Kuching Holiday 2011: Day 3

It was the day of the Imagine Cup competition. Bart accompanied his students on this day. For Dad, Mum, the boys and I, we hired a van with a driver to take us round (RM300 per day). This was a better alternative to joining any package tour as it gave us more flexibility in our itinerary.

In the morning, we went first to Semenggoh to see orang utans in their natural habitat. Entrance fee was RM3 per adult. It was feeding time when we arrived and so we got to see the orang utans. Visitors have to be very quiet so as not to provoke the dominant male orang utan which was present. We left as soon as the boys started getting restless - which wasn't too long after we arrived.


[Orang utans at play]

Next stop was the Jong Crocodile Farm. Entrance fee was RM16 for adults and RM8 for children. Justin went in for free :-) Julian liked his visit here as there were many animals to see. If you're thinking of visiting, consider using insect repellent. Lots of mosquitos. The 'highlight' at the farm was the crocodile feeding in which the crocodiles would be lured to jump up to catch their meal. Frankly, what started off as an amazing spectacle turned to a pitiful sight after a while. There appears to be only a limited number of 'bait' so the feeders would pull the meat out of reach of the poor hungry crocodiles as they jumped in order to prolong the show. Imagine having your meal snatched away from you over and over again! Once or twice, I can accept, but the poor crocs, especially for the last two chickens, had to jump countless times. No, I can't say that I enjoyed watching that.


[Julian looking at the crocodiles]


[Jumping crocodiles tyring to catch a meal]


[A cassowary at the crocodile farm]

From the crocodiles, we made our way to Bau, about 40mins away. Justin and Julian slept on the way. We had lunch at a coffee shop in Bau. Justin continued sleeping (the boys had already eaten while at the crocodile farm). After lunch we went to see the Wind Cave. We didn't go inside. Just took a few photos at the entrance. Next, we proceeded to the Fairy cave. The entrance is very high up and we didn't fancy climbing, especially with Julian in tow, so our driver took us to another spot nearby for us to take some photos. After that we headed back to the city.


[Julian at a cave]

Enroute to Kuching we stopped to see pottery-making. Nearer the city our driver took us to see how bird's nest is processed. It's a really tedious task.


[Potter at work]


[Hearing a briefing at the bird nest factory]

Finally we visited the Sarawak Museum. It has two storeys of exhibits but we only covered the ground floor because of the boys. The boys were delighted to see the exhibits of old model vehicles (bus & train). There were also taxidermy of animals which we found educational for the boys.


[The boys and Dad at the Sarawak Museum]

We arrived back at the hotel at about 4.30pm. Bart arrived at about the same time. After a shower and a short rest, we went out for dinner. We decided to eat at Top Spot, a popular seafood foodcourt. We ordered midin (young fiddlehead ferns) cooked with belacan (prawn paste), sotong goreng tepung (squid deep-fried in batter), and ray fish with sambal. Our meal cost us about RM30. This was the best meal that we had during our Kuching holiday.


[Top Spot]


[Midin in belacan]


[Ray fish with sambal]

After dinner, Bart went back to Pullman Hotel to hear the announcement of the results of the Imangine Cup Malaysia Finals. Unfortunately, no overseas trip this year, unlike two years ago.

More on our Day 3 in Kuching on Chris & Connie's blog.