This
trip was planned in mid-February 2014. I had initially planned on departing KL
in the evening but changed my mind and bought a flight departing in the
afternoon. I decided not to stay at my timesharing hotel and instead searched
for a boutique hotel. As luck would have it, there is one such hotel at the
Main Bazaar so I immediately booked a room.
I
left for the airport from work on Friday (took half-day afternoon leave) and
took the 13:20 KLIA Express to KLIA. I wanted to buy some bread for the next
day’s trip but couldn’t find it at any of the convenience stores at KL Sentral
so I had to search for it at the airport shops instead. I bought one of the
last remaining two loaves and two buns before going in to the domestic
departure terminal. Made my way to the departure gate after performing prayers.
We
took off about ten minutes after schedule and landed at Kuching International
Airport at 16:50. The bags took a while to emerge. I went to Tune Hotel’s
counter to ask if we could take the airport transfer but was told no as we were
not guests at Tune Hotel despite me telling that I had taken the transfer from
the city to the airport on my last visit when I stayed at Riverside Majestic.
The people at the counter wouldn’t relent so we went to the taxi counter. The
taxi to our hotel cost RM26.
It
took about 25 minutes to reach the hotel as we were caught at a long traffic
light. After checking in, we had a cuppa before venturing out. We walked along
the Main Bazaar all the way to Tun Jugah Mall, stopping in between at Tune
Hotel to enquire on the transfer back to the airport, and at some food stalls
behind Parkson at Riverside Shopping Complex. I was not surprised to find that
we could buy our airport transfer tickets at the counter at Tune Hotel and told
the lady that we were denied at the airport earlier. She said it should not
have happened, we should not be denied from buying tickets even though we were
not staying at Tune Hotel because the airport transfer is not an add-on to the
hotel room. I wonder why the counter at the airport refused business. Here you
have people willing to pay for your services so why do you have to be sticky
about it? The transfer costs RM9.99 per person with minimum 2 persons
travelling so if you’re travelling alone, you’ll have to buy two tickets. Well,
RM20 still beats RM26 so we bought two tickets each as we would be taking
different flights back to KL.
After
checking out Popular Bookstore at Tun Jugah Mall (I bought a few books on my
last visit to Kuching but didn’t buy any this time as the hotel has a Reading Lounge with its own mini library), we walked along the waterfront back to the
Main Bazaar. We returned to the hotel after checking out the General Post
Office and Jalan Carpenter. Dinner was had at the hotel. I had the set menu with Manok Pansuh, a local dish.
We
woke up early on Saturday (prayer times are about 20-30 minutes earlier than in
KL) and went down for an early breakfast. We left for the bus stop across The
Court House slightly after 08:00 and of course this meant we missed the 08:00
bus to Bako. So we had to wait for the next bus at 09:00 %#T*)!~U#+~ It’s a red
bus with Bako written on the front and the fare is only RM3.50 (unchanged from
my last visit). We reached Bako about 40 minutes later.
At
Bako, we had to register first and pay for the park fees (RM10 for Malaysians,
I’m not sure what the fee for non-Malaysians is). There’s now a boat counter too and it
costs RM15 per person one way. You have to buy the return boat ticket at Bako
National Park boat counter.
We
rode the boat and unlike my previous visit, we had to dock at the sea near the
Park Headquarters and wade through the sea. It was low tide then. You have to
register again at the Park HQ and indicate the trail you wish to explore. At
the end of it, you have to return back and sign out. I guess this is to ensure
there are no trekkers or hikers lost or missing in any of the trails. There
are 18 trails in total but three (I think) were closed that day.
We
set off and walked towards the beginning of the trail, passing the boat
terminal. No vicious evil monkeys sighted so far, thank God. We had decided to
take Telok Pandan Kecil trail and my, what a challenging trail it was! It was
only 1.5 km long or 2.5 km from the Park HQ but it took us about an hour or so
on the trail alone. The challenge started immediately where you have to immediately climb
up almost vertically. The massive tree roots somehow formed a trail for you to follow and you
climb boulders and the stairs provided (in some areas only) and climb up and up
until you reach a large clearing with a rather smooth rock surface (instead of
earth and forest). I was huffing and puffing and panting before long. Then we
followed signs painted on trees after every few metres (yellow signs to Telok
Pandan Kecil) and this was where another form of challenge began. Some
stretches of the trail were wet and muddy and it was like wading through a very
shallow river. In fact, I believe the wet trail stretch marked the beginnings
of a small river prompting me to remark a few times, ‘So this is how rivers
form in the mountains or higher lands.’ I’m never one who enjoys getting
herself wet unnecessarily so I was a grimacing grouchy grumpy cat whenever we
had to trek those stretches.
We
finally reached the end of the trail and emerged onto a cliff top which
overlooked a secluded bay and sea stacks. We stayed for about 20 minutes having
our bread and enjoying the view. We decided not to descend down to the beach as
it was low tide, content to just enjoy the view from above. We left at noon at trudged our
way back to the Park HQ. It took us 50 minutes before we emerged from the
trail.
We
were making our way back to Park HQ and were at the boat terminal when a family
(colony?) of monkeys made its way towards us. There were the normal-sized ones
and a few babies and one fierce-looking alpha male. We looked at them warily
and they eyed us in turn almost calculatingly. I told you they were a vicious
bunch and I was right. We didn’t move as we didn’t want to alarm and appear
intimidating but they advanced determinedly towards us. My mate started walking
slowly and I followed suit but before we knew it, we were almost surrounded by
them as some monkeys circled around and came from behind us. And they started
to attack me, yes, just me alone. WTF? What is it about me that have people and
monkeys attacking me? One tried to jump on my back or grab my bag – I wasn’t
sure which but I know I felt something heavy on my bag and I almost yelled ‘Go
away, stay away from me!’ Then the alpha male came and looked like it would
attack. I continued yelling and somehow the monkeys stopped their pursuit. I was
shaken and stirred and walked away muttering.
Back
at the Park HQ, we signed out and then went over to the boat counter at the
next building. Alas, the next boat out was at 2 pm so we had to wait about 45
minutes for it (apparently the first boat back was at 11:00). Again, we had to wade out to the boat and took the first boat
back to the jetty. We decided to wait for the bus instead of taking the
mini-van back to the city. The bus arrived at 15:10 and we had to wait until 15:30
when its scheduled service began.
We
stopped back at the hotel for a while and went out again, walking along the Main
Bazaar shops and entering some of them to browse. We were served by a sullen
young woman with an attitude at our last shop. What’s with the attitude?
We
returned back to the hotel and rested. I had a well-deserved soak in the tub.
After
evening prayers, we went to Plaza Merdeka and browsed around. It started
drizzling when we made our way back to the hotel. Dinner was again had at the
hotel.
On
Sunday, we walked to Jalan Satok (yes, walked). It took us only 20 minutes. However,
the market has relocated to a trade area near Kubah Ria across the River
Santubong. A couple who was driving by overheard us asking an elderly man for
directions and offered us a lift. How kind! We accepted it gratefully, after
all the morning was getting hotter by the minute.
We
walked around the huge market, taking in the sights, smells and scents - there were some fruits and vegetables which were new to me. There are covered stalls and outdoor stalls and a
lot of the locals do their grocery shopping here. We also saw some tourists
there. We stayed for close to an hour before walking back (yes, we walked!) to Jalan
Satok. I wanted to look for layered cakes but alas, the house shop where I bought
them from on my last visit looked like it had been left uninhabited for some
time. We crossed over to Jalan Kulas and waited for transportation back to
Jalan Masjid.
We
decided to check out the museum and headed there. I had checked and the website
says the museums are open on Sundays and Public Holidays but when we got there,
we found that it was closed. WTH. Surely Sundays and Public Holidays are the
best time to visit museums and it was Merdeka Day too. Disconsolate, we trudged
back to the hotel to seek a brief respite from the fierce sun.
We
headed out again about 20 minutes later and took a boat across. Across the
river, we looked for signs and trekked up to Fort Margherita. It was well-maintained
with a fresh coat of paint and manicured lawns around it but it was deserted. We
walked around it before making our way back to the river.
We
decided to go to Jalan Satok again to find Mariam Cake House and after waiting
ages for the bus to start its journey, we got down and walked (yes, walked
again!) to Jalan Satok. We trudged up to the end of the road but there was no
sign of the cake house. The lady finally answered my call and informed me that
the shop which was listed on the company’s website had relocated... to the market. FFS,
we were just there this morning! And why don’t people update their websites? We decided not to bother anymore and walked to
the bus stop for the next bus back. It’s pretty walkable but the heat was
getting to us.
I
continued alone to the Main Bazaar and stopped at the first shop we stopped at
the afternoon before and bought some pelikat and batik songket sarong. I returned
to the room and had a shower. It was just too hot!
We
stayed in and rested the rest of the afternoon, watching a movie. It was still
raining when we went down for dinner (again, at the hotel). I don’t know if it
was the food or the heat or both but we both felt unwell when we returned to
the room. We had enough gas between us to rival Sarawak Energy and to light up
Kuching, Bako, Santubong and Damai.
I
got up early on Monday morning to use the bathroom. Despite this, I had tummy upset
the whole morning right up to before boarding the plane. The breakfast service
was slow this morning as it would inevitably be when you’re in a hurry and need
to rush. The 24-room hotel is beautiful and tastefully decorated with friendly
staff and a lovely ambience. Unfortunately, it is understaffed even for its
size and it was glaringly obvious this morning.
We
checked out at 8 and walked to Tune Hotel after settling the bill for the 08:30
shuttle to the airport. I was the sole passenger. Reached the airport barely 20
minutes later and went to drop off my bags.
We
landed at KLIA at 12:18 but took a while taxiing the runway to our gate. The plane
finally came to a complete stop at 12:27 and I rushed out. I was reunited with
my bags at 12:50 and managed to take the 13:00 train back to KL Sentral.
So
that was my Merdeka trip to Kuching. At the start of this trip, I did wonder
why I don’t go to Kuching as often as KK. I think it’s because I always get a
bad case of tummy upset after spending some time in Kuching but blame it on my
sensitive tummy and not the local cuisine. I hope you had a productive and rewarding weekend too!
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