Author: Karen

I love the luxury of unwinding and being pampered in spas. I have been lucky enough to visit them all over the world. I have lost count of the number of times, with just a week to take on the Herculean task of de-stressing, that I’ve googled ‘spa, Europe and lake’. If I had carried out my searches in Lithuanian or Russian (the clientele at my new favourite spa are mostly Russian), I would have come up with Druskininkai. But I didnt, it took a Lithuanian friend coming back to London, relaxed and glowing, to introduce me to this place.

I have been to this, well off the beaten track Lithuanian resort twice now. It took me the whole of the first week long visit to pronounce the name of the spa town with any degree of confidence (Droosk-IN-in-kye, with the emphasis on the second syllable).

I have visited beach resort spas and have nothing against them at all. But in the summer I would rather go short haul, avoid crowded coastlines, swap the babble for babbling brooks, walk in tranquil forests and swim in chanced upon fresh water lakes. Druskininkai ticks all the boxes.

With no Lithuanian and just a smattering of Russian in my vocabulary, in the big hotel in which I stayed on both occasions, its easy to just tune out of the noise and exist almost on a different frequency.  One English man appeared briefly on my first stay and I was most disappointed but he soon went elsewhere and on my most recent stay I heard a Norwegian man complaining loudly in English that the doctors appointment for his wife was inconvenient as she needed one hour to eat just a tiny portion of dinner.  But the rest of the time this little isolated group drank copious amounts of beer and spoke in Norwegian.

Next, getting there, my hotel Spa Vilnius, the local fare and the good old fashioned European treatments

The Semengoh Wildlife Reserve is a twelve mile drive from Kuching and well worth the trip, Borneo has beautiful beaches in the more touristy destinations of the North, but the attraction for me wasnt sun, sea and sand.  I joined a couple of tours arranged by the Bermibeh Travellers lodge (Ewe Hai Street) . They started early, and not being much of a morning person I skipped breakfast, but this was offered to me gratis by the great people at the Bermimbeh hostel while I waited for the vehicle.

On the first trip I didnt see any of these fantastic creatures, just lots of gruesome photos of the damage they could do to you if you do see them and let them get too close.  ‘If an orangutan touches you, you always go to hospital’, our guide as the reserve told us.  These orangutans are being rehabilitated into the wild and if they dont need to come to take the food laid out for them, it’s a good sign, they are doing well.  They are orphaned or injured or have previously been kept as illegal pets and the aim is not to tame them but to help them as they fend for themselves. On my first visit we waited and waited quietly (and as usual in a group of people, some not so quietly) in the woods but they didnt come.

My next excursion was to Jong’s Crocodile Farm, also a short drive away.  The significance of the word ‘farm’ didnt really sink in at the time, but the crocodiles that are fed for the (fairly scarce) tourists are in huge emerald green pools.  I had the place almost to myself once a small group of Malaysian sightseers had left.  Its a tranquil leafy spot with crocodiles everywhere.  Inside an enclosure a huge tailless beast languishes in a solitary pen, apparently he was born this way and would be savaged by the others outside.

Jong’s is a pretty and surprisingly peaceful place, considering the thing to do is to wander amongst the largest and most aggressive living reptiles.

The Ibans are tribe of Dayak people native to Borneo, the villages and long house in the rain forest are a beautful place to visit.  I couldnt help feeling at times that I was in a human zoo.  Apparently headhunting has been phased out but the dried skulls in the rafters looked a little too authentic.

On my second visit to Semenggoh (these trips arent expensive, especially if you book them at somewhere like the Bermibih lodge, rather than a swanky hotel like the Pullman, and the entrance fee supports the centre) the guide started saying ‘look, look, over there!’ in an animated Attenborouesque stage whisper.  And there they were, these magnificent creatures.

Semenggoh Nature Reserve

Kuching is a bustling city on the banks of the Sarawak River on the island of Borneo.  There are tourists inevitably, but it’s off the beaten track enough to be exotic and not like anywhere else, making it an interesting city to explore.  You will find plenty of unique shops, cafes and restaurants (unique apart from a branch of that nasty virulent golden arch chain) and there is big bargain department store (go here especially if you are in need of a new rucksack for the rain forest).

The bench-lined river promenade is a great place to start sightseeing or to sit and watch the colourful boats.  I was lucky enough to chance upon the annual regatta. There are long sunset river cruises culminating in a show performed by exquisite traditional dancers.  People squealed as a small crocodile swam along the surface close to the boat.   If you feel up to braving a smaller (infinitely more capsizable) boat and forget about the aforementioned crocodile there are short expedient rides to take you across to the grassy residential shores of the opposite bank, the site of the Astana, the residence of the Sarawak governor built by a certain Charles Brooke in 1869 and where via loud speakers there is sermonising on the word of the prophet Mohammed.

A Singaporean friend had recommended that I try the local delicacy ‘midin’, an edible jungle fern native to Sarawak and I found it in the cafe ‘Zhun San Yen’ near the river. After having the delicious samphire-like vegetable along with lots of other delicious dishes at this cafe run by Bhuddists I became a semi-regular (bolstered by my calamity of forgetting to take any money on my second lunch and the owners being totally cool with me bringing it when I came down later).  All the dishes are vegetarian, some using the traditional Chinese style of cooking with faux meats and they are all delicious.  The self service buffet is charged by weight (economical and handy for the budget conscious) and the staff are charming.

