Kuching, finally...

DAY 1:

Nice river viewed as we were about to land in Kuching

Arrived at Kuching airport at 8.50am. Our guide, Dani Tan was already there holding a piece of paper with my name, just like you see on tv =) Feels good that there is someone to greet you upon arrival =)

When they said we’d be given a tour of Kuching city, I thought that we get to explore each place but nope, it was drive-and-look! Annoyed. Later we had to explore the places on our own, and that means taking a cab to get around.

We saw the cat statue, clock tower, Clock Tower, Malay Village, the Kuching river and went thru Padungan street a.k.a Chinatown which has more motor spare parts shop than anything else.

Dani said its whiskers had just been replenished after being yanked out several times. Not even the childish-me have that idea.

The orange building is the guest house that we were supposed to stay at. Lazy to explain the reason for the switch.

Then, to buy time (as the check in time was 2pm), Dani our guide brought us to:

**Dewan Bandaraya building.**

Dani tested us, what does the building look like? Hint: Chinese design, with that building being in the Chinese dominated southern part of Kuching.
Me: Looks like garlic.
Mum: Hat?
Dani (laughing): It’s a pagoda!

Hahaha..

Verdict: Unique looking building

**Hokkien Park**

Me and my zodiac animal

Verdict: Nice place and nice plants. Made it look very err.. Chinese.

**Museums**

There were 3 but one wasn’t opened to the public yet and I can’t remember the names of the other 2. Art museum and cultural museum I think.

2 of the museums

Never seen an old man selling ice-cream before, so had to take a pic =D

There was an old man selling ice-cream outside the museum. He probably belongs there. Oops, no more mulut jahat! =) Anyway, I’d buy whatever old people are selling. Quite a novelty to see an old ice-cream man yeah? But his ice-creams cost RM1 and were a flat heap, not even a scoop, made with a table spoon. Eww.. not professional. =D

Verdict: Art was lame and culture was musty. Don’t like museums. Bro likes them though.

Walking around the city in the scorching sun was terrible, coupled with the lack of sleep (possibly from the excitement of winning a tv the night before!). We must have looked very miserable cos Dani took us to our hotel, where we had to wait an hour for the room to be ready.

**Lunch**

So while waiting, we first went to seek lunch at a lousy mall nearby called Hock Lee. I think going by its name itself, you can tell how lousy =) Nothing to eat, so had lunch at a nearby coffeeshop. Mind you, it is so tough finding a decent shop to eat. All had no people inside, got us thinking that there’s something wrong with the food, or with the people. Anyway, had to give the local food a try, hence..

Mi kampua

Mum had mi kolok, another specialty but she touched it before I could snap a pic =) Hers was soupy anyway.

Didn’t finish my noodles. All the hype about those 2 noodles? Just tasted like any ordinary mee kicap or wan tan mee. So oily too (see the gloss in the pic?!). Probably it’s just the different type of noodles used, and where else can they dunk it into besides kicap and soup?

Our verdict: A flop!! Great flop. Have to really brush up on my Hokkien and Hakka too. So torturous.

And on the walk back from the shop to our hotel, I saw this:

Wah, Sarawakians are very high-tech, even have wi-fi in hawker stalls! Cos their food suck and they have to do use something else to pull in the crowd instead? (So jahat ya?)

Took a nap/ rest at the hotel and then head out by cab to town. If we had stayed at Singgahsana instead, we would already be in town but.. then there are hotels in town too but stupid me didn’t do my homework and just randomly picked one. So the taxi fares are the price to pay for my stupidity. Made me poorer by almost 50 bucks.

First we went to Main Bazaar, which is a row of shops facing the Kuching river selling souvenirs. Also called the Waterfront. And there were really lots of shops but all selling the same stuff.

**Waterfront**

Bro at the Waterfront. The pics he took of me were all dark, so none la.

After most of the shops were closed (this hints how long we were there =) ), we walked along the Waterfront to the area where the 3 malls and few luxury hotels are. Quite a long walk eh! Carrying bags of purchases some more. Simply entered the first mall we came across, which was Riverside Plaza, and ended up eating KFC for dinner =) It’s good to have something familiar =) After that, walked around the another lousy mall and took a cab back home.

Verdict: Great time shopping for souvenirs and local stuff!
Purchases =) : A T-shirt, foodstuff, a spear cum blowpipe, baskets, a necklace, keychains.

