Nancy and Doug Trips

A full day of walking allowed us to cover this relatively compact and walkable town. Just make sure you still stop and gawk. Pavement irregularities, holes, ditches, slippery tiles when wet are all hazards. A local looked at us and advised "today is very hot, be careful". This was after crossing the Sarawak river over the striking pedestrian bridge and up stairs to get to "Fort Margherita". The history of this city is quite unique in that a British adventurer, James Brooke set sail on a personal mission to experience an exotic land. He found himself being asked by the Sultan of Brunei to help quell an uprising. For this, he was given Sarawak to govern as the "White Rajah". Quite a task and story came from this adventure.... the Brookes family rule independent of Britain extended through four generations until the Japanese occupied it during WWII. In the aftermath of WWII, the last Brooke felt it in the best interest of the country/people to cede to Britain; but there was an anti cessation movement that ended up in the assassination of Britain's first governor. We wondered whether the Brookes family fund was painting an unusually favorable picture of these "colonialists". We were to find out tomorrow that in fact history has supported that this unique family governed with respect for indigenous ways while bringing about change towards a "civilized" society such as banning the head hunting. Britain ruled until the country of Malaya was proclaimed in 1963. Therefore there is this interesting British architecture and history that permeates the city. Similarly to the rest of Malaysia, the population is made up of the indigenous people along with Malay, South Asians and Chinese. Kuching, like KL and Penang, has a definite Islamic feel; hijabs, "no pork" signs, and no alcohol is served in most restaurants. The grocery store across from the hotel did have some beer and alcohol in a small fridge marked "Non Halal" tucked away in a corner.Read more

We started the day with a Grab back to the “Lake Gardens” which is quite a beautifully landscaped area containing the Botanical Garden, the Islamic Art Museum, the National Mosque, and the KL Bird Park. We arrived just as the Café opened and ordered Nassi Lemak to try: fried anchovies giving a fishy “crunch”, a sambal for spice, a boiled egg, a curried meat side and peanuts. Along with this a fruit platter and an Malaysian omelet which was less than appetizing at it was wok prepared in what seemed like a lot of oil similar to the Vietnamese pancakes we had in the Mekong.

The park has the largest free-flight walk-through aviary in the world and the 21 acres is covered with a large net. The park has various recreated natural habitats for the different birds. The free-flight aviary has lush rainforest vegetation, and there are other mini-aviaries like the Lovebird Aviary, Brahminy Land, the Waterfall Aviary, an Oriental Birds Aviary, the Flightless Birds section with ostriches, emus and cassowary birds, the world of parrots with 20 species of parrots, the Hornbill Park, and the Flamingo Pond. The bird show in the park amphitheater was quite amusing.

Other than the domestic turkeys and a couple of ostriches who had both lost a lot of feathers (can be a sign of stress), the birds all seemed in good shape and had adequate room to “stretch their wings”. Overall an enjoyable visit and we had a chance to cool off and have lunch before our 10 minute walk to the National Museum of Malaysia.Read more