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Published: August 29th 2019
Just Hangin' Around
Mother orang utan dropping by with her kids for feeding time at Semenggoh Wildlife CentreAfter two weeks on the 'mainland' of the Malay Peninsula, Linda and I took a flight two hours east from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching – the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and, if the guidebooks were to be believed, the most cosmopolitan city on the world's third-largest island: Borneo. With Linda still putting her insides back together after suffering some serious anxiety during the flight (and in particular the descent) we hopped in a taxi and headed into town, where thankfully our hostel was not only located smack bang in the centre of the city, just one block from the Sarawak River; but also a significant step up in comfort from our two previous hostels in Penang and Melaka. (It took the air conditioner in our room mere minutes to cool the room down to a comfortable temperature, where in Melaka it had taken several hours!)
If first impressions are anything to go by, then Kuching was going to be our favourite city yet: walking along the south bank of the Sungai Sarawak along a nicely shaded riverside walkway dotted with countless cheap food stalls, we immediately appreciated the sense of space that the broad, languid river (about
A City Icon
Sarawak State Assembly Building two hundred metres wide and flowing almost imperceptibly) provided; while also enjoying the unhurried pace and lack of tourist hullaballoo that had at times become quite frustrating in Melaka. And there was no disputing that the iconic Sarawak State Assembly Building towering above the river on the opposite bank was a landmark that more than rivalled anything we had seen on the mainland, with the possible exception of the Petronas Towers.
Adding to the impressive waterfront skyline, and providing a link between the two sides of the river where previously there had been none, lies the futuristic-looking Darul Hana Bridge – a 335-metre-long footbridge, curling it's way across the Sarawak River in the shape of an elongated 'S' (for 'Sarawak') with two raised viewing platforms and a pair of towering pylons (the entire length of which is colourfully-lit up at night). And just a short distance away on the south bank of the river sits the city's New Indian Mosque, suspended above the water in much the same way as Melaka's 'Floating Mosque', and providing a modern counterpoint to the much older Astana (meaning 'Palace') directly opposite. But perhaps most impressive of all is the twice-nightly riverside sound-and-light show,
Riverside scenery, Sarawakian-style
Traditional boat passing underneath the Darul Hana footbridge featuring all manner of fountains and lasers – and with the enormous and grandiose State Assembly Building providing a fitting backdrop – that simply has to be seen to be believed!
Still, doubts about our latest location began to surface on our first evening in Kuching, when we tried to find somewhere for dinner – which had to accommodate both Linda's vegan diet and my insatiable appetite – only to end up wandering the length of Jalan Carpenter (the main street through Chinatown) without finding anything suitable that was actually open: could it be that we had stumbled upon a Malaysian city without a quality dining scene; or was it simply that most of the local restaurants were closed on Mondays? We couldn't be sure, but after waiting forty-five minutes for a couple of plates of noodles and some fried vegetables at a local eatery (which, to be fair, was far busier than you would expect of an establishment with only two staff!) we were pretty desperate to find out!
Our fears would be allayed the following day however, when we first hit upon a tiny coffee shop with just three tables run by a trio of energetic
local ladies, where we were able to satisfy our caffeine addiction (we do live in Fremantle these days, after all) with a cup of strong, locally-grown coffee. From there we made our way across to a riverside restaurant for a late breakfast, where the 'Cat City' ('Kuching' means 'cat' in the local language – a fact to which a number of public art works and fountains attest) lived up to it's nickname, with a whole family of cats making themselves at home under the tables, while one particularly confident kitty even took up residence on the host's desk!
