Kuching Trip - 2008 (Day 1)

Actually I went there like a month ago? but I tot I wanna wait for the photos to be downloaded into the PC to upload into the blog before I write anything... but after 1-mth I thought "It's going to be the New Year if I wait for that!". So here's the story now.

Hubby was sent to Kuching for some learning session for 1 whole week & I have earlier taken leave on Friday of the same week! So we decided that I should join him in Kuching on Friday & extend our stay till Sunday. If I remember correctly, Monday was a Public Holiday, so we use tht day to "recover" from our trip. ;-)

Flew to Kuching by AirAsia which is cheaper than MAS, but could have gotten cheaper tickets if we were informed much earlier of his trip. Reached Kuching at around 9+am & took a taxi to Hilton (where hubby is staying) - 1st thing we did was to find another hotel to move to cos' it's pointless to pay for Hilton when we'll only be in the hotel room for about 10hrs a day max (most of it sleeping time). Then was poring through all the print outs from the internet on places to visit in Kuching to plan where to go for the next few days. Decided to cover the riverfront area, since Hilton is so strategically located near the Kuching riverfront.

On the way to the river, we came across the infamous Cat statue. However this Cat "monument" has a pair of feline surrounded by kittens instead of the single white cat with 1 outstretched paw in greeting that we normally see in travel brochures. I was then informed by hubby (who got this info fr his Kuching colleagues) tht there were actually 2 main Cat monuments. 1 is tht "famous" single cat & the other is this. Apparently, the Kuching town is "split" into 2. 1 part was previously managed by a Chinese guy & the other a Malay / Sarawak Bumiputera (can't remember which). The Chinese guy was single (reason given was to take care of his ailing dad & fully serve the ppl - uhuh... yeah... we belief tht...); thus the single white cat at the Kuching Chinatown gate overlooking a HUGE roundabout (Sarawak has large land area - can afford massive roundabouts... :-p). The Malay / Bumiputera however is married with many children; thus the pair of cats surrounded by kittens in the other end of town. So there you have it, the Kuching Cat Monument "mystery" unravelled. How true is the story? Dunno... Trust the locals...

Next, comes the infamous Kuching Riverfront - nothing much... There's a huge boulevard for walking, lots of stalls but not open & the river, like any other rivers in Malaysia, it's 'teh tarik' colour. The only difference is it's HUGE! A stroll along the river is quite nice though. The trees shaded most of the way, tht made the walk a cooling & relaxing treat.

Towards a bent of the river, there's a white & pink building (yes... pink! reminds me of a building that you might see in Legally Blond) that is apparently housing the Chinese History Museum (watdayaknow...)! Unfortunately it was closed for lunch, so we strolled to the most talked about temple in Kuching - situated just opposite the Museum. It's called the "Tua Pek Kong" temple. It's small, but the architecture & carvings are beautiful / delicate. Was told that the temple is about 100+ years old, but the fresh coat of paint & the chandelier lightings made it look rather new. Can't help feeling that I would prefer to have it in it's original splendour even if it has peeling paints & candles all over the place. No disrespect intended, but having it refurbished made it look like an old woman on Botox & thick make-up. I don't mind a bit of paintwork to avoid the wood-decay (because the pillars & the beams - the whole structure in fact are made of solid 1 whole tree trunk hardwood), but the new coat of paint made it really shining red brand new. It's beautiful nevertheless & I took lotsa photos at tht place. Will upload into the blog (if I ever got it transfered fr my camera!).

When the museum is finally open, we spent about an hour there reading about the Chinese migration to Sarawak, the trading / business / plantation activities they involve in, the famous Chinese figures in early Kuching society & their rise to power, fame & fortune. There were also many ceramic everyday pots, plates, bowls, urinary, "pillow" (yeap! ceramic pillows) & figurines on display. I really love 2 figurine of an emperor & empress made of total white ceramic with intricate carving designs. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures; otherwise would love to take a pix of tht.

We then continue to walk along the famous Kuching Riverfront Bazaar that has many local arts & crafts stores, stores selling local produce - black pepper of course. Managed to refraint from buying anything expensive (the beads were not as cheap as it used to), but still managed to pick up some bargain stuff :
1) wooden ladle (good for my non stick pan. The plastic 1 I had is "melting" at the tip. Don't wanna poison hubby wif platic / melamine material)
2) black pepper (of course)
3) 6-pocket letter holder cos' the letter holder at my in-law's house is really in a sorry state...
4) beaded bracelets for the small girls back home (my nieces & cousins)
5) 2 HUGE pandanus-family-dried-leaves woven bags (only RM10/piece! Bought 2 for our grocery shopping to substitute the plastics - go green!)
All-in-all, thought that was very good shopping restraint! ;-p

Ahhh.... Back to hotel to rest... Will share day 2 onwards & maybe an article dedicated to the food we ate in Kuching... when I'm free next...