Kuching, Sarawak Trip 2012 - Day 2 :: Night

 Date: 6 (Thursday) -10 (Monday) Sept 2012

Day 2 
Location: Taman Kereta & Kuching Waterfront.
Weather: Fine
Transportation: my feet

PM (night)

At 7.30pm, I head to the nearby Kuching Central cafe to meet a friend from Malaysian Backpacker Club (MBC) for dinner. Kak Lielie said dinner was with her kids and I honestly thought that her kids mean schooling kids (since she looks quite young in her profile photo), so meeting her and her daughter kinds of confirmed that. But I was surprised that the rest of her kids were already waiting at a table in the foodcourt (Taman Kereta). Turned out that her daughter is the youngest of 4 and already 15 hahaha! Surprisingly more, she is already a grandma since 2 of his elder boys are already married. From 3 of us then became 7 adults + 1 kid. 

Menu for dinner were butter prawn, sotong msk kicap halia, ambel msk cili padi, pucuk midin goreng belacan, sup sayur gamat, sayur campur --> ~rm150.. murah kaannnnn???? last time I ate seafood with 2 mates cost us RM100. Unfortunately no photos of our food.. Once arrived, trus mkn. lapooo.. (altho the real reason was that I was kind of shy to take photo hehehe).

Dinner wrapped up around 9pm. Kak Lielie had to leave earlier to meet up with her tenants (she got few rooms being rented out). Since it was still early (considering i already had a nap earlier), I decided to take a stroll again along the river. Bought few porceline cats and a beaded anklet for myself in the night market there. Few snaps here and there. Of course, not many pics of yours truly since it's a solo trip.

Stopped by a local playing musical instrument. The string music really fits the atmosphere. Honestly, I could just sit there and people-watching with this kind of background music. The ambience was calm.



All in all, I think I don't mind if I were to move to Kuching. I like the feeling. Very nice people so far and satisfying dinner but I need more seafooddd!~

Kuching, Sarawak Trip 2012 - Day 2 :: PM - afternoon

Date: 6 (Thursday) -10 (Monday) Sept 2012

Day 2 
Location: Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary
Weather: Drizzling
Transportation: Jeep

PM (evening)

Pick up from the hotel was 1.30pm but I received a call at 1.15pm. Went down to the lobby and saw the uncle. Quite surprised since we're going via an SUV. He said since there're only 7 of use, this is easier. I was the first one to be picked so I sat in front :)

Journey to the sanctuary took around 30mins. Basically, there are 2 feeding time - 9am and 3pm so we're in time to watch few orang utans eating at the front area before going to the main feeding platform. This platform is only open for an hour during the feeding time, so PM session is 3-4pm. Do take note that these orang utans are wild orang utan and the Center is set in the jungle with no boundaries for these mammals. They come and go as they're pleased.

It's crucial to follow the rangers instructions I won't go into the details of the center as I have provided the link below. But I was quite excited to see these fellas in their natural habitat. Around 3, one of the rangers called out with fruits on the platform. Basically he simply yelled "Ooii! Ooiii!!" hehehe. No one showed up for the next 20mins. Maybe it's the weather as it started to drizzled (luckily the trees are quite thick so we the visitors won't get wet. If it's too heavy, there is a hut provided.

Anyway, a female orang utan named Lela was the first to come. She pretty much conquored all the food. I could see that a lot of people started leaving around 3.30pm since no other orang utan showed up. I decided to talked to the ranger asking if it is usually like this (not many orang utans showed up) if it's raining and he said yes. Pretty much depends on the weather. I was facing him with the feedingn platform behind my back. As I was taking, I saw trees far in front of me started moving so I told him. Guess what, it's the arrival of the big boss "Ritchie". He's the eldest and biggest among all the orang utans here. From the way the tree bend, I could tell that he's huge. But it didnt prepare me of the actual living being. saying HUGE is really an understatement. He's as tall as the ranger but the width is 3x :p Since he came from the back, Ritchie has to came across our viewing platform so we humans have to gv way to him.. When Ritchie reached the feeding platform, few more came but they all just snatched the fruits and ate while hanging away from him hahaha.

Well, because of him, I was the last one from our group to reached back to the jeep :) No pics from the Semenggoh Signboard since that area is in contruction for the new bridge towards the center.

Cost: Tour to Semenggoh Sanctuary RM40 (entrance fee + transportation)
http://www.sarawakforestry.com/htm/snp-nr-semenggoh.html

Full photo album of Day 2 here

Kuching, Sarawak Trip 2012 - Day 2 :: AM

Date: 6 (Thursday) -10 (Monday) Sept 2012

Day 2 
Location: Kuching Waterfront & Little India
Weather: Fine
Transportation: my feet

After googling that my destination today opens up early in the morning, I started my day early (early lah sgt --> 10-ish). So let me separate the day to 3 sections : AM, PM - afternoon, evening.

