Kuching, Sarawak

Kucing is Malay for ‘cat’. Asked a Sarawakian on why their capital city was named after an animal, and you’d get the simplest of reply: “coz there’re many cats here”. But fear not, for I can pledge that, in my 3-nights of vacation in Kuching, I did not detect a single cat-poo anywhere. Not even a whiff of it. In fact, Kuching is unbelievably clean that it was even voted as one of cleanest town in M’sia; so the brochure says.

Enjoying the Air Asia 'cheap' ride

Food
Ah, the most important agenda in traveling, or life. For breakfast, Rojak Kucai is the fav of the town. Not nasi lemak, nor roti canai. Kinda looks like Pasembor. But served with fried chicken. And it goes with something that we’re all familiar with – the all-Malaysian teh tarik. Other than this, I can’t find anything more unique about its food in comparison to West Malaysia. Except that, Sarawakians don’t really dig on spicy and hot-chilli food. Seafood - is a must. Try the butter prawns or anything 'sea'. Anyway they do it, it’s gonna be good. We went to a place called Top Spot, located on the 6th floor overlooking the gorgeous view of the town. But, the service was super-slow. I’ll surely return, but I’ll make reservation first.

Waterfront
This internationally acclaimed piece of river-bank is beautiful for night strolling. There are handicraft and food stalls and even sampan-ride to cross the river. Word of caution though, the food is a little expensive. The infamous giant ‘teh tarik’ is RM18. Regular fruit-juice that’s packed with ice instead of fruit-juice is RM6. The food is just so-so. And the service, again, was painfully slow. There’s a River Cruise restaurant-ferry with loud music that operates there. But, as soon as I heard it was playing NKOTB song, I decided to pass the ride.

Trying to 'blend-in'

Marsha really enjoys watching this. Really-really enjoying it...
... that she even found herself a dancing partner!

Cultural Village, Santubong
Located near Gunung Santubong, this mocked-up village is a crash-course on learning about the people of Sarawak. We gawked and gaped and froze half-dead at the RM60 per person entry fee, but once we’re in, it was worth it. But if you’re bringing along the whole family, aunties, uncles and long lost cousins, better check the wallet first. The whole ordeal will be ~4-6hours, so, bring that stroller. Love it.

Flying crocs. Why do we have to piss them off?

Crocodiles and Wild Animals
Yes, wiki-up Sarawak, and Orang-Utan will pop up on the screen. We managed to go to Jong’s Crocodile Farm. And Marsha loved it. Be sure to go there during the feeding time at 11:30am.

Handcrafts and Souvenirs
Stuffs made from wood and beads are a big thing there. Blow-pipes are cool too. Uniquely Sarawak. So are sago, pepper and kek-lapis. So, don’t worry about not being able to buy enough souvenirs.

A sweet pair of ... cats.

People, Roads & Transportation
Unlike West Malaysia, Sarawak consists of multi-ethnic communities, all 28 of it. But the general commonality is that, most of them are fair-skinned. There are many museums around. We hit the ‘Cat Museum’ that was surprisingly fun – for kids. Contrary to the ‘Borneo’ tag-line, Kuching town is surprisingly up-market and beautifully done. A drive at night paints a different picture. The whole town is strategically lit-up to display a wide array of colors and effects. It’s really breathtaking. And best part; the roads around town are amazing. It could even possibly stump KL. But the public busses are still re-living the 60’s. Avoid that. And tourists are aplenty. So, you’re never alone.

Did I mention that Marsha really lovesss the dancing show?

In short, Sarawak was a blast! And that’s just coming from us who were just gyrating Kuching, that’s only a tiny dot in Sarawak’s map. In future, I’d probably not go to Kuching anymore, but really looking forward to check out other parts of Sarawak. Special thanks to Vi for putting us up and driving us around. We’ll never forget it. Great experience!