Muara Tebas

Admin

My last few days have been busy. We celebrated Mum’s 78th birthday but other matters were more of an admin nature. Things like renewing my passport and opening a bank account.  Some things are harder than they sound as I have to ensure that the bank has a fully-featured internet banking facility which is kinda in its infancy.

While Malaysia may be a little behind New Zealand with internet banking, it was leading the world with passport technology.

Malaysia adopted the smart or E-passport (containing a chip with biometrics) in 1998 but I’ve managed to get away with a type-written one issued in NZ all this time.  It was the first in the world and actually preceded the international standard but the irony is that my photo was taken in the stairwell next to the broom closet! 
 
The passport will be a joy to use. I simply put the passport on the “autogate” when entering or leaving the country and the machine pulls up my photo, name and other details from the central database.  I then put my thumb on the scanner to verify my print against the one on the chip or database.  Before I can say “Open Sesame”, the gates fling open for me!  And I’ve missed all this for the last seven years!

Outing

But today I had a little excursion with my second brother.  He’s got visitors from Christchurch but they’re Brits.  In fact they’re my sister-in-law’s brother and his wife.

We headed out to Muara Tebas, where the Sarawak River discharges into the South China Sea.  In Chinese, the place is referred to as “Green Mountain”.  I suppose it’s because of the green hill on which there’s a Chinese temple.

Apart from the Chinese temple and the seafood restaurant, the place is largely Malay.  Because we weren’t eating, we left after taking a walk up to the temple for a look-see and to enjoy the view.