Dhahran British Grammar School Expedition 2006

Friday 17 March
Kuching, Sarawak

Local guides collected us from the hotel and took us on a morning tour around Kuching, a town made Sarawak’s capital by the English merchantman James Brooke in the early 19th century.  James Brooke, later Rajah Brook, became the king of this small jungle state.  His descendents finally handed over the country to the British in the 1946.  After Malaya was granted independence Sarawak joined with peninsula Malaya and Sabah to form the new country of Malaysia in 1963.

Kuching means cat, and scattered around town are numerous statues of cats, one of which we stopped by for photographs.  Making a wish whilst touching its paw, we were told, is good luck.

The civic centre, a huge concrete tower, looking not unlike an oversized medieval mace, gives excellent views of the city and its surroundings.  From there we could see extensive Chinese cemeteries, with their distinctive arch shaped graves.  Some of the students asked if they could visit one, so we did.  There is something a little macabre about having your photograph taken in front of the graves of complete strangers.

We also visited a Chinese temple where turtles scrambled over each other and incense filled the air. Shopping in Kuching is great; there are so many shops selling interesting crafts, antiques and tribal artefacts.  Predictably, perhaps, the kids all bought blowpipes, which we promptly confiscated and put in Sue’s room to prevent accidents.

There is a large fish market on the riverside and those students who didn’t mind the sight and smell of thousands of recently dead and dying fish, picked their way around, snapping photographs and trying to avoid getting splashed with fish entrails.

We had dinner on the balcony of Khatulistiwa, a restaurant built right on the banks of the river.  The lights from the far bank flicker across the river hypnotically.  Not all the students ate dinner, the food still being unfamiliar and causing some stress.  Not surprisingly though, those that didn’t have an appetite for real food, managed to find themselves very hungry when faced with the sweets crowding the shelves of 7-11.

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