Upon arrival at Kuching, I know this was far from my expectation, so quiet to be a city. I thought I would enjoy the similar lively atmosphere like KK. Wrong! I asked the opinions of tourists around, many preferred Kuching indeed for its serenity.
I stayed close to the China Town. To my disappointment the food courts here were so small and hardly provide good choices. Local foods like Kolo Noodle and Sarawak Laksa were OK, but not special, the prices were not cheap either.
It was quite fun to walk around the downtown. Many buildings preserved the traditional architecture and deco, beautiful for photographing. Good souvenir shops with attractive displays could be found. Liked the primitive “artistic” sculptures and carving from the local tribes, but I knew my mom would see them too evil. Let’s wait till I have my own house.
There were many museums in town, not so interesting except the Arts Museum. The riverfront was the hot spot in the evening for a stroll. A few stalls selling finger foods, souvenir vendors displaying the cheaper products, street artists’ performance enliven the atmosphere.
In fact, the main draws in Sarawak were the visit to different national parks, ranged from the nature escapade to traditional culture exploration. Due to the remoteness of some places, we couldn't avoid engaging tourist agents to organize trips. Don’t expect that the aboriginal tribesmen are still living in the stoneage and waiting for our visit. In fact many places have been commercialized and modern amenities are well integrated into their life. I’m not interested to see the modern tribesmen, I want the authenticity, but I have to travel deeper into the forest…
All these packages are not cheap and longer expedition needs longer time. I was in rush to return home, couldn’t arrange in this trip. I could only make up to Bako National Park for a day trip, not far from Kuching. Trek was fairly easy, but I was exhausted after 6 hr trek over 8.5km.
Sarawak Culture Village (SCV) is a living museum, with example of traditional dwellings of different tribes. It was more interesting than you might think. This was just exhibits, looked too solid and too clean to the reality. The 40min cultural performance was excellent, superb music and dancing.
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| Next to China Town - Jalan Carpenter. |
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| Mr.D's B&B - design is good but room was not so comfortable. I stayed only 1 night and shifted to Berambih Lodge at the other end of the road. |
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| Guestbook, no negative comment was read. The staffs were indeed very friendly. |
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| Kolo Noodle, regretful to finish the soup, too much pig internal organs. |
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| State Assembly Hall. |
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| Traditional boat, available for river cruising. |
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| A food court, with huge canvas ad. Not many choices. |
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| Old buildings left over during British colony. |
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| Old building, used as post office. |
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| Seafoods in the market. |
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| Daily pepper & cocoa price. |
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| A mosque between shops. |
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| Village on the opposite of the river. |
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| Pigeons |
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| A view on Indian Street - the smell of curry powder and spices enveloped the street. |
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| Old buildings. |
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| Clothing outlet in the market. |
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| Sarawak Museum. |
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| Art museum. The primitive and antique scupltures were my favourite. |
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| Chinese History Museum - donated by local chinese community, some exhibits are priceless. Freezing inside. |
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| The guards of the temple, to expel the bad evils. |
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| Me, playing sape - traditional musical insrument. It has only 4 strings. |
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| Beautiful photos hung in Mr.D's B&B. The atmosphere was cozy in the living room. |
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| The design of this Feng Shan Shi Temple is the most intricate in Kuching. |
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| A view from a local restaurant. |
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| Sarawak Culture Village (SCV) - sculpture. |
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| SCV - bamboo bridge. |
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| Are these spiritual guards? |
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| Bidayuh Longhouse. |
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| Iban longhouse. |
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| Swords used by the warriors. |
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| Making "kuih cap", demonstration in the cultural village. |
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| Staggering Orang Ulu House. The columns were beautifully decorated. |
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| Sape performance. |
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| Stone carving - modern arts. |
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| Melanau House. |
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| The staircase was so narrow. |
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| Melanau House. |
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| Malay House. |
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| Cultural performance show, good music and dancing. A must-see. |
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| Street artist at riverfront. |
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| A temple lit up with lanterns. |
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| Was a huge crocodile. |
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| Jetty at Bako National Park. |
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| The swamp. |
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| Signposts to diff trails |
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| Beach was quite dirty. The authorities didn't do their job well. |
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| Boardwalks, only cover short path. |
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| Interesting plants in the jungle. |
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| The water here was dark colour, no one wants to jump in for a cooling splash. |
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| The foam is natural, nothing to do with the detergent. |
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| We trekked 3.5km one way to find this waterfall. |
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| Playful kid. |
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| Weekend market at Jalan Satok, not special, lots of fruits and local products. |
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| Weekend Market, huge bananas for sale. |
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| Dragon (?) head fountain. |
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| Kuching means "cat", they can be found in many places in town. |
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| Local cafe, good coffee and much cheaper than Coffee Bean of Starbucks. Honestly the ice mocha was not well blended. |
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| Buying layer cakes (kek lapis) - too sweet and too much artificial flavour and colouring. |
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| Old buildings. |
