Walking Kuching

On our first day in Kuching we were ready to do a little exploring. Actually this was also our first day in Borneo and Malaysia, excluding airports and planes, so we were ready to stretch our legs a bit. Since the hotel sits beside the river, we decided to start with the river walk. It was a beautiful morning. The temperature was just right for shorts and t-shirts. We watched the little boats making their way up and down the peaceful river. We saw one of the boats pick up waiting pedestrians on one side of the river and deliver them to the other side. There were no bridges in view, and found that these water taxis are the primary way people have to cross the wide river.

We wandered in to the city and found one of the marketplace areas. Actually, the word area sounds a bit restricted as the small shops and venders seemed to never end. We were completely worn out long before we ran out of stores. Having packed lightly and very last minute, there were a few things I wanted to buy so I set out with a goal of finding at least one new t-shirt.

We found what appeared to be the beginning of Chinatown by its traditionally decorated Chinese arch over the street. But unlike other Chinatowns we’ve been to in other cities, this one didn’t have many people in the streets and shops. We wondered if we were just there at the wrong time. We crossed over into another area where a large green plastic canopy covered the entire street and ran for several blocks. The area was only open to foot traffic and lined on both sides with storefronts and street vendors. A sign we found later explained that we were in an Indian market area.

We searched through hundreds of t-shirts and both Bryan and Mark found and bought ones they liked and I returned empty handed, so I would have to keep looking.

On the way back to the hotel a storm blew in, seemingly without notice. It created quite a downpour. We scooted into a store that sold homemade gelato. There was certainly no better place anyone could have been stranded. They had many of the usual flavors and several we didn’t recognize. The clerk was very friendly, but she was not certain of the English words for some of the flavors. For one of these hard to explain flavors, she just gave me a small sample rather than try to explain what it was. It had a very strong taste of alcohol. She noticed my surprised reaction to it and commented “8%”.

As we continued to walk through the city, we noticed many different statues and drawings of cats. Many were quite large and were placed in prominent settings throughout the city, including town squares, traffic islands, and roundabouts. We learned that the city of Kuching was named after a local fruit which translates to ‘Cat’s Eye’.  Kuching is the Malay word for cat, and eventually the town became known as the Cat City. They now have a sizeable cat museum, and the images of cats can be found everywhere. Ironically, we have yet to see a real cat anywhere in the city.