Blogs from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 2

Monday 21st May 2018 We spent Monday on a full-day tour. We thought we might be in a group of people, squashed into a minibus, but it was just the two of us with our driver/guide, Musa. First stop was the Semenggoh Nature Reserve. The Semenggoh Centre was set up fifty years ago to rescue Orang-utans that had been kept illegally as pets or were orphaned due to hunting and loss of habitat. In the 70s there were eleven Orang-utans there and they underwent a rehabilitation programme before being released into the Semenggoh rainforest. This programme was so successful that eventually, over the years, they were all released and have set up their own wild colony of thirty animals, in the forest. In this way, Semenggoh is different to Sepilok, where rescued animals can still be ... read more

Tuesday 15th May 2018 On Saturday we left Sibu on the 11.30 a.m. ferry bound for Kuching. It was a gloriously sunny morning, not too humid and the ferry left on time. It was so nice to be on a boat where one could stand on deck to enjoy the passing scenery as we made our way downriver, rather than being confined to quarters inside a cabin full of passengers. O! and what an interesting and varied journey it was! Shipyards, coal yards, timber yards, old rusting hulks of barges abandoned mid-stream or beside small islands (one had trees growing through it) juxtaposed with lush verdant rainforest, wooden longhouses on Penan and Iban tribal settlements and rickety jetties with longboats tied to them, all higgledy-piggledy, providing splashes of colour bobbing on the coffee-coloured surface of the ... read more

veKuching, Sarawak 1-5 April 2016 We spent one night in Kuching on 30 March before driving to the Iban village on 31/3. We arrived by plane and almost immediately we hopped into 2 vans and went out to see the Semerggoh Orangutan Centre. As soon as we arrived, we saw over 6 Orangutans of all different ages and both male and female. Their antics are fascinating to watch. As their DNA is 97% the same as ours, their some of their behaviours are the same. Kuching, officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Sarakak, Malaysia. The city is situated on the Sarawak River at the southwest tip of the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo with a population about 325,000. Kuching was the third ... read more

After a fantastic time stumbling through the jungle it was now time to head (back) to Kuching, our final stop in Borneo...we had originally set aside almost five full days here, with the intention of doing two or three day trips but we were now down to just four with having lost a day the previous week... No matter, arrived and made our way to our lodgings; a really cool boutique hotel near the waterfront called Batik...great place, rooms were good, location was great but it was the folks that worked there that really made the difference...very welcoming, would take the time to help with any activities we wanted to set up, but most of all we enjoyed sitting and chatting with them at their funky little bar over a cold beer... Orangutans and Bako National ... read more

So today was the day I'd be heading off into the rainforest. We were up pretty early, I went in the shower room which consists of a shower (as you'd expect) that isn't working as there hasn't been any rain for quite a few weeks, so a couple of pans of cold water was as good as it was going to get. I opened the door and there was THE BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen in my life just sat on the wall. I called Eric to the rescue, he promptly ran off and shouted for Gatzam to sort it! Problem averted, so I went for my shower. Then it was time for breakfast the Malay Village way, fried noodles with really hot spicy chicken, sticky rice cake that was bright green, peanut butter pancakes ... read more