We're heading off for a bit more external OE tomorrow (I now tend to see offshore travel as "external OE", as opposed to the "internal OE" that is our life in Sarawak).

Essential travel preparations have included:

-- buying new winter boots (and then buying trousers with sufficient volume in the legs to fit over the cuff of the new winter boots, and then working out how much to lop off said trousers, as PT's legs are way shorter than the average decreed by trouser-manufacturers -- and this is a tricky business, as we have no mirror, so trouser-adjustments have to be photographed for her perusal -- and then locating a tailor to do the actual shortening...)


-- eating our way through an extensive must-have-one-more-time-before-we-go food list

-- shopping for Sarawak presents -- organic soap, pepper, tebaloi (sago biscuits from Mukah), kek lapis, textiles...

Our comings and goings are part and parcel, it seems to me, of the general flux of life.





More importantly, according to the Chinese calendar, the year is about to roll round again. Whereas last year we were in Kuching to welcome the Earth Pig, we will be on the other side of the continent for the arrival of the Metal Rat. There'll be a big emphasis on new beginnings, as the Rat starts another round of the 12-animal cycle.


And, most encouragingly, our low-carb endeavours led to a spectacular set of blood test results last week. So it really works! Now we just need the discipline and imagination to keep the low-carb thing going while we're on the road...

So..., we're looking forward to going, and we're looking forward to coming back. Stay safe, Kuching...