Kuching, Sarawak (Day 4 & 5): Damai Beach, Sarawak Cultural Village & Kuching River Sampan Ride

 Putting together my adventure on my last two days in Kuching in this post. There's something about ending a travelogue, not sure if sheer laziness or it's me refusing to accept the vacay ended （◞‸◟） Please tell me I'm not the only one procrastinating on #finaltraveloguepost... But I love writing vacay blog posts because they relive the carefree, #playhard, new places, crazy experiences or every firsts and all the great time I had when vacay-ing before well, reality snaps me back. Now, I can totally relate to why some of my friends are a total travel bug. 

So yesh~! Final Kuching post then random lifestyle stuff before my next adventure! The next one's awesome, wait till you hear about them!!! Like after that happened. Like at the second half of the year hahahahhaha. Hey, I gotta save for these trip. Partly I'm excited because they will mark 2017 as my most adventurous year, partly I'm sad it's not Japan (it got postponed again!). Nevertheless they're going to be amazing! (≧▽≦) I am so psyched so much that my girl pal is telling me to "calm my tits", in her very own words (*´艸｀) Such a vulgar lady hahahahha

~♡~

So yes, let's get started with #finaltraveloguepost *sniff sniff*

Open Air Market

Day 4 started with us having breakfast at the Open Air Market Market, the same place we had ais krim gula apong the night before.

Damai Beach

First destination for the day is Damai Beach at Damai Central, a small beach with very few entertainment or non-local tourists. Surprisingly, there were no one playing at the beach despite the moderate waves.

We didn't stay long, since our destination is the Sarawak Cultural Village, unbeknown it is just opposite Damai Central. We even got into the car FOL before John pointed it out Σ (゜ロ゜ ) (￣□￣；)(￣□￣；)

The entrance fee for Kampung Budaya Sarawak costs us RM63 including GST per person which is apparently higher than prior years. I'm guessing the cost of the park maintenance is higher because there were a lot of manpower involved, dancers and even chaperones at each long houses and points. This is an interesting place to explore if you want to check out traditional houses of races and aboriginal living in Sabah and Sarawak.

We got to climb these tree barks ladders a lot. Some are longer, one even built further up from the ground and can appear rather scary.

This photo is deceiving. I was pretty sure I'm about 5 meter above ground.

Moi! Sorry not sorry I just don't dress up for adventures.

By the way, I'll only post limited photos of this place so as not to give out too much 'spoilers'. Come visit this place when you're in Kuching, it'll be an amazing experience!

Aside from the longhouses, you can experience playing flute made out of bamboo or even blow pipes! You'd need to pay an additional RM1 to try the blowpipe, it's fun and amusing to watch your friends fail, I guarantee you. In contrast, feel awe at your friends' amazing attempts and suspect they're ninjas.

Me feeling breathless after my super lousy first attempt.

This is Ying Yun, the persevere flute warrior. We all failed terribly at even trying to produce a single sound and yet she nailed it after several attempts! Here, her guru is personalizing a flute she bought and giving her a local name, Maya, which means graceful and sweet.

Don't forget to try local snacks too! This here is Tiboduk in Iban language or lepat pulut in Malay, a sticky sweet, wrapped in leave and then steamed. The taste is milder and lighter in color than 'tee kueh'.

We even tried coconut pancake, made with less than a handful of ingredients yet tasted so rich and yummy! It's so good, when I came back, I looked for the recipe, will DEFINITELY make some when I got the ingredients, mainly the grated coconut and sago flour,  both of which I have yet to look for.

We made it at the 11th hour to the mini theater at about 4.30PM to watch the twice a day, daily performances. At most points, the staffs will remind you to check them out, and by 4-ish most of the staffs have left to prepare for these performances. Truly kudos for the staff for the day and the amazing show! We very much enjoyed ourselves ✩°｡⋆⸜(ू｡•ω•｡)(σ'∀')σ*。・゜+.*

~♡~

Lepau, the MUST-TRY restaurant

We drove back for the next one hour or so and rested for a while before leaving for dinner. I don't know why but we decided to walk to the restaurant, again. Apparently the place we are going and recommended by our hostel caretaker and uber driver, Lepau was about 15 minutes or so walking distance. So walk we did hahahhaa.

 After The Dyak, where we had our #first taste of aboriginal dishes which we're so much in love with them we went overboard with ordering a whole bunch of dishes including two tempoyak or pickled durian dishes! 

Clockwise from left: ickled durian fish, appetizer and pickled durian prawns.





I don't know why these people love calamary so much...

Ayam pangsuh, so yummy!

Midin cooked in sambal.

Drinks (mine is tuak in beer bottle) in and tuak ice cream (ᗒᗨᗕ)

 We ended our night playing Jenga and some talk over beer.


~♡~

House visiting on my last day!

Started our day by bringing the dude to makan. Some of us already had toast at our hostel (our hostel's extra service) so we skipped breakie.

We brought our newfound friend to visit Ying Yun's uncle and grandma and the topic on how we found him propped up a couple of times. To her grandma, she told that we picked him up from the tong sampah to our amusement.

At the same mall Ying Yun and I had purikura in the first few days of our trip, Nicholas egged me to play purikura with John but escaped elsewhere himself WTF. That was my second time playing Purikura in Sarawak _ my first is with Ying Yun. Both time I use XOXO2 purikura machine because it looks more otona and I love their collages. The other machine is Baby 3, which IMO is much more towards kawaii.

I bought some souvenirs from which includes a large, flat mooncake and rice crackers which were recommended by Ying Yun. I forgot to snap a photo before distributing them to my colleagues, but they're so goo-o-od!

Tribal Stove

Lunch, we finally were able to coax grandma to join us for aboriginal food, this time at Tribal Stove. Yup, we were super obsessed with aboriginal food we went to three different restaurants in three consecutive days! (≧▽≦)

We ordered sambal petai, ikan pangsuh (fish cooked in bamboo), ayam pangsuh (chicken cooked in bamboo), pineapple kerabu and paku chai (I think). The portion was definitely smaller compare to The Dyak and Lepau but we were stuffed! When we paid for the bill, we were surprised everything, drinks included came up to less than RM60, which we agreed was ridiculously affordable.

 My lychee sirap bandung and tea the rest had.

 That was grandma's first visit to an aboriginal restaurant and she remarked how amazing that I am to be able to find these places. Ceh wahh~~ #Proud  But yesh, it's simply curiosity with the help of the Internet.

We didn't find the ayam pangsuh amazing, the chicken came in huge chunks which may explain why it turned out hard from cooking in the bamboo over the fire. Also, the few choices and lack of tempoyak on the menu. Somehow, tempoyak has became a requirement when it comes to eating aboriginal cuisine hahhahaha. 

Mandatory group photo. Can you spot the mischief