13-Dec-2025
Oy vey... What times, what times...
I'm not kidding: We are wading through vast piles of doo-doo at the moment...
The paths leading to our house purchase and our visa transfer are strewn with obstacles. The sale of our furniture is proceeding, but sucks up heaps of time. We screwed up the timing of a vaccination (which also turned out to be way more painful than we'd anticipated). We're even having trouble with the new phone app we've been forced to use (but in this case, everyone else is having trouble too, because it's a monstrously bad app).
There must be something good to report, you say?
Well, yes: The first root canal treatment went very smoothly; the stuff that I continue to lose (because I'm distracted and careless at the moment) continues miraculously to return to me; and at the moment we have the daily joy of our coffee Advent Calendar.
What else?
1. Weather
It's the rainy season, which comes with its own share of beauty and drama:
River levels vary enormously at the moment as the barrage is opened and closed to regulate the flow
Don't know what happened here, but THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO GO THERE
Presumably it was heavy rain that brought down the tree that wrecked our condo's pool-side pavilion...
2. Food
Breakfast at Nanyang 3. Really good food here
Jing Si is always a nice tranquil place, perfect for these frenetic times
I didn't manage a picture, but we also had a really nice lunch at Mr Domus the other day. Would definitely go back there.
3. Christmas capers
I love that everyone seems to be really having fun with the Christmas decorations. There's whimsy aplenty:
You can really declare it's Christmas when the Big Padungan Cat dons his gear...
Climbing Santas are popping up everywhere these days
I'm not sure snow is exactly what we're expecting in Sarawak, but hey...
I think this guy has been at the tuak...
Cute...
The Spring's stunning decorations
If you're a dentist, you hang teeth on your tree...
4. Miscellaneous
The best view we've ever had of the Old Nurses' Quarters, now that the surrounding undergrowth has been cut back
The cross-river tambang have gone all quiet and electric
So it's not all bad. But I tell you, we're really hoping for better things from the second half of the month.