Lihan hoped to leave this morning, conditional upon being able to collect all his school supplies from the various shops in town – the holiday had made things very difficult for him, with so many of the stores being closed – the economy here is almost entirely Chinese run. Things were very much open this morning, however, + the town was busy + bustling again. Too much, however – when we ran into Lehan while we were both out shopping, it seemed he now had the opposite problem, that the shops were so overrun with customers that they didn’t have time to see to him. So our departure date was put back until tomorrow.
This was rather a relief than otherwise actually, since it gave us another day to relax – leaving this morning would have been a bit of a panic. So we were able to take it easy, have a Coke with Lihan + companions (I made sure I paid this time)+ then stroll in a leisurely way around Marudi. Have I said before- Marudi is a pleasant little town. The man from the photographic shop had a look at our camera, + tho’ he wasn’t able to develop the film in time for a departure tomorrow, he reckoned the camera was working properly – a relief. And for a while, Lihan, Val + I just sat in the park + chatted… about his school, the Iban people, Sarawak in general. We also tried to convince him he should come to England, where he would have only his fare to find, since it would give us pleasure to look after him + his wife, both to repay some hospitality, + to show off England. We watched another football game on TV, an old Arsenal V Liverpool game, then relaxed, sitting around, going round to pick up a last few bits of shopping, a meal, an early night.
A day like so many others when one is travelling, ie not all that much to report, but pleasant enough, and good news in discovering the camera was onm its way to recovery.
