Kuching, Borneo

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We spent 1 week in Kuching, which was both good and bad.
When we arrived we could see it was a quiet place, there were no tuks tuks or people trying to sell you things left right and centre, which made a relaxing change. Kuching was a strange place, it appeared as though it was built up rather rapidly to accomodate for a tourist boom, however the tourist industry had died here, and as time went on that just became more and more apparent. There were very few restaurants and the ones we did find weren't good, everywhere closed by 6pm and it was VERY expensive. Beer is more expensive in Kuching than in the UK. Our accomodation was very budget, it was dark, dingy and damp. We were going to treat ourselves and stay in 5 star accomodation as that was quite reasonably priced, however I'm glad we didn't because as I said everything else was expensive.

The good part about Kuching was its location. There are 2 excellent national parks all within 20km of the city. We went to Kubah National Park and Matang Wildlife Centre and Bako National Park. Matang Wildlife centre was good, we got to see Crocodiles, Samber Deer, Bear Cats, Porcupines and most importantly Sun Bears and Orang Utans. All these animals are endangered species in Borneo. The animals were in enclosures, but they were still in their natural enviroment. the reason for this is that they are rescued animals from being pets or are orphans, and the centre rehabilitates them to live back in the wild, it is prodominently the orang utans that get to go back to the wild (the surrounding national park) as there are easy to train.

Bako national park was brilliant! We went on a hours trek through the jungle, and it was a trek!!! We only travelled 600m in that time, and we were mostly on all fours climbing about. The reason we choose this national park was that it has a very rare species of monkey called the Probosis Monkey which is endemic to Borneo (this monkey cannot be found anywhere else in the world), and it is a strange looking animal with a distinctive large fleshy nose. Bako national park is quite a small park, but it is highly populated with wildlife, which therefore increases your chances of spotting some. Whilst trekking we saw a scorpian the sixe of my hand!!! And that is no lie, it was massive!!! We saw some lizards, a squirell, some unusual butterflyies and at the beach lots of crabs and a jellyfish, but no monkeys. I was starting to feel a bit disapointed, so we disheartenedly turned around to go back on the trecherous path that took us here. On the way back we bumped into an english speaking guide who showed us a shortcut back along the river back, and as soon as we got on the beach what was there? Monkeys!!!!!!!!! Which made me very happy, especially as there were no more steep climbs or decents to make along the jungle floor. Then when we were near to the park headquarters we saw the Probosis Monkeys!!!! So now I was extremly happy. We had a drink then headed back after a good days monkey spotting.

We didn't really do much else, mainly because the tours were too expensive. I went to the Holiday Inn beach resort just outside of kuching for the day. That was lovely, I had the whole beach to myself.

Dad had a bit of bad luck, as the ATM machine ate his card, so we spent a day trying to sort that out, but they didn't return his card.

To be fair we could have reduced our time in Kuching significantly, but unfortunately air asia wouldn't allow us to change our flights. Nevermind off to Bali next, which should be different again, we are both looking very much forward to it!!!!

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Photos

Sunbear
Unfortunately the bears wouldn't sit up facing us to display their orange crescent on their chests from which they get their name.

Orangutan
Poser!!

Probosis Monkey
These monkeys are only found in Borneo, they are unusual looking creatures.