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Published: January 31st 2008
Borneo!!
I arrived in the sunny island after a flight from Langkawi via KL. I am staying first in Kuching, which is the state capital of Sarawak, the southernmost of the two Malaysian states in Borneo.
I arrived late at night & headed straight to the hostel, Singgahsana Lodge. The book highly recommended it. It is fantastic - well driven to a travellers needs. It is on 5 floors. A lobby, with internet. two floors of sleeping rooms, and a bar on the top which you have free use of the tv & dvd player (for evenings & when the monsoons set off!) Kuching River runs through the middle of the city, and the lodge is right close to the waterfront area which is well developed and nice to walk around. At night it's lit up green. I took an evening stroll and grabbed a bite to eat at a local chinese restaurant & then crashed for the evening.
First full day I took off on a walking tour of the city. It's pretty small so you can walk around most of the main attractions in a long morning. I first went to the Chinese museum which was
Giant Ant!
About 1cm in length, would not be scared to take on a big toe!small but quite interesting museum giving info about how the Chinese have migrated to areas in Sarawak and where the different dialect groups have settled. Other than that the museums (which were open) were not much to look at. I spent the afternoon at the lodge watching movies in the upstairs bar with a couple of girls I had met who are from the UK.
Day 2, set off for Kubah National Park in the early morning. Planned a trek to Matang Wildlife Centre to see some rehabilitating animals such as Orang-Utang, Crocodiles and Bears. I chose Kubah national Park over the more popular Bako National Park because it is difficult to arrange transport to these national parks if you are a single traveller. Guides will take a minimum of two people, so unless you can find someone who wants to do the same thing as you at the same time, you are a bit stuffed. Sadly, as it is not peak travel season, the hostels are quite empty and the chances of finding someone to join you on one of these things are slim. So, I take the option of going to the nearer park. I had to
charter a minivan by myself to the park since there is no longer public transport to Kubah or the Matang. The hike I took was pretty hairy, rotten bridges with big chunks of wood missing, and one bridge without any wood at all. I had reached this bridge after around 2 & 1/2 hours trekking, and there was no turning back. I had to move across the roped Índiana Jones' style (arms holding cable above and feet on cable below) because to turn back was too far. I was gasping for water. By the time I had finished I was dripping with sweat - good thing I took a spare t-shirt as the one I was wearing was soaked. So humid, and the altitude makes it really hard work. However, well worth it. I saw some amazing insects and lizards, unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of all as they move so quick. I also found a few leeches (attached to my ankle). Three bites in total - the wounds bleed for ages, nasty little critters they are. When I finally got to Matang many of the animals were not around or the enclosures were shut. It was quite disappointing. It
Funghi
I don't know if they're magic but they sure don't taste nice! Joking ;-p seemed the general state of the centre has declined due to a lack of tourists. I did see an attractive orang-utang lying in a seductive pose (if you are an orang-utang!) - you can see from the pics! I was back to the lodge mid-afternoon and after a long shower I collapsed for a while. I met up with one of the girls staying at the lodge in the evening and we went for dinner and some drinks around the town.
Sunday was a lazy day. After the exertion of Saturdays hike & late evening drinking session, and the heavy monsoon rainfall outside, it seemed a good idea to sit in the upstairs bar & watch movies. In the afternoon, I felt in need of some relaxation so I wondered to the nearby Hilton hotel and had a sauna & jacuzzi to work out the kinks in my muscles. Well needed. Went on a river cruise in the evening, took some nice pics - a nice chilled day..
On Monday myself and my new travel buddy Samantha set off to the cultural village just outside Kuching. This was very interesting, we got to see replica lodges & longhouses
of the different tribes which inhabit Sarawak. We were there most of the day and had a good laugh in the process. In the evening we took to dinner as this was my last night. After the meal we went for a stroll and to look for somewhere to have some tea & cake. This turned out to be a struggle. The fist place we went to served me a luminous green mouthwash sundae. I had to take it back, it would have stained my teeth green and the mint burnt my eyeballs. We walked to another cafe nearer to the lodge, a safe bet, we thought. Wrong! We were served by this bloke who, no matter how many times we asked for green tea, insisted on selling us black tea. Finally we got through to him, and then he served up up a jug of what can only be described as p*ss (sorry, there is no other way to describe it). It was a warm syrup & dirty washing up water type drink, with some strange 'floaters' but no resemblance to tea. We told him to take it away, it's too sweet - and uuurrggghhh. He poured what was
in our cups back in the jug and went away. Sam had spat her mouthful back into her cup anyway! So, he brings out another jug. Looks familiar, but a little different. A taste - same drink, only with salty taste as well! The bloke put salt in our tea to make it less sweet! And then, he denied it! This bloke was amazing. Anyway, to cut a short story long, we finally got some jasmine tea (after he AGAIN tried to sell us black tea). Despite all that, it was a nice evening...
The trip stretched on and on without me even realising - by the end I had stayed for 5 nights- at least 2 more than I intended. Now I am behind schedule and will have to pick up the pace. Boat & bus to Miri tomorrow....
Sad in some ways to leave Kuching. A nice place, has a very european feel about it. But now I'm behind schedul and need to move up the coast pronto!! Next stop Miri....
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Maria
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How close did you get to the crocs?? great photos!!