N.E.S.W. - East (Kuching, Day 2, Part 2)

Date: 30 October - 1 November 2009, Friday - Sunday
Venue: Kuching, Sarawak
Occasion: Weekend get-away with 2 high school friends


Finally!! *ergh* breathes* I'm taking SUCH a long time to process these couple of posts...work consumed more than 3/4 of the day already, & by the time I get back, I'm either too tired to bother 'bout the blog or I really needed to get other more important things done. *sigh* I feel like some clown juggling the responsibilities in my life! :S

In less than a month to come, I'll be at the national-level youth leadership camp organized by TRAC. Time really flies. I have a list of things to get done before the major camp...apart from work, that is :P I'm in the camp committee, & I'm in charge of the Fun Night, as well as the team building groupings & I'm also taking up one of the Level 2's session....*lol* I'm gonna go even more bonkers soon...

Anyways, here's Part 2 of Day 2 in Kuching :) It'll take you on a journey by water through the city of Kuching. In this post, you'll see that we only stopped at the Astana for some photo shoots, after which, we traveled to the Fort Margherita in the next post :) Enjoy!! (as usual, less words more photos yeah?)

Cat Statue 2 in the middle of the city, right in front of Riverside Majestic

Riverside Majestic Hotel
I felt that this was one of the nicer looking hotels :) However, the smell that you get around the hotel area ain't that pleasant....the river doesn't smell very nice :S

Santubong River @ Kuching Waterfront
Ling & I on the sampan/small wooden boat ride on the Santubong River. We decided to give the sampan ride a go instead of taking the taxi/bus. It was relaxing & very fun, especially for city girls like us :) It's much cheaper too if you're just taking the sampan to get across the river; it's only RM0.50 to cross the river.

The Boatman
The pakcik/uncle suggested that we "tour" the city by water, so we gave it the "green light" since we've never really done such a thing before. He took us from one end of the waterfront to the end of the waterfront, which is around 1.5km stretch & back. He even made a stop for us at the Astana to take some photos, after which he dropped us off at the jetty to Fort Margherita. Total? Hahaha....from a RM0.50 ride, we paid RM10.00/person. Ok-lar, MUCH cheaper than those silly "River Cruise" on some air-conditioned medium-sized ship. Plus, we get to see the city from a different point of view ;)

Old grandpa getting off the sampan
Villagers from across the river get to Kuching city centre by sampan. Even old uncles like this one had no other choice but to get onto a wobbly wooden boat & off the boat back to his village! *fuh*

Majestic Building
One of the most stunning-looking piece of architecture is this building - the Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Sarawak a.k.a. Sarawak's State Legislative Assembly building. Out of all the buildings in Kuching city, this was the one & only that caught our attention from afar. If there were more powerful lights at night, this building would look really beautiful. It's located on the opposite side of the river & is a RM0.50 sampan-ride from the Kuching Waterfront (the other way by land is slightly further). It's still new & not 100% completed. According to the boatman, only the exterior is completed, while the interior is still work in progress.

The Astana
This is the royal palace of the Sarawak's Head of State. It was built in 1870 by Charles Brooke as a bridal gift to his wife Margaret.

Theng, me, & Ling on the sampan
This is one of the few photos taken together :)

Scenery of Kuching city from the river
State Mosque Kuching North Council (DBKU) far ahead
The boatman told us that it's the "masjid negeri", but thanks to my colleague, Kiew, he corrected me & told me that it's the DBKU, not the State Mosque =.=" (I was conned into believing that it's the State Mosque). He also added that this place is also where the Cat Museum is located!

City's Mosque

Villages near the river

One of the old dockyards, Brooke Dockyard

At the Astana

View of the DUN Building right in front of the Astana

Waiting for the boatman after our photo shoot at the Astana

Theng & I on the sampan after our visit to the Astana

It was a really, really hot & sunny day, but the weather was good for a humble sampan ride :) Our next stop is Fort Margherita! Stay tuned ;)


- Ruth