Working around our travel agent’s timeline and our international flights, we have ended up with a ‘free’ day in Kuching to relax and make up for the last week of early mornings. There is a vibrant food scene here and we’ve enjoyed it a lot.

We started our day with laksa at breakfast – thin noodles with chicken, egg and tofu marinated in lime and a spicy chili sauce. Unusual for westerners for breakfast, but commonly eaten in the morning in Malaysia.

Sarawak is known for its production of pepper plants. We have purchased a bag of black peppercorns to fill our grinder at home.

After a morning walk around our neighborhood we were hot and ready for lunch. The Pinggai Cafe serves typical Dayak cuisine, from both the local Iban (river people) and the Bidayuh tribes.

Their specialty is char siew (barbecued pork) which is the first time we have had pork products since arriving in Borneo.

After a nice casual day we had a great dinner at the Jolly Pit.

Barbecued pork belly is their specialty and we tried their share platter with chicken and lamb as well.

At the airport this morning we said goodbye to Mashor and to Borneo. A rather bumpy two-hour flight over the South China Sea has brought us to Kuala Lumpur on the Malaysian Peninsula (or West Malaysia), once again having to clear customs!

Our room at the RuMa Hotel is absolutely gorgeous. A nice place to spend the next three nights.

After a long travel day, we decided to eat dinner in the hotel restaurant instead of venturing out. It turned out to be an amazing culinary experience! Atas is named for the Malay word for ‘upstairs’, as the restaurant is on the mezzanine above the lobby, but also “exudes a more tongue-in-cheek undertone, referring to something upper class”.

Tomorrow we start exploring Kuala Lumpur.