Sarawak Trip 2022

While deciding on places to visit during the school holiday, we realised that Sarawak is the last state (now territory) that we have not visited yet as a family. We did went to Sabah in 2017 and then to Kedah and Perlis in 2019. It’s high time we give Sarawak, specifically Kuching a visit.

The return flight ticket cost us RM1,896.00 for all six of us. As usual we parked our car at the Salak Tinggi ERL station. Remember to keep your Touch ‘n Go card somewhere safe because it causes a mild panic when I can’t find it initially on the way out. I did not choose the 10:25 PM departure time on purpose, it was the cheapest ticket that I could find for the trip. The two hours flight felt long because there was no wi-fi and there’s only so much reading on the Kindle I could do before getting bored. I did bring my Switch but the battery ran out from downloading games earlier on the way (note to self). I did go to work earlier during the day as well so that explains why I was so tired on the flight.



We touched down at the Kuching International Airport at 12:45 AM. Immigration was smooth and everybody got through within minutes. Don’t know why I still got the butterflies going through immigration even when it was not our first time and we’re still in the same country. Maybe it’s all the horror stories I heard about the department. Anyway, I rented a car, specifically a Perodua Aruz from my friend’s sister. Since Abu is my friend, we got good rates. I can’t thank him and her sister enough. She graciously volunteered to deliver the car at the airport at the wee hours of the morning. The Aruz is a spacious seven seater that we almost considered while deciding for our last car. One thing I can say for sure, we made the right choice in choosing the X50 in the end.

My initial plan was to walk to the Hotel Transit Inn about one and a half kilometres from the airport. Thank God we didn’t because the road was dark and not pedestrian-friendly. Hotel Transit Inn was a budget hotel just next to the airport. It has two queen beds, a single bathroom and no windows. It is also cheap and since we arrived so late in the morning, it made sense just to stay at that budget hotel.

The next day, after a quick breakfast at the mamak next to the hotel, we went straight to the Cat museum at the DBKU building. It’s a showcase of everything about cats. Cat history, stuffed cats, cats merchandise. Apart from that, nothing much. After that we head straight to the Sarawak Cultural Village near the shores of Kuching. We paid for tickets online and because a few of the exhibits are closed for “renovation”, we got further discounts. It was an interesting education on the many cultures of the indegenous people of Sarawak. We saw houses from the various races and how they lived traditionally. That said, some of the houses are rather run down and some of the exhibits could do with a refresh. One thing I noticed is that the village is so hot, probably because of its proximity to the sea.

We went out to get lunch at the nearby seaside village but found no decent eateries to eat at. We ended up eating some corn dogs and satar-like food at Kampung Buntal. In hindsight, we should have paid for the meal package while booking for the ticket. After that light lunch, we headed back to the village. The 4:00 PM cultural show was the highlight of the visit. The singing and dancing was mesmerising.

After that, we hung out by the Damai beach next door until sunset. If you’re planning on visiting Sarawak Cultural Village, book a hotel or resort or homestay near the Damai beach. It’s much more convenient to visit the village than driving all the way from Kuching city centre.



On the third day, we stayed at the Jazz Suites 4 condominium in downtown Kuching. It’s a nice homestay we got from AirBNB. The two bedroom condo comes with a swimming pool, gym and playground for the residents. What’s more, It’s located on top of the Vivacity Megamall which is one of the biggest malls in Kuching (to be honest, it’s slightly smaller than Aeon Nilai). We had dinner at the mall after check in.

Our agenda of the day began with a visit to Jong’s Crocodile Farm some 45 minutes away in Serian. Tickets cost 20 ringgit for adults and 10 ringgit for children. We spent the next three hours seeing all kinds of crocodiles and other animals like monkeys, goats, wild boars, deers and chickens just to name a few. I don’t really want to but my wife and kids insisted that we wait until the crocodile feeding time at 3 o’clock. It was a bunch of crocodiles eating some dead chickens hung by a rope really. The second item on the itinerary was the Semenggoh Wildlife sanctuary. However since it was already so late in the afternoon, we decided to go there the next day instead. It took us an hour to go back to Kuching after that because of the traffic jam and also a minor accident along the way.



We checked in to Viva Hotel just opposite of Vivacity Megamall. It was a nice little hotel with two queen beds and a transparent bathroom. You can blame my limited budget for that. For dinner I bought some burgers at Don’s burger nearby. It was nice and I tried the Bornea latte.

On the fourth day, we had breakfast at the popular Damit Cafe. It had decent mee kolok and laksa sarawak . Right after that we drove to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. Unfortunately we missed the morning feeding session by mere minutes.

