Ah, Kuching – the cat city. Literally, I guess, because Kuching means “cat” in Malay. Monuments to to the namesake are everywhere, although the local feline population looks as though it’s seen better conditions.
The city is nice. From an ultramodern International airport the twenty three ringgit taxi ride to the city centre shows the affluence of the area: big, modern buildings, large houses, and a disproportionate number of super expensive cars. For anything imported, think of the Australian price and double or even triple it. In the case of the car I drive, a VW Golf GTI, the forty thousand Australian dollars it’s worth new back home translates to about eighty thousand Australian dollars new here. Big BMW and Benzes cost half a million or more – and they’re everywhere.
Fortunately, not everything is that expensive. For convenience, 100 ringgit is about $AU35, or thereabouts. The place I’m staying at is 85 ringgit for a twin room (so imagine going halves with someone), the rooftop bar here sells beer for 5 ringgit per can, and I think last night’s dinner was 15 ringgit. It’s possible to live very well for very little, which I guess is good news for me because I think I’m coming down with a cold. I woke up this morning feeling pretty terrible.
However, that didn’t stop me from joining an English couple I met last night for a brief jungle adventure: a 2km walk though the jungle nearby. I’m having second thoughts about spending 4 days in the jungle now – within only a few hundred metres we were all soaked in sweat, and stayed that way until we returned “home” for a cooling, cleansing shower and a kilogram of express laundry service (5 ringgit).
Still, it’s a nice place and has far more going for it than Kuala Lumpur. The streets are more clean, the people seem to be more friendly, and despite lacking three big towers it’s got a great river front location and is more picturesque.
We’ll see how I feel tomorrow before deciding on when or where to go from here. The English guys are basically mirroring my planned itinerary up the river to Belaga, so we might do that together and split up at Miri before meeting again in Kota Kinabalu.
