Hello Borneo: Kuching Trip Day 1

Hullo peeps! :)

I took a trip to Kuching last week out of a sudden decision, that was all because of the super cheap flights! I've been dying for this trip before the final exam started. Finally the next day after the week of agony, we set off our journey to the long-awaited destination.

Spot our flight number! The flight time was 1255.

We reached LCCT about two hours earlier than the flight, so we took our breakfast at the most popular spot of LCCT - McDonald's.


The random guy behind us was just annoying!

Guess who tagged along with us this time? Apple's darling bear, Peno :D


While waiting for the departure, the girls must have some vain session. *wink*


So did the couple.


I shall say, so did the couples, hmmmm :P


Finally the flight time had reached. Goodbye LCCT!

After the self-entertaining moment...

And after more and more vain session on the plane...

We could see the long winding river when the plane was about to land. Finally we reached Kuching International Airport! Upon arrival, my cyber friend, YuanMian made some arrangements to pick us up at the airport and send us to our accommodation. Two of his friends served as our local guide at Kuching with a *reasonable price*. Call this as the power of cyber friendship yo, teehee! :D

We stayed at Brookes Terrace for our 3D2N Kuching trip.
I was lucky to get this deluxe room because the standard room that I booked had been fully occupied.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the cozy stay at Brookes Terrace. The fully equipped accommodation's service was within my expectation.

The hygiene level was beyond the satisfying level too. You should consider your stay at Brookes Terrace for the trip at Kuching too :) For further details, check out the website here.

After settling down, we went for the late lunch at Kuching Chinatown.

Look like a chinese temple?

Nope, it was a hawker centre instead of the temple. The hawker centre was named "陽春臺".

We came after the Kueh Chap! :D (FYI, Kuay Chap (粿汁 guǒ zhī): Teochew dish of flat, broad rice sheets in a soup made with dark soy sauce, served with "pig spare parts", braised duck meat, various kinds of bean curd, preserved salted vegetables, and braised hard-boiled eggs. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)

I barely ate the "pig spare parts", but I really love the tender and smooth rice sheets!

I love the pork satay too! Juicy and mouth-watering ♥ Btw, our lunch was on Yuan Mian.
Thanks for his generosity :)


My bf was so random! LMAO


It was raining heavily after our lunch. We strolled along the Main Bazaar, which was the oldest street in the city and located just opposite the Waterfront.


Main Bazaar was concentrated with antique and handicraft shops.
It was a great place for souvenir-shopping because all kinds of souvenirs had been sold with low prices there.






Traditional colourful ceramic bowls

The famous local product - pepper. From black to white pepper, from fine ground to whole grain.

The rattan bag set that XiuXiu bought :)








Look alike?

The shoppers were selling super cheap kek lapis there! The kek lapis at west Malaysia is much expensive :(

They love it >3


After some souvenirs shopping at Main Bazaar, we headed to the Waterfront.

Why no Elaine & me? The camera girls are always lonely :(


Nvm, we could still help ourselves to camwhore! :D


Group pic @Waterfront


We took a ride on the sampan (small malay boats) across the historic Sarawak River.
This was the cheapest and easiest alternative to across the river. For a ride to the opposite side of the river, the fare was RM0.50 only.


There we go!
We tried hard to keep up our balance because the water level was so high and seemed to overflow the sampan. Meanwhile, we shouted like nobody's business on the boat. It was really fun!


CC, Elaine & Apple.


Me, Xiu.

My lovely travel mates with the friendly sampan driver :)
After a ten minute ride, we reached the opposite bank.

The building behind us was the front door of the Astana, which we thought it was a tourist spot LOL
It was built by Charles Brooke as a wedding gift to his wife in the 1870. No visitors are allowed into the Astana. We actually had a funny conversation with the security guards at the front gate of the palace :D

*We thought the Astana was a tourist spot at first, so we requested to enter the building.
We even thought it was James Brooke's palace LOL! *
Guards: Kamu tak boleh masuk! Ini rumah YPN sekarang!
(You can't enter! This is the place that the Governor of Sarawak resides now!)
Us : So bila-bila kita pun tak boleh masuk la?
(So we can't enter no matter what time?)
Guards: Ya, tak kira pagi pun malam pun.
(Yes, no matter day or night.)
Us : Kenapa tak boleh masuk? Ini bukan istana James Brooke meh?
(Why can't we enter? Isn't this James Brooke's palace?)
Guards: Tapi James Brooke sudah mati mah!
(But James Brooke was already died! p.s. The guards also thought it was James Brooke's palace as well LOL)

Well, at least the boys could still pretend to be the doormen of Charles Brooke's palace! :D

Ahhhhhh...

Took our group photo with the historical building.

The boys with the cat monument @Kuching city.

As night fell, we decided to walk back to Brookes Terrace. Initially, we were kinda lost with the road, but luckily we still found our way back with the assistance of a friendly staff of a restaurant. After we bathed and had some rest, we headed to Hong Kong Noodles House @Jalan Padungan (which Brookes Terrace's staff recommended) to have our dinner. The meal didn't disappoint us. It was pretty satisfying after all.
















Phew, it was such a long post which took me such a long time to complete. To be continued soon, tata :-*