Kuching Trip (12 March – till 15 March 2011)
Day 1 – 12 March
On 12 March morning, Sean’s alarm went off at 5 am. Kwee Yap woke up first, followed by me and the kids shortly. Cab arrived to pick us at 5.45am. Sean was unusual in his quiet self. Upon reaching Kuching, we sent him to see a doctor and found out that he had mild indigestion. Fortunately that did not stop him from joining us to the Semengoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.
We managed to have Mc Donald breakfast since we arrived at LCCT quite early. The journey to Kuching took us 1 hour 45 minutes and we arrived at Kuching Airport at 10.05 am. After leaving our luggage at Somerset Gateway Kuching, we went for lunch at “Lee coffee shop” which is just a stonethrow away. Since Sean was not feeling well and Ye was still full from the McD breakfast, we had light lunch comprising of “pork spare parts” with rice and a bowl of instant mee.
Trip to Semengoh took us 35 minutes and the van stopped at the centre, thus saving us from the long walk from the ticketing counter to the centre. We managed to catch the 3 pm feeding time. According to the renjer, there are 26 orang utans at the sanctuary rooming freely and if we are lucky we may be able to catch sight of them. He warned us to stay a good distance from the orang utan as there are 2 “hot-tempered “ orang utans around, one known as Hot Mama and another Ricky. We were fortunate to witness around 10 orang utans swinging down to eat foods prepared by the renjers. At times, we were told that none appeared during feeding time if they are not hungry. Mid way, there was a slight drizzle but that did not damper our mood. We asked van driver to stop at Satok night market. The market is quite big and there are variety of goodies sold there. However, we didn’t buy a lot of things. We packed “grill ikan terubuk” and kuih for snacks.
Day 1 – 12 March
On 12 March morning, Sean’s alarm went off at 5 am. Kwee Yap woke up first, followed by me and the kids shortly. Cab arrived to pick us at 5.45am. Sean was unusual in his quiet self. Upon reaching Kuching, we sent him to see a doctor and found out that he had mild indigestion. Fortunately that did not stop him from joining us to the Semengoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.
We managed to have Mc Donald breakfast since we arrived at LCCT quite early. The journey to Kuching took us 1 hour 45 minutes and we arrived at Kuching Airport at 10.05 am. After leaving our luggage at Somerset Gateway Kuching, we went for lunch at “Lee coffee shop” which is just a stonethrow away. Since Sean was not feeling well and Ye was still full from the McD breakfast, we had light lunch comprising of “pork spare parts” with rice and a bowl of instant mee.
Trip to Semengoh took us 35 minutes and the van stopped at the centre, thus saving us from the long walk from the ticketing counter to the centre. We managed to catch the 3 pm feeding time. According to the renjer, there are 26 orang utans at the sanctuary rooming freely and if we are lucky we may be able to catch sight of them. He warned us to stay a good distance from the orang utan as there are 2 “hot-tempered “ orang utans around, one known as Hot Mama and another Ricky. We were fortunate to witness around 10 orang utans swinging down to eat foods prepared by the renjers. At times, we were told that none appeared during feeding time if they are not hungry. Mid way, there was a slight drizzle but that did not damper our mood. We asked van driver to stop at Satok night market. The market is quite big and there are variety of goodies sold there. However, we didn’t buy a lot of things. We packed “grill ikan terubuk” and kuih for snacks.
The first taxi we boarded charged us very hefty and wanted to start meter at Rm10 saying it’s a norm. We decided not to take the cab and flagged another cab not too far away. haha, apparently the first cabbie was right, the cab here indeed started the "inofficial rate " at Rm10.
Shortly we went back to check in hotel and had our seafood dinner at “Top Spot”. Luckily we did not order lots of foods as Sean was still not feeling ok. We had 4 dishes, namely “oo chien”, tomato crabs, stir fry paku pakis and fried sotong. The meal was quite reasonable charged. Kwee Yap wanted to order lobster but since we could not finish the dishes, we thought of coming another trip.
Day 2
We made up our mind to explore Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) as it rained since morning and reckoned there should be sufficient shelter there. Sean looked much better but Kwee Yap was not feeling too well. However, we proceeded to visit SCV and booked a van to bring us there. Whole package including transport cost was RM240, adult entrance fee is RM60 whilst kid is RM30. We were given a passport each to stamp our visit at each house. SCV portrayed “live” the state’s rich cultural diversity in single place. It is a 17.5 acre sprawling expanse on the foothill of the legendary Mount Santubong fronting the South China Sea with 7 authentic ethnic houses built around a man-made lake. We visited houses of Bidayuh, Iban, Penan, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Malay and Chinese. There was a cultural show at 11.30 am till 12.15 noon where we enjoyed a multi-cultural dance performance of the ethnic people of Sarawak.
Melanau differ from most other Borneo people in one important respect : they eat sago in preference to rice and live high above ground at times 40 feet above ground. At 3.15 noon, we departed from SCV, the place is well maintained and truly an eye-opening trip for me and kids as Kwee Yap had been here many years ago. We asked van driver to drop us at Carpenter road. There we visited Textile Museum and a Chinese temple. After that we had pork satay at a stall right opposite the temple. Only subsequently I found out that the restaurant is famous for the pork satay. We were lucky to have 10 sticks as it went out of stock. We also took a boat ride to “Astana” the Yang Di Pertua residence opposite Waterfront. There was an ayam percik stall selling grilled chicken spare parts and sausages, nothing memorable though.
That night, Kwee Yap was not well and stayed at bed. Kids and I tried hunting for soupy meal but in vain. We ended up eating at Singapore Chicken Rice restaurant and packed “ Cantonese fry noodles” for Kwee Yap. Probably coz we were famished by then, the foods looked quite appetizing.
Day 3
Great day as Kwee Yap looked much better and Sean seemed to have fully recovered. Weather was cloudy and we made up mind to explore Bako National Park. Cab charged us almost RM100 for return trip. We have to separately pay Rm94 for the boat ride to Bako National Park. Kids truly enjoyed the half hour ride as the sea was rough at certain spots. There are 18 trails and we tried out 2 trails. The first trail to Telok Paku took us 2 hours (return). At the end of the trail, we were greeted by Pantai Paku, a small secluded beach. The trail was quite challenging for me as I seldom hike jungle. We took a lunch break at the sole café having simple meal. There were 2 wild boars strolling nearby and a few macaques nearby the café. Later we walked towards the camp and hostel sites and saw the famous “proboscis monkeys”. The 2nd trail we attempted was Tanjung Sapi where we had to hike up 1 hour (return) steep climb through cliff vegetation. We saw excellent view of Teluk Assam, the South China Sea and Santubong. Since we had a grueling day, we went back to hotel to re-charge. We explored nearby, Padugan for dinner where we had “Kolo mee” and roasted duck and pork. We also packed some drinks at “Top Spot”.
Day 4
Time flies ….. We were unsure whether to explore nearby Museums as we woke up quite late. Ended up we went to Hill Shopping complex behind us and had the famous Kolo mee and Laksa Sarawak at Choon Hui , next to Grand Continental. We went for last minute window shopping and revisited the pork satay restaurant. Took flight back to KL at 4.15noon from Kuching airport. Kids had hotdogs at the flight with tea.
The whole journey has been enriching and we manage to see the other side of Malaysia. Probably will wait for a few more years when Tong has growned up.
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