We flew from Miri to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Kuching is known as the “Cat City,” and there are plenty of cat statues around to remind you that you’re in cat territory. There is a quite nice walkway along the river with refreshment stands and places to sit and enjoy the view of the river. We had planned to make side trips from Kuching to neighboring parks, but we were tired and preferred to catch up on rest and work (for g). We had already seen a Rafflesia flower in Sabah near Kota Kinabalu, so we didn’t need to go to Gunnung Gading National Park. We could have ventured to Bako National Park, but I didn’t want to wake up early enough to catch the first morning bus there, and George had seen enough monkeys, so we skipped that too.
Brookes Terrace Hotel
We enjoyed staying a few days at the boutique Brookes Terrace Hotel. It was nicely painted (one wall was my favorite color), and there was a big flat screen TV with good channels, and of course, WiFi. All the people working at the reception were very friendly, and the owner (we think) gave us travel advice for our trip to Indonesia. And on check out we even got a gift! (Some local coconut crackers in a pretty gift bag.) A real bargain for 85 ringgit/night ($US 24)!
We enjoyed our stay in Kuching and our daily walks around town at lunch time. We found the best deal at a nearby food court upstairs in one of the shopping centers. There were lots of choices and most of the stands had a meal deal where one of their meals was only 5.90 ringgit (US $1.63), including drink! We also tried this very interesting looking dessert called ice kachang – – some of the varieties may not look very appetizing but it’s delicious and perfect on these hot humid days!
Sarawak Museum
One day we visited the Sarawak Museum, which was interesting and free! It had lots of taxidermied jungle animals, which was neat but also a bit creepy. I hurried through the exhibit with large snakes and crocodiles under the counter, just in case!
For the next day we booked a tour to see Irrawaddy Dolphins!