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Published: December 7th 2009
The cheapest flight I could find was from Johor Bahru instead of Kuala Lumpur, which meant that on the morning of the 15th, I made my way over to the Puduraya busstation from Jalan Petaling.
Tired of hauling a heavy backpack around (been doing it for quite some years now, and Ive got a bad neck and back, enough excuses?) I had bought myself one of these rolcases in forementioned street, you know, one of these suitcases on wheels. By the time I got to the actual bus station (which is really only a 4 minute walk) the whole bloody thing had already fallen apart! Plastic handles broke off, the zipper got stuck, the wheel frame broke loose from the actual case, therefore un-rollable, un-controllable and just bloody useless.
Barely managed to get it on the bus! The bus, as usual in malaysia, was very comfortable. This one wasn too cold either (for a change) and with 4 hours to spend in a lazy armchair, watching the world go by, listening music and reading, it was a very pleasurable trip.
Upon arrival at the JB busstation it was absolutely pissing down with rain! I had a bit of time to
spend, so ate a chicken chop at one of the little restaurants within the station. When it was around time to go, I walked over to the stop that said JB airport. Unfortunately, it left me waiting a little longer than I had thought, therefore causing me being almost late for the flight, and running to the check-in with my rolcase in my arms and back pack on my back. Actually due to the rain the plane was delayed anyway, so had some time to relax and wait for the plane to land. (Why does Air Asia seem to make so little use of the airbridges?) Although the rain was still coming down at the time of boarding, all passengers were asked to board via an outside walkway.
I wasn lucky enough to enjoy a windowseat to get a full view of the lights of Kuching upon landing in the early evening.
Hooked up with a few Brits to share a taxi (no buses anymore..?) and got off at the waterfront.
After a bit of searching and walking around the vicinity of the waterfront (again with my rolcase in my arms, this time without any bars or handles left on
the thing, customs mustve taken them off...) I found a great little hostel named
MR.Ds Bed & Breakfast.
This being just the second time during my travels in South east Asia, I took a dorm. The only other person in the dorm was a Chinese woman from the Sarawak hinterland, who went to bed at 5 in the afternoon and got up before dawn. With a a little kitchenette, a balcony from which the Kuching parliament building can be seen as well as parts of China town, breakfast included consisting of pancakes, REAL bread with jam and peanutbutter and coffee and last but not least a very knowlegable owner, Mr. Ds was a good choice!
I spent my five days lazing about, checking out Kuching, eating at the waterfront stalls and managed to do a few rips too.
One of these was the Semenggoh orang utan reserve. Mr. D took us (me and two other Dutch) there in his minivan, which of course was another opportunity to do some chatting. Very interesting indeed. The proper urang utans didn show up at the feeding place, but fortunately, a few mothers with their offspring hung about in the trees, which
gave everybody enough photo opportunities.
Such cute animals, and so important to conserve the habitats they live in!
One of the evenings I spent under the arch incorporated into the Kuching visitor information building, at the start of Jalan India. Transformed into a Lebanese restaurant / café, it really is a wonderful place to chill or hang out. Serving tea, kebabs (get the platter!) and shisha / hookas with a variety of fruit tobaccos combined with the tropical heat of Malaysia, its atmosphere is out of this world!
On the Saturday of that week I visited the famous weekend market. I was quite early that morning so stalls were still setting up, but nevertheless got a good idea of what Kuching has to offer.
Seafood, ranging from massive tiger prawns, fish of a meter in length to tiny live snails, a range of vegetables, butchers that on-site hack cow heads to pieces
(see video) and much more.
Definitely worth seeing! After the weekend market I gathered some belongings, left my other stuff at the hostel as left-luggage and took a local bus to the bus station, which is quite far out.
There I took a bus to
Lundu, a
two-hour bus ride west.
Lundu, a small sized town on the north west coast of Sarawak, is the base for the
Gunung Gading national park. It also has some beaches in its vicinity, my main reason for deciding to stay a night in this lovely town, seeing that this was going to be the last chance for me to enjoy the south east Asian sunshine on a beach for a long time. Got an overpriced room in the only accommodation available: The Gunung Gading Hotel. After lunch at one of the bus station stalls, I had a taxi drive me to the entrance of the national park. Upon paying the fee I received a map that showed different routes through the park.
