5D/4N Sarawak Cultural Package

Highlights: English speaking guide Sarawak Cultural Village & Iban Settlement See Orang Utan in Semenggoh Overnight at guesthouse

Kuching is a perfect destination for a traveller to start exploring Sarawak in Borneo, especially if you travel with children and are aware of responsible travel.

Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, which stretches across a strip along the north and east coasts of Borneo, Kuching means "cat" in Malay and the city bills itself “the Cat City.” Kuching’s identity, superficially anyway, is tied up in a cat obsession. There are a number of large cat sculptures in the city center, and there’s even a museum dedicated entirely to the common house cat.

From the Brooke dynasty (failed trader and adventurer James Brooke and his descendents ruled the state as white Rajahs from the 1840s until 1946), the tribal populations, and the historically recent influx of Chinese immigrants, the state of Sarawak actually has a pretty rich and bizarre history.

Kuching is a nice town offering a wide range of good museums – maybe among the best in Malaysia - start with the Sarawak State Museum. It’s housed in a nice 19th-century colonial building and has a good selection of cultural artifacts from the Melanau and Dayak tribes, and some good natural history displays. Across the road, the Islamic Art Museum is a little musty, but the former madrasa (school) that contains it is interesting and there are some beautiful pieces. Further afield, the Sarawak Cultural Village in Damai (about 45 minutes from downtown Kuching) is a kind of living tribal museum. You can walk through actual re-sited long and tall houses and see how various Melanau and Dayak crafts and foodstuffs were made.

An exploratory walk through Kuching’s old downtown won’t furnish you with facts, but it’s a nice way to get a feel for life among the city’s large Chinese population. A good route takes you west across the nicely landscaped waterfront, down to diminutive Fort Margherita. Past the fort, where the esplanade ends, there is a strikingly decrepit old wet market with rows of tiled counters stretching toward corners covered over in vines and roots that have grown up through the floor. Just a bit further on is what appears to be a vacant storehouse with a fully grown tree bursting through a hole in its roof. Across the street is a stretch of wonderfully old Chinese shop houses that used to comprise downtown Kuching. Circling back toward the new city center through the streets behind the waterfront road, you’ll find more charming architecture and a pleasant neighborhood atmosphere. Closer to the new downtown is the historic Hong San Si temple, which was built in 1848 but has seen substantial renovations since.

Nature and wilderness – proboscis monkeys, orang-utans, turtles,birds, big spiders..- are easily accessible at less than one hour, as well as nice and quiet beaches.

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