Traveling in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, with my good friend David. His approach to travel is to find a friend who knows a place and its language, and travel with them - so I've become his guide for Indonesia and Malaysia. 

Waiting for a flight, I spoke to someone nearby, and she was shocked that I could speak Malay. "Boleh cakap Sarawak!" she said to her sister, then "Boleh cakap Melayu!" Interesting that she refered to her own language as "Sarawak" before saying "Malay" - but of course they do have their regional differences. It seems that not a lot of foreigners learn Malaysian. Even my very Indonesian version of Malay impresses people sometimes, though I speak very slowly to allow for the accent difference, and as I try with limited success to work out which bits to modify. It's fun.

It turned out she was returning home for "Hari Raya" (Big Day), the day after the fasting month ends. She invited David and I us to join her family on that day, so we did. When we turned up on the day, her brother and mother looked at us strangely (their faces saying "Who on earth are these people?") but when we introduced ourselves as friends they instantly relaxed and warmly welcomed us in, offering us food and drink, while we and other visitors sat, and while the youngest son played a first person shoot-em-up game on a laptop.

The day is also known as Aidul Fitri, an important Muslim occasion where people visit friends and family, in a ritual of asking and granting forgiveness. While we were there, several other visitors came and clasped hands in turn with everyone present. Now, it was interesting to see the other family who were there - the mother was introduced as a close friend of our friend's mother. They were Chinese, they were not Muslim (I asked), and yet they were an important part of the celebration of this Muslim family's holy day. Not to mention that our hosts also welcomed these two foreigners who they assumed to be Christian - and when we said we had no religion, they didn't try to convert us.

We talked history and politics a little. What did they think of Brooke, the "White Raja" who colonized Sarawak? Before him there were headhunters in Sarawak, said the father, and  If it weren't for him, there might still be headhunters. They didn't like the Iraq war (no surprise there). They asked my opinion of Obama - they seemed pretty happy with him. I've been seeing that a lot, in people from various countries.

Her mother was a great cook. I got to try a nice Sarawak layer cake - better than the shop-bought version. But my favorite was the Sarawak curry with glutinous rice cakes - I've asked for the recipe. (It ranks up there with Sarawak Laksa, a coconut based spicy noodle soup that I discovered here, an interesting variation on the Singapore Laksa I'm used to in Sydney, and just as good.)

David & I were both touched by our experience.