returned on 25 December while I went there on 22 December and returned on the same day with hubby. Only that hubby told me that his return flight was at 3.00 p.m. (he did not buy his own ticket, it was provided by his sponsor), so I bought ticket for 3.05 p.m. Turned out that hubby's ticket was for 3.50 p.m. We decided not to change the ticket because it was less than an hour difference and I don't mind waiting an hour in LCCT - I still had another book-in-progress.

7. What actually took place was - while I basically experienced little delay (typical of AirAsia) on both my journey to and fro, hubby's flight to Kuching was delayed for more than three hours. And his flight back from Kuching was delayed for almost six hours. I guess it's true after all - that AirAsia tagline, "Now everybody can fly" is interchangable with "Not everybody can fly" (on time). Oh well...