Well rested and properly fed, we didn't have to go far to start our exploration of the city, as the Chinese History Museum sat just fifty metres from our breakfast spot; while the city's oldest surviving Buddhist temple, known as Tua Pek Kong, lay directly across the road! But the most impressive temple of all lay just one block away, at the entrance to Jalan Carpenter: the Hong San Si temple, which boasted not only the most elaborately decorated rooftops (with enough dragons to fill a thousand fairytales) but also possibly the most stunning interior of any Buddhist temple we had
A Dance of Dragons
Hong San Si Buddhist Temple seen to date. With a ceiling almost completely covered in Chinese lanterns, and a pair of incredibly intricately-carved pillars supporting the roof, the main hall was a riot of reds and golds filled with artistic embellishments of every kind – including the stunning calligraphy that seems to decorate even the most mundane (if there is such a thing) of Buddhist temples. Further down Jalan Carpenter we visited a much smaller Buddhist temple hidden away on the rooftop of a local business, where an ancient-looking Chinese man sat listening to a recording of Buddhist chanting; while everywhere it seemed people were folding small pieces of paper to be burned as an offering to the gods as part of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
Having had our fill of temples for one day, we then paid a fleeting visit to the two-room Natural History Museum, before learning something of the history of Sarawak and it's various tribal groups at the neighbouring Ethnography Museum. It was here that we also learned that the population of Sarawak is split almost evenly between ethnic Malays, Chinese settlers and indigenous peoples; while unlike on the mainland the Indian community makes up only about two percent of
Ornate Interior
Inside Hong San Si Temple the population... a fact that a friendly young local man (presumably of Chinese origin) whom we had met at the Hong San Si Temple had assured us was the reason for the more laid-back atmosphere that we had noticed in Kuching – at least when compared with the more frenzied atmosphere on the mainland! It was also around this time that we realized we hadn't heard a single car horn since we'd been in the city – though whether this could be entirely put down to the absence of Indians we couldn't be sure...!
Still, there was at least a hint of Indian presence to be found in the city – most notably in the predictably-named Little India, where both a Sikh temple and the old Kuching Mosque (crowned with countless golden-coloured onion domes) compete for the attention of passers by with an entire block of colourful textile shops... though to be honest, the majority of shopkeepers faces were decidedly oriental in appearance! Having by now seen enough of Kuching for one day, we finally retired to our hostel for a break, only to head out again in the evening to stuff ourselves silly at a nearby Sri Lankan
Hazy Days
Heading out towards the mouth of the Bako River, with the Santubong Peninsula barely visible beyond restaurant (where I was introduced to the wonders of chocolate-covered naan bread!) before heading back to the waterfront to catch a repeat performance of the fountain spectacle that had so impressed us the night before.
Having explored the city centre on our first full day in Kuching, we decided to set our sights further afield the next day by taking a bus one hour out of town to Bako Bazaar, where a stilted village sits directly across the river from the boat landing - from where small speedboats ferry passengers to Bako National Park (the state's oldest) on a slender peninsula jutting into the South China Sea. It was on our way out to the mouth of the river – with the jagged silhouette of the adjacent Santubong Peninsula only just visible across the water, despite being no more than ten kilometres away – that we noticed the full extent of the smoke haze that had seemed to dull the views in every direction as we had come in to land at Kuching Airport two days previously.
For our first taste of Bornean rainforest, Linda and I decided to tackle a 6km loop trail which wound it's way
Venturing into the Forest
Heading out on the Limbang Trail in Bako NP up and over an escarpment – passing through no less than seven different types of forest along the way – which due to it's undulating course and tree root-littered surface took us close to three hours to complete. The undisputed highlight came towards the end of the walk, when we watched as a family group of around a dozen Proboscis Monkeys passed by almost directly overhead, confidently swinging from tree branch to tree branch... with two females carrying infants on their chests! Back at Park Headquarters we spotted a mischievous troupe of Long-Tailed Macaques, a solitary Silver Leaf Monkey, and a large Bearded Wild Pig; before being treated to the sight of a male Proboscis Monkey nonchalantly munching flowers from the branch of a tree hanging directly above the beach... even the attentions of thirty-odd camera-wielding tourists seemed to make no impression on this most laid-back of vegetarians!
