Kuching, Malaysia
October 24, 2017
First Stop, The Island of Borneo
Our route across the top of Borneo.
The Highlights Of Kuching
City of Kuching, in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia.
Tuesday – After a day at sea, making the crossing from Singapore to Malaysia on the Borneo north coast, we docked in the port city of Kuching. Borneo is made up of three countries, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. But the Indonesian part covers the southern part of the island, so we wouldn't be visiting it on this trip.
As with most of the ports we visited, they are by their very nature industry oriented, and therefore not very photogenic. Many of these locations are not the large population areas like in Europe and North America, so there’s no fancy cruise ship terminals in the heart of the tourist areas.
This region has a population of about 325,000 and covers an area of about 430 square kilometres. We’d spend the day here and visit a few cultural sites while on the tour. These sites were located along the Sarawak River which runs through the middle of the city. As we pulled into the dock we could see our tour buses lined up on the wharf waiting for us. We also had a nice ensemble on the dock to welcome us with traditional music and dance.
The port of Kuching is an active container port. Small by world standards, but busy.
After breakfast we all loaded up on the buses and headed out on our various tours. On our way to the first stop, which included a temple and museum, we experienced a number of sights in the local township which gave us a small idea of how the residence lived.
Our first stop on the tour was at a temple across the street from the Sarawak River. We were given an escorted tour of the grounds and buildings, and had a brief explanation of the art and customs.
Looking out at the Sarawak River from the elevated patio of the temple we were visiting.
Incredible wall art on a colourful building.
From the temple it was just a short walk across the street to the Chinese History Museum. Unfortunately for me, the interior of the building which housed a lot of historical artifacts, was too musty for me to breathe. So I just bided my time outdoors in the adjacent park until the of the group was finished inside and came out. From there we had a short time to walk along the river boardwalk before the bus came to take us to another location. Oddly enough, the most interesting thing at this location for me was the amazing wall art painted on a building across the street from the temple. It was a premonition of what we would experience later on in the voyage.
Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, the largest legislature in Malaysia.
The next and last stop for the day was another museum where the air inside was so musty that I couldn’t enter. It’s frustrating, but nothing unexpected for me. Here’s a few shots of the area while I was wandering around outside.
We arrived back at the ship in the early afternoon when the sun was high, and the temperature was perfect. But later in the afternoon a storm blew in and everything changed. The result was an extraordinary downpour that yielded an interesting sky.
