Sarawak-Day 2-"Back to basic!"

Monday, 31 July 2006:

Similar to Sabah, sun rises very early in Sarawak. Hence, we started our journey early. The initial plan for today was to go Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre to the Orang-Utans and then to Sarawak Cultural Village. However, we first need to get tickets to Mulu.

We packed our small bag with musli bars and sachets of lemon tea and walked to Jalan Carpenter for breakfast. To be fair for both of us, Akka decided to go for simple bread and coffee breakfast at a café we passed by last night called Black Bean. Unfortunately, it was not open. Since we were already in Jalan Carpenter, we mutually agreed to eat at Chinese Food Centre where the famous mee kolok is served. The food court that was described as excellent spot for breakfast, turned out to serve the worst drink, serves no toasted bread and Akka’s mee kolok had nothing but MSG. Sigh! There goes our good breakfast!

Putting aside the horrible food, we continued our journey to MAS building to purchase our tickets. Unfamiliar with the places, we followed the waterfront route to get to MAS building near Hilton. Just then, Akka spotted a tour agent arranging 4-hour trip to Bidayuh Longhouse also know as Annah Rais Long House. We told the agent that the offer was indeed fascinating but we interest was purely on visiting Orang-Utans at Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. Since both the Annah Rais Long House and Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre were in the same route, after a along negotiation, the tour agent compromised for RM160 for two to go to Annah Rais and Semeggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. However, our journey ends at the park as we refused to pay any penny more. Since the lonely planet assured us that there would be a local bas heading back to the city, quickly agreed with the offer, paid and assured him we will be there by 10 o’clock.

We continued our walk to MAS building, which was easily locatable. However, we were informed that beginning 1 August 2006, all rural flight services will be handled by a new company called FAX, Air Asia’s subsidiaries which was just two blocks away. Sigh!

The fair for Miri-Mulu and Kuching-Miri was very expensive, as we did not book it in advanced during the promotion period. Since our main agenda was to climb the Pinnacles, we booked Miri-Mulu-Miri flight at cost price. However, we had choices to go to Miri. We could either save time by spending more flying there or pay half the amount travelling on a 15-hour bus ride. Since budget was of our main issue, decision was made to travel buy bus.

By the time we finished with our booking, it was already 10 o’clock and hence, requested the tour agent to pick us up at the Air Asia office. Instead of the tour agent, an old man, Uncle Eddie picked us up with his old Volvo. The moment we left the place till we reached Annah Rais Long House Uncle Eddie never stopped talking. Annah Rais Long House is the oldest Bidayuh Long House located 1 ½ hour’s way from the Kuching town on foothills of the Penrissen Range bordering Kalimantan. We had wonderful ride, experiencing dazzling countryside surrounded by green mountains and plantations. The place was so quiet, not single vehicles were on the road besides ours.

The outside view of Annah Rais Long House. The zinc roof stop shows touch of modernisation in rural area.






Annah Rais Long House was indeed a long house and was built using nothing but bamboo and absolutely no nal. Though there are now elements of modernisation through the usage of zinc. The long house accommodates several families to live under one roof and separated only by bamboo walls. Hence, everybody has their own door. Most houses are well equipped with modern furniture and electrical things (even ASTRO) depending on their incomes.










Inside view of long house








An old lady weaving rattan to make traditional mat










Traditional stair at longhouse. There is absolutely nothing to hold on as while climbing up.

Cooking stoves. Cooking are done outside during festivals

We then came to a room called “Baruk”, where several skulls were tied together and hung above a special burning area. It was too creepy, so we did not stay there long. Further up, across a little bridge towards hilly area, there were several individual brick houses. According to Uncle Edie, these people are still part of the tribe but choose to live independently depending on their income.

This is the Baruk, the spiritual room.

The skulls hanging at Baruk.








Me and Uncle Eddie at Baruk

After wondering around for sometime, we headed back to longhouse. We passed by a little shop selling young coconut and homebrew liquor called Tuak. What a bizarre combination! Headed for the coconut, but instead was offered the Tuak. We declined at first, as we were in deep jungle of Sarawak, with unknown people and drinking strange liquor sounded really bad. But curiosity kills, and we ended up taking a sip of it. It was so bitter and horrible. He then offered us another glass filled with herbs. The herb water was nice and sweet. So we ended up buying a packet for ma and pa as it can help to reduce pressure. However, we were so reluctant to carry it back as the herbs looked a lot like ganja. But the guy assured us that the local will know its herb and we need not worry.

This is the home brew liquor, Tuak that we drank

From Annah Rais Long house we managed to persuade Uncle Eddie to stop at a nearby waterfall with no extra charges before heading to Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. He was assuming we would pay him extra money to wait, but we kiasu sisters have already made our mind to take the bus back to the city, which would only cost us about RM2.00 each. Nevertheless, we took his contact number and told him that we will call upon arriving from Bako in two days time.

