Kuching – definition: cat.
At the start of our travels in April, our lifestyle was fast-paced, on the move every day or so, filled with adventure, super exciting and a little exhausting. Over the past few weeks, we have been slowing the pace a little and trying out a new travel style – a little more relaxed, having a base to call home and getting to know the people and places a little deeper. The excitement hasn’t faded but the exhaustion has a little!
We are currently in Kuching, a city of 360,000 people (similar to Christchurch), located in the Sarawak state of Malaysia on the world’s 3rd largest island, Borneo. This is our home for 16 days. We are here on a volunteer project through the online hub Workaway. If you haven’t heard of it before, take a read, it’s an amazing way to slow-style travel and become involved in local communities and projects along the way. The basics – volunteer up to 20 hours a week in exchange for accommodation and food, and amazing locals! There are so many different kinds of workaway experiences you can have, from building, helping out in guesthouses, orphanages, charities, teaching English, nannying, gardening and so many more! Our workaway here in Kuching is a little unique. Associated with the Orangutan Project, MonkeeBar is a popular bar in the main town where the profits go to the project, helping out orangutans (there is also a sister bar ‘Bear Garden’ where the profits go to sun bears. We love it there). The workaway volunteers are just a small part of a larger volunteer program, the main program is out at Matang Wildlife Center, where a group of volunteers shovel shit (among many other important duties in the animal enclosures including enrichment of the abused animals daily lives) and construct new enclosures in the searing heat and humidity. We are so grateful to be making a small contribution to this project through our work at the bar and have no idea how the hardcore volunteers are able to withstand the heat of the day in their amazing work at the wildlife center. We are in awe and love catching up with them in town in the weekends.
We are living in a share house with 3 other British volunteers from the bar, Gav & Anji who have been here for 3 years now, and Jo who arrived a couple of weeks before us. Frodo & Pixie are the two resident terriers, and Almond is the adorable foster puppy who will hopefully find a loving permanent home soon. In the first week, we worked at MonkeeBar from 3pm-3/4am Wednesday and Saturday nights, with the second week’s roster working four 9pm-3am shifts. The beauty of this unique work is we have the entire day to explore Kuching and the greater Sarawak area, albeit a little tired, and bounce off the local knowledge and contacts. It is a unique arrangement, but so far we are loving the balance!
Our first stop, almost inevitably, was the local hospital. It seems to be a trending destination on our trip! Luke had been hobbling around Singapore for the past week after hitting a few rocks while canyoneering, and the leg was showing no signs of improvement. We had an absolutely stellar experience at the hospital, and after a few X-rays, prescription meds, a great doctor and excellent kopi (coffee) while waiting, Luke was clear of any major damage, we left with a $30 bill (USA take notes) and just a few more weeks to heal a bruised bone.
Keen to learn more about the Orangutan Project, where the profits of MonkeeBar go, Gav kindly took both of us out to Matang Wildlife Centre, around an hour out of Kuching City. Owned by Sarawak Forestries, this is Borneo’s only wildlife centre that houses more than one type of animal. Orangutans are the main poster animal for Borneo, however there are hundreds of native animal species on this island, and Matang Wildlife Centre has a large sun bear population and variety of other animals. It is not a zoo by any means, but certainly not a tourist attraction to visit alone without understanding the reasons behind the animals living there.
The majority of the orangutans at Matang have been mistreated in their previous lives, quite often taken from their mothers as babies (a process that involves poachers killing up to 50 family members trying to protect the baby), and being used as pets. Although highly illegal, it unfortunately continues throughout Borneo. The orangutans are either dumped when they grow too large or aggressive, or at times seized by police forces when they conduct raids. One older orangutan was used in the entertainment industry in a previous life, on a diet of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. Although the team at Matang do a stellar job to introduce orangutans to a rehabilitation programme, it is only possible in a few of the cases to release them to the wild, and some of these beautiful creatures are resigned to a life in a cage, unable to ever be released to the wild and fend for themselves.
We were lucky to have Gav show us around, explaining the back stories and the work that is being done at Matang so we could truly appreciate this project and the environment these poor animals are living in. It was an eye opening experience and we are really glad we could go out there.
While in Cat City, it seemed necessary to visit one of this city’s top attractions, The Cat Museum. Located in a government building overlooking Kuching, the Cat Museum has to be one of the most unique, eclectic places we have visited to date. Seriously, who is mad enough to collect not only cat memorabilia, but taxidermic cats, cat stamps, cat outfits, cat stamps, postcards, posters (including Andrew Lloyd Weber’s ‘Cats’) and nearly anything you could think of that is cat related! It is a weird, enjoyable experience, and one that could possibly only be experienced in Kuching.