This isn’t some swanky bar. It sells ..pirated DVDs! They bother renovating it like that. How are they gonna run when they get raided? But I guess they don’t. Cos all the discs were in their sleeves, unlike in KL where you only have the piece of paper. Going for RM6 a piece, kinda cheap. Trying to take this pic made me scared too, nanti kena bantai. But still wanna take. This is called cari pasal, which is what I’m famous for.

Verdict for the day: Tired but fun. The souvenir shopping was good. Malls are lousy. Food is lousy.

DAY 2 :

Breakfast spread by the hotel was horrid. But I had this!

It’s some Sarawak delicacy called aki kopuno. No, it’s actually Koko Krunch and cornflakes in milk =D Never had that in a long time and if I tried that at home, gonna get it from my mum. So took the opportunity there.

**Serikin**

Then Dani came to pick us to the Serikin market, which is located close to Bau and at the border of Sarawak and Kalimantan. So, we get to buy Indon stuff there. It was about an hour’s drive there.

Me at Serikin market

Bro with lots of army men

It was really hot, and most of the stuff don’t appeal to us. Most stalls sell the same stuff again, but it was an experience though. The traders are very willing to lower their prices, just walk away! And if you were to ask them how much it is, they would say “ xx ringgit, boleh kurang”. Why bother marking it up then??

And it was really, really hot. Curi-ed my bro’s cap to wear and made it sweaty =)

Verdict: Hot! Was fun shopping at the Indon border though. Products are unique but don’t appeal.
Purchases: (from Serikin) Dried prawns (!), a bag of yam chips, 2 T-shirts (one for me and one for bro)

**Fairy Cave**

Next, we went to the Fairy and Wind Caves that were nearby. The Fairy cave was totally dark and the steps were small. Was puffing when reached the top but the view, experience and the atmosphere was so worth it! Felt as if I’ve conquered Mount Kinabalu =)

At the mouth of Fairy Cave

Fairy Cave, conquered =)

Bee-yoot-ti-ful eh?

Sunlight streaming in from the top

That’s how the Fairy Cave got its name, from the rock that resembled Kuan Yin. To see this, we had to venture really deep into the cave. It was total darkness with just Dani, bro and I in the whole cave! But to not see it when we were already there would be simply a waste.

The cave I conquered =)

Verdict: Marvellous work of Mother Nature. Never been in a cave before. And need to work on my fitness!

**Wind Cave**

After Fairy, we headed to Wind Cave. Got its name from the wind that blows thru the cave when it ..winds?? Haha. Bro got tired of caves after the hike up, so just me and mum. Wind Caves stanked a lot from the guano!! There were bats and swiftlets flying above us. Was imagining the attack of the bats but kept cool.. and macho =)

Those black stuff are supposed to be bats. Hey, it was pitch black in the cave ok? Pitch black.

Me at the jungle trail outside the cave

Some weird branch that looked like it had been stapled

Verdict: Dark, eerie and scary yet fun. And the guano stanked so bad! Luckily none got on my head!

**Drinks**

On the way home from Serikin, we dropped by some stalls to try the famous ‘teh si special’, recommended by Lee Hong as a must-try.

Also known as 3-layered tea. The bottom green layer is some pandan-ous thing and when stirred, it’s really fragrant from the pandan smell.

Verdict: Nice!!

**Shopping**

Asked Dani to drop us of at the malls, so that we save on taxi fare =) Covered 3 malls that day: Sarawak Plaza, Tun Jugah and Centerpoint. Lousy, lousy, lousy! Tun Jugah had G2000 and Aussino but still couldn’t save it. Dani said that Sarawakians don’t frequent malls unless it’s the festive season but how do you expect them to like these malls? And the malls think, since they don’t like coming after all, we might as well continue selling whatever crap we have. Vicious cycle!

But Sarawakians are really damn high-tech eh! Check this out.

No wonder I don’t remember the escalator moving when I was approaching. Thought yala, these stupid malls, wanna save electricity and switched it off. Then it started moving. Thought I was probably dreaming til bro said “Just now it was not moving?” Ok, so we are ulu.. =) KL, I mean.

Verdict: Covered 3 malls in an hour. Need I say more? But the escalator is cool!

