Flight 4: Miri - Kuching (Air Asia)

Another day, another flight. Today I boarded a mid-morning flight to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak.

The hostel I stayed at, Lodge 121, was the cheapest so far at 24RM, and as Japanese 'Habitat for Humanity' group had taken over the attic dormitory, I was shown to a triple room instead, which I scored to myself for the first night.

After dropping off my bag (down to 12kg!) I ventured down to the Kuching waterfront, and instantly liked the city. So far, the other towns in Borneo had been more 'bricks and mortar' and used as stepping stones for the national parks, as opposed to being tourist oriented. On the opposite side of the waterfront a beautiful building ( State Assembly?), and I walked the length of the waterfront in both directions, taking in the various architecture.

With my muscles no longer screaming at me after Mt Kinabalu, I decided to treat myself to a massage at the Hilton. For about $70 I had 2 hours of pampering, although once they started working on my calves I was almost crying - they were still bruised! The masseuse told me to run a bath and soak (she didn't realise I was staying at a hostel, not the hotel), and to elevate my legs.

Post massage I found a restaurant called 'Little Lebanon', apparently the only Arabic restaurant in Borneo. I was rapt to find pita bread, hommus, and felafel on the menu, and enjoyed a felafel burger for dinner whilst watching the sunset over Chinatown. Back at the hostel, I enjoyed the solitude of the room and managed to finish The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - another book very similar to his other works. Lodge 121 had a book exchange and I swapped it over for another book and enjoyed reading some of the trashy mags that had been left by other visitors.

One thing I have noticed in Malaysia is the quality of the bread. They aren't big bread eaters - unlike Australia, where we have about 100 different options (white? wholemeal? rye? knot roll? sourdough?), they have white loaf bread that is packed with sugar. So the thought of having sugary toast with sugary kaya on top wasn't appealing on Thursday morning. Instead, I brought out my trusty vegemite for some saltyness and had vegemite on toast. (I actually noticed some other guests had pulled out Marmite, so everyone must have the same opinion!)

This morning's entertainment was a self-led walking tour of the cat statues of Kuching. Kuching actually means 'cat', and cats are everywhere - they even have a cat museum! First up, I found the 'main' cat statue - a very cool looking cat that had John Lennon sunnies on. Next up was a group of 4 cats with flowers; and then a group of 9 cats on a roundabout. From here I walked onto the museums of Kuching. The first museum was about indigenous animals of the region, and including such items as whale skeletons and stuffed cows.

In the afternoon, I ventured out to Semonggah to visit the orangutans. Semonggah helps to rehabilitate abandoned or injured orangutans, and then releases then back into the wild. As the forest isn't quite large enough to sustain them, they offer food at 9am and 3pm, so the orangutans can return if they are hungry. There are no cages here - the orangutans are all completely free. At 3pm, the rangers started calling for them, and we all watched excitedly as they swung through the trees to the feeding platform. I was lucky enough to see about 15 of the 27, including the alpha male (Richie). As it was raining, one of them even made an umbrella out of tree leaves and carried it with him! They didn't seem to mind our company, as they played for the full hour we were allowed to watch them. We were told that at least one person is sent to hospital each year from an orangutan attack though, so were warned to be quiet and have no food or drink on us.

Back at the hostel I had a new roommate who was heading onto Mt Kinabalu, so I shared my experience. Maybe it wasn't the best thing to do as I think her scared her! We headed out to an Indian restaurant and then returned to the hostel for an evening of Gossip Girl in the common room.