AM

The day before, I decided to take 2 tours while being here. With tips from a friend in the backpackers group in fb, I found a tour agent at the Grand Margherita Hotel. Of course, they're the 2 must-go places if u come to Kuching = Cultural Village and Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary. So this afternoon, the Sanctuary would be the place. Morning was allocated to the most critical part of the trip --> CAMERA CHARGER HUNTING.

Bread for bfast then off to the Waterfront. Kuching Waterfront was in the midle of preparing for their Annual Regatta in the coming week. Along the stroll, u'll see Fort Margherita and Astana across the river. Along the way, u'll pass by the Chinese Museum, James Brooke Bistro and Kuching Main Bazaar; all in parallel with Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Main Bazaar. Oh, not forgotting the 3D mural painting of the old folks "Sang kancil dan Buaya" about how the smart-a** of a mousedeer fooled a group of crocodiles in order to cross the river w/o being eaten.

Otw to the Little India, I passed by the Old Court House. I'm not sure if the courthouse is still functioning though. Further walk along Jalan Gambir finally I managed to bought a temporary charger. Quite relieved, i started to snap photos hehehe. Well, the Little India here is a bit different than Penang's and KL's Little India. There weren't a lot of Indian's stuff. More of Malay-muslim items on sale. Bought Honey Sugarcane Drink to quinch my thirst and browsed around. And hey, there is no such thing as window-shopping so I packed up with new belt and 9 pairs of pants for my mum hahaha.

My lunch was a hard pau. So, DON'T BUY the PAUs sold by the shop along Jln Barrack (facing the side of the Old Court House). Look can be deceiving.

Full photo album of Day 2 here

Kuching, Sarawak Trip 2012 - Day 1

Date: 6 (Thursday) -10 (Monday) Sept 2012

Day 1
Weather: Raining
Transportation: AirAsia - shuttle van

The trip started off in 'kelam-kabut' mode. Almost cancelled it as I couldn't find my passport (although now I know that I could go with just IC to Borneo). With just 3 hours of sleep, I left Kulim around 4am and reached PG12 at 4.45am. Waited few minutes for Zaiedan to get out of the lab and sent me to Penang Airport. Dropped my bag and just sat for bfast at McD before going into the terminal at around 6.30am. Penang Airport just finished its exterior renovation so the internal area was very much still in construction.

Flight boarded and left in time despite of the heavy rain around 7.10am (kire aci la +/- 5mins).

Reached Kuching Intl Airport around 9am. After waited for the son of an aunt I met on the plane to pick up his mother, I walked out of the door and looked for Tune Hotel shuttle van but couldn't find it. When I called the hotel, they asked me to find the appointed travel agent 
(can't remember the name) over the car rentals area.

Actually, u have 2 options to go to the hotel/city area. 

1- take a cab (1 cab = RM26 /way)
2- take the hotel shuttle (in my case, Tune hotel) which cost RM10 BUT it's for minimum of 2 pax.

Since I was alone, the shuttle was the best option. Unlucky for me, there weren't anyone else going the same way. Actually there was, but by the time the agent came they already left for the cab. Silly me for telling that cab is cheaper for the 4 of them!

Anyway, on the way to the hotel, the driver (???) asked me when is my flight back and he responded that the earliest the shuttle depart fm the hotel is 8am which was too late for my 9.30am flight. So he offered to send me on Monday for the same price. Ok-lah since I know it'll be just me like that day. He also told me he's free the next day so if I want, he could bring me around for the area outside of Kuching (promoting tourist guide la ni..). I just told him I'll gv him a call if I need him as I haven't really planned my itenary yet.

So, I reached Tune Hotel at 10am. Since check in is at 2pm, I walked around to survey the area. I was actually in search of a camera shop since I didn't bring my charger (couldn't find it in time) Hence, the lack of photo. Went to Tun Jugah and Riverside Mall. For some reason, most of the shop was not yet open for business.

Well, I ended up buying a SE handsfree instead (my God, I left a lot of things! Lenkali xleh last minute packing and being in the midst of moving houses didn't help either).

Back to the hotel, I called in for the daily meeting at 1pm and later checked in at 1.45pm. The receptionist told me I could check in at 1.30 but i was in the middle of the meeting, so I told them to wait forst.

Dropped my bag in, snapped some photos of the room and... zZzZzZzzzzz :)

original plan was for 2pax but my ex-housemate couldn't go, so it turned out to be a solo trip.

The bed was super comfy that I only woke up around 8pm (qada' my 5 hrs of sleep!) hahaha. Not much photo since I was saving the battery until I bought a charger. So for night time, I just walked around the Waterfront to see how the view was. Had my dinner by the river, very $$$.

the famous Cat Status in front of Tun Jugah Mall

Thai Fried Rice - this version with crunchy salted fish.