Kuching Travel Guide Top 10 Places You Should Not Miss While Traveling In Kuching
Too much information about Kuching travel destinations that you have gathered on the Internet and just not sure which to one go & which one to drop? Let me introduce you the 10 places in Kuching that you should not miss out!
1. Kuching Weekend Market
Travel to Kuching without visiting to this local weekend market is a big shame to my opinion. There are so many things in this traditional weekend market are awaiting you to find out. You will be surprised about the goods that local people are trading there. Things have been traded there ranging from local foods, raw meat, fresh catch sea foods, vegetables, all kind of local produces, cloths, home supplies & accessories, pets, so on and so forth. Even a worm was also seen been traded here. To catch a glimpse on this, you got to be early though because this is very popular among the local and it tend to sell out before 4pm. This weekend market always starts to pack with crowd from 2 to 3 pm onwards on every Saturday, and business will carry on till 10pm to 11pm, then business continue again on Sunday early in the morning. I personally think that the best time to visit to this market is around 6 to 7pm on Saturday, when the sun set!
2. Sarawak Museum
Your Kuching travel will never be completed if you miss the Sarawak Museum. It's free entrance anyway, & it has so much to tell you about Kuching and also the story of entire Sarawak. Some says that by just visiting Sarawak Museum alone and spend an hour walk through the entire museum is as good as traveling to the whole of Sarawak for a week. It's located next to Merdeka Palace Hotel in Kuching.
3. Malay Village across the Sarawak River
Another highly recommended place to visit and the best part is, it won't cost you much to get there too, perhaps around RM2 per person only for the boat transfer. The small boat (called Tambang) transfer you from Kuching Waterfront across the Sarawak river already half of the fun. In the village itself, you won't get to see a lot of tourist there, and I also must say this is not a place for tourist, but an authentic local Malay village. Take short walk around the village, you will find that it's so much different from the Kuching city centre right just across the river. Try their local "Kampung" (mean village in Malay) Malay's food, cheap and delicious, but be caution, almost all of them are spicy, just in case you have problem a taking spicy food. Just my 2 cents, do not leave Kuching if you haven't visit this village yet.
4. Main Bazaar
This is where most tourists like shop for local souvenirs. At Main Bazaar, not only souvenir shops you can find there, but also lots of other shops selling other stuffs, just like a carpenter shop selling traditional handmade goods. Just stroll along the conservation old shop lots you will discover lots of interesting things, so I will leave it to you to explore them. Trust me, there are lots of interesting stuffs can be found there, such as tribal handicrafts, antiques & etc. Please bargain the price right, or shop around first before making your purchases.
5. Annah Rais Longhouse
If you really don't have time and budget to travel inland to places like Rejang river's Iban longhouse, then Annah Rais Bidayuh Longhouse is your best choice. This is a very real authentic Bidayuh longhouse located at some 90km away from Kuching city. It is patronised by the tourists daily and many say that it has become a tourist place. Nevertheless, the local people still carried on with their traditional life there, despite lots of tourist visiting the longhouse everyday. Rest assured that you will not see the local people are trying to sell you the tourist piece stuffs. Although the longhouse itself has already equipped with satellite or antenna, the main longhouse structure still remain pretty much original. They are working very hard to preserve the way it should be. If you prefer to stay back and to experience yourself the local way of living there, you can opt to stay with one of the local villager there who run a homestay program called Annah Rais Longhouse Adventure.
6. Semenggoh Orangutan Wildlife Centre
As its name suggest, it's a place which house the endangered species apes called "Orangutan" in Borneo. This wildlife centre is located near to Kota Padawan, about half an hour drive from Kuching. To get there you can either take a taxi or a STC bus no. 6, or simply joined any travel agencies who will organize tour to this centre. Please also be warned that the sighting if the Orangutan is no guarantee during the fruiting season, because they are in the wild & set free in the surrounding jungle. They will hardly come to the HQ for foods when they can find so much fruits in the jungle. The best time to spot them is during the feeding time at 9am & 3pm daily. If you are lucky enough you will see the big guy named Ritchie & he looks extremely gigantic in size with the long soft fur. He is the head of all Orangutans in that territory. The entrance fee is merely RM3 per person (at time of writing), much cheaper than the Sepilok Wildlife Centre in Sabah, which cost approximately RM30 per person if I'm not mistaken, and you get to see pretty much the same thing.
7. Sarawak Cultural Village
Sarawak Cultural Village, as the name implied, it's a village that showcase of all ethnics' culture in Sarawak. It was built mainly for the tourist and it's not a real village though, however, they have built the various ethnic house models in the actual human size. The best part is that, they even employed the local people to live in the village based on their original traditional way of living. When you enter into the village and the houses, you are like visiting the family who are staying at that particular house. It's like a living museum indeed. Highly recommended, you can find all sorts of longhouses there, and learn more about the tribes in Sarawak.
8. Bako National Park
I can't stretch enough that this is the only place that will get you excited every moment when you are in the park. The journey on the boat transfer alone already part of the adventurous trip, because you will get a chance to see the wild crocodiles when you are on the boat, however, this is not a guaranteed sighting though. When arrive at the park, you will most likely be greeted by the long-tailed macaque or the wild bearded pig. The wildlife is almost everywhere. This is also a good place for jungle trekking too. You will find a lot of trails, some offering you a good chance to see the endangered species of flora & fauna, such as proboscis monkey. Opt for the night jungle trekking too, the ranger can arrange for you and you will get to see the different creatures at night. Remember to bring mosquito repellent, lots of mosquito in the park though and they are simply, wild too!
9. Jong's Crocodile Farm
Lots of people like the idea that the crocodiles are kept in the huge piece of land that form pretty much like a swampland, the crocodile natural habitat. The crocodiles are not caged, but you do! What a good idea right. This crocodile farm is well worth your visit, as you get to see thousands of crocodiles that are kept pretty much like they are in the wild. Moreover the entrance is barely RM8 per person, highly recommended!
10. Jalan Song Eatery Place (Must Go)
Again I need to mention, this is another non-tourist place, but it is very important for you to know that this is the most popular eatery place in Kuching for the local Kuching people. If you are a good food lover, this is the place for you to sample all kind of Kuching's local dishes, such as Kolo Mee, Sarawak Laksa, and etc. Only visit this place for your dinner, because during the day, it's just like a ghost town, but it gets very happening when the day turns dark. Since you are travelling in Kuching and you got to try the local dishes, this place have put everything together for you. I would say it's a "Must Visit" place to include in your Kuching travel destinations plan.
