Sarawak - Kuching - Chapter 6

Bleary eyed we haggled with the taxi driver at Penang's modern international airport. He wanted more than the agreed price so we settled on an additional 5 ringgits (about £1) - the "us versus taxi drivers" competition now stands at 1 - 1!

 Check in and boarding was all very easy and on time until we were actually seated and the cabin crew kept walking up and down the aisle doing a head count - they must have checked and rechecked about a dozen times before eventually there was an announcement and a Chinese man stood up, opened the over head locker, grabbed his bags and left the plane! It turned out that he was a day late for the flight!

 Two hours later our Air Asia flight (Malaysia's answer to Easy Jet) had us safely on the ground in Kuching, the capital city of the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.  Sarawak and Sabah make up the two states of eastern Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo  and both sandwich the state of Brunei. Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia.  Here endeth the geography lesson!   A quick taxi ride to the Riverside Majestic Hotel, a modern 19 storey high rise that overlooks the Sarawak river and we were ensconced in our room. 

We spent the afternoon strolling along the river bank and taking in the various sights and taking a trip up and down the river on a traditional sampan.    Our return to the hotel was timely as a huge thunderstorm blew in very quickly and down came the rain  accompanied by lots of lightning and very loud thunder.

By the time we went out to eat  everything had calmed down and the food hall we had selected had been recommended by someone who had visited Kuching some years ago.  "Topspot" was very aptly named - it was the top floor of a multi storey car park and had hundreds of food stalls under a canopy roof!  Once again we were not disappointed - huge Thai prawns, sweet & sour chicken, fried rice and the ubiquitous Tiger Beers.

Sunday has seen us venture further afield.  We took a short minibus journey to the Sarawak Cultural Village - a living heritage museum.  This is the venue for the Rain Forest music festival that happens every July - unfortunately it's next weekend! 

The Village has seven traditional  long houses each portraying a different tribe of the Sarawak population.  There are displays of arts and crafts and audience participation is encouraged and it includes an Andrew Lloyd Webber like production of traditional dances in the purpose built theatre!  I had a go at playing a guitar like instrument called a sape - not very successfully I hasten to add. 

It was a fascinating snapshot of the nomadic tribes that once inhabited this part of the world and a poignant reminder of how the modern world can swallow up traditional ways of life.

Next on our schedule is a visit to an Orang -Utan rescue centre - more tomorrow!