With the given times, I wasn sure I was going to be able to do a whole lot of walking, seeing it was already early afternoon. Picked the shortest route first: The Rafflesia elevated walkway; Famous for its size and rotting smell, this flower, the largest in the world only blooms a very short time. Unfortunately I was just in between stages. Got to see a dying one, already blackened but with a still visibly red centre,
Kuching weekend market
Little dried fish (for the Nasi Lemak)and a aby one, the Rafflesia still in bud. A brown bulb the size and shape of a tennis ball.
Leading off this walkway was the waterfall route. A not-so time consuming and definitely not-so strenuous walk as described in the parks brochure. Accompanied by a group of high school kids from all over Malaysia studying to be English teachers in a city somewhere in Sarawak (I can remember), I went for a cooling swim at two of the waterfalls. Very nice indeed.
On the way back, it being around four in the afternoon and now knowing the routes described didn take as long as the brochure said, I decided to take the risk and do the last walk; The Lundu views route.
Again, they didn take half the time expected so went up and down before that day turned into night.
Beautiful views from up the mountain! The first being of Lundu town and the second, a bit further up and snaking around the hilltop, a view of the Batang Kayan river meandering its way to the South China Sea.
Another swim at the water basin at the entrance of the park with the school kids and it really
was time to head back to town. Seeing its only a kilometre or two, I walked. Managed to stay dry (just) before arriving back at the hotel with thick dark clouds gathering in the sky, making it even darker on the way home with the light already fading. After a nap I sneaked outside where the rain had stopped and made my way along the damp and water pooled streets to the vegetable market that serves as a food market in the evenings.
The next morning early I had myself taken to Pandan beach, a lovely strip of sand some six kilometres out of town. Agreed with the driver to pick me back up at one-ish so I would have the whole morning.
Although the water wasn lue blue and you had to walk quite far out to get into the water, it was nearly deserted. Of course that has to be the kind of beach you like, but for me it did the trick that day.
Reading, sunbathing, a bit of swimming and chatting to more school groups. Im still surprised by how well most young Malaysians speak English! Had a lovely morning.
For anyone interested: These beaches are
becoming increasingly popular. If you want to enjoy them before resorts spring up, head out there now! Lundu is a very nice town to use as a base and both Siar & Pandan beach have chalets to rent, the longer you stay the cheaper it gets. I myself would love to come back in the near future and stay for like a month in one of the chalets... Heres some more info:
http://www.etawau.com/HTML/Kuching/Lundu.htm Took the bus back to Kuching after another lunch at the Lundu bus station.
Well, and that was it for my little Borneo trip really... Oh wait, I have to tell you about my good friend;
Almost next to Mr. Ds bed & breakfast is a Buddhist temple. Haven been inside so can tell you much about that, but I can tell you about the beers Ive had right in front of it. Every of my five days in kuching I joined the friendly
Mr. Lim Chuan Chan (Ah Cheng) of the
Juat Siang Cafe next to the temple and a few premises away from Mr. Ds. To be exact: 34 & 40 Carpenter street.
Very nice man and his staff, and always ready for
Kuching chinatown
butter, beans & pasta a chat. (It would help if you speak a bit of Mandarin or Cantonese though...). Apart from that hes got the best breakfast and lunch buffet in town!
Did a little last minute shopping at the Indian street; Bought myself another roll case! This one a size smaller than the other one, but (seemingly) of a better quality. With a sweater included in the price a very good bargain I dare say. Had to get up very early again to catch my flight to Macau, so got a taxi in front of Mr. Ds. Hopefully will be able to come back to Borneo for a while longer including Sabah in a next trip....
Selamat tinggal!
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Maarten en Julia
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find the frog
find the frog - there is the frog..:) it's cute that you still are teaching while travelling ... teaching is the future for Johan )) ps just sent you a envelope with some heat....hope comes over without damage:) take care lovely brother/in law .... maarten en julia.