After doing little more than pay a brief visit to the north side of the river in Kuching on Thursday, we had Linda's birthday to celebrate on Friday. Having grown up in Germany where her birthday falls towards the end of summer, Linda had pretty much spent the past five years
Hiding amongst the mangroves
Saltwater Crocodile in the Santubong River complaining about having to celebrate her birthday in winter in Australia (whilst simultaneously bemoaning the fact that Christmas falls in summer...) so the perfect solution as I saw it was to spend the day as near as possible to the equator, where the weather would be guaranteed to be warm! And with so many natural attractions to be found in the immediate vicinity of Kuching, we were never going to be starved for options on how to spend the day...
After picking up a take-away breakfast, we were collected from in front of our hostel and taken to the Kuching Boat Club (which more resembled an abandoned boat yard) to take a two-hour nature cruise through the nearby wetlands, in the hopes of spotting some of the local wildlife. Within two minutes of setting out on the Santubong River we had our first sighting: a 4-metre Saltwater Crocodile swimming slowly along near the shore, which we soon came to realize still had a mouth full of food. Continuing on to the broad estuary at the mouth of the river (with the jagged profile of the 810-metre-high Gunung Santubong rising straight up from the water) we then spent a fruitless
Snubfin Sighting
Irrawaddy River Dolphin surfacing to breathe half-hour trying to spot the elusive Irrawaddy River Dolphins that are often seen circling the local fishing boats; before heading off into the mangroves of the nearby Kuching Wetlands National Park, where we spotted another Saltwater Crocodile sleeping on the riverbank. Returning to the mouth of the Santubong River, our patience was eventually rewarded with a series of altogether-too-brief sightings of the resident River Dolphins, who were clearly intent on taking full advantage of the generosity of the local fishermen, as they tossed any undersized fish from their nets into the water to be snapped up by the grateful dolphins.
Returning to Kuching for lunch at our favourite vegan- and traveller-friendly cafe, we then booked a Grab Car to take us out to the nearby Semenggoh Nature Reserve, within which lies the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre – where we hoped to see some of the resident Orang Utans. With a population of around thirty residents (including a newborn baby), the Orang Utans of Semenggoh have all either been rescued or born to parents who have been rescued, and are free to roam as they please (there being no fences or barriers either within or around the reserve); though with some
Man of the Forest
Annuar in all his shaggy-haired glory! of them lacking the necessary skills to survive on their own in the wild, the rangers conduct feeding sessions for any Orang Utans who care to turn up at both 11am and 3pm each day... during which time they open the Centre to visitors, from whom they get most of their funding in order to keep providing this service to their appreciative guests. But while some of the shaggy apes are regular visitors, others are seldom (if ever) seen, only returning on the very rare occasions when there is a lack of available fruit within their ever-shrinking forest home.
With a name that translates as 'Man of the Forest', Orang Utans are the largest tree-dwelling animal on Earth, as well as being one of humanity's closest genetic relatives, and the only great ape to be found outside of Africa. They also happen to be undeniably endearing – a fact that became immediately apparent from the moment we stepped out of our Grab Car, to find our first Orang Utan gazing down at us from the lofty heights of a nearby tree! As one of three dominant males at the reserve, 'Annuar' sported the tell-tale large cheek pads that serve
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...
Mother and baby Orang Utan at Semenggoh as a warning to any potential rivals that he is not to be messed with! He also had a very healthy appetite, and after being coaxed down from his tree by the well-meaning rangers, he proceeded to sit calmly in the shade of a small tree whilst devouring an entire bowl of bananas... and all while a crowd of around a hundred people gathered close by with cameras raised, trying to get the perfect souvenir snapshot of this close encounter.
