Kuching - probably the best city in Borneo

“Travel is the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown” Anthony Bourdain.

Flying from the conservative kingdom of Brunei into the neighbouring Malaysian state of Sarawak, it’s not likely to be very different, is it? Absolutely wrong. Kuching is full of life and adventure. 
To put this into perspective, in 1839, a British adventurer called James Brooke was handed the state as a thank you from the then Sultan of Brunei for helping him put down a small rebellion. James went on to work extensively with the local tribes to rule and stabilise the land. Charles, his nephew continued to expand the territory and unite the locals to live peacefully with each other. Rather than having fiercesome battles, in 1872 Charles introduced a long boat regatta to allow local tribes to challenge each other and decide the champion with less blood shed. The regatta happily coincided with our visit along with an international dragon boat. The traditional long boats have a hornbill head on the bow, the dragon has…….  yes, a dragon’s head on the bow.

Kuching traditional long boat regatta

 

Spot the Horn bill's head on the bow

Charles Brooke and his wife, Margaret were the Raj and Renee of Sarawak and created the infrastructure and architecture of Sarawak. There are some fabulous buildings, very colonial in style, however incorporating the local requirements to cater for masses of rain and a humid climate. Lucky Margaret had the Astana (below) built for her as a wedding present. It is used today by the governor of Kuching.

The Astana - once the official residence of The Raj and Ranee of Sarawak

Kuching is now a Malaysian state and has significant oil reserves. As a result, Kuching has been able to continue its impressive industrial and commercial status and has invested money in modern architecture. The state legislative building and the museum are extremely impressive, with a hint of Sydney opera house about it. The guide books suggested that the Legislative building was open to the public, however after walking a mile down the drive and climbing the steps in the pouring rain, a very friendly and surprised security guard popped out to see us. As we didn’t have an appointment with the Premier, unfortunately we were not allowed entry. 

Oops - not open to random people

The Sarawak Museum was easier to access

Kuching in Malaysian sounds like the word for cats, although there are a miriad of stories claiming different reasons for the city’s name. Sounds like a perfectly good excuse to have the world’s first cat museum, some great graffiti and interesting statues on the roundabouts. 

Take the second exit at the Ginger and Persian roundabout?

The street art was lovely, not on the Banksy level, however it did show lots of the local characteristics. This painting shows the state’s hornbill mascot along with the proboscis monkey being hounded by the Kuching cats and the native tribal dress

Some of the lovely street art

Kuching is quite cosmopolitan with different ethnical tribes, Malays, Chinese and Indians. However, after rice, more rice, chicken and a distinct lack of vegetables, cake and freshly squeezed juices are a well deserved treat, especially in the comfort of a fancy Victorian ex courthouse.

Tiramisu and fresh lemonade to revitalise the feet

Sarawak has more than its fair share of jungle and exotic animals. There is Semenggoh Wildlife   Centre with orangutans, boat cruises along murky rivers with proboscis monkeys, caves with fruit bats and Bako national park with cute monkeys on the beach ready to steal food from you, very large snails, lizards and grumpy macaques who were fed up with having their photo taken. Favourite picture after trailing wild boar miles through the jungle to get a good picture, this old boy quietly hangs out round the restaurant waiting for hand outs.

Not so wild, wild boar

The route to Bako National park is a 30 minute boat ride along the coast with stunning scenery

Danger Crocodiles and grumpy monkeys

Access to the National Park is by boat only

Fishing boats commonly used, which look like extras from Pirates of the Caribbean, coincidentally moored in front of our swanky apartment block

Two fishing boats and a ‘has been’ moored along the river in the centre of town

The population of Kuching is mainly Muslim, with a generous helping of Chinese Buddhists. This is a temple renovation with all the intricate decorative carvings actually being moulded in concrete then gently chiselled and filed into the dragons, horses and faces before being painted. This is a two year job for two people 

There really is much more to describe Kuching and lots more photos, you will have to visit to see it all. The next leg is down to the equator, on to Pontianak. 

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