Blogs from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 9

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Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching June 9th 2011

Tuesday - we decided against eating at Top Spot as it was all pretty much seafood and we didn't fancy it; instead we ate laksa at a small local place, very tasty, complete with lime and sambal on the side for 5 ringgit each (one pound, 2 NZ$). Wednesday - didn't do much really. It didn't rain, second day in a row. We just wandered around India Street, visited a Hindu temple and Mac got a very good 10 ringgit haircut. Later we went back up towards India Street to eat at Little Lebanon, an arabic place mentioned in the Lonely Planet. It was a huge disappointment - the baba ghanoush tasted nothing like authentic baba ghanoush and the falafel tasted burnt on the outside, although the inside was pleasant enough and the tahini dip was ... read more
Laksa
Hindu Temple 1
Hindu Temple 2

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching June 8th 2011

Who ever said getting a visa to enter any country is wrong! To get a 60day visa for Indonesia i had two options: get a 30day visa on arrival and then try ad extend it once in Indonesia or go to the Indonesian embassy while in Kuching and get a 60day visa straight up. So i thought while i have a few days here i could fit it in nicely. An hour later after been taken through every housing estate that side of Kuching i arrived at the Indonesian embassy along with my passport, flight confermation for leaving Indonesia and proof of funds. After filling out an application form and collecting my number i met one of the representatives where i had to write an intentions letter. 170rm and 4hrs later my application would be done ... read more
The long way out?

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching June 7th 2011

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 ... read more
Lime Tree Hotel
Paving stone
State Assembly building

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching June 6th 2011

Kuching is a city in Sarawak, a state in Malaysia that is on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. The geography is a bit confusing. Borneo is a huge island divided among Indonesia (the state of Kalimantan), Malaysia (two states), and the small country of Brunei. Kuching is the capital of one of the two Malaysian states, Sarawak. Kuching. Kuching is a great city. Malaysian Borneo seems very wealthy, maybe more so than the rest of Malaysia (which is quite wealthy in general). Kuching is a city of around 600,000. It's clean, green, calm, quiet, wealthy, orderly, uncrowded, and great for strolling. Pretty much the opposite of my experiences in India. Even the weather here seems noticeably different from South India. Yes, it's tropical rainforest weather here. But 95 with 100% humidity feels downright ... read more
Mom and Baby, Closeup
River Taxi and Mountains
Rainforest Tangles

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching June 4th 2011

Kuching got its name from either having a high number of cats living in the area when found our having trees with a fruit that look similar to cat eyes. So this morning we headed for the Cat Museum in hope to find out more. Taking the bus then walking up the steep hill we were surprised by what we found! Very surprised. The best way to describe the museum is by the contents looking like they were found in a old ladies house when she died and someone decided to put them into a museum, in a very modern and nice looking building. There is everything in it that has either a cat picture of form ie keyrings, cards, cartoon posters, toy statutes of every kind imaginable and not, cat food displays and pictures of ... read more
Lets play
A Garfield display
Kuching at night

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching June 3rd 2011

Arriving in Kuching I asked a local where the bus departed from to get into the city from the boat terminal to be informed there was no bus although he would take me into the city for free or I could take a taxi. I took his offer. Amazingly his shop was a two minute walk from the very highly recommended Threehouse bed and breakfast down a pretty colonial street where I booked in for one night. Looking around the hostel it had a fantastic rumpus room, a kitchen (the 1st I've seen so far in Asia) and was beautifully set out. However the dorm room was dark, small, cramped and not airconditioned, the beds were extremely uncomfortable. So I was really glad I had only booked the one night here and would look tomorrow for ... read more
The history of a fort
The important buildings

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching May 25th 2011

Kuching attracts its fair share of visitors looking for a Borneo adventure. But I wonder how many go home disappointed. It's not that the city isn't attractive - it is and it appeals to a lot of people with its historic waterfront (somewhat now dominated by the new Dun), its array of restaurants and bars along Padungan. luxury and boutique hotels like Pullman, Basaga and Limetree and the general friendly ambiance of a small, purring city. Yet the name Sarawak conjures up a jungle and wildlife experience - an adventure holiday. Apart from short day trips out of town to see the orangutan feeding at Semenggoh or the proboscis monkeys at Bako National Park, where do visitors to Kuching go for that wildlife, jungle experience. They are offered Batang Ai and a longboat trip on the ... read more
sanggau cycliste
sanggau waterfront
smoko

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching February 18th 2011

Big "Jungletrekkingday". Been to the waterfall, refreshing there in nice clear water. The way back we decided to go to the lookout point as well. Was quite exhausting, but was worth it! ... read more
More Jungle...
Waterfall...
View from the outlook

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching February 17th 2011

The Guide picked us up at the hotel, with us a young malaysian moslem girl, wearing a burka (Kopftuch). Interesting, she´s been to germany for studying, and is going again. Germany makes it possible by supporting it. To get to the cave-entrance, we had to climb many steps, as you can see on the picture. After advising us about the cave, do´s and don´ts, I was quite curious about the cave. So we climbed up the steep, wet steps with enough distance between us.... It´s a big, no, a huge cave! But it is open! After explaining the cave, telling us about people coming there to pray, etc., I thought we explore a bit, finding little caves, etc... But appart from, that he explained to us, that the other, bigger cave we wanted to see that ... read more
Stairs to the Fairy-Cave entrance
Exit of the cave
One missing step

Asia » Malaysia » Sarawak » Kuching January 9th 2011

Kuching in Sarawak literally translates into 'Cat City'. Gabrielle adores cats so you can imagine how excited she got when we headed into this feline-loving city. By chance in Sibu, we bumped into Edward who we had met earlier in our trip. So we got on the boat together and admired the scenery as we drifted into Kuching. After we alighted and started to walk to find a bus stop, a family in a pick-up truck pulled up to us and offered us a ride. We climbed onto the back with our rucksacks on and clinged on for our lives as we whizzed around the city. It was great fun as the children in the back seat pulled faces at us. We ended up at the best hostel, Tracks B&B on Greenhill. It was extremely good ... read more
Beautiful Beach
Kuching
Iban Longhouse




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