**More shopping..**

After dinner, walked to the nearby Crown Square. Quite a nice mall with modern designs but still, hopeless la! Came out in half an hour.

Verdict: Gave up on Kuching’s malls. All 6 of them.
Purchases: 4 books and bahulu

Then, wanted to go to the Satok market. Cleverly told the cabbie that I wanna go to pasar Satok, assuming that it referred to the pasar malam and not knowing that there was a market there. Reached there, no stalls and bengang. So stupid. The stalls are only there on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. Bodoh! Headed back to hotel and got charged RM15 for fare.

Moral of the story: Malu bertanya, duit pun takde.

Had dinner at the wi-fi coffeeshop and managed to order in Hokkien. So clever! But the tofu that came was different from what the guy said it would be. So bodoh! He’s bodoh, not me.

Then spent the night drying my jeans with a hair dryer after washing the mud from the caves off them. It’s mud ok, not guano!! Told my mum how many times already.

Verdict for the day: In awe of the caves, the rest were ok.


DAY 3:

**Breakfast**

Timmy ‘ordered’ hash browns, sunny side ups and baked beans for breakfast. Fat hopes, I told him, after experiencing horrid breakfast the day before. But at the table were..

All 3 items!!

Mum said, “So clever?!” but it’s kinda scary eh! Not the first time it happened. Can’t remember the first though.

Btw, this hotel promotes healthy eating. All their food is tasteless, even the hash browns.

**Sarawak Cultural Village**

Then off to the Cultural Village! Was a 45 mins drive away and is located near the Damai beach. Could see the South China Sea upon reaching there. Nice!

Nothing much to say here, just enjoy the pics =)

I love totem poles. The one on the left looks like.. hehe…

Me and lovely flowers. Btw, I’m also a ‘bunga’ in the ‘taman’ =D

Crossing the bamboo bridge.

Bro holding on for dear life!

The bridge

In front of some longhouse. Don’t remember which one, there were 7 different types for the different ethnic groups

Me and cawat man! One of my favourite pics. Not gatal la but this really symbolizes the uniqueness of Sarawak.. Dani said that the Penans are known as the ‘sexiest tribe’ because of this! His hairstyle is cool too! Timmy’s pretty fascinated with this guy for all the wrong reasons =D

Me and another cawat man. Cool hairstyle again!

The colourful costumes for rent

After checking out the villages, we went for the cultural show. Simply beautiful and colourful! Makes me wanna marry a tribal man haha!

This is the opening dance..nice colourful costumes..



A dance when the guy lifts something with his teeth halfway..



And mum had a crush on this ngajat guy haha. Cos he's good-looking la, not because he's err.. skimpily dressed =D And the noise you hear in the background are aunties wondering throughout the dance if he was wearing underwear. As he walked off the stage, the school girls there on a school trip were screaming after him!



If you ignored the others, this is a must watch. The guy spun himself on top of the pole!



Had lunch at the restaurant there. Had western fare cos didn’t dare gamble with the local food anymore =) Bro had western too but mum had rice though she wanted to have the Sarawak laksa??

Verdict: My favourite out of all the places been so far. Longhouses, cawat men and tribal dances can only be seen in Sarawak and it’s just so unique. Nice!

**Cat Museum**

Dropped by at the Cat Museum on the way to Semenggoh. Had to pay a fee for bringing in a camera, so I didn’t bother taking any pics. There was nothing much anyway. Cat museum? It’s just like the cat park I said earlier! (Timmy’s place) But there were a lot of exhibits and some were really silly, like Friskies cat food! Come on! There were cat grooming paraphernalia too. *rolling eyes*

Outside the entrance. Taking pics here is free =)

Verdict: Not a cat-ty person, so it wasn’t very interesting. Did leave a comment in the guestbook saying, “Why no catwoman? Sexy miao!”

**Semenggoh Wildlife Centre**

Next, to Semenggoh. Just in time for the orang utans’ feeding time.

Me and our predecessors in the background. I mean, yours.

Ok, mum wasn’t sincere in taking this pic of me. She just wanted to snap the fat lady there! =D Cheh, the fat lady’s more interesting than I am.

Been there, done that

Finally me, bro and Dani our guide.

Verdict: Never thought that orang utans could be fun when seen ‘live’. It was like, “It’s real, it’s real!”

**Pottery factory**

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by the pottery factory.

The only pic I have of me making pottery is too blur, and had a hard time deciding if I should put up the vid. I really had a tough time thinking should I or should I not, but dun care la. Not going to any pottery factory anymore, so... enjoy =D

And then after asking you to enjoy, I decided to remove the vid. Sorry la, my poyo-level is not up to there yet. Was thinking so hard.. so for the lucky few who managed to see it during the short time it was there, congratulations! It's lucky that not many are online during the day, and those who are are barred from blogger.com =)

Bro had his share too

The result of my pottery-making skills. Really mine, not my bro's. I really didn’t mean it to turn out like err.. my ‘cactus’ pic! It just turned out that way hahahahaaaa =D And seeing it spin was hilarious! Somehow the vid got deleted. Must have been some moral police.

Verdict: Fun! Got my hands-on experience in making obscene-looking pottery =D

**Birds’ nest shop**

After that, to the birds’ nest shop.

Workers cleaning the nests

Some yucky nests. People pay good money for this yucky stuff.

See how much dirt there is in the water?? Still wanna eat those? And pay lots for them some more? And actually eat birds’ saliva? (The birds’ nests tycoons are gonna skin me after this)

Verdict: Not a fan of birds’ nests and have never been.
Purchases: A shield (don’t ask me why did I get a shield from a birds’ nests shop)

**Waterfront (again)**

Got Dani to drop us off at Waterfront again, for round 2 of souvenir shopping when realised that there wasn’t enough for everyone. Since we already have in mind what to buy and from which shop, this round was quick.

Verdict: Efficient shopping =)
Purchases: A T-shirt, 2 shields, more keychains, more foodstuff

Started to rain and got stuck in town, so just ate in the nearest café found. Finding an eating place is so tough!! Walked a lot in the pouring rain to find one shop. Decided to give Kuching another chance to redeem herself in the cuisine section, so I ordered..

Foo Chow fried mee. It’s like Hokkien mee actually and was not bad

Bro had western again and mum finally got her Sarawak laksa.

Back at hotel, felt bored and wanted to let the batteries die off so that I could charge them. Thus..

The slippers provided by the hotel. So ugly!

Bro and his bantal busuk. Damn smelly.

Yours truly in a moment of poyo-ness =)

Verdict for the day: Very tired lo! Cultural Village is the best and satisfied that managed to get enough stuff for everyone. Pottery was fun too!

DAY 4:

Our flight out was at 3.05pm, so I just woke up for breakfast and went back to bed til check-out time =) Had lunch at "wi-fi" again and after yesterday’s good episode, felt daring enough to have local food again.

**Lunch**

Zhao zhai mihun. I thought that zhao zhai is seaweed, as in nori? But there was nothing that resembled nori in there. Oh yeah, there were shreds of it, too small that I forgot about it. So my Mandarin isn’t bad after all. But this thing is weird as the soup was sourish. A torture to finish it.

Mum had Sarawak laksa again while bro had chicken rice. The chicken that came was fried, not roasted or steamed. Weird!

Fried chicken rice without rice

Our verdict: Mine flopped, bro’s flopped, mum’s wasn’t as good as yesterday’s. Summary of verdict: Flop! Haha.

Then Dani came at 1.30pm to send us to the airport. Kuching isn’t exactly a wonderful place to stay but a holiday anywhere is better than generating reports, staring at Excel sheets and analyzing the reason why fools are watching ungodly channels at ungodly hours.

And based on observation, traffic rules are great there. You can park and stop anywhere by the roadside, even in a roundabout! (That was how I managed to take the pic of the big white cat statue)

Final verdict: Not-nice food, not-nice malls but nice places to see, that can only be found in Kuching of course, namely cawat man =) But honestly, once is enough.

Au revoir Kuching!

P/S This post is so bloody difficult to write. Drafting it out was tough cos first it was so long (ya, who asked me to talk so much) and halfway done, my mum switched off the main!! Cried =D Then finding the matching pic was tough too, then couldn't upload it cos was busy the whole week at work =) Then after saving all the thousand pics & words as draft and almost ready to go, all gone!! Had to upload and do everything from scratch again. Tried to keep calm and cool and not scold profanities and cry too. Blogging is tiring, might not wanna do it anymore. For the time being. Say only =)