Travel: Malaysia - Kuching

It was a nice. good and relaxing trip, took Tiger Airways, which was fine by me. Cheap and good. Budget carrier that was swift, efficient and no frills, without really compromising on comfort (which is v impt). The Budget Terminal waiting area was a little too no-frills for me.. but I guess bopian.. since I am generally quite lousy at writing trip details, I shall just do a photo log, whatever memories the photos trigger... I will share. :)

Beautiful evening shot, taken on my trusty Nokia e65. :) Kuching has a huge river running though it, and this was our first evening there, as we were just walking around, looking for food.

*Didn't want to bring my Omnia as I don't know how to totally switch off the roaming feature and I don't want to end up paying hundreds...

After dinner at a random Jap restaurant we saw (very near the spot where I took that evening shot above), we decided to catch a movie. And what do you know, we managed to catch the latest instalment of Harry Potter for only 9rm, which is about S$4 for the tkt. And the funny thing is, there wasn't any clear exit out, and ZXL and I ended up walking down flights of their multistory carpark (Which stinks, looks scary, has flickering lights and pothotles) to exit. that was the 2nd/3rd time we were trying to exit a place via the carpark as their exit signs were just non-existent. It was so silly we decided to take a photo of each other in the parking lot.

First night was spent in a cheap travel lodge, v utilitarian, and we had visited some no. of lodges, to check out clealiness and pricing before deciding on this. It was 65rm for one night. which works out to about S$15 per night per person. Good and cheap, and it was air-conditioned too. It was located to the sleazier side of town, as there were some street hustlers as we were walking back from Harry Potter, but nobody bothered us. I think they could tell that we were tourists, and hey, what can a "chicken" sell to two other females right? *Ok, don't answer that question.

Next morning, at the kopitiam downstairs, I had the famous "kolo-mee", which is a bit like "fei fei" for those who have been to Joo Chiat Lane's famous wanton mee store. Without the wanton. And my pick me up black coffee. :) Not great, but not bad. I had slightly better version on the 3rd day. Subsequently, the driver then came to pick us up to go to the longhouse stay we had signed up for. :)
It was like a homestay of sorts, so we slept in one of the houses, but not along this particular stretch. Mine was the more "modern" one which a couple had built recently, as there wasn't enough space to continue building along this stretch, according to our host. It was very cool, and one gets used to walking on bamboo pole, although it can be a little dangerous. One little girl with a Brit family actually stepped on a "rotting" bamboo and her whole leg went into the hole. It was a miracle that she was uninjured, and I am sure her parents were rather relieved. Ang-mohs being ang-mohs, they were v cool about it and didn't even kick up a fuss.

Immediately after dumping our stuff into the bedroom allocated to us, we were sharing the house with an Italian couple, we commenced on our trek to the waterfall. It was an estimated 2.5 hours trek and another 2.5hrs back. Frankly, most would be able to accomplish in about 2 hours, except yours truly is as out of shape as usual and the pace they set was based on the weakest link (me!). Anyway, we were the only two on this trek, with the guide, as the rest of the people staying at the longhouse had opted to visit the hot spring. :) *and in case you're wondering, the photos will always be off ZXL, since obviously, I cannot be in the photo if I am taking the pic, and I am too lousy to get my photos from ZXL. So this shd suffice. :)

the air was fresh, the view was great, I was panting like a dog, what more can you ask for?

Finally, the waterfall! :) The photo doesn't quite do it justice.. but hey, e65 right? Business phone, I think my trusty mobile is doing a great job as it is :)

Lunch was yummy, possibly cuz the trek had used up quite a bit of energy. We had Bamboo Chicken, and sardine, with rice that was rolled up in bamboo leaves. :) Happiness!

*And you will find the video on youtube (if this embedded link doesn't work, just click on to view the video on the youtube site). :) See, told you my e65 is very powerful. =) not that my omnia is not lah.. but you know.. doing accidental roaming will kill you with the data cost.

After that was communal dinner with the rest of the travellers and the family hosting us, followed by cultural performances (performed by family members and the rest of the longhouse and a bit dark ah, since it was at night, and it's a camera phone). We also got to learn how to play their traditional instruments. Next morning, we went down to the riverbed to soak our feet and played "skipping rocks", with our hosts thrashing us with a whooping 8 skips!

Afternoon we went down, and that evening, we went to their Sunday night market (this day shot was taken before the people started streaming in(. This photo I took from ZXL's photo gallery in facebook as I I had stopped taking photos I think. :) Next morning, we had a short jaunt around town, and then it was back to Singapore.

FINALLY, for another POV for this trip, check out ZXL's Blog.