After admiring Annuar's sizeable frame, we moved on down the hill to find a mother orang utan arriving with her two kids in tow: one infant still clinging to her hairy chest, and a precocious youngster who had already mastered the art of tree- and rope-swinging... though he was less adept at catching the bananas tossed up to him by the rangers! His mother however had no such troubles getting to grips with her food, impressing everyone with her ability to crack open a coconut in only two goes, before feasting on the ripe white flesh within (though much to her youngster's chagrin she seemed completely uninterested in the water contained within the coconut, letting it pour out onto
Cooling Waters
Freshwater stream in Kubah NP the ground as her son tried frantically to obtain a mouthful or two!). Perhaps even more impressive was the mother's ability to hang from one of the supporting ropes with one hand and one foot, whilst feeding on part of a coconut with her other hand AND holding another piece of coconut with her other foot!
All in all we got to see eight enchanting orang utans before feeding time came to an end and the Wildlife Centre was declared 'closed'... at which point we had only just begun the kilometre-long walk back down the access road back to the entrance when our Grab Car driver (who had agreed to wait for us outside, before taking us back to Kuching) turned up – having seen the first cars leaving and deduced that feeding time had ended – so as to save us the walk! He then refused to charge us for the hour-and-a-half that he had spent waiting outside (we had offered to pay for him to join us, but he didn't seem particularly interested), asking only for the same fare on the return trip that we had paid on the way out to Semenggoh. We had the last
Natural Shower
Waterfall in Kubah NP laugh however, by refusing to take the change that he insisted on giving us at the end of our trip! After finishing the day with dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in the middle of Chinatown, I think it's fair to say Linda was pretty satisfied with her first 'non-winter' birthday in six years!
Having had such success with our previous Grab Car experiences – and with public transport connections being severely limited to some of the surrounding National Parks – we decided to book another Grab Car for Saturday morning to take us out to Kubah National Park (about 30km west of Kuching) in the hope that our driver would then be prepared to come back and collect us five hours later... needless to say, when our driver accepted our proposal but added that he would probably have to charge us an extra five ringgits (less than two dollars) for the return trip, we didn't hesitate to agree to terms! Unfortunately for us though, no sooner had our driver dropped us off and we had gone across to the National Park office to pay our entry fee, we were told that we would have to be back at the
Space Age River Crossing
Darul Hana Bridge lit up at night park gate by 4pm – despite the fact that the park was officially open until 5pm! When we asked about the discrepancy, we were told that the staff needed the final hour to 'do paperwork'... leaving us with little choice but to hang around at the park gate for an hour, as we had no local sim card and therefore no way of contacting our Grab Car driver to bring our pick up time forward! Unperturbed, we figured with the heat and humidity we could probably do with an extra hour to cool down (and hopefully stop sweating) before we hopped in the car anyway...
Our assessment proved to be spot on! After following the Summit Road (which continues almost to the top of 911m Gunung Serapi) steeply uphill for the first kilometre, we then dropped down through the beautiful mixed dipterocarp forest of the mountain's lower flanks, before coming out alongside a lovely little mountain stream which – despite our fears to the contrary – happened to be flowing strongly enough to provide some delightful little rapids to soak in along the way... even if the little fish residing in the river's pools kept us from getting too
Fountains and Fancy Lights
Nightly sound & light show on the Sarawak River comfortable, thanks to their frequent nips at our feet! After reaching a ten-metre-high waterfall at the end of the trail, we then re-traced out footsteps back to the junction with the road, before taking the 'scenic route' back to the park gate along a trail that wound up and over numerous ridges like a roller-coaster... only one with a loud chorus of cicadas as a backing track!
Having by now seen everything we had wanted to in and around Kuching, our seventh and final day in the city was spent catching up on laundry and stocking up on supplies in preparation for our extended trip into the island's forested interior... though not before successfully completing our challenge of eating dinner from seven different Asian countries in seven days (Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Indian!) and taking one last stroll along the waterfront to check out the nightly sound-and-light show in front of the Sarawak State Assembly Building.
Next stop: the Bornean jungle!
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