BORNEO my collection of short stories

Part 1: Vampire City

Several years ago I made a suggestion to my best friend that we make a short trip to Pontianak. I wasn't sure how he would react to this, because the last time I was there, also my first time ,  was nearly twenty years ago.  That was my first impression, and I had not been back since.

My colleague and I had taken a bus from Kuching, and the journey lasted twelve hours of hell. I threw up several times on the bus, and was feeling quite ill when we finally arrived in Pontianak. But I was excited to be there, for I have always been adventurous, and wanted to see this place. In my mind it was a city in the jungle.

This was far from true. Yes, it was a city alright, but it didn't look anything what I imagined it to be. It felt more like a gigantic kampong, you know, a village without end.

We checked into the best hotel in the city. Yes, you heard that right. The best. Then we went to the restaurant for a meal. While enjoying the delicious food, I looked out the large windows, and to my amazement, saw some people washing the dishes in the drain outside.  Can you imagine what it would be like in a lower grade hotel?

Many of the roads had such drains running alongside them, and residents from the houses would jump into the drains to bath or wash things. Well, I guess that's the culture, and anything new to see and learn on such a trip was worthwhile.

So, that was my memory of Pontianak.

When my friend asked me for more information, I told him he was going to see something different, and should try to enjoy it. Needless to say, we finally agreed on the trip. This time, twenty years later, we flew from Kuching International Airport, to Supadio International in Pontianak.

We had booked a package which included flights and hotel accommodation, and I was to blame for choosing the cheapest. The taxi driver had trouble finding the hotel, but after stopping on the way to ask for directions, we finally arrived.

Sure enough, it was a cheap hotel. There was a spiral staircase that took us to the first floor where the guest rooms were. We did have our own bathroom, but the shower stood above the toilet. Still it was not really a problem, we did not intend to stay for long in the room.

Coming out of the hotel, there was a busy street with lots of people selling food everywhere. It didn't look the cleanest, and honestly, I was a little worried that my friend was going to hate it.

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We found a small shop a few metres down the road, and saw people seated at wooden tables eating noodles. There was a horrible green plastic cover over the table which made it impossible to take good pictures. Anyway, we order our bak mee, and I was relieved when my friend smiled and said it was the most delicious noodles he had tasted.

People were staring at us, and they must have been thinking, "What are these two foreigners doing here, and even eating the noodles?" It was getting late, so we returned to the hotel, our first night in Pontianak.

The next day we bought SIM cards for our phones, so we could call each other in case one of us got lost, and also it made it possible for people to contact us on Whatsapp or Wechat.

The locals were friendly, and I guess some of them were eager to meet us, for our Wechat started to receive messages. It was exciting and fun, so we replied to their text and they started to come visit us at the hotel.

The first to arrive was a chubby guy. There was only a small chair in our room, since it was the cheapest hotel. He sat in it, and I thought the chair was going to break under his weight. He was amusing enough, and told us stories about the place, and of course the meaning of the name Pontianak.