Back from the Jungle.

I slept the entire day. I enjoyed it, even though usually I don't like it when that happens usually. I just came back from an exhausting weekend.

We went to Camp Permai for the weekend, ostensibly to watch the World Rainforest Music Festival. In reality, I wanted to get away from town and just relax. In fact, I think in our group of six, I can say for certain that relaxation and getting away was for the point.

Since we did say that we wanted to watch the show, we did get tickets for Saturday. It was fine. It was brilliant, but it didn't suck either. The only thing that sucked was the venue I guess. For something as big scale as RWMF, the Sarawak Cultural Village and it's surrounding accommodations is just to small for it. Especially parking. Aside from music of many varieties, I managed to experience the longest 2 km drive I've ever had. That wasn't fun.

Unfortunately, aside from recommending the construction of a giant multistory parking lot that would be mostly empty the other 362 days of the year, I don't have any suggestions.

The bigger point of the weekend was us doing nothing at all and not having any kind of itinerary to follow. And the place where we stayed in, had nothing in the way of facilities, which didn't bother us one bit.

We talked about how some people go to the beach, book a hotel room and stay in that room to watch TV for the duration of their stay. Seems quite wasteful to me actually.

If anyone wants to watch TV at a resort, don't come to Permai. If anyone wants tranquility and peaceful surroundings, Permai is perfect. I love the way the it was built. Minimal modern conveniences. And it's cheap too.

We didn't do much at all while we were there. We talked, drank a little. We went to the Jungle Pool and sat in the cold water. We played Monopoly and blackjack.

One more good thing about Permai is that the cabins, tree houses and other facilities are built apart from each other. So unlike Damai Lagoon or Holiday Inn Damai Beach, there were no annoying sugared up hyperactive kids and their annoying anal retentive parents who complain about other guests and the "noise" they make.

A tip, do not bring young children to Permai, the place is kinda dangerous for kids. Rocks, big trees, roots, water. They could break something if they fall or they could get seriously lost in the jungle.

Everything was so quiet and we felt like we were there all alone. Sure there were other guests, but everyone was just chilling out.

I think the next time we go there, we'll just go there specifically to hang out, no need for any other reason.

And I also need to stop referring to Permai as a "beach resort". It ain't. It's a jungle retreat, which I'm actually beginning to like more than the beach.

I had a good time. And tomorrow, I rejoin the rat race.

But I will return soon, that I can promise.