Away from the river the town is a busy hive of streets.  Apparently it’s uncertain whether the word ‘Kuching’ derives from the Malay word for cat ‘kucin’ or from the Chinese word for port ‘cochin’ but there are numerous cat statues and even a cat museum (I know where I’d put my money).   Around town there are lots of interesting buildings, temples both Chinese and Indian and a magnificent mosque as well as a colourful dragon-filled Chinatown.

The breathtakingly beautiful Reservoir Park was a spectacular find.  Take the opposite direction from river, setting out from the Pullman hotel and a twenty minute or so stroll from the city centre (anyway you’ll need a map but they are easy to come across)…

At night the river esplanade seems to be the real heart of the city, it’s full of people taking the air, strolling or sitting at the food stalls. However; if you find exploring the city on foot thirsty work and want something a little stronger there are places around that serve cocktails, beers and wines.  Larger hotels and some cafes and restaurants sell alcohol, but not all of them, this being a muslim country.  My Rough Guide recommended a ‘lifestyle bar’ called ‘Tao’ on Jalan Padungan. After an walk around streets filled with little shops selling hardware and tiny restaurants selling Indian or Malay food, amongst the hustle and bustle of city life, people sitting at the front of their shops enjoying the cooler balmy nights.  I found the address, now called 175 it was a really cool place; friendly staff, healthy food with vegetarian choices and smoothies but cocktails and wine and beers too; music, sofas, a couple of floors and discrete areas and best of all a free fish pedicure for every customer while they sip their drinks.

Next: Iban longhouses and crocodiles

Borneo had long been one of my dream destinations, so whilst on a secondment in Singapore, I was lucky enough to make a few trips there.  Taking advantage of Air Asia’s handy flights I flew to Kuching, a sprawling, bustling city on the banks of the Sarawak River.  And here from here, the Malaysian part of the island I was able to explore this exotic land.

There are backpackers lodges and dormitories but on a hill in a fairly quiet part of town, a twenty minute drive from the airport, is the gleaming Pullman Hotel.  My first visit coincided with the soft opening of this sparkling new modern tower. The deluxe rooms on the top floors have floor to ceiling windows with views of the river and the city.  The bright, spacious public areas are sun streaked and comfortable and the relaxation area around the pool doubles as a nightclub complete with light shows in the evening.   The tapas by the pool are delicious and remarkably good value. There is also a gym, a jacuzzi and a steam room and a few yards from the entrance to the hotel I found a massage centre where the wonderful treatments  seemed to be a hybrid of a hard Thai pummelling and Swedish deep tissue massage with oil.

So if you have flown from further than Singapore or are just in need of some down time the food and relaxation areas in the hotel are pretty good.  There is a cafe with international dishes and breakfast, but for dinner the more formal Nu Er Hong restaurant on the ground floor has an extremely delicious traditional Chinese vegetarian selection and a good wine list.

This would almost be a destination hotel if it wasnt Borneo out there!  After dinner, or after a swim and a massage, the charming Kuching waterfront promenade is a short stroll away and is a gentle introduction to the city.  And Kuching is a good base to explore the surrounding areas, and Borneo.

Next Kuching; ‘Cat City’, Borneo 

On the third windswept and startling bright Dahab morning I tore myself from the cushioned and shielded sanctuary of the Bedouin pavilion overlooking Gulf of Aqaba to rejoin the dawdling chatty yoga group at the big wooden breakfast table.  I had had my fill of the delicious foul and salty white cheese, the peppers and freshly cooked unleavened bread and prefered to drink my tea away from the rajastic chit chat of my new yogic companions.  I dragged myself back to these starlings swathed in soft natural fibres against the underlying desert chill to hear what the much heralded (and money spinning I cynically appended) visit from the local guide had to say about a possible desert trip.

Passive aggressive emaciated yoga teacher Celia knew exactly what she wanted us to choose to do.  I was shot down in flames for trying to concoct an apparently totally impossible combination of desert trip and nature reserve.

The guide invited me to sit down, testily I refused.  He sat high and lean in his wooden chair in his grey djellaba and spoke about possible adventures and utterly charmed.  With his clipped moustache and thickly waved hair he looked like a like a grease-painted silent movie star version of himself.

Sulkily I skulked back to my cushioned solitude to stare at the sea.  A couple of chapters of a novel later (who was John Galt anyway) and  I walked along the pedestrian and equestrian curvy sea path that stretched between the sparsely populated tents and cushions and their four walled counterparts.  The sun, high over head felt damaging and the sea sparkled and shimmered all the way to the menacing mountain walls of Saudi Arabia.

Someone waived to me as I reached the busy diving hub and I ate more hummus  with two of my new acquaintances before setting off again alone along the sea path and between the hard selling restaurateurs and hawkers of bric-a-brac stood the charming guide, the purveyor of Bedouin dreams.  About six feet six he stood shrouded in robes sipping daintily on the straw in a small carton of juice.  He smiled and said hello and asked me if I wanted a tour of the surrounding area, to see the canyon and the views.  Cynically, I thought afterwards, I asked him the price of the tour and affronted he told me it was free.

I stayed at the Coral Coast Hotel (which refreshingly doesnt have a website yet, but you can google it!) in Dahab, and flew with Easy Jet