Last weekend after an excess of weekends at home in Singapore we decided to make the most of the long weekend and headed to Kuching…
Kuching is on the island of Borneo and is the capital of Malaysia’s largest state Sarawak.
Kuching is a mere 1 hour 15 minutes plane ride away from Singapore, but its geographical proximity didn’t stop it being a million miles from the hectic and city like island of Singapore.
We stayed at the Basaga Hotel, a lovely homely hotel, which whilst modest was a great place to spend a few days. The hotel featured a lovely leafy courtyard where you could have a refreshing cool drink or a bite to eat…. I favoured the delicious mango smoothies, which were a huge pile of ripe mango blended to perfection with a swathe of ice…..Delicious….
On reaching Kuching we headed straight down to the river front to have an explore. The river is a huge wide waterway dividing the commercial side of town from the governmental buildings on the opposite side. There was a steady flow of small boats able to taxi people from one side to the other.
As we walked down the wide promenade next to the river we could view a fabulous mountain range at the horizon. Now some people would not get too excited about a mountain range, however after living in Sing for some two years Kafil and I loved the opportunity to see and experience some natural surroundings. Kuching is not a huge city and it was a lovely space to admire some remnants of its colonial past with quite a few old European buildings remaining along the boulevard. the magnificence of the public building gleaming across the water was a delight.
As we strolled down the promenade the sun was setting behind the mountains' and Kafil took so many beautiful photos of the sun reflecting in the water and the picturesque views. As the sun set a huge cacophony of discordant calls to prayer boomed around us. We could spot four mosques and the call to prayer was slightly different from each as the sound echoed around us….It was a wonderful sound to be surrounded by the prayers as we witnessed the lovely setting sun over the mountain and the river.
We ended the night at an enormous food festival where all the locals appeared to be enjoying food from all over the south east region. The festival was held in a spacious garden and the trees were alight with colours' and smells of the myriad types of delicious and cheap food from around the world.
The next day we ventured out to Baku National Park that is home to the proboscis monkey as well as lots of other wild life. We had to board a small and noisy boat to make our way to the island NP.
We were led by a very knowledgeable local guide, who was able to identify the local flora and tell us its medicinal use in days gone by. There were plants for women's problems, plants for infection, plants for virility and all sorts of ailments. We arrived in the mangrove swamp where 2 different packs of proboscis monkeys fed from the young leaves of the mangrove trees. The monkeys grow to up to 30 kilos and their extended bellies are to separate the edible from the non edible foliage available to them… They are quite a ai sight with there huge noses and antics….
We were taken to some spots and saw some iridescent green tree snakes, these were quite small compared to the specimens we have seen in the Aussie Bush…
We saw a sleeping flying lemur, which was very well camouflaged with its dirty brown grey coat and speckled white spots.
We went for a walk to a lovely secluded beach up and down over a crazy path littered with massive tree roots. It was hard going in the heat but well worth the exertion to be out and about…
After a packed lunch on the beach we boarded another small boat to take us around the coast line to view the rocky limestone outcrops which emerge from the sea. The rock surface was almost purple in some places, and the views were spectacular.
When we arrived back at Basaga we were too tired to explore anymore, 6 hours out in the heat had done us in.. We had a few cold drinks before eating a tasty local meal at the hotel.. The laksa was great quite different to the creamy coconut laksa we have had previously. There was also a delicious raw fish salad which had Kafil defeated as the raw chillies abounded.
The next day had us going back to the river front to explore the old Indian and Chinese streets. I was struck by how friendly the people were, and how they did not push or cajole us to buy anything it was very relaxing to walk around and not be hassled by peddlers, beggars or tailors' wanting a slice of our holiday ringgits…..
Later in the afternoon we headed out to the Sarawak Cultural Village where there are full sized houses of the various Malaysian ethnic groups of the region…Some of the houses would have been home to the whole village, made of dark wood and invariable on stilts as protection from the big wets which can envelop the area. We saw women making sago, traditional weavers, a blow pipe demonstration. We finished the day with performances by the local indigenous tribes and got hear the luxuriant sounds of a local Malaysian instrument called a Sape.
It is so lush and soothing; imagine what Jeff Lang could do with one!
It was a worthy visit, perhaps the Sarawak version of our own Sovereign Hill.
Before heading back to Singapore on Monday afternoon we went to the lovely housed museums of Sarawak. Our favourite was the textile museum which showcased the lovely weaving and embroideries of both the Malay and Chinese populations of Malaysia. The other museums whilst housed in interesting colonial buildings, where quite daggy compared to the slick displays we have become used to in more modern museums. I mean do you really need to look at displays of stuffed animals from some 100 years ago….Yuck creepy stuff..
All in all we were pleasantly surprised by Kuching it was a lovely place to visit, and perhaps if we manage to get fitter we can return to further explore the national parks and visit the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre that is in the region.