The beautiful waterfall near by Annnah Rais Long House

The Semeggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre was similar to Orang-Utans sanctuary at Sepilok in Sabah. Since the feeding time was only at two, we walked around the park till we got bored and hungry. My stomach was growling but we didn’t stop for lunch, as the park does not offer food or accommodation. Instead, we waited for the Orang-Utans to be feed! After waiting for sometime, at about one something, the Orang-Utan finally arrived at the main complex of the sanctuary, not walking but swing, from one tree to another. The guide put a huge basket of fruits, coconuts and breads at the feeding platform not far from us. He made some funny noises and upon hearing it, they all moved closer, grabbed as much as they can, stuffed it in their mouth, both hands and a foot and swung away to eat elsewhere. We were lucky to see them, as most Orang-Utans are set free and the only one that returns are the orphaned or illegally caged one.

The green park at Semenggoh Rehabilitation Centre

Orang-Utan, stretching out their hand requesting food from the park ranger

Orang Utan grabbing food from the feeding platform

The fat male Orang-Utan eating alone in the jungle

From there, we walked to the jungle via plank walk to a viewing area to see wilder Orang–Utan. Unfortunately, there was only one huge male Orang-Utan there, as the young were afraid to approach the fruit basket. We stayed there for a while, but since the last bus to Kuching passes Semenggoh at 4 o’clock, we had no choice but to leave. Besides, it takes approximately 30 minutes to reach the entrance of the park. After sitting there for about 10 minutes, we realised that not a single taxi or bus by passed the park. We got panicked and enquired from the guard. According to him, no buses to the city bypasses there except for express busses. Upon hearing that, we got more panic. Just then, a local tour agent was heading out of the park, and the guard requested him to drop us at Kuching town. He agreed and charged us RM5 each. We quickly agreed and jumped into the mini van. Thank god! Angels do always come in different form.

The tour agent dropped us at the Visitors Centre. Since we will be leaving to Bako tomorrow and be back only on Wednesday to continue our journey to Santubong, we had to purchase our Miri tickets upfront. Hence, we hunted for bus ticket agents in Main Bazar instead of going to long distance bus stop. We managed to get tickets for Friday afternoon. He assured us that we could reach there in time to take the flight to Mulu.

Happy with our ticket, we headed to waterfront for river cruise. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it in time and so settled for tambang (river ferries) to go across and visit the Istana, built by Charles Brooke, for about 50 cents each (one way). Unfortunately, the Istana is now being used as the governor’s house, so we were unable to get in. Sigh! Instead, we headed to Main Bazar to shop do more shopping. We were rather thirsty decided to get a good cup of coffee in Black Bean at Jalan Carpenter. The coffee was simply yummy; we ended buying a packed home.

Behind Black Bean café was our hostel. Hence, we headed back to hostel, bathed, changed and went out again to hunt for food. It was going to be a yummy dinner as we have been starving for two days now. Since it was our last night in Kuching town and to be fair to Akka, it was best to go for sea food as by the time we arrive back to Kuching on Thursday, Akka would be vegetarian and would missed her opportunity to taste the local seafood. After long arguments and fighting on the street of Sarawak, I finally managed to persuade her to eat seafood. That was the easy part. The difficult part was searching for Top Spot Food Court again! After elongated hours of walking and asking around we finally managed to find the car park building. Assuming that the food might be a bit costly, we quickly cashed out money from the nearby ATM. But to our surprise for a large plate of vegetable (for me), one huge crab and a plate of huge prawn only cost us about RM50 including our drinks. Yah, Sarawak is indeed great.

The famous Top Spot Food Court above huge car park building.





Felling so stuffed, we lingered for a while and walked back home. It was about 30 minutes walk and by the time we reached our hostel, we were totally exhausted. Yet, we had another task to do before we leave to Bako. Since we managed to save on our flight tickets, we decided to spend it on Santubong Beach. We quickly called the Santubong Beach and booked a room on Thursday. Feeling so satisfied with that, we slept with joy.

Sarawak-Day 1- "The boots are made for walking!"

Sunday, 30 July 2006:

Alas, along waited journey to Sarawak was finally here. After looking at my notes and self-drawn map for several years, I felt that I knew Sarawak in my fingertips. Nevertheless, the only stuff that I actually knew was the bus number, accommodation, location and cost of transportation to places such as Bako, Kubah Park, Santubong Beach, Cultural Village, Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Mulu (a mini project paper on Pinnacles and caves) and last but not least Niah cave. With that bible in hand, I begin my journey to Sarawak with partner in crime, my dear sister a.k.a Akka.

Our holiday motto has always been “to see beyond the world, in short period of time, budgeted”. Hence, we begin with our flight tickets. I preferred to climb first and do the outing later, but Akka’s preference was outing then climbing. She remembered our penguin/moon walk after Mount Kinabalu’s climb and refuses to repeat the same mistake again. After serious discussion with Akka, we mutually agreed to fly to Kuching and depart from Miri. It was cheaper and less chaotic. I was rather annoyed at first, but agreed anyway. Hence, we requested Pa to send us to KL Sentral at about five in the morning to catch the first Air Asia bus to LCCT, which cost us only RM9 each. We arrived LCCT at about 6 something. It was our first time in LCCT and I couldn’t believe my eyes to see so many people at that hour. It finally happened, now every one can fly. Hats off to Dato’ Tony.

