Ah now this is the life. The Village House on Santubong Peninsula is so much better – perfect place for us to wind down after our adventures. The minibus took us through the suburbs of Kuching and on to the Peninsula. I’m a little surprised at the modern houses in the suburb. They are an upscale track home – most in stucco with overhanging metal roofs. They remind me a bit of houses around Auckland NZ. Soon we have entered a low growing palm jungle. There is also a resemblance to Kauai. The large jungle covered Mt. Santubong is in the distance over low houses and palm. There is even a bit of red dirt in the distance.

We were greeted with a cool drink and a cold cloth. The owner tells us a bit about the property. There are two rows of rooms build up like a Malay building on stilts. The face a wonderful long wading pool. Underneath is wonderful artwork and places to sit. We order dinner for 7 and make our choices – a fish in malaysian sauce and chicken curry for me. The food is served next to the pool. We are pretty tired from the hot day in Bako so we have an early night.

They encourage you to relax and enjoy the premises so we decide to do just that. It rained hard last night and started a bit again this morning so we let the rain tell us to slow down. It does stop and we go down to the beach. The tide is out so we can walk about 1km down the beach to the village. The tide goes out an amazing distance – it looks like almost 1/2 km out. George of course has to go out and investigate as far as he can. I stick around closer and take pictures. It has been hard to take pictures because of the overcast and UV light. I’m hoping some come out.

After meandering along the beach, we come to the village. It is a well kept brightly colored village. We get there just after noon and all the kids are getting out of school. They all greet us with Hello and a few giggles when we reply.

We stop in the store for a cool drink and they ask were we are from. They are always a little surprised that we are Americans. They always guess UK, or Australia, or Canada before US. They also almost always remark about the recession in US. We did have also have a conversation with a woman talking about the Bush administration’s actions in Iraq. They have some hope for Obama but wonder what he can really do to change.

The rest of this afternoon has been spent playing cards, swimming and relaxing by reading or doing sudoko. Dinner will be soon. I think I’ll follow Jerry’s lead and have a Lychee Martini tonight. I’ve checked my mail and we haven’t received any messages so I don’t think our flight back to KK has been cancelled. I’ve been a little worried after they cancelled Saturday’s flight. We are on the return portion of that same plane.

If all goes well, we will be home soon. I can’t decide if I am ready to leave or not. I was after Bako. George was not. But the more cushy accomodations have changed my view. I think I could just stay another day in paradise.