Mosque at Sunset
Parliament Building
At the end of a busy first term we headed off to East Malaysia for a little break. Our destination was Sarawak on the Island of Borneo. The capital city is lovely laid-back Kuching. Kuching is bisected by the Sungei Sarawak - on one side is the Chinese town, businesses, markets, cafes hotels etc and on the other the Malay area with the various Kampongs. The image above is looking across the river to The Parliament building which the locals affectionately refer to as the lemon squeezer. Its on the Malay side. Little boats ferry passengers across from one side to another for 40 sen - very cheap.
Early Saturday arvo, we checked into Singgahsana Lodge and wandered round the riverside and tried a bit of the local food - kolo mee, pan-fried jiaozi and Kuching Laksa - all very good. As it was too late to book a tour we ended up organising to hire a car, with assurances from our hotel manager that it was very easy to drive around on a Sunday. We added a few more ringit to include a GPS with most of the locations we wanted to go to already programmed into it. After driving around in circles for 10 mins and with a lot of help from Xave in the back seat, I finally understood that if I did exactly what the GPs told me to do..'in 500 meters keep left... then turn left...' that would actually get us to where we wanted to go - even if it was different to what I had worked out on the map!
We headed up to Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary where we saw one female and baby in a tree (no good shots on my camera ) and then did a bit of wet, rainy bush walking which was not a good idea before jumping back in the car and making our way out through the Borneo Heights hills to visit the Annah Rais Longhouse.
We wandered around the long house for an hour or so, a lot of seperate houses all connected by a common platform. We saw a cage of human skulls from the head hunting days. We met people coming back from working their gardens in the jungle, a friendly lady gave us some very delicious bananas to eat.
From here we drove to some hot springs and did some cooling off in a river. On the way back to Kuching we visited a place called Fairy cave. A humungous cavern four or five stories above the ground. The caven itself had a series of paths and stairways through it, alowing you to climb up to different levels, bats were flittering around- it was a bit spooky really, but definately worth the visit.
One refreshing aspect to the Singghasana was the roof top area. Each morning we climbed onto tall stools to eat our breakfast, looking out over a Chinese temple and the river precinct. A great way to start the day. The pool table, soccer game and hammock were optional extras enjoyed by the boys after getting back from our various activities around town.
Monday morning we set off to Bako National Park with a little sense of trepidation as we had heard the food and accom here were both a bit tired. We stayed in a 1950s Bungalow that was ok and the standard Malay food was actually quite reasonable as far as I was concerned - quite a few varieties of mee, tasty chicken curry, good kopi susu (white coffee) and a reasonable supply of apples and oranges - ok for a few days.
After taking the (local, bumpy, frequently stopping) bus to get to Bako Bazaar we got to Bako Nat Park by catching a small boat up (actually that should be down) the river estuary and along the coast to a little inlet where the Park offices and accomodation are set up. The river is tidal and we had to wait around for an hour for the tide to come in, but even that wasn't enough. Xave & I had to jump out and help the boatman push the boat through the shallows till we had enough water underneath us to get motoring along.
Bako wasn't really 'beachy' in the same way as Juara on Tioman. It has lots of mangrove areas and the water is more of a grey than the clear blue we had last year. Nevertheless, the attractions at Bako are the trails, range of vegetation and the animals such as proboscis monkeys that can be seen there. After our first afternoon scrambly walk to Paku beach and only seeing three monkeys way in the distance, I was wondering if we were going to be in for a disappointing time. However, as we got back to camp headquarters the boys who were way up ahead came bounding back to tell us they had found a contingent of Proboscis monkeys feeding in the trees. It was delightful to observe them leaping from one tree to another. They keep themselves pretty high up but I managed to get a few passable shots. They are such interesting creatures. Xave got some great video footage of them swinging and cashing through the branches that we may be able to upload eventually. We saw heaps of Macaques but as we can see these outside our back gate in Singers we were less gobsmacked - as you can imagine. We also saw some fantastic bearded pigs and Jordy actually spotted two bronze-back whip snakes in the vegetation near our cabin. The pitcher plants (carnivirous) we came across along the trails on the way to Telok Kecil were stunning as well.
Below having a rest along the trail on the way to Kecil Beach.
Magnificent pitchers waitng for an unsuspecting ant or other insect to drop in!!!
Telok Kecil - and guess what? A boat waiting to ferry us back, after a challenging walk!
A little stream, coloured red by the oxide in the rock at Telok Kecil.
Sunset at Bako, looking across the sea to Santubong on the Damai Peninsula, another popular spot close to Kuching.
Delima track into the Mangroves.
On the boat heading back to Bako Bazaar to pick up the bus to Kuching. The tide was in so it was a much quicker trip this time.
Traditional Peranikan sarongs and tops in the street markets in Kuching.
The people in Sarawak were so friendly, it was a pleasure to travel here. Could definately do it again.
One of the special things to do is the loe hai lunch. Everyone pitches ingredients including peanuts, cinnamon, oil, raw fish, dried tofu skin and more into a special salad and then the whole table tosses the salad with their chopsticks - then eat. Great fun!!
We also had family friend Brenna over for a while... great to have visitors ... though I must admit it is decidedly difficult to get teenagers out of bed before 11.00 am in the morning, even when the best partof the day is before 9... and after 5... though they definately experienced lots of that.
We ventured to Henderson Waves and the aerial path through Telok Blangah that connects to Henderson Waves Bridge. When we were here last year it was later in the year and the fires in Sumatra made it quite hazy. This time it was clear as a bell. Lots of monkeys around too, as you can see.
We also took Fulori to one of our favourite Chinese dumpling places in Neil Rd, China town, where a contingent of Chinese aunties make the most delicious jiaozi (dumplings). This time we also tried the Sichuan spicy noodles and the hot and sour soup. Haochi ! (Delicious)
shoes. I was asking a few Indian teachers at school why they did it and apparently it is a sign of gratitude for blessings received.
