Cat City - Day 1

We were in Kuching last weekend.

Actually I have been to Kuching a couple of times. Been to most of the tourist attractions already. Even spent 2 weeks there in a stretch when attending a kursus induksi a few years back. Anyway, Irene and Ryan haven't been there, so we booked low cost tickets to Kuching back in February. An excuse to get away from work also la.

Planning a holiday trip with little boy was a new experience. Spent some time on the Net looking for places of interest and accomodation. Quite different from my previous travels during bachelor times... would just land in town and find whatever hotel available.

It was great that my old coursemate+housemate Edwin who's working in Kuching GH offered to fetch us around and be our tour guide. Thanks so much!

Landed in Cat City on Friday afternoon. Edwin fetched us from the Kuching Airport. I've got to say the airport is really nice. But forgot to take photos to show la. It smelled new, looked modern, and was very spacious. Emm, I'll show you the airport photo later, taken on our way home.

We went to check in at our "hotel". Church to be exact. It's the Anglican Diocesan Guesthouse. WHAT? STAY IN A CHURCH??? Yup, you read it right.

Well, didn't fancy the idea of spending lots of money for a 4 or 5-star hotel. Just needed a comfortable place to sleep for the night, since we're outdoor most of the time. Bored of hotel rooms, so typical, so lifeless. Wanted something with more "character". And so... we booked this guesthouse in a church, hoping it will turn out fine. Hehehe.... By the way, the locations is great (saw on Wikimapia). Less than a hundred meters from the Kuching water front.

The Anglican Guesthouse turns out to be a pleasant surprise. I must show you the photos. For a start, it's SPACIOUS. Even comes with an aircon.

It comes with an attached little KITCHEN.

And that place exudes CHARACTER. Felt like we're staying in a museum. OK the furnitures are a bit worn out. But hey, that's what make antiques. LOL!

Upstairs, it's even MORE SPACIOUS. Those are the smaller rooms with two beds, no aircon. Since the place was empty, we got the whole area to ourselves.

The wierd thing is, I am pretty sure a place like this appeared in my dream some time ago. Gave me some creeps. If you ask people who know the place long enough, sure got some ghost stories to tell.

After a quick bath and some rest, we went exploring the nearby Waterfront.

There was this Sunset River Cruise we wanted to try out initially. But the ticket price of RM 65 per person, without dinner lagi, really put us off. Not worth it, we thougth. So, took photo only la.

Didn't manage to eat lunch earlier. Looked around for a nice makan place around the Waterfront, but there were hardly any. Finally found this Little Lebanon restaurant that serves Mediteranean food at the Court House building. Food was so so, but the atmosphere was pretty cool. They've got those fruit flavoured smoking pot... forgot the name already.

The Kuching Waterfront was quite quiet. Not many tourists, not even locals. Dunno why. The last time I was there, there were lots of people lepak-ing around at dusk. Little boy was having a good time trying out his newly found walking skills around the Waterfront.

Ahh, it's sunset scenes like this that gives the Kuching River its charm. Now imagine the British Rajah Brooke looking out from his fortress, khaki troops patrolling the riverside, and boats carrying tattooed headhunters and livestocks cruising along the river. Stuffs like that make the orang putihs crazy about Sarawak.

It gets pretty romantic, walking along the Waterfront as the sun goes down, and the breeze cools up. There were some stalls selling handicrafts, and a couple of simple eating places.

We went to have a look at those posh hotels along the Waterfront, such as the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza... enquired about the prices. Emm, expensive la. Did some shopping at Parkson. And then went back to our "hotel" for a good night's rest.