Antimonian Wet. Sarawak River at <b>Kuching</b>, Sarawak (Borneo) - Flickr |
| Antimonian Wet. Sarawak River at <b>Kuching</b>, Sarawak (Borneo) - Flickr Posted: 27 Dec 2013 06:47 AM PST |
| Reflections of An Ang Mo: Malaysia 24 - <b>Kuching</b> Attractions - Day 2 Posted: 07 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT   On our first full day in Kuching, we were up at the crack of seven am. Having got dressed, we grabbed a pastry from the fabulous bakery in the Pullman Hotel and went outside to catch the shuttle bus to Semonggoh Wildlife Centre at eight, which we'd booked through the travel office on the previous day, and which cost around $24 each. The Wildlife Centre aims to help once-captive orangutans return to the rainforest and, from all the accounts we'd read online, it seemed like the most likely place near Kuching to do some monkey-spotting.The journey took around forty five minutes, with the view pretty obscured by the dismal weather - I guess that's the chance you take when you visit at the tail end of the rainy season. When we arrived, we were directed down the path from the carpark, to a large shelter about a five-minute walk away. The reserve is only open to the public for two hours a day (between nine and ten am and three and four pm), so we didn't linger on the way down. Once we'd arrived there, one of the rangers gave a brief talk about the twenty seven orangutans which live in the reserve, including advice on what to do if you came across an orangutan at ground level. The talk was interesting and quite funny (tips for if an orangutan snatches your handbag: let it go - they will return it sooner, later or never!) ending with instructions for what to do if you came across Richie, the reserve's alpha male: run for your life! After the talk, we all gathered at the edge of the shelter in anticipation, as the feeding time was about to begin. We had been warned, however, that that was when food was put out, not necessarily when the orangutans would come and eat it and that they weren't, on the whole, massive fans of rain (clearly smarter than us, as we were drenched by the end of the hour, despite being under a shelter for the most part. So we stood for a while, listening to the rangers call the orangutans, then walked through the forest for a few hundred metres to another shelter, to try our luck there. Unfortunately, we didn't see any orangutans, although that is of course the risk you take when trying to see wild animals in a rainforest. After forty five minutes, we ran down to another part of the reserve to see the crocodiles (I have no idea why they were there), before heading back to the bus. Though we were a little disappointed we hadn't seen any orangutans (which, after all, were the main reason for our visit to Borneo), we decided to come back when the weather was a little better (you could go back free of charge to that day's afternoon opening hour, but we had already booked another trip for then). To find out if we had more luck the second time around, see Malaysia 26 - Kuching Attractions - Day 4! After we'd arrived back at the hotel, we dried off, had a hot drink and then went to check out the pool. By the time we were out again, we just had time to get grab some food (that bakery was a godsend!) and get to the lobby for two, when the shuttle bus to Sarawak Cultural Village departed. The trip cost around $36 dollars each, but was money well spent - I think it was my favourite part of our trip (with the exception of the afternoon on Day 4!). The weather had cleared up by then, too, so we had a pleasant journey of about forty-five minutes, with the drive pointing out sights for us, most notably the stunning Mount Santubong. When we arrived, we were both issued with a 'passport' which we could stamp at each of the seven traditional buildings which made up the village (each representing a different tribe), which I though was a nice touch. And the village was beautiful, with a picture perfect-lake in the middle, lots of greenery and beautiful butterflies (and, sadly, some other, rather large, dark buzzing creatures, which terrified us!), with the not-too-distant mountains providing an incredible backdrop.   We began our tour at Rumah Cina (the Chinese Farm House), where we had a look around and a lovely staff member told us about the work carried out there and how to make both black and white pepper, which was really interesting.Next, we went to Ruman Melayu (the Malay House), which was beautifully decorated with tapestries and colourful silk hangings and watched another staff member cook some traditional snacks (we did buy some of these, but sadly left them on the plane on our return, so I can't tell you what they tasted like! After that, it was the Melanau Long House, which had the best steps I've ever seen, carved out of wood. They were very narrow and therefore a bit scary to use, but they looked fantastic! Then we went to a little wooden station outside to learn about sago processing (the Melanau being one of the only Bornean peoples to prefer sago to rice). Once we'd finished there, we went to have a little look at the Penan Hut, which was fairly basic, although we loved the blow pipe shooting stand next door (three darts for RM1!). And just behind it, up some steps, was a cute little waterfall which we went to have a look at.   The next place we came to was Rumah Orang-Ulu, which was my favourite of all the houses, mainly because of the fabulous patterns painted on its front. The staff member there also told us a little about the tribe, which was fascinating and we popped into the sword-making shed next door too.  It was nearly time for the cultural show (which occurs twice daily, at 1130am and 4pm) by the time we'd come out of there, so we headed straight to the theatre, via the bamboo bridge. The show was another highlight for me - it was brilliant. There were traditional performances from each of the tribes represented by the seven houses in the village and some fantastic comedy sketches (particularly from the blow-piper). And the grand finale was all of the dancers performing 'Malaysia Truly Asia' - was there ever a happier song created?! We both came out with cheesy grins on our faces.   By the time the show was over, it was quarter to five, with our pick up time being at five. So we quickly popped in the Bidayuh Long House, which housed a fantastic swing and headed back to the entrance (Rumah Iban was sadly closed for repairs at the time of our visit). Then we both ran down the path opposite, to get a glimpse of the sea, before returning to the hotel. My sister and I both thoroughly enjoyed our visit and, though we had already a good couple hours there, could easily have looked around for longer.Once we were back at the hotel, we booked a trip to the Fairy Cave for Day 3 in the travel office, then asked for restaurants recommendations at the front desk. The member of staff we spoke to was really friendly, and suggested we visited Topspot, a hawker centre about a five minute walk away if you turned right down the hill on leaving the hotel. So that's where we headed and it was definitely a good recommendation.   We ate at Ling Loong Seafood, and had an absolute feast, trying Asam Squid (lovely, though very spicy), a bean curd dish, tofu cooked local style (beautiful), Midin (which was very fishy for greens!), rice and a load of vegetables. I'm glad the lovely lady who served us stopped us ordering when she did - we had no idea that the portions would be so big! We did not do the food justice. But it was a great place to end our first full day in Kuching. |
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