The Kuching city area is separated by the Kuching River, currently with only one vehicle bridge to cross and travel a long way around, or various ‘sampan’ boat routes. There is a pedestrian bridge under construction, scheduled for a Feb ’17 opening but likely to be several more years away, which will be hugely beneficial in increasing accessibility for tourists and locals alike. We were keen to check out the Orchid Gardens across the river, but ended up on the wrong sampan and close to Fort Margherita.
To be honest, we hadn’t done a lot of research about modern day Kuching before traveling here, let alone this fascinating region’s history. Fort Margherita was restored in 2014 as the Brooke Gallery, dedicated to the life of Charles Brooke and his ancestors. We’re not going to write an entire history lesson on this blog, but seriously (from the possibly biased view of a gallery dedicated to him), Charles Brooke was a lad and should have paved the way for all British expeditions. Instead of coming to Borneo to slash and conquer, he worked with local tribes to restore peace in the area, help the region prosper, become its own state and protect it from other countries invasions. Of course that all changed with the Japanese Invasion during World War II. Sarawak eventually gained independence in 1963 as a state of the newly formed Malaysia.
It was really interesting to learn about and gave us an insight to one small part of Sarawak’s varied past. Being a modern exhibition, the information and exhibits were neatly laid out through the fort, and it was an awesome place to explore.
Borneo is renowned for its nature and being home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world. We were keen to get a taste of the action (and let the sandflies get a taste of us) and with a night off work, took a bus and a boat out to Bako National Park, approximately 1.5 hours out of Kuching city. Sarawak Forestry runs the National Parks of area, and have park housing that visitors can stay in overnight for just 15rm each ($3!).
It seems unnecessary to mention the heat in Borneo, as we’re well into the 2nd month of it and dripping with sweat is the new reality, but really, it is hot here. Hiking out in nature is one of our favorite weekend activities in New Zealand, but hiking in the heat in Bako is next level. There are 18 tracks here ranging from 1-7 hours, Jel did the one hour to a small beach nearby and turned back for a beer and a fan. Luke was a little more adventurous and trekked on for another 3 hours, reaching another beautiful viewpoint. The wildlife in Bako were unlike anything we have seen before. Among the interesting wildlife we saw were bearded pigs wandering around near the kitchens in search for food scraps, territorial macaque monkeys blocking the pathways, various birds and just one proboscis monkey hanging out in the mangroves by the beach.
At night, we went with a guide on a night trek to discover some of the creepy crawlies of the rainforest. It would be mildly terrifying heading out at night here without a local, as we came across tarantulas, poisonous frogs, bats and even a viper snake! The highlight of the night trek was seeing fireflies light up the mangroves trees, glistening like Christmas lights on the still, serene beach. It was truly magical and a highlight of our time in Borneo so far.
Luke keenly suggested another short hike in the morning up a steep hillside – the views were amazing of course, but there are too many photos of Jelley crumpled in a sweaty unhappy ball on the side of the hill that can’t be shared but sum up the experience. Beautiful, but very challenging! Our boat driver on the way home took us for an awesome detour around the coast of Bako National Park and around the famous sea stacks – columns of sandstone sticking out of the sea, formed by thousands of years of coastal erosion and looking like they may collapse at anytime. It was a really cool experience getting up so close to these formations, and we were blessed with a stunning morning and blue skies!
After our sobering experience at Matang earlier in the week, we were interested to check out the Semenggoh Nature Reserve and see the amazing orangutans in a more natural environment. Backing onto another national park, Semenggoh is described as semi-wild, as the orangs can roam freely, forage for food and go wherever they please, but should there be a shortage of fruits or they are unable to find food themselves (due to their upbringing and despite rehab), they are fed twice daily. There is a viewing area close by to the feeding platforms and we joined a group of around 30 others to witness this amazing experience. The way orangutans are able to move, so human-like but also so effortlessly, their human-like behaviors and interactions and the way they are able to tear the husk off a coconut, smash it against a tree to create a hole then drink from it .. it is unbelievable. We had around 10 minutes to enjoy the observation before the daily storm hit, pouring with torrential rain. All but one of the orangutans went back into the rainforest, we guessed this one was just really hungry and prepared to sit it out. It began pulling tree branches and leaves off the tree it was perched in and held them over its head like an umbrella, creating a shelter. We really loved it out at Semenggoh and are considering heading back if time permits again perhaps for the morning feeding (without rain) before we leave.
So while we have been relaxing and enjoying a slower pace in Kuching, we have also been out and about almost every day experiencing what this amazing region has to offer and it doesn’t take a lot of searching to find adventure out here!
It is crazy to think in less than one week we will both be on different continents and having completely different travel experiences, after an amazing 2 months together in SE Asia. While looking forward to new adventures, we can’t wait to explore as much of Borneo as we can in our 2nd week and share more about our adventures, the amazing people we have met and the food that has changed our flat cooking menu forever!
Until then,
A Kiwi & A Cali xoxo
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