There is a saying in Malaysia that "the sea unites and the land divides" and this is certainly true of Sarawak. The place is really a collection of inhabited islands surrounded by rivers, marsh and jungle, traditionally linked by boat. Tarmac roads are a new development and there is only one single lane highway which connects the main towns and cities. Kabong, the town where Sue is based only got a connecting road a few years ago and the village of Perpat, where one of her schools is located, still does not have one. To get there Sue has to wait by the riverbank for a ferryman to show up. This can involve balancing on rickety jetties and clambering up slimy ladders, depending on the state of the tide.
Normally when we want to go to Kuching, the provincial capital, we drive - a trip of about 300 kilometres which takes about five hours. But last weekend we took the ferry. By sea it is 150 kilometres to Kuching, which takes about three and half hours and costs £8 each way. We got the lunchtime boat which was full of locals and their assorted bags and cardboard boxes, including one full of chicks chirping plaintively. The ferry does about thirty miles per hour downriver and then across the open sea to Kuching. The boat is so fast that when going onto to the observation deck I had to stick my hat in my pocket and the noise of the massive twin diesel engines was deafening.
En route we passed many fishing boats and several tugs pulling barges of coal and other bulk cargo, so full they looked like they might sink at any moment. Every now and then Sue would spot a flying fish or a porpoise jumping and the sea was dotted with mushroom-shaped jellyfish suspended in the water like large, malevolent plastic carrier bags. It was a cloudy day and at times the sea took on a sickly yellow colour under a battleship grey sky.
After about three hours we entered the river mouth which leads to Kuching, passing mile after mile of jungle, interspersed with villages on stilts and heavy industry before the skipper finally eased back the throttle and coasted up to the terminal jetty. Somehow it felt like the proper way to arrive in Kuching.
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