Disappointing, sure but we made haste back to the city centre to visit the Borneo Cultures Museum. It has a decent Borneo cultures exhibition on display in the huge four storey building. Visitors can park at the Majmu Mall nearby because parking lots are quite limited inside. Wish we could visit the actual Sarawak Museum but it was closed indefinitely for renovation.

After the museum, we drove straight back to Semenggoh for the afternoon feeding session. We arrived at 2:00 PM sharp. After some restless waiting, the orang utans finally showed up 30 minutes later. We saw one large male cheekily named Anwar and one mother with two young children. It was amazing seeing the big apes up close. The only other place we can see the rest of the big apes is in Africa so we are so very lucky in that regard. The orang utans roam freely in the Semenggoh area and they’re not put in cages or enclosures. In a sense, they’re almost completely wild. During feeding time is the only time you can see them up close. Miss the feeding time and you won’t be able to see anything much in the park except for a tiny video presentation at the park’s office. I would suggest you come early in the afternoon for the feeding session.

In the evening, we went to the well-known Telaga Air seafood place. There’s only one restaurant open when we arrived but fortunately it served some really good seafood at a very reasonable price. We ordered tons of dishes for just slightly over 200 ringgit which would easily cost double in Kuala Lumpur.

Afterwards we enjoyed the sunset by the jetty before checking in into the almost luxurious Waterfront Hotel in downtown Kuching. The receptionist was kind enough to give us a free upgrade to our room so we stayed in a bigger adjoined suite instead that night. The hotel is strategically located next to the Kuching waterfront, main bazaar and also a short walk to the museums.

The Waterfront Hotel is also just next door to the Plaza Merdeka mall and we could just take an elevator down straight to the mall. There’s not much to see or shop there but we did celebrate Asif’s third birthday at Secret Recipe there.

On our final day, Linda and I went to do some laundry at a laundromat nearby. While waiting for our laundry to finish, we had a delicious breakfast of mee pok goreng at this restaurant called Laila’s Cafe. After checking out of the nice Waterfront Hotel, we went for a walk around the Kuching waterfront and Main Bazaar street across the road, shopping for souvenirs.

For lunch we had some fast food at Borneo’s homegrown fast-food chain, Sugarbun. We already tasted Sugarbun once near Putrajaya so it wasn’t really alien to us. The chicken still tastes the same. Not as good as KFC's original recipe for sure in my opinion.

Our visit to Kuching would not be complete without stopping by the famous Kuching cat statue. If you don’t see me in the pictures, it was because parking is non-existent in that area and I had to double park while my family went out and pose for pictures.

Before going to the airport, we had one final stop at Mira’s Cake House for the obligatory kek lapis purchase which cost as low as 10 ringgit each. We returned our rented Aruz to the kind owner, Soffiah at the airport. If you ever want to rent a nice 7-seater car in Kuching, give Soffiah a call at +60198510903.

Our return plane departed around 6:20 PM and we arrived safely at KLIA 2 about two hours later. There was a little drama on the plane when Air Asia got our meal order wrong and served us 4 packets of food instead of 5 that we ordered. The stewardess claimed that the order list says 4 and not 5 and I should check with the ticketing office about that. Not intent on making a scene, I quietly let it go and sacrificed my meal for my kid. A few minutes later, the same stewardess offered me a “complimentary” extra meal, out of kindness I suppose despite the fact that I paid for 5 meals in the first place.

Apart from that, our return trip was smooth-sailing. We took the last ERL train home at 10:00PM. I was not sure which train to take but realized soon enough that the KLIA 2 station is the last stop for the ERL line so I should just take any train that arrives!

Needless to say, it was a memorable visit to Kuching and Sarawak in general. Of course, Sarawak is so big and Kuching is just one small part of it. We didn’t even get to see many of the popular attractions in Kuching let alone other parts of Sarawak. But that will be another visit for another day.

Here’s some general observations I made about Kuching:

1. From the airport tarmac to the city and country roads, they’re not level! I don’t know whether it’s subpar workmanship or something but brace yourself for some bumpy ride.

2. I did not see much public transport in Kuching such as buses or taxis. Do people actually drive everywhere or maybe take Grab?

3. The Sarawak river in the city centre is quite clean, not like the Klang river or some others in the peninsular.

4. Kuching people are good law-abiding citizens. They wear face masks religiously, even outdoors.

5. The street and road lights are just too dim. I cannot see much of the road while driving.


Here are some lessons I learned from my Sarawak trip:

1. Don’t bother to bring your laptops or in my case - a tablet and a portable keyboard for holidays, especially to a new foreign land. There’s simply so much things to do and places to see that you will not have time to do work, play games or blog at all.

2. Check whether the homestay or hotel that you’re staying have swimming pools and pack accordingly.

3. Check your ticket itinerary and packed food order are correct. Don’t let yourself be at the mercy of incompetent airlines.