Kuching Weekend

State Legislative Assembly Building

I was in Kuching from the 3^rd to 4^th August 2012. My previous visits to the capital of Sarawak have mostly been for business and as such I have yet to actually properly see some of Kuching’s attractions. Granted the first time I was there was when I was a medical student on holiday with my family.

Kuchings!!

I took the evening AirAsia flight into Kuching and arrived shortly after 7 pm which was in time for iftar. Pauline fetched me from the airport and we went to have dinner at Kuching Central. Much like KL Central, Kuching Central is the main bus terminal in Kuching. There are shops and a food court within and I had some claypot mushroom chicken - which was nothing interesting really.

There were 3 main cat sculptures that I could find in Kuching. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the one where the cat had a Baju Melayu on in conjunction with the upcoming Hari Raya celebrations

Kuching is rather vibrant at night – for a city in Borneo. For someone who hails from as dull a smalltown like Sibu, it was a rather refreshing change. I mean, they have a 24 hour McDonalds! Beat that Sibu! You suck!

Then we visited the waterfront along the Sarawak River. The place has a walk by the river with multiple small food kiosks with a view of the Astana and the new State Legislative Assembly building across the river. At night the scene did look rather pretty and certainly beats walking in fear by the banks of the Rajang at night back in Sibu (again, Sibu lost! Sibu sucks! Hehehe)

Fort Margherita was however quite a disappointment. It was more like a blockhouse than a fort really. I am not sure whether one can actually go inside the building because it was nighttime.

Across the river is what people from Kuching would refer to as ‘the Kek Lapis Village’. The real name is in fact Kg Gersik and yes, it is famous for its layer cakes. These are one of the things that people from Peninsular Malaysia identify as a souvenir to bring back home (along with Gambir Sarawak, but we won’t go there). It is quite surprising how many different types of cakes are available here. However, since I already made reservations for quite a large number of cakes from Kak Balqis for the Hari Raya period, I decided to get only a small one from Kuching for personal consumption.

These things  sure as hell rack up the calories

The next day, we went shopping at The Spring, which was a shopping mall. I bought a bottle of Boss perfume at Parkson’s because it was on offer for use during Hari Raya and other occasions (I’ve ran out of CKOne for nearly a year).

Unfortunately we were told that the Astana was only open during Hari Raya

After fetching Pauline’s friend Syila, we went to take some photos at the Astana. I must say though that having 2 hot Sarawakian nurses as your personal tour guide in Kuching made the journey more than worthwhile; even if we did get lost on more than one occasion (to be fair they are probably better nurses than tour guides).

“I saw the chemo patient’s Hb to be 6. So I took a GSH lah,” I wish my HO’s had half the common sense of the nurses here...

I did not end up meeting with our friend Silverlining due to time constraints though. Maybe next time when I get more time off.