KUCHING, SARAWAK, MALAYSIAN BORNEO
Mainland (peninsular) Malaysia had been a mixed bag of great food, modern amenities, a lovely English-fluent populace, and touristy over-developed sights. Now I was headed to eastern Malaysia, also known as Malaysian Borneo to distinguish it from Brunei and Indonesia which also occupy chunks of the island of Borneo. Malaysian Borneo occupies roughly the north third of the island and is divided into two states: Sarawak to the west and Sabah to the east. I was flying into Kuching in the far west, and the capital city of Sarawak.
I spent four nights in Kuching and easily could have stayed longer. In many ways, it was Malaysia’s answer to Laos’ Luang Prabang, Vietnam’s Hoi An, Thailand’s Chiang Mai, or Cambodia’ Siem Reap – a small pleasant city with loads of history and culture and a relaxed, inviting vibe. Need I mention the great food?
I started my exploration of Borneo at the free Sarawak Museum in Kuching. The museum, really a collection of museums, was established in 1891 and recently expanded to a new facility across the street. The Ethnology Museum was the most unique and relevant for my interests, housing exhibits on the various indigenous tribes of Borneo including the usual, such as weapons, musical instruments, and masks (some scary, some goofy) as well as the unusual, like longhouse interiors, headhunter skulls, tattoos, and the infamous penis piercing device, the caption for which reads: “KAYAN KATIP UTEK: instrument for compressing the gland penis whilst it is being perforated by a brass nail being driven into it with a stone.” Now what part of that caption actually sound fun? None of it! I also enjoyed the old black and white movies of tribe members playing games and dancing. One of their favorite games was Congkak, a version of which we know as Mancala.
I then strolled Kuching’s pleasant streets and through its small Chinatown and Little India. One of the more interesting culinary discoveries was the famous Kuching (or Borneo) layer cake, which typically contains more than a dozen thin layers. Another was the Top Stop Food Court located on the roof of a six-floor parking garage. Although it took some effort to locate this place, my reward was two kilograms of crab and prawns along with ferns tips cooked in garlic.
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The next day I joined forces with Tina, a traveler from Shanghai, and headed to Bako National Park about 45 minutes from Kuching by bus. I wasn’t expecting much from a park so close to the city, but again I was pleasantly surprised. After entering the park, we took a 30-minute boat ride across to the promontory where the main parkland is located. There we hiked the Paku trail to a remote beach and the Delima trail to a lookout, both trails through dense, muggy jungle.
So what’s so great about Bako National Park? By far, the monkeys. We spotted three species of monkey in a single day of hiking. There were my least favorite, the macaques, who try to steal your food and drinks (we watched one drink soda from a soda can). Much cuter and more interesting to observe as they filed through the treetops (but more difficult to find) were the proboscis monkeys, whose pot-bellied stomachs and Nixonesque noses gave them the appearance of creatures from a Dr. Seuss book. Finally, there were the silver leaf monkeys, easily the cutest, gentlest monkeys I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Vegetarians in fact and spirit, they would sit in the grass and eat and just look cute.
Lunch at the park canteen was great too and relatively inexpensive. There were no prices. Rather I observed people filling their plates and bringing them to the cashier, who seemed to eyeball the food and make up a price on the spot. I piled two fish dishes, two chicken dishes, three noodle dishes, and three vegetable dishes onto my plate and the lady charged me MYR 7.50 (about $2.25) – a steal.
Back in Kuching, a young traveler named Jack joined us for dinner at one of the local food courts, where we ate tomato sauce kueh tiaw (tomato garlic prawn), cuttlefish with vegetables, laksa, and porridge, plus drinks and dessert, for about $2.30 per person. I was loving Kuching!
The following morning we took a minivan to the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre to see orang-utans in the wild, sort of. The Centre sits on a 653-hectare reserve where 11 confiscated orang-utans and their 15 offspring reside. The confiscated ones are initially too habituated to humans to survive in the wild without assistance, so the Centre provides two feedings daily, to which only a few – sometimes none – of the orang-utans show up. The staff actually prefers that no orang-utans show up – a healthy sign that the orang-utans are feeding themselves in the wild. And indeed some days, none show up (much to the chagrin of tourists like me). But they showed up for us.
It began with the distant sound of tree limbs cracking and branchfuls of leaves rustling, as if something huge were approaching. “Jurassic Park” came to mind. Then the tops of the trees began to sway and the swaying drew nearer. Finally, an orang-utan appeared, and then by the same thrilling sequence another appeared, and another – four in all the day we visited. We all watched in silence, having been warned via gruesome photographic evidence of what happens when humans interact with these mighty primates. I had one moment of panic when the largest of the orang-utans grabbed a vine and swung toward me. I jumped back.
That afternoon we returned to the Sarawak Museum; I had yet to see the new wing. Especially interesting was the exhibit on the Niah Cave Project, which whetted my appetite to visit the actual cave. The exhibit details the excavations in the 1950s and 60s by Tom and Barbara Harrisson which led to the discovery of the “Deep Skull,” an anatomically modern human skull dated to approximately 42,000 years ago – the oldest in Southeast Asia.
Other exhibits shed light on the local beliefs and practices of Sarawak’s 27 ethnic groups (including their unique burial traditions) and on the history of Sarawak and Borneo generally (including British occupation, Japanese rule during World War II, and independence). An odd example of a local practice on display was the Lun Bawang tribe’s practice of forbiding urination, farting, or asking too many questions while firing clay pots, as they believed such actions would cause the pots to crack. I get the urinating and farting part, sorta, but asking too many questions?
Later, Tina and I caught one of the tiny boats across the Sarawak River to visit Kuching’s less populated side. Straight off, about 300 meters to the right of our landing, we came upon Kek Lapis, a bakery of Kuching’s famous layer cakes. They bake 60 different layer cakes at Kek Lapis, most contain more than a dozen layers or are otherwise intricately constructed. Best of all, 45 of those 60 cakes were available on a coffee table for sampling, so I got to work.
Wide-eyed and salivating, I dove into samples of chocolate cake, cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate fudge cake, raison sticky cake, strawberry prune cake, chocolate almond cake, three rasa cake (I don’t know what is was either), evergreen cake (huh?), blueberry cheesecake, durian cake, mutiara cheese ice cream cake, Cadbury cake, and cakes with names like sutera dubai, rempah, surprise, India, and proton saga. I wanted to try all 45 flavors available for tasting, but after about 20 tastes, I felt like someone had dropped a balloon down my esophagus and overinflated it.
We moved on, wandering the back streets of the north side of the river until we were lost among the sounds of roosters and Muslim prayer calls. Only when we smelled a familiar smell did we manage to unlose ourselves. Cake!
he next day, Tina left and my friend Sharon arrived just in time for dinner at Junk, one of my favorite Kuching restaurants. The following morning we set off from Kuching and into the heart of Borneo.
ADDITONAL PHOTOS BELOW:
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