Retronovo Kuching

Main Bazaar street with its traditional charm, steep in history and retronovo look.

The Main Bazaar street in Kuching is the focus of visitors and tourists to this historical city.  The traditional shoplots built during the Brooke's and later colonial days still retain their old charm.  In some quarters of the city can be seen tinsmiths who continue to upheld their trade in earnest.  They continue to carry on with this specialised trade in shophouses for many generations.

A time-honoured occupation and still working in earnest...

 The front of these shophouses have received what I call a "retronovo' look.  It refers to attempts to make the old look new through contemporary renovation ideas.  It is a worthwhile and rewarding attempt by private initiatives to re-make Kuching especially the waterfront section of the city appear vibrant and relevant.  Kuching will continue to fascinate visitors to the city because it has managed to retain many significant historical buildings that can be a source of inspiration and unique experience for future travelers and tourists to the city. 

Retronovo look to traditional shoplots..

Boat cruise along the Kuching waterfront

Views of Kuching waterfront

Swimming Pool

The swimming pool at Damai Resort Beach hotel, Santubong.

Damai Resort

This hotel apartment nestled snugly on the foothills with lush greenery and peaceful surrounding. The place: Damai Resort, Santubong, 40 minutes drive from Kuching city.

The split level carpark harmonises with the sloping terrain and the tropicalness evident from the coconut palms, green mountains and blue sky.

Damai Beach

Today I took a 40 minutes drive to the coastal area of Kuching. The place is Santubong and at the Damai Beach there we spent the afternoon in the hot sun,warm breeze and peaceful surroundings. The coconut palm with its swaying leaves against the green backdrop of Mount Santubong was a perfect post card image of a tropical vacation.

CU of the Coconut Tree

Spinning Tops

Yesterday I came across a show and performance of spinning tops at the Kuching Waterfront's amphitheatre area. Most of the spinning tops were from the various ethnic groups of Malaysia. At the centre of the picture is one that is still spinning on a chair. A Kelantanese spinning top called a 'gasing' can spin for as long as two and a half hours.

River boat ferry

You need to board this small river boat ferry, locally called 'perahu tambang' to cross the Sarawak River that meanders by the Kuching City centre area. Fare is RM0.50 per crossing. The still waters of the Sarawak river makes the crossing a breeze. The boat is powered by a small inboard engine.

Visit to a Crocodile Farm

The Jong crocodile farm is about 25 km from Kuching City centre. It is easily reached by taxi . Here two types of crocodiles are bred in captivity, viz the saltwater or estuarine crocodile ( Crocodylus porpous) and the freshwater or inland crocodile ( Tomistoma schlegii ). The farm is a private undertaking by the Jong family. Above is one of the two ponds where feeding time is watched by visitors and tourists who pay RM 10 (adults) per entry. But I thought the charges were well worth it when you see their big collection of crocodiles and other animals in the mini zoo within the generous 25 acres site. I paid a visit to the farm on 10/2/09 at 3.00 pm to watch them feed these ferocious carnivorous reptiles, an ancient relic of the dinosaur family.

Don't run for the ladder if a crocodile chases you!

As part of the main show a whole chicken piece is lowered to the middle of the pond and the more adventurous of the crocs fight for the special prize of the day.

Juvenile crocodiles are kept in separate enclosures .
The farm is able to breed crocodiles after many years of trial and error. To date there are about 500 of them born at the farm.

Kuching's Cat Museum

We took time to visit the Cat Museum at DBKU( Dewan BandarayaKuching Utara = Kuching North City Council) Building today. This is the entrance to the museum, located at the ground floor of the Kuching North City Council's Building. The Kuching North City Council's emblem also carries cats as icons.

The DBKU Headquarters with cats as part of the emblem.

BTW, Kuching = Cat in Malay.

Part of the models and relief sculpture of the big cat family of the animal kingdom.

A Cat Burglar at Work.

Stuffed Civet Cats and Spotted Leopard Cats ( in the background)

Cats, cats everywhere.

Children photo fitting...in cats costume.

Big poster of a theatretical play featuring... Human Cats.

View of Kuching City from the Cat Museum.

Discover the Treasure of Borneo Jungle

Paid a visit to the Pitcher Plant and Wild Orchid Centre at Padawan today, some 30 minutes drive from Kuching city .

Below are pictures of the carnivorous plant called nepenthes or pitcher plants. There are about 30 species on display. From the picture below it is easy to imagine how small insects or animals( e.g. lizards and tiny frogs) can get trapped and drowned before they are absorbed into the plant as food.

Pitcher Plants

Here there are about 40 species of Sarawak or Borneo's wild orchids on display.Below are examples that caught my attention.

Wild Orchids

The above wild orchid is a species of the vanda called Phalaenopsis violacea which is highly scented and raised to the status of the state flower of Sarawak and given a VIP name - 'Normah Orchid' - after the name of the former First Lady of Sarawak.

T-Shirts of 'Kuching'

The T-shirt says it all. Kuching is the capital of Sarawak. Coincidentally Kuching is also the local Malay word for cat. The story goes that when the early British traders set up shop in Sarawak in the middle of the nineteenth century, they used to park their ships and goods at a small river close to the existing Main Bazaar Road. Along this river were found numerous 'Mata Kuching' trees ( Dimocarpus longan malesianus) which bear fruits very much like the longan but smaller in size. These fruits have dark brown seeds that look like cat's eyes. The name 'Kuching' was chosen to refer to this early trading post area and slowly became vogue when the Rajah of Sarawak ( Ruler of Sarawak) built his palace or astana across it.

Today, as I went around Satok to do a little shopping I came across T-shirts marketing those lovable Kuching icons - yes, cats and of course the name of the city itself.

Still interested to know more about Kuching cats? Then you're welcome to visit my special blog about them here.

Kuching Garden Scents

Wooden platter with scented flowers.

Went shopping for a wooden platter yesterday at the Kuching waterfront's handicrafts and sovenier shops. Now you can find lots of Sarawak's multi-layered cakes called 'kek lapis' sold at the sidewalk along the shops too.  The lady on the right sells such cakes. These cakes appear to be an important 'export' item of Kuching tourism currently.

CU View of Kuching's multi-layered cakes called "Kek Lapis" in Malay.

(Note: The price tag is in Malaysian Ringgit currency)

I finally got a wooden platter from one one the shops and  used it to display fresh cut flowers especially scented ones for room or study fragrance.The wood platter costs me RM 15.

The center flower is the white ginger ( hedychium coronarium) with its butterfly-like pure white flowers and yellow shades in the center.  On the right is the pink frangipani ( plumeria rubra) and the left one is the sweetly scented jasmine flowers ( jasminum multiforum) with its star-shaped tiny white flowers formed in a nice little bunch.