Camping @ Kuala Balai

Kuala Balai is situated at Belait district. Take about 25 mins drive to the end of the road from the main road. Nothing much here really but the local have been trying their best to preserved and maintain their culture in this village. There was no support from the government or whatsoever. There is no power supply and water. The only water that you can get is from the river or rain water that was collected in a blue tank.

Oh did I tell you that we are here for fishing too! Not so lucky with the fishing. There were 4 of us. Joseph, John and I went on a fishing trip over the weekend. Minah (John's maid) joined us as the catering service – no camping trip is complete if you don’t have a maid.

The weekend trip went well! Caught some fish and udang (prawns). Joseph consider the champion on that day as he caught 3 big prawns and a big fish. I was accused by John for pushing him off the walkway into a thorny Nipah tree (ouch) during the night. He was walking behind me without a torch!! Imagine that!! hehehe...Then J&J went hunting for babi hutan (wild pig) with no success. As for me, I was in the tent trying to sleep! Feel like sauna!! J & J had a great time trading stories until 2am. Joseph killed 124 mosquitoes and lined them up on the food box. I suspect it was the tigers (beer) that got to him, however judging by the snoring, he did not have enough to knock him out.

We had chicken curry and rice for dinner followed by fresh prawns and fruit. Action point – buy a can opener that works rather than resorting to parangs, spoons and other hardware.

Sunday, Minah found out that the water held in the village storage tank was rotten (after she had washed her hair), so none of us smelt too good on Sunday as we could not wash properly. Cannot swim in the river because of the crocs.

I had a wonderful weekend and would like to do more camping in the near future.