+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | _______ | TARDISDOS 9.0 : (D)isplay something | | ,--'.:::::.`-._ | illegible (M)ake weird sounds | | /..:::::::::::..\ | | | /..:::::::::_;::::| | | | || `---'----' _|:::| | | | || `;:::| | | | |' ==== ==== |-::| | | | |-( @ )-( @ )--|O):| | | | | ` | ` |/::' | | | . v |:/ jeremy@ | | | | ___, || malcolm | | | \ -- _/| .id.au | | | \_____.-'__/-.__ | | | _| _/|::.\.::-._ | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [*] news [ ] about [ ] writing [ ] journal [ ] images [ ] guests | | +--- last 5 | | |->> archive | | `--- search | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Kuching" :: [2010-02-08 02:05AM] | | | | We spent this weekend in Kuching, capital of Sarawak, which is the largest | | state of Malaysia. Like Western Australia it is the largest but most | | sparsely populated state, and is situated to the south of the other East | | Malaysian state of Sabah (with Brunei sandwiched in between), and to the | | north of the Indonesian part of Borneo. We stayed in the Tune Hotel, | | which is a chain owned by the same group as Air Asia, and with much the | | same philosophy - pay extra for the frills (which are meals for the | | airline, and towels and air conditioning for the hotel). But the bed was | | comfy and it was situated right on the riverfront - indeed, opposite the | | Hilton. | | | | On our first day we took in the sights on the waterfront, which included a | | colonial English courthouse and jail, a couple of brightly-coloured Chinese | | temples and an ethnological museum (Chinese of various ethnicities form | | close to a majority in Kuching). Then after lunch we took a tambang (a | | small, mostly oar-powered ferry) across the river to the spectacular | | hat-shaped legislative building, for a fare of 40 sen each (less than 15 | | cents). | | | | We then did a spot of shopping, and it struck me that there are some | | things commonly sold here that we will never, in a million years, buy; for | | example, margarine (I think) is sold unrefrigerated from open vats, beside | | mounds of preserved fish and over-ripe fruit over which flies buzz. In | | the more touristy pedestrian mall of Jalan India, sexual pills and potions | | are sold from open briefcases (for a quick getaway, I presume); most | | prominent is a botanical paste called Gambir Sarawak, but also knock-offs | | of the V and C drugs (I won't spell out their names here to avoid lowering | | my pagerank!). | | | | The locals are more friendly than in KL, with many of them greeting us | | (not only Doyle, which we're used to) with a cheery hello. In one case, | | admittedly, a youth greeted me with the more dubious "Hello, Orang Putih" | | (white person), to which I was sorely tempted to reply "Hello, Orang | | Melayu!" | | | | The next day we took a coach to the Sarawak Cultural Village. Sarawak is | | Malaysia's most multicultural state, where Muslims are in the minority, | | and a variety of indigenous inhabitants still live and practice their | | traditions. The Cultural Village showcased these minorities through | | recreations of their houses, inside which locals were practising their | | traditional arts: cooking biscuits, grinding rice or tapioca, blowing | | darts, threshing pepper, forging swords, dancing and making music. All | | this in a steamy rainforest between mountain and sea, where red-winged | | dragonflies hovered and wood-boring insects the size of birds buzzed. A | | cultural performance featuring dances from all the ethnic groups rounded | | out the attraction. | | | | It was a little sad to consider how much of this culture was lost when the | | country embraced Islam, which has certainly made as much of a mark on | | Malaysia as the secular West, and not all for the better. Indeed, the | | traditional practices of the local ethnic groups are still being | | marginalised by the government, which for example still has an active | | policy of resettling the nomadic Penan tribes into towns (why am I put in | | mind of Australia of the early-to-mid 20th century?) | | | | My lunch at the Village was Sarawak laksa, a noodle soup, slightly milder | | than the Penang variety, but fragrant with coconut milk and coriander, and | | brimming with shredded chicken, bean sprouts, strings of egg and prawns. | | Another specialty we tried on this trip was kolo mee: a noodle dish | | featuring both minced and sliced pork, a meat which is much rarer on our | | side of Malaysia. We also learned about, but weren't brave enough to try, | | Chinese birds-nest soup, which - yes - is a real birds nest, or rather the | | remains of which after the twigs and feathers are removed: to be precise, | | the bird's solidified saliva. Rather more appetising are the | | rainbow-coloured kuei lapis (layer cakes) that are a local speciality; real | | cake, too, rather than the glutinous jelly that is sold under the same name | | in KL. | | | | reply (0 comments) | | << Back | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Links: portal / wedding / calendar / honours / phd / iq / igfwatch / random | | page generated in 0.066 seconds sadlittlewebjournal 2.9.3 | | content (c) its respective creator(s) web administration | | valid html 4.01 transitional foaf / rss feed | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+