Borneo Wonders - Kuching

Kuching is the capital of Sarawak, the southern state of Malaysian Borneo. But I read in a blog somewhere that Kuching has more in common with Singapore than with Kuala Lumpur. Singapore and Kuching are cities named after animals. 'Singa' stands for lion and 'Kuching' in Malay means cat. Both cities have made icons of their respective eponymous animals. Both the cities were founded by men from the East India Company - Singapore by Stamford Raffles and Kuching by James Brooke. Both cities have historically evolved around their riverfronts. Both places have heavy Chinese influence (temples, shops, restaurants). Finally, if you want to see how Singapore looked 50 years ago, go to Kuching.
You can smell a relaxed, leisurely tourist atmosphere everywhere in Kuching. There are a number of museums and temples you can visit. The Main Bazaar has a number of curio shops, where you can buy plentiful tribal handicrafts. There's a beautiful Chinese temple in the centre of the Main Bazaar, and a couple of Hindu temples not far away. seeing what Kuching is today, it is difficult to believe that till mid-twentieth century, headhunting and skulls formed an integral part of Borneo.

But I saw some gruesome evidence of the past in the police museum, which was earlier called the Margharita fort, after Brooke's wife. I took a short boat ride to the northern side of the river and after quite a long walk and many directional enquiries, I was waved through a 'No Entry' area by friendly police personnel. The fort itself doesn't have much to offer, except that on the first floor of the ramparts, there is a isolated room previously used for hanging criminals. In this room, there was a bagful of skulls, and a certificate from the Superintendent of Police, which attests that weird sounds emanated from that skull bag one evening in 1975.

Kuching could be looked at as a mini Borneo. If you spend some time in Kuching, you can get to see every one of the Borneo Wonders that you will find elsewhere in Borneo - except the mesmerising caves of Mulu. The best way to get around within the city is to just stroll along. Bus network is also very good and punctual. For travel outside the city, it is best to chat up a cab driver - each cabbie is a mini tour operator here.

Orangutans: Visit the Semonggok Rehabilitation Centre. They have a morning and an evening feed (12 and 3), when you are taken a kilometer inside the forest to see the ornagutans' feeding platforms. This platform is much further away from the viewing gallery on which you will be stationed, than that in Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in Sandakan, in the north eastern end of Borneo island. Sepilok is also more popular with tourists. Moreover, in Sepilok, there is a greater chance that the animals will come at the appointed hour. In Semonggok, they didn't come when I went, and I heard similar stories from others. But to see the orangutans at close quarters, there is a small secret, which I will share with you. Reach the Centre half an hour earlier than the advertised feed times. I did that, more by accident than by intent, and had the wonderful sight of several orangutans actually taking fruit from the hands of rangers standing next to me. This happened near the park headquarters. Then they went high up on a tree near the car parking area and started somersaulting on the branches. They have also built their nests on this tree. Comparatively, the show at Sepilok looks scripted.

Pitcher Plants: There is an Orchid Garden in Kuching, where you can see many of the pitcher plant varieties. Except that you will not see highland ones, which cannot be grown in the plains.

Rafflesia: Kuching's Gunung Gading National Park is an ideal bet to see Rafflesia flower, the largest in plant kingdom. This flower blooms occasionally, and you need a lot of good luck for it to bloom when you are in Kuching.

Longhouse: There is a Bidayun longhouse a couple of hours taxi ride from Kuching. You can get a good idea of what a longhouse looks like here. The altar, where they used to 'bake' skulls, has rows of skulls hung alongside. But this longhouse is generally deserted, as most of the youngsters have gone out for work. If you need to see a traditional Iban longhouse with demonstrations of the blowpipe and other hunting skills, you will have take a two day organised tour deep into the countryside. That costs money and time.

Birds' nests: There are factories in Kuching where they process birds' nests collected from Borneo's huge caves. You can see the process behind glass doors, and also taste the bird nest soup. The factories sell a small cup of the soup for around RM 10 to visitors.

Rainforest & Proboscis: Don't miss out on Bako National Park when you are in Kuching. In Bako, you need not go deep inside the jungle to see the proboscis. About a kilometre walk from the Park HQ, there are raised plankwalks over the mangroves, immediately after crossing which, on a small hillock you can see the monkeys gathering after 5.30 pm.

Cuisine: You can taste Chinese noodles in Udupi joints in Mumbai. Go to Kuching, and you can eat masala dosas in Chinese restaurants!

Sunday Market: When I heard about the Sunday market, I got my return trip postponed by a couple of days, only to see how the market gets organised. I was not disappointed. By mid-Saturday, a huge, vacant plot got transformed into a thriving bazaar. Row after neat row of stalls sprung up to life, selling everything from manket fruit and other exotic forest produce, to refrigerated fresh fish, to sizzling hot dal vadas, bamboo and lotus Shoots to sago worms! An entire morning got spent just window-shopping the stalls.