Kuching, "Cat City", is a medium-sized town on Eastern Island of Borneo, in the State Sarawak.
When we got off the plane, the first thing that struck me about their airport was how modern it was. It was relatively big and had all the duty free alcohol, cosmetics and perfume shops one would expect from a good International airport. Plus a Starbucks AND Coffeebean.
Once out of the airport... it's easy to get a taxi from their budget taxi counter. A standard flat rate of (Malaysian Ringgit)$26 takes you to your hotel in the city. I love that it's all hassel free... you don't get touts and people trying to rip tourists off with an inflated taxi fare into town.
As recommended by some blog readers, we chose the Hilton. We made reservations for 2 nights at a total of (Singapore dollars)$520.
And when we got there, the Hilton upgraded us up to their Penthouse Suite! (Good thing we didn't spend the extra 300SGD to book THAT in the first place! I was very happppy.) The bedroom had a great view of the river and the city.
And the bathroom and lounge area was nice too. No complaints about the suite.
But what I hated about Kuching's Hilton was that their pool was shitty looking, their tennis court was old, and their Gym was under construction (upgrading!)... so not much to do there in terms of exercise! But other than that, the food, rooms, and staff are top notch.
Of course, there are many cheaper alternatives available at Kuching. In fact, Tune hotels ( like ten bucks a night!) is just across the street from Hilton. So if you don't mind not having a river view, and just want a room to sleep in, this is a great budget hotel. I stayed in it when I was in KL... and I remember paying $10 for the room... and then you add on $ for additional things like 10 hour blocks of air-con, toiletries, etc.
-------------
ok now...
FOOD FOOD FOOD!Ok... to be honest, when I first looked around the town... I thought... OMG there's no where decent to eat at. But with a little perserverance and asking around... we found a few great places which you must check out when in Kuching. And the prices!!! Great food at great places ... but such
low prices!
James Brooke Bistro & Cafe
We had lunch here. It's by the river, just infront of the Hilton. James Brooke was the first Governor of Serawak. They called him the first White Rajah.
It's open air but not hot. Good for a lazy lunch. They serve both western and Asian cuisine. Mark had a chicken salad, mango juice (x2) while I had chicken wings and wedges and a coke. The bill only came up to $40 Ringgit (less than 20 Sing$)
The Junk Restaurant
The first night there, we were looking for somewhere quirky and trendy to eat at... and we made reservations at a restaurant called The Junk. I wore my new dress and shoes.. ( for those asking for pics of my $10 shoes... here it is!!)
The ambiance of the place was fantastic, relaxing mood lighting. It's a two story shophouse, filled with bits of the old and bits of the new. It kinda looked like a collection of junk really. But well put together. It even had a nice little bar in the backyard.
And the food was excellent! I had lamb rack and Mark had a lamb shank. We shared a brocolli soup and bruchetta to start with.
And I found a new favourite drink.... kinda like a Lychee Martini... it's a Longan Vodka! Very niceeee...
Total damage for the night (inclusive of a few more glasses of wine and beers as well): $150 ringgit. No way you can get all that food AND drinks for 2 people in a restaurant setting for $70 Sing dollars in Singapore!
Magenta...
The second night there... we were spoilt for choice. We had a few restaurants we wanted to check out... first, we went to Magenta, which serves an Western Asian fusion cuisine.. and they had Foie Gras on the menu!!
It was a ten minute taxi ride from our hotel. When we got there... the restaurant itself looked inviting. Set in a house, it had a strong eastern-oriental flavour to it. But at 8 O'clock... it was still empty! I'm sure the food would have been good.... but we wanted something more buzzy for our last night in Kuching.
So we popped back into a taxi and went down to Bla Bla Bla....which is actually only a few doors down from The Junk.
Bla bla bla... Restaurant
I think they called it bla bla bla... because quite frankly, you wouldn't know what else to call it! It's hard to place Bla Bla Bla. The decor... is... interesting. You can dine upstairs... but the ground floor has much more buzz and activity! To get to your table... you have to step over a pond of fish...
The tables and chairs are.. rough. No.. I don't mean uncomfortable.. but it's just not a refined look. Even the walls are like unfinished and rough cement. Feels like dining in a cave or an old village... yet it's beautifully balanced with elements of the modern.. like a huge chandelier casting a warm glow over the dining area, colourful cushions and huge white crockery.
We ordered peking duck... yum.... that one peking duck made 15 huge pancake rolls of duck skin and a stir-fry duck meat dish. The pancake rolls were delicious!
Mark swears that he only ate 4 or 5 rolls, so I must have eaten all the rest! I love duck! But I think I overdid it that night. After dinner, I felt very uncomfortable. I ate so much that I felt like if you tickled me or made a sudden jab, I would vomit. No kidding. I even had my head on the table towards the end of the night and a lady at the next table noticed and smiled (ok.. laughed).
What can I say...? I'm not going to make any excuses.. it was just shameful glutonny. :( Total bill was also around $150 ringgit, but we had much less alcohol than at the Junk. How could I drink anyway?! I was too full of duck.
Other popular restaurants we didn't manage to dine at in our 2 days there were- Top Spot which serves cheap but good seafood, Tom's which suppposedly has nice desserts, and Mango Tree which serve Thai food. For drinks, there's Senso at the Hilton which is more swanky, and a pub called The Living Room which is more rustic and laid back... all worth checking out if you're in Kuching.
Next post- What to see and do in Kuching :)
By the way, you can check out the latest offers on flights to Malaysia here:
So far, I've been to KL(last year), Penang( few months ago) and Kota Kinabalu (as a child), so I think I'd probably check out Langkawi next... but I do want to climb Mount Kinabalu... and I want to visit Malacca too because of my Peranakan roots. Too many places, too little time!!
The first thing we did when we got there was walk along the Sarawak river, just outside our hotel. There were also short cruises available at just $60 ringgit but I thought it looked a bit boring.
But there's quite a bit to do along the river walk itself. On sunday there are bands playing (though I didn't think they sounded good)... little stalls sell bits of jewellery and bags... and pop corn!
With a map, we walked for about 15 mins in search of the Sarawak Museum. Across from the Padang, are a few museums. Art Museum, Old history museum, new museum... etc. Most are free to enter, while some charge a small fee (a few ringgits only). 
Because they're all clustered together, you can pop in all the museums and cover them in about an hour (or two if you want to stand and stare at every single thing).
There are day tours (about 5 to 7 hours) available which involve visiting Longhouses and villages, but I was happy enough to experience them in the comfort of a museum really.
There are many temples that you'll pass along the way to the musuem. We skipped the Cat Museum, I heard it was not worth the effort.
Their streets (for instance Carpenter St) are filled with little souvenier and wood craft shops. There were a lot of sarongs, scarves and weave bags too. After walking about (it's hot!) we treated ourselves to a quick 30 minute foot rub. Can't tell you which one we went to... so many reflexology shops there. We just chose a random one. It was $25 ringgit for a half hour.
In the centre of the city, there's a huge cat monument/fountain... you're unlikely to miss it. And across from that, we found a massage place, it's the builidng with the Mcdonald's.
We had a 1 hour full body massage (with free ear candling) at only $55 ringgit a person. This is my second time ear candling in my life... and I still think it's bullshit. No effect. The massage was good, just Mark and I in a couple room. She flipped the towel down and massaged my boobs too though (!)... quite strange... never had that done during a massage before!
At about 70 ringgit a person, there's a Matang Wildlife Centre day trip available. It's a 3 hour trip in total, inclusive of the drive to the wildlife centre and back(about 45 mins each way). 
Here you can see orang utans and other rescued wildlife. But don't expect that you get to cuddle baby chimps and feed them milk from the bottle... most of them are semi-wild.... 
Apart from wildlife centres, there are also kayaking trips available, but those take the whole day. And we didn't have the time.
Here I am at the Kuching Airport on Monday afternoon, heading home. Flying Malaysian Airlines of course. I had a great little weekend adventure.
Up to 20 kg baggage allowance (no need to pay extra for baggage allowance if you're a big shopper!)
It offers guest complementary food, beverage and internet access.
The lounge is very comfortable, it offers a good selection of food and booze so that makes waiting time very enjoyable.
Flying with Malysia Airlines is surprisingly good value. It offers extra comfort & convenience compared to travelling with budget airlines. There's better seat pitch (space between two seats – front and back), assigned seating and free food and ammenities.
The In-flight services provided by cabin crew is on par with Singapore Airlines. I've mentioned this before when I flew to Penang. And this time round, they still didn't fail to deliver.
Hello Sir!!
The cool thing about Evolve is that it has premium state-of-the-art, modern and sleek facilities. They are open 7 days a week from 630am to 1030pm with classes all day which is great for me since I don't have a fixed schedule for work... I can pop in for a class any morning, afternoon, night that I'm free.
