Sarawak Museum

The Sarawak Museum was built in 1891 and was extended to its present form in 1911. The building was especially built to permanently house and display local native arts and crafts and collections of local animals as mainly encouraged by the famous naturalist, Alfred Wallace, who was then collecting specimens in the state.

During the Japanese Occupation, the museum was put under the direction of a sympathetic Japanese Officer. As a result, the museum suffered very little damage and remarkably little looting.

Today, with carefully planned renovation and proper maintenance, this old building is used as the centre to exhibit collections on the natural history of Sarawak.

Sio Bee and Soy Milk

Although this dim sum like snack can be found almost everywhere, but Kuching's sio bee is more unique (even the name as well) it don't have fancy topping, neither expensive filling , but it is simply delicious when having it with a glass of cold soy milk, if you are a heavy taster, dip it in chilli sauce, after you have your sio bee you can always have a cup of ice cream at the last stall.

Squid and water spinach salad

Despite of it disgusting look and name, it is actually quite nice and refreshing to eat. The taste is slightly spicy and rather sweet. And it usually served together with rojak (mixed fruit salad). Nowadays this dish is quite hard to find but you can still find it in Kuching open air market.

Races in Kuching

Kuching have various races, example is Melayu, Chinese, India, Iban and Bidayuh. Every races have a unique culture, although the culture are different, we are still able to live together peacefully.

Race : Iban

Iban is an unique as well as the main race in Kuching Sarawak.

Race : Chinese

Chinese is one of the main race in Kuching Sarawak.

Hari Gawai (Gawai Festival)

This is very important festival for people in Kuching and even the whole Sarawak. 

"Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrated by Dayaks in Sarawak and West Kalimantan which is officially public holidays on 31 May and 1 June every year in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is both a religious and social occasion.

The word Gawai means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak is a collective name for the native ethnic groups of Sarawak and neighboring IndonesianKalimantan who are the Iban also known previously as Sea Dayak and the Bidayuh people also known as Land Dayak and the Orang Ulu (inclusive of Kayans, Kenyahs, Lun Bawangs, etc.). Thus, Gawai Dayak literally means "Dayak Festival".

The Dayaks are the indigenous people of Borneo. Dayak is a generic term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups which are located principally in the interior of Borneo. They have their own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily identifiable. Dayak languages are categorized as part of the Austronesian languages in Asia. The Dayaks were animist and paganistic in belief; however most converted to Christianity recently. Estimates for the Dayak population range from 2 to 4 million.

The idea for Gawai Dayak started war back in 1957 in a radio forum held by Tan Kingsley and Owen Liang, a radio programme organiser. This generated a lot of interest among the Dayak community. Up till 1962, the British colonial government refused to recognize the Dayak Day but instead called it the Sarawak Day. Gawai Dayak was formally gazetted on 25 September 1964 as a public holiday in place of Sarawak Day after the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. It was first celebrated on 1 June 1965 and became a symbol of unity, aspiration and hope for the Dayak community. Today, it is an integral part of the Dayak social life. It is a thanksgiving day marking a bountiful harvest and a time to plan for the new farming season or other endeavors ahead.

Dayak would visit their friends and relatives on this day. Such visit is more commonly known as "ngabang" in the Iban language. Those too far away to visit would receive greeting cards or wishing gawai greetings via radio broadcasting in this modern time. If there is a formal invitation to visit, the guest welcoming (ngalu pengabang) procession will be performed by the inviting longhouse." -from Wikipedia.

Kuching Festival

Kuching festival is a annually event, it is also a very important and significant event in Kuching. The biggest attraction of Kuching festival is.....FOOD!!!! This could be the biggest food fair in Kuching, a lot of unique and different food can be found there.

Usually Kuching festival is held on mid of July or August and will last for a month. For this year (2013) The food fair only start on 6 pm...so I only got chance to take the photo of the entrance.

One of the famous food in Kuching festival  is fried durian, it's nice if you like durian, but if you don't like durian, you also can give it a try.

Another delight in Kuching festival is fried ice cream, should give it a try :)

Starbucks Coffee

If you are a Starbucks frenzy, don't worry, it is also available in Kuching. This photo is taken in Starbucks of Merdeka Plaza. My brother and I are having rest after the tiring photo shooting....

Noodle in ketchup sauce

This is the noodle in ketchup sauce, this noodle is quite popular in Kuching. It is basically deep-fried noodle, dipped in tomato gravy. The topping is vary depend on the chef, but mostly they will put seafood as the topping, but for this one, the topping is red barbecue chicken. If you like to have a try at this dish, it is available almost in everywhere in Kuching but this one is from the Kuching open air market.

Kuching Waterfront

This is Kuching Waterfront, it is a romantic place for dating couple, especially at night since it have a very beautiful night scene

  This is how it looks like at night.

 You also can go to the other side using the boat..,the fee is quite cheap.

Kolo Mee

One of the Kuching's famous food, can said to be the biggest representative in Kuching since you can't find this in any other place. This Kolo Mee can be served with red barbecued chicken or pork, it usually served with red and sweety gravy that been make with some special spice,but you also can have it without gravy which we usually called it as White Kolo Mee. Since this is a famous traditional food,so you can find it in any place in Kuching but since it is a old style traditional food, so most of the young generation would not know the recipe and since it is so famous, they will make this food using their own recipe which is not good. Nowadays you can hardly find a good Kolo Mee which still have the traditional taste, most of the Kolo Mee sell out there is not so nice and not good for the health. But if you really want to try this traditional delight, I know a place where you can find a good one. It is a small restaurant (or known as Kopitiam) located somewhere near the RPR 12 mile Kuching, this Kopitiam is operated by a pair of middle age couple.

ps: the picture up there is taken at the 12 miles kopitiam.

Tua Pek Kong Temple

This could be the oldest temple in Kuching, My parents told me that it is been build in 1843, but the official record of it existence is 1876. Despite of the age, this temple in well maintained.

  Now, let's put away the religion factors. This temple is the symbol of Chinese culture and existence in Kuching.

  If you interest on know the history, do give it a visit. It is located at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman which is opposite the Kuching Waterfront.

Kuching Open Air Market

This is the Kuching Open Air Market, despites of been called as market, it’s more like a food centre where most of the elderly (or even youngster) like to sit down and have a breakfast there. You can find different type of food there which you need to choose it wisely, some of the food that been sold is quite good and yet some are… uh…better don’t say anything bad about that…

  If you are a beef lover, I suggest you to try the ‘Gu Bak Mee’ (which mean beef noodles in Hokkien) As the beef noodles there is so good that you can’t find it at any other place  in Kuching, but if you are not a ‘fans’ for internal organ… I suggest you don’t try it so easily ==”

  This open air market have a very long history, which I’m not sure when is it been build but one thing I did know is...it’s there when I’m still a little kid J

 The location is somewhere near the main bus station in Jalan Masjid where you can see all the bus gathering there. This Open Air Market is so easy to find since there are no other building that looks similar to it. ^^

This is how it looks inside, this place is really a good spot for a family to sit down and have a meal.

Welcome to Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia!!!!

The purpose of this blog is to introduce about Kuching city. First of all, Kuching is a wonderful place,especially for tourist. Kuching's people are very friendly and with difference ethnic. If you like to find a place that is filled with love and traditional culture, Kuching Sarawak will be a good place for you.

 
This is the symbol for the Kuching city, this cat statue can be found in the Bandar Selatan (Nourth city) of Kuching City...It is cute isn't it? ;)