Kuching, The City of Cats

Richard Namikas
Jun 1
2 min read

The third largest island in the world is Borneo. It has three nations occupying its land: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Kingdom of Brunei. Kuching is the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It means Cat in Indonesian and Malaysian. It is the City of Cats. (There are four theories on the origin of the name, but we will leave that for more serious scholars.)

They love their music and have an annual festival to celebrate all music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest_World_Music_Festival

The Sarawak Legislative Assembly building was a landmark along the riverfront walk

Street art memento of the Festival in 2022

Searching Google Maps for the classic Malaysian dish, chicken cooked in bamboo or Ayam Pansoh, I spotted a tiny restaurant called Jak Ma'an that had it on their menu. Lunch for four with drinks was under $20 USD.

Wonderful street art

Looking through Chinatown across the river

Entrance to the Cat Museum. Yes, cat museum.

We were all feeling a bit catty by the time we left

From the ridiculous to the rare, all things cat were celebrated and displayed here.

The next day we went out to see orangutans in the wild. The best chance was in Semenggoh Wildlife Center. Others from our ship had seen them here the day before. This is not Disneyland. Nothing is guaranteed with wild animals. We did ask why there was nothing to eat on the feeding platforms to attract them to come in. The workers said that monkeys had come and taken the fruit they put out. We would have gladly supplied more fruit to see orangutans, or even some goofy monkeys.

After walking about two kilometers in and out of the Wildlife Center, we took our van to the Sarawak Cultural Village. As a "Living Museum," it houses multiple tribes' handicrafts and lifestyles in several acres of immersive viewing.