Blogs from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 10

With great anticipation we landed in Kuching on the west side of Borneo, thinking about all the wildlife we were hoping to see. For those that know little about Borneo its a huge island off the coast of Singapore which is part Malaysian and part Indonesian, Kuching being on the Malaysian side. It is the only place where you can find the endangered and amazing orantutans and probiscus monkeys in the wild. Kuching translates to "Cat" in Malay and it seem its a bit of an obsession there as there are cat statues absolutely everywhere. We arrived around lunchtime and headed straight to the hotel 360Xpress, which we booked sometime ago. Trip Advisor gave it rave reviews, so we were already optimistic, and it didn't disappoint. We opened our room to find a plush looking bedroom ... read more

I came to Borneo expecting to be greeted by orang u tangs, fighting off hornbills, avoiding the snakes and pulling off leeches. All this I thought would have occured as soon as I stepped off the plane - I was of course to be disappointed and instead of an abundance of tropical creatures I was greeted by your common old garden cat. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't actually seen many living, breathing felines but I have seen cat statues and monuments of every shape, size and description. It seems that the people of Kuching - the capital of Malaysian Borneo's Sarawack region have gone to the point of obsession over the moggy with large 10 foot cats, in the middle of roundabouts, and on pretty much any object that locals feel could benefit for ... read more

Geo: 1.54907, 110.344A drive up into the mountains from Kuching brought us to the Anah Rais Longhouse in which the Bidayuh tribe live. I thought that this was going to be a real tourist trap with loads of souvenirs for sale and not the genuine thing. However, there were no souvenirs for sale and these were ordinary people living their lives in small houses lining either side of a long bamboo platform built on stilts. The chickens were on the ground underneath and the one story houses on the platform where built of a combination of wood and corrugated iron roofing. The long bamboo poles which were lashed together were quite difficult to walk along. Our guide showed us into a really old original dwelling which has several skulls in a basket hanging in the centre. ... read more

Hello Borneo!! Arrived in Kuching after an unnervingly wobbly flight and checked into the Borneo B&B. Found ourselves just across the road from a hawker centre where we got some late night noodles and satay before having a quick wander around town, half-asleep and wondering briefly 'Is that a giant cat statue?'... In fact it was. In the light of day and after a wander down the Main Bazaar with its array of souvenir shops and a brief trip into China town to have the cheapest and most delicious noodles and BBQ pork, we went back into town to discover a giant cat statue bang in the centre. And it wasn't the only one. In fact Kuching means 'cat' in Malay. We went on a lovely sunset boat cruise down the Sarawak River where we were ... read more

Zum ersten Mal seit fast 11 Monaten habe ich wieder ein Flugzeug von Innen gesehen. Die Insel Borneo ist von der Malaysischen Halbinsel aus nur mit dem Flugzeug erreichbar. Mein Ziel lautet Kuching, Hauptstadt der Provinz Sarawak im malaysischen Teil der Insel Borneo. Sarawak gehörte früher zum Sultanat Brunei. Im 19. Jhd. half der britische Abenteurer James Brook dem Sultan im Kampf gegen einen der Volksstämme in diesem Gebiet. Anschließend übereignete der Sultan Brook das Gebiet des heutigen Sarawak. Brook und seine Nachfahren wurden zu den sogenannten Weißen Rajas. In Kuching (malaiisch für "Katze") übernachtete ich zunächst bei Mosoof und Khan, zwei pakistanische Couchsurfer, die aber seit Jahren in Sarawak leben. In Malaysia gibt es viele pakistanische Gastarbeiter. Mosoof macht allerdings eine Ausbildung hier. Die beiden waren sehr gute Gastgeber und dank Khan, der eigentlich ... read more