The air is thick with anniversaries at the moment. By the time 7 January rolled round, it was a year since we'd left our former home, KL, and set out on our Big OE.

On 12 January it was 10 years since I started blogging.

And today -- drumroll -- it is a year since we arrived in Kuching with the intention of making it home.

Of course, a long administrative process and then some months of travel preceded its actually BECOMING home, but nevertheless, 14 January marked the beginning of our long-term association. Up to now it's been a very happy one.


So why do we like Kuching so much?

Well, it's unpretentious and homely. It's really beautiful. It's full of history. The food is fabulous. We've met with a lot of kindness.

And it's supremely laid-back. That's the facet that local people most often single out in our discussions of the merits of the city. When we explain that we lived for a long time in KL, but have been happy to switch to the more mellow pace of Kuching, there is immediate empathy: "Oh yes, KL... Always jam. Always rush. Gives me a headache. But Kuching -- it's relaxed. No-one's in a hurry."

They're right. There's an easy-going, unstressed vibe in the air. People have time to talk to you. And as a Grab driver pointed out to us the other day, it's really rare to hear the hooting of car horns.

The people we talk to -- both in Kuching and in other parts of Sarawak -- are very much aware of, and protective of, their distinctive identity as Sarawakians. They definitely see themselves as different from West Malaysians, and are very wary of interference from the outside.

A succession of conversations has demonstrated that they are particularly proud of their peaceful, tolerant inter-communal relations (and generally feel that they are well ahead of West Malaysia on this front).

They are not complacent about these qualities, though, and recognize that they might be hard to defend (one person I talked to felt they had already been significantly eroded, but hopefully he's being over-pessimistic).

Kuching is also gloriously photogenic, so it's really not too difficult to keep up our photo-a-day routine here.

As time goes by, we start to build up associations with places. The picture at the top, for example, shows Sungai Padungan, which is kind of "our river"... Well, it's the one that runs along under our nearest main road, and bursts gloriously out into the Sarawak River right there... A friend told us he remembered it flowing alongside the road in huge channels before it was "roofed in" when the road was extended. Now, as we walk along towards the Big Padungan Cat, we go past umpteen grids that let you glimpse the flow beneath.

As we look forward to Year 2 of being based in Kuching, here are some slightly offbeat views of our much-loved home: