Settling into Kuching after Another Long Travel Day
After Uzbekistan, Malaysia was our next country. Within Malaysia, we were going to spend almost a month on the island of Borneo. To get there, we took a direct, red-eye flight from Tashkent to Kuala Lumpur (KL). Unfortunately, it was one of the most uncomfortable planes I had ever been on – my butt and back were so sore. We then had a flight from KL to Kuching, the largest city in Malaysian Borneo. We had almost 7 hours until our next flight because we buffered in plenty of time in case of a delay. We were so tired and couldn’t fathom waiting that long, so we paid extra to switch to an earlier flight.
Twelve hours after leaving Tashkent, we finally landed Kuching. We called a Grab (the local Uber) to our hotel. Malaysia is the first country where there were no taxi drivers crowding the airport looking for customers. It was very notable in a pleasant way, and it was nice to leave peacefully. We checked into the Kuching Waterfront Hotel. It is probably one of the worst accommodations we’ve stayed at so far. We picked it based on a combination of good ratings, price, and location. I am not sure why it is so highly rated. The price and location were good, but it was very worn down and kind of dirty. But at least the bed was clean and comfy, and the air conditioning worked well.
The hotel was in Chinatown along the riverwalk with a beautiful modern bridge. It was an easy walk to many hawker food courts and restaurants which was very convenient. Overall, we really liked Kuching. It is a beautiful and bustling, but very humid, city. Central Asia was very hot, but it was dry. The humidity was a new force to contend with.
For dinner on our first day, we walked to the closest hawker center, but most of the vendors were closed for the day. We walked to another one, but there too, most of the vendors were closed. We learned that most hawker centers are generally for breakfast and lunch. One of the few shops open was a porridge stall. Nate was still struggling with stomach issues (almost a week running – he’s had a rough time), so we decided to go with porridge. It was very good! We walked back to the hotel along the waterfront which was lit up with lights and full of people eating and hanging out.
The next morning, we slept in and went to the hawker center behind our hotel for lunch. Unlike the previous evening, it was packed. We had to wait about 10 minutes for an empty table. We had the famous Sarawak Laksa and Kolo Mee. Sarawak Laksa is a famous local dish that Anthony Bourdain called the “breakfast of gods”. Kolo Mee is a dry noodle dish with ground chicken or beef that is also a popular for breakfast. They were both so delicious and I was so excited by all the food that I also ordered pork satay skewers even though I was full. I didn’t need it, but it was so delicious that I have no regrets. From just the first two meals, we felt that Malaysia was going to probably be the best culinary destination yet.
Seeing Semi-Wild Orangutans!
After lunch we headed to the Semenggoh Orangutan Sanctuary, a rehabilitation center for Orangutans. It is one of the few places in the world where you can see semi-wild orangutans. We arrived just after 2pm (opening time), but there was already a huge line to get in. The entry fee was shockingly affordable at only 20 ringgit (~4 USD). Once we got our tickets, it was about a 20-minute walk to the Orangutan viewing area. Lucky for us, there was one orangutan swinging around on a rope and eating bananas and milk. We watched for a while before moving to another area before the sanctuary closed at 4pm. It was good that we did because eight orangutans were hanging out in another area with clear views. We were able to get close and saw multiple mothers with babies. It was amazing and we were fortunate to see so many. The center is not a zoo so it is never guaranteed that we will see even a single Orangutan, so to see eight was incredible.
Once we returned to the hotel, we went on our top priority mission of laundry. We had so much laundry that it was imperative to wash clothes before heading to Mulu National Park which is very remote. We carried our bags of dirty clothes to a laundromat with a massive 14-kg washing machine and felt so relieved to finally have clean clothes.
Afterwards, we went to a famous seafood food court nearby for dinner. At 7pm, it was packed despite the heavy rain. It was overwhelming to walk by the huge displays of fresh seafood under neon signs. We eventually sat down at a random restaurant with a lot of customers. The menu was vast and after much deliberation we ordered: red snapper steamed nyonyonga style, garlic lobster prawn, oyster pancake, and local fern dish. I was especially excited to try the oyster pancake and local fern which I had seen online. When the food came, we were worried by how much food we had ordered. But it was worry for naught as we cleaned our plates.
My favorites ended up being the oyster pancake and the local fern. The crispy part of the pancake was perfectly seasoned and crispy, making it a delicious snack. The fern was chewy but soft and perfectly garlicky. The fish was so tender, and the sauce was very sweet and strong. The lobster prawn was also very tender with a nice flavor. I ended the meal with a soft-serve ice cream cone that was also incredibly – perfectly creamy and flavorful but not too sweet. With full bellies and clean laundry, we headed back to our hotel.
Proboscis Monkeys at Bako National Park
We got up early on our third day in Kuching to catch the 8am bus to Bako National Park, located about an hour outside of Kuching. Bako National Park is famous for being hom to the endangered Proboscis Monkeys which are endemic to Borneo. I was so excited to potentially see these long-nosed monkeys.
The bus stop was next to a hawker center, so we went early to eat laksa for breakfast. I thought it was delicious, but Nate thought the first laksa he had was better.
Once we arrived at Bako, we had to then buy entry tickets to the park and secure a boat ride to the park because the park is only reachable by boat. The lines were chaotic, so we split up. Nate went to buy the park tickets, and I went to secure a boat. Our boat captain sped along to the park, and we were there within 15-minutes. It was a beautiful ride. By the time we finally set foot in the park, it was almost 10am. Getting to the Park took much longer than I had expected, meaning that we now only had 4.5-hrs before we had to head back on our 2:30pm boat ride back.
We quickly registered with the park and headed to Trail 2 where the Proboscis Monkeys are commonly sighted. Halfway through the trail, we had our first (and best) monkey sighting! There was a male monkey in a tree branch above and I could clearly see its whole body and face for about 30 seconds before it moved away. Unfortunately, my one picture of it is quite blurry. We saw multiple more monkeys, but they were all further away and harder to see. We never clearly saw another one for the rest of the day. Although I was sad, I was glad that we at least saw one, even if it was just for a short while. We waited around on the trail for a while hoping for better views, but eventually decided to try our luck on another trail.
On the way to the second trail, we saw plenty of macaques running around. We started the second trail with high hopes of seeing more Proboscis Monkeys, but unfortunately did not. Though we did end up on a beautiful beach next to a mangrove. There were so many crabs everywhere. In the last hour, we went partway down a third trail and patiently waited where we heard a lot of rustling in the trees. We eventually did see more Proboscis Monkeys, but they were far in the trees and hard to see. We did hear their grunting noises plenty though. I would have loved to stay for hours more, but we had to catch our boat to return and return to Kuching.
Once back in Kuching, we went to a nearby mall to get some snacks for our trip to Mulu National Park where we would be heading for a week. It was very western with McDonald’s, Burger King, and a KFC! Nate was hankering to eat a burger at McDonald’s, but unexpectedly, we discovered that the mall also had our favorite food, BBq Korean fried chicken. BBq is a Korean fried chicken franchise with locations in the US, including in Austin and Chicago, and is one of our favorite foods ever. We had talked so much about craving BBq throughout our trip so we decided to eat at BBq. This was a mistake because this branch was terrible, making us question whether it was even a legitimate BBq location. Nate lamented missing out on McDonald’s and I promised we would go to McDonald’s the next time we saw one.
Next door to BBq was a soy custard dessert shop. I had never heard of this before, so I ordered one to-go for dessert. It is essentially very silky tofu with sweet toppings. It was quite good and light! A good healthy dessert option to end the day.
We packed and got ready to fly out to Mulu National Park the next day for a week in the remote rainforest of Borneo.
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