Kuching calling

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June 7th 2011

Published: June 7th 2011

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macandcaz

Lime Tree Hotel

Yesterday we left Miri and flew to Kuching. I'd say the Dynasty hotel in Miri was by far the best we've stayed at on this trip, breakfast was top with so much choice, Asian and more conventional. It rained all morning in Miri, when we arrived in Kuching it was really bouncing off the pavements, relentless, the most rain we've seen in a single day. Not the usual 5 minute wonder!

We were picked up at the airport by our hotel in Kuching, the Lime Tree - very nice too, smaller room and no fridge but plenty of citrus touches such as lime body and hair shampoo in the bathroom, a free lime juice on the rooftop terrace, lime coloured scatter cushions on the bed, a lime coloured mug to drink tea from and lime marmalade included in the breakfast choices! I believe the hotel owner owns a lime plantation too.

We braved the rain and popped out for bowsers; by evening it had stopped and so w etrekked a bit further - found the riverfront, plenty big name hotels here, nice vibe to the place, nore going on. Had Hong Kong ribs (Mac) and Hokkien noodles (me) for

Lime Tree Hotel

dinner, very tasty. Then we found cheap cold Tsing tao at a very local foodplace so had a couple to finish the day off.

Today it didn't rain (well, not so far - apparently it has done so almost every afternoon recently and is forecast to continue). We had a fabulous breakfast at the Lime Tree - the first brown bread in Asia so far no less! And lime juice of course!

Mac dropped our laundry off then we ventured up towards Chinatown proper. The visitor centre was excellent and gave us heaps of good info. We visited the craft council, textile museum, art museum, Sarawak museum, three Chinese temples, the Brooke memorial, India Street, China Street, Jalan Carpenter, the main bazaar, an interesting private art gallery, Fusion for lunch, the top floor of the cineplex to get good views across the city, Sarawak Plaza (where we talked to the owner of a great Arabic calligraphy store for ages) and collected the laundry -ah, clean clothes again!

It's very easy to get around here, nothing seems to be too far away to walk to - I like Kuching! It's vibrant and colourful. And a little bit kitsch

Paving stone

On the history trail along the waterfront

too - the cat is the symbol of the city so there's heaps of cat statues evrywhere, even a cat museum - which we won't be visiting! Apologies to all cat lovers, I ain't one of them!

Tonight we'll probably head to Top Spot to eat - a hawker place up a flight or two of stairs so should give good night views too, but recommended as an eating place.

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