The crowds at LCCT at wee hour. It looked like Thaipusam for a moment.

We reached Kuching Aiport at about 10 something. This time being so prepared, we took a cab straight to Tourist Information Centre, locally known as Visitors Information Centre or old courthouse in Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg. The courthouse was one of the British residues building in Kuching. It has really high ceiling, furnished with wooden floors, had huge pottery with green plants at the porch and was painted in classic black and white. Sigh! It was simply perfect.

Side view of Tourist Visitors Centre at Jln Tun Abang Haji Openg. They have a Lebanese restaurant above the center.

A friendly officer (I forgotten his name) greeted us. He informed us everything we need to know about Kuching, from tourist spot to best eateries, transportation, accommodation and above all, that its not blooming season for Raflesia (the largest flower in the world). There goes our visit to Kubah National Park. Sigh! We missed it in Sabah and now in Sarawak. However, he was kind enough to inform us that the Saturday market in Satok will be opened till 12 something and if we leave now, we can still make it in time. He also offered to take care of our bags but warned us to be back before the Visitors Centre closes at 3 o’clock.

Need not say more, we dumped our bags there and took a bus to Satok with our trustee Official Kuching Guide. Unlike Gaya Street market in Sabah, Satok market starts its operation on Saturday night and continues to Sunday afternoon. It was indeed a huge open market, three times bigger then Gaya Street market selling vide range of things from animals to vegetable, plants, groceries, food, clothes and souvenir. You name it, they sure got it.

Even though things were really cheap, we restricted on our spending as we decided to shop at the waterfront. Thus, we headed back to visitors centre to collect our bags. Upon arriving there, we made some calls to arrange for our accommodation. The cheapest room we could get was Anglican Guest House, in Anglican cathedral. The hostel was not far from the Visitors Centre. But since we just arrived and didn’t know the way, we ended up walking all over the area. We walked and walked and walked, by passed all the building in the map including Anglican cathedral but our hostel was nowhere around. Feeling frustrated, we called the caretaker for direction He was not helpful, yet we somehow managed to find the hostel, which was actually in Anglican cathedral compound itself and was locally known as St Thomas Diocesan Rest House. Sigh!

The outside of our hostel, Anglican Guest House.

The hostel was great. Despite being old and sited next to an old graveyard, the place was very cosy and comfortable. For only RM18 per night, the room which was located at the second floor was well equipped with 3 beads, a dressing table, 3 cupboards, a fridge (outside the room) and 3 common bathroom that was located at the ground floor. Hence, we never got down to pee at night.

The inside view of Anglican Guest House..our room!Akka is packing for Bako.

Feeling so lazy, despites listing down things to be done for day, we slept and only woke up at 5 o’clock in the evening. With our tight schedule, there was only today left for us to go to temple situated at Jalan Ban Hock. Since it was raining and we were not sure about the places, we called for a taxi. The temple was very huge and clean. Unlike Sabah, Sarawak has more Indian community. So people basically ignored us when we entered the temple. Instead of lingering around till 7 o’clock for prayers, we left to hunt for food! Yummy!

The officer at the Visitors Centre told us that there is a popular open air Chinese food-stall centre called Top Spot Food Court specialises in seafood above a big car park near Hilton at Jalan Padungan. I didn’t want Akka to miss her seafood “session”, so agreed to dine there today. We walked and walked and walked all over Kuching’s town centre, but fail to spot Top Spot Food Court. Feeling really tired and hungry, we finally decided to eat else where. So we continued to walk and walk and walk and walk half of the town centre, but nothing engrossed Akka. Along the way we stopped at an old Chinese shop where Akka bought some Chinese pastries to munch and then we continued our walk, by passing all the creepy places in Kuching town centre till we finally ended up at a basement food court in Jalan Carpenter which was just behind our hostel. I knew there would be nothing vegetarian in food court so decline to eat and ended up buying fruit juice. Upon reaching our hostel, Akka ate her Chinese pastries and asked me to eat Maggie. I was too hungry and annoyed. I declined and survived with nips. She knew I was annoyed, so promised for nice breakfast tomorrow. Little did she realise that a good vegetarian breakfast consists of Indian food, which she is not fond off while travelling. So there goes my breakfast. I smiled and slept. She knew I was annoyed, again!

Jalan Carpenter, behind our hostel, Fomous for Bollywood cafe, Black Bean Cafe & Chinese Food Centre

The famous kittens surrounding the old clock tower ate the roundabout in Jln Pandungan, Kuching

An old Chinese Temple at the juction of our hostel near JlnCarpenter. The Dragon column at the entrance of the temple indicates the oldness of the temple. Hence, has been glass framed.

Indian street in Kuching is just beside the China Town. Despite the name, I never encountered a single Indian!