Exploring <b>Kuching</b> with Kevin and Dug | Ashley in Malaysia |
- Exploring <b>Kuching</b> with Kevin and Dug | Ashley in Malaysia
- Expat Adventures in Singapore: <b>Kuching</b> Cat Museum
- kitasama Blood donation drive comes to <b>Kuching</b>! - The Borneo Post <b>...</b>
- Learn about the Xin Onn Hakkas of <b>Kuching</b> | The Borneo Post <b>...</b>
| Exploring <b>Kuching</b> with Kevin and Dug | Ashley in Malaysia Posted: 24 Sep 2014 04:48 PM PDT During the September holiday, I traveled to Kuching, Sarawak on the Borneo side of Malaysia with my friend, Kerry. We stayed in the same hostel, the Quiik Cat, the whole week, and it was nice to be able to settle into one place. The hostel was in a great location, and the owner, Tita, was very friendly. She gave us directions on how to get to Bako National Park and the Fairy Caves, and she seemed genuinely interested in whether we enjoyed ourselves. We arrived in Kuching on Monday afternoon, and we spent our first half-day exploring the area around our hostel and the waterfront, which was about a ten-minute walk from our hostel. The most prominent feature across the river is a giant yellow building. We never really figured out what it was, but we lovingly nicknamed it "the giant cupcake."
Our first full day in Kuching was spent walking around the city, visiting some of the museums, and strolling through the orchid garden. Our innate sense of direction (or dumb luck) was definitely with us as we were able to find multiple museums in different locations based completely on gut feeling. In fact, on this trip, we had more success wandering around on our own than trying to follow directions that locals gave us. I don't think we were able to find a single place based on directions given to us by another person.
After taking a quick spin through the textile museum, of which the highlight was the white-painted staircase with a set of doors directly in the middle, we accidentally found Plaza Merdeka, a mall. Little did we know that we would come across this mall almost every day we were in Kuching. However, the first discovery was welcome as we found a bubble tea shop inside.
The rest of the day was spent going through the Sarawak Museum and trying to get into the Natural History Museum and Art Museum. Unfortunately, both of those were closed for renovations. We ended our running around by taking a boat across the river and walking through the orchid garden.
For dinner, we met two ETAs at a bistro on the waterfront. Even better than the food was the fact that they had a chess set that we could use. Kerry and I ate there a total of three times during the week, and we tried to go back a fourth time without success.
On Wednesday, we went to Bako National Park. Our morning did not get off to an auspicious beginning as we just missed the bus to Bako and had to wait another hour for the next one. While we waited, we walked back to Plaza Merdeka (it was three blocks down from the bus stop) and waited in Starbucks. While we were there, the two workers started doing a coffee tasting and invited us to join them. After learning the proper way to taste coffee (cover ¾ of the cup and sniff, then slurp to taste) and the four factors that influence taste (flavor, body, acidity, and —), we tried the house blend and a dark Italian roast.
Once we arrived in Bako, we did a short hike. The hike began and ended next to the beach, which was a little disconcerting, but the real highlight was getting our Snickers and M&M's stolen by a monkey. He was very aggressive, and try as we did (by screaming and waving our arms around), he was not afraid of us at all. If some other people hadn't come, I'm not sure how we wouldn't gotten out of the standoff.
It wasn't until we were about to leave Bako that we saw the elusive proboscis monkeys. As we walked across the beach to the waiting boat, Kerry and I noticed a couple of people standing under a tree. Sure enough, there were two adult and one adolescent proboscis monkeys!
The other day-trip we took was to the Fairy Caves. We had the whole cave to ourselves for most of the time we were there, and it was truly amazing. Everything felt so peaceful, and Kerry and I loved looking at the plant life and watching the water drip from the ceiling. My camera couldn't capture the full beauty of the cave, and I wish it could have.
Kuching was a wonderful place to spend my last long holiday. It offered a variety of activities and sites, and I loved getting to travel again with Kerry. As for the title of this post, Kerry and I decided we needed to figure out which pop culture dynamic duo represented us. We brainstormed some options, which included Meeko and Flit, and Carl and Ellie, and eventually settled on Kevin and Dug. This led to us trying to figure out who the little boy in "Up" represented for us, but first, we had to remember his name. After 15 minutes of wracking our brains, we finally remembered: Russell. This is how we entertained ourselves at the airport while waiting for our flight.  | ||
| Expat Adventures in Singapore: <b>Kuching</b> Cat Museum Posted: 30 Sep 2014 06:31 AM PDT The weekend before we travelled back to the UK we went to Kuching in Malaysia for another friend's wedding. Unbelievably after four years in Singapore this was my first visit to Malaysia! Obviously we were there primarily for the wedding and although we had planned to travel so we had a day for a little exploring beforehand we ended up travelling the evening before the wedding and back again the day afterwards. I clearly need to return again at some point to experience a bit more of here and other parts of Malaysia. In-between the celebrations and travelling back to Singapore we did manage to squeeze one thing in though, a visit to the cat museum in Kuching. If you know me or have read any of the blog you might have realised I am a bit of a cat lover. We have our own cat here in Singapore and I've lived with cats all my life, so when I found out we were going to Kuching and read about the cat museum I suggested to my husband that we ought to go and visit.
The name Kuching is actually derived from the Malay word for cat, kucing, so it seems appropriate for a cat museum to be there. We took a taxi from our hotel to the museum which is actually a little out of the main town in the Kuching North City Hall Headquarters. When we booked the taxi our hotel asked if we wanted the driver to wait for us but we declined. However, in hindsight, given its location if you decide to visit it may be a good idea to pre-arrange for your taxi to return or wait. Luckily we managed to locate the Malaysian version of one of the many taxi booking apps available in Singapore and booked a taxi to pick us up through that! | ||
| kitasama Blood donation drive comes to <b>Kuching</b>! - The Borneo Post <b>...</b> Posted: 16 Sep 2014 02:08 AM PDT Tuesday, 16 Sep 2014 KUCHING: In conjunction with Malaysia's 57th Merdeka Day, Astro launched a nationwide blood donation drive to reinforce the message of 'Unity Runs in Our Blood'. As of 2.30pm this afternoon, today's blood drive in Kuching at Plaza Merdeka which ends at 7pm had about 113 donors.  MY FM, hitzfm and ERA fm at the blood donation. Henry Tan, Chief Operating Officer of Astro said, "Our 2014 Negaraku campaign focuses on the uniqueness about being Malaysian which is expressed through the theme, 'Unity Runs in Our Blood.' A key event for for this Negaraku campaign is the #kitasama blood donation drive which emphasis that Malaysians are bonded to each other regardless of our multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic composition. "On air, Astro will celebrate the unity and diversity of Malaysia through more than 140 programmes of which 48 are Premiere titles. At the same time, we would like to invite all Malaysians to share their Merdeka moments by using the hashtag #kitasama on social media." Dato' Dr Faraizah Bt Dato' Abd Karim, Deputy Director of National Blood Bank said, "We would like to thank Astro for inviting us to be part of the #kitasama blood donation drive which is also supported by a great line up of artists that will serve to heighten people's awareness regarding this campaign. We would also like to take the opportunity during this Merdeka celebration to encourage more Malaysians to pledge themselves to be blood donors."  Afick after his #kitasama blood donation. Astro talent and personalities took time off their busy schedules to participate in the first #kitasama blood donation drive that took place at the Astro headquarters in Bukit Jalil on 12 August 2014. Asmawi Bakiri from Astro Arena mentioned, "I hope that we can touch more lives and rally together to help our fellow Malaysians who are in need of blood." Besides Kuching, the blood donation drive was also held in 6 other states including East Malaysia to encourage all Malaysians to donate their blood to the National Blood Bank Malaysia. Viewers can log on to www.astro.com.my/Negaraku for the Negaraku content schedule starting as well as information on the #kitasama blood donation drive locations. You might also like: | ||
| Learn about the Xin Onn Hakkas of <b>Kuching</b> | The Borneo Post <b>...</b> Posted: 21 Sep 2014 06:24 PM PDT Monday, 22 Sep 2014 Highlights 81 According to Wikipedia, the Han Chinese which make up 95% of the population of mainland China are divided into several groups: Cantonese, Chuanqing, Fuzhouese, Min, Gan, Hunanese, Hoko, Shanghainese, Wu, Taishanese, Tanka, Teochew and Hakka. For those of us in Sarawak, we may be more familiar with the Fuzhouese, the Teochews and the Hakkas. In Kuching, under the Hakka category, there is another group of Chinese known as the Xin Onn Hakka. Those interested to know more of the history of the Xin Onn Hakka in Kuching are invited to attend a public talk sponsored by Friends of Sarawak Museum (FoSM) which will be held on October 4 (Saturday) from 10.30 am to 12pm. The highlight of the talk includes the origins of the Xin Onn Hakkas, how the Xin Onn Hakkas came to Kuching, the early arrivals, group migration, and the building of schools and associations. No registration is required for this talk and it is going to be held at the Sarawak Taiwan Graduates Association Kuching Branch, 1st Floor, No.33, Jalan Abang Abdul Rahim, corner unit behind the Hock Lee Centre. The talk is for free. KC Jong, the speaker, has written more than ten books in both Chinese and English, including four books on the Hakkas in Sarawak and the Red Rings. He was born in Sebuku of Bau District in early 1942. He completed Senior Cambridge at Kuching St. Joseph's School in 1963, and then started his 20 years as a journalist in both Chinese and English newspapers in Sarawak and Brunei. After teaching for one year in a private school in Bau, Jong joined the Sarawak Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry as executive secretary in 1984 and left in Sept 1999. Through correspondence courses, he obtained a diploma in journalism, and a bachelors and masters in information management. You might also like: |
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