- the children's first flight and was cheap at MYR$2,058.86 return for 7 pax
- first trip to Sarawak,
- flight and stay for 3 nights at a good hotel, Hilton Kuching for MYR$294 per person.
As the Cantonese would say " its a dead chicken - a real deal". However, I can't say the same about car rental in Kuching. At $160/day it was definitely much more expensive than say Langkawi at $50/day. The car was a moving tin box with air-conditioning at best. Glad the brake worked when we were there!
After checking into Hilton, we got our hotel sticker that enabled us to ride free on the Kuching City Tram. It ran on hourly cycle stopping at the Sarawak Museum, Satok Market and the heart of the city. You can get down, spend an hour or two at your place of interest and up again on designated spots. Highly recommended if you want to get a feel of the city for the first time.
Walked around the streets near our hotel and found a Tua Pek Kong Temple, some handicraft & souvenir shops to keep us occupied for the day. Souvenirs included the famous hand woven pua-kumbu, bamboo baskets, pottery and lots of tee shirts. Go for the medium priced tees for its quality and print.
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| Chinese Temple or 'Tokong' locally |
The handicraft outlets double as antique shops selling mat made of woven tree bark - a must buy if you don't like stepping on cold marble floors at home. Antique looking and heavy Dayak brass earrings can also be found. The reproduction can be found easily whereas the originals were kept at the back of the shop and shown upon request.
There were at least 2 roundabouts around Kuching city that displayed its iconic cats. One consist of a family of cats, the other 4 white cats waving to motorists. Its a must to complete this pussy show by visiting the Cats Museumwith 2000 exhibits. Located on top of Bukit Siol with great view of Kuching city in the distance.
Saturday was a full day with visits to Ford Margherita,Satok Weekend Market or Pasar Minggu locally andSarawak Museum. We took the river taxi for 40 sen per head. Powered by hand on a small boat or sampan, the ride across Sarawak River from the waterfront took only minutes. The fort was not big and looked more like a prison than a defence fortress. Took the mandatory photo with our hotel in the background. Yeh!
The Satok Market was my cup of tea. Always liked markets, be it weekend, night, flea or wet. A typical Malaysian wet market, you can get anything here. Apart from vegetables, plants, fish, local kueh and apparel, you can find sago worms, a local delicacy and buah salak, an edible snake-skinned fruit. The pulp is white and tasted slightly sweet but not overpowering.
The Sarawak Museum was worth the visit especially if you are a freebie hunter. It had a pretty decent pre-historic collection of artifacts, stuffed Sarawak fauna and flora displays as well as war memorabilia. There were a good collection of ceramics authenticating Kuching as a trade centre since ancient times.
The last day was a drive to Damai Beach to visit theSarawak Cultural Village, about 35km away. It was to showcase Sarawak's rich diversity, its many tribes and people. Longhouses of the Bidayuhs, Iban, Melanau, Orang Ulu and a Chinese farm house can be found here. We took the opportunity to browse around a few of these 4 - 5 star Damai hotels and enjoyed the landscape & ambiance.
Food
1) Kolo Mee - a variant of wan tan mee but more frugal in condiments.
2) Sarawak Laksa - not as robust as curry laksa and have yet to acquire a taste for it.
3) Sea food was not extraordinary. We tried from the touristy restaurants atop the city car park to family ones and even outlets near the market. Neighbouring Sabah has better offerings.
4) Must say that we had good buffet breakfasts provided by Hilton Hotel daily. The puffs were fresh and buttery, scrambled eggs hot and in house kolo mee and laksa in comfort.
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