Sabbatical Week 13

Day 1

Part of why I came to Kuching is to partake in my information kiddo’s wedding banquet.

I was extremely tired the night before and only managed to get up just in time for lunch.

Malay style beef noodle. Noodles are broth are separate.

It’s not bad at all, especially that big beef trunks! noodles are springy ,a bit al dente. RM15.8 including the ice coffee.

Weather was really nice, and I got some time to walk around the water front.

Though it’s not a primary tourist destination, it’s still charming. I walked on the foot bridge.

I figured I’d check the Sunday market in town to see if anything to sample.

Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, the market was closing already.

I managed to get some longan fruits (12RM) and a dragon fruit (9RM) – not the cheapest consider the fruits aren’t that refresh. I later learned it’s still much cheaper than buying in supermarket

The purple dragon fruit made my stool and urine quite red and for a second I thought I was bleeding.

Met up with the wedding couple and they took me to the groom’s childhood desert shop next to a running field.

(probably less than 20RM, my friend paid for it)

Probably wasn’t too good of an idea to eat before the banquet.

It’s always a bit awkward to eat Chinese fine dining where everything is deboned and nicely presented

The broccoli is used due to lack of asparagus, not sure how that happened.

Quite a few dishes to come but we were just too busy celebrating and photo taking thus I didn’t actually take any photos myself. Well, as my friend said, I am his PR manager and of course I don’t get to be in the photos haha.

Day 2

Invited myself to my friend’s house to see his childhood photos, his mom treated us a feast including Durians. Thanks mom!

On my way to his home, a bit rainy – GrabTaxi 12RM

Later on we went to check out the Sarawak Cultural village (95RM)

While some of the traditional houses are nice, but we were so tired at that point it felt more or so like a torture. (not sure why we all fell extremely tried. I slept well previous night and didn’t really do a whole lot. I think I blame on the over-durianing)

The highlight was this live show

A white guy was picked as a guest star lol

Objectively speaking, the show was somewhat the only decent part. The whole village was a bit under maintained and the price of 95RM is more than just a steep. This is the part I really don’t like about Malaysia where all entry fees are rather steep (special price for foreigners) compare to the local cost of living for something I borderline consider as a tourist trap where I would not go myself.

I went to bed short after and slept all the way until the next day.

Day 3

Finally got to do some proper city tour.

Stop one is this up side museum

Then I went to walk around Chinatown

The main objective was the Borneo Cultures Museum (50RM – for once I think this is well spent)

The content is extension that covers both arts and history. It also covers the major ethnic groups that are separated by geography. Quite interesting.

I went to the mall next to the museum to get some food and a good coffee and hope to catch up with some trip planning.

Decided to indulge myself to have the most expensive Starbucks.

Weirdly there’s WIFI time limit for only 2hrs.. but the lunch was too sleepy for me to stay awake despite the coffee (40.25RM with a cheese cake)

Stopped by at the supermarket to get some personal hygiene products

Extension liquor selection even as a muslim country as well

Walked back and called a night

Day 4

Decided to switch to a different hotel ($13.53) because I couldn’t find the owner of the lodge I was staying up to extend. I understand less staffing less cost, but I do wish the owners would leave instructions on how to extend stays and perhaps have its WhatsApp chat actually functional.

I went to a kopi (local coffee shop) to plan for my trip finally

lunch was great too!

Local ice cream was great too!

I walked around Chinatown a bit to get the supplies needed for the Mulu park next days.

Of course, more coffee!

Lastly, dinner!

Got a lamb noodle soup and some fried chicken dumplings ($7.38)

Bittersweet, it was my last night in Kuching.

Day 5

Time to fly ($68.55) again! This time was to a Unesco heritage park called Mulu National Park.

One last image on my grab to the airport ($2.26)

I anticipated the lack of food options in town and decided to eat at the airport without knowing my flight actually would have lunch service. Oh well, when was the last time I had meal served in domestic economy?

Boarding time!

Lucky enough to have an empty seat next to me!

Though we were instructed to deplane just when the plane was about to take off and then told to get back on the plane again.. not sure what’s that about.

In just short of 2 hours, we arrived at the Mulu National park airport

It’s only 15min walk from the airport to the park.. what a treat, how often can you walk to an airport!

Friendly staff gave me introduction of the park, upon checking in into my hostel ($15) I decided to take advantage of the dry weather and walk a bit.

It’s 8KM trek which took me about a bit over 2 hours to complete. After that it was time to see the bats come out

I was very lucky that day – bats don’t come out everyday

This was more amazing even than the one I saw in Cambodia since the angle was different. In Cambodia I was watching the bats at the cave entrance.

I walked back in town just in time to avoid the rain which usually happens around late around.

Decided to go to an cafe just outside of the park to get some beers to help relaxing

Had a decent night of listening to the sound of forest

Day 6

Next day was the cave tour.

With just about 20min ride, we arrived at the cave

The cave itself is quite small, after Carlsbad, it was really not much interesting to me.

With a short boat ride, we arrived at another cave

This cave is actually much bigger and slightly more interesting

Afternoon was going to be my chill day, I took some beers after the tour.

Took a short nap and woke up grumpy for some reasons, just in time for the rain which subsequently caused the night walk tour cancellation

Didn’t do much and instead I just had dinner at the cafe

The local rice wine was a bit pricy (15RM) the laksa is okay though

Some random creature attacking this poor South African girl. She actually lives in the park to visit her relatives.

Day 7

Canopy walk tour!

The walk was fun at least for $10 I don’t have complains.

We went to the treetop and the botanical trail to discover more wild lives!

The only bird image I managed to capture

We decided to explore the local area / Mulu village a bit for lunch

Still no electricity in town. Primitive!

Wild ferns and some local spinach like dish. delightful! (48RM)

Of course, today’s drinking and food day. Got a whole bottle of local rice liquor (35RM)

That’s it for the jungle week!

Expenses

Week 13
Day	Food&Drink	Lodging	Transportation	Other (tickets/tours etc)
1	$9.95	$12.50	$3.41	$0.00
2	$0.45	$12.50	$2.73	$21.59
3	$19.26	$12.50	$0.00	$23.18
4	$18.65	$13.53	$0.00	$4.07
5	$14.50	$15.00	$70.81	$0.00
6	$18.41	$15.00	$0.00	$15.68
7	$27.73	$15.00	$0.00	$3.41
	$108.96	$96.03	$76.95	$67.93
	Total		Grand Total:	$349.87