diversion

The next day was a Sunday. We were all to meet at the office to iron out any irregularities with the Nyegol folks' witness statements, so we grabbed an early breakfast and were at the office at about 10am (on a Sunday, yes - such is the zeal of a bunch of youth in pursuit of a cause! Or maybe our companions were just morning people).

But when we got there, there was no one to be found at the office - the doors weren't even open yet. We hung around the staircase for a while, peered into the hairdresser's next door a few times, meandered about the coffee shop downstairs... everybody gradually drifted, and after about an hour I finally decided to get a haircut, since there wasn't anything better to do at the time. 

Behind me is Ah Tui, the guy who helped me trim two inches or so off my back and shorten the fringe  (a bit short, but I liked it at the time). I asked him about politics, since the Pakatan Rakyat office was just next door, but that wasn't very effective as far as conversation starters go. He asked me if I went clubbing.

Ah Tui had a limited English vocabulary, but what he did know he didn't hesitate to use: anyone who stepped into the salon would be greeted with a deep, sonorous "hellooOooOoe" and later ushered out with an equally comic "buh-buuUuuyye". When he was done coiffing my hair and I expressed satisfaction, he burped out a "goooOoood!". Funny guy.

Anyhow, I was so pleased with my RM17 haircut (£3.40!!) that we came back again on our last day in Kuching, for Chris to get his hair cut.

Before...

On the left is Mike, the salon owner, and Ah Tui on the right.

...and after.

I don't blame you for not being able to tell the pictures apart, but there was a difference! His incorrigibly thick mop of hair became a neat, less unruly mop of hair. For a few days. :P