Kuching, located in Sarawak, Borneo is where we based ourselve's. From here, we went on several different day tours to National Parks located outside of the city.
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Kuching Riverside Promenade
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Kuching, and surprisingly, this city is very busy with traffic going in all directions, quite scary when sitting in a Taxi.
We really enjoyed our time in Kuching. It was small enough that we were able to walk everywhere, especially enjoying the walk on the Riverside Promenade. This we did night and day, sometimes just sitting and watching the world go by. When we were there, they were practising Dragon Boat racing for the upcoming festival.
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| Favourite spots: |
We did a day tour to Fairy & Wind Caves and to a Pitcher Plant Nursery. The Fairy Caves were fantastic, but you do need to be fit to climb all of the stairs. The Fairy Cave was formed some 100-150 million years ago. There were stalactite and stalagmite formations on the floor of the caves that resemble figures and animals, also a number of shrines and altars.
These were erected in the cave so local Taoist Chinese can make offerings to the peculiar formations. This is perhaps how the name Fairy Caves arised.
It was a jaw-dropper for us, much bigger than the Batu caves, we loved it!
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Dancers at the Sarawak Cultural Centre
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Sarawak cultural village we really enjoyed. It was set out over a large area displaying the different ethnic groups homes and their ways of life. After walking the village, then we went to see the show included in the entry price. It was a spectacular show put on in the air-conditioned mini theatre. The dances were wonderful to watch as each has a meaning of which I can't remember, but they tell you what each dance represents.
Rythym, dancing, gongs, beautiful costumes, and at the end, you can join in!
Each Tribal group does their own dances.
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Sea Stacks at Bako National Park
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We did a day tour to Bako National Park. After travelling over a very bumpy road through Kuching Industrial area we arrived at the Bako Village port to catch a local boat to the National Park. From here, we did a jungle trek with a guide because we were on a tour, this came in handy for spotting wildlife.
The jungle trek (not a paved one) was interesting & good, emerging from the jungle onto a beautiful secluded beach. We had a rest, then took a local boat (for a small amount of money) to view the Sea Stacks. These were beautiful as was the coastline, well worth doing.
Lunch was included in the tour, it wasn't the best, then we were left up to our own devices for a couple of hours. We wandered around so paths seeing more Monkeys, Goanna and some Squirrels.
The trekking is on rough ground, includes climbing, so you need to wear appropriate shoes to avoid injury.
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| Accommodations: |
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Hotel which is now THE GRAND MARGHERITA HOTEL....
We had a very enjoyable stay here.
The Hotel is right on the riverfront, so I requested a room with a river view and was so glad I did, as there was lots happening on the river.
Every evening, dragon boat crews were practising for an upcoming festival.
Our room was large and nice.
Breakfast was a buffet, very busy, with a good choice, hard to get a table sometimes. Service at this Hotel was good.
There is a travel agency in the Hotel, this was cheap and good. Of the 3 tours booked with them, twice, we were the only people on the tour, and the other time, only had one other couple with us.
The location is excellent, just straight across the road from the Hotel, is the main shopping centre, only a very short walk to the riverfront walk, and it is located right on the riverfront.
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Plenty of items in India Street
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For shopping, we found this a great Mall.
It is called India Street, as it was a street until 1992 when it became a Mall. It derives its name from the fact that it has always been a street occupied by the Indian Shops, but now days it is mainly run by Chinese.
This street used to be one of the busiest streets of the old Kuching town and was the main place to get clothes from around the world!
Jalan India is lined with shops selling all kinds of goods, particularly textiles, clothing, crockery, spices, souvenirs, and much, much more, including local food. You can even get your clothes tailored.
he assortment of goods available is quite astonishing and be sure to venture into the various alleys on either side of the street
This is a good place to wander as it is more "local" and because it is a mall, it is nice to wander down.
We bought several items here, did barter even though in a shop, and got a good deal in our opinion.
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Published on Wednesday March 30th, 2011
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Mon, Apr 25 2011 - 11:43 AM
 by el2995
| Nice report! We had a very similar stay in Kuching (including the same hotel), though we opted for the Semenggoh Orang-utan Rehabilitation Center and Annah Rais Bidayuh Tribal Longhouse instead of the Fairy Cave and Wind Cave. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any proboscis monkeys (only a little bit of light brown tail in the trees that was said to belong to one...) while at Bako. Thanks! |
Thu, Mar 31 2011 - 08:11 AM
by eirekay
| Great detail! Would love to hear more about what kind of animals you saw in Bako! It must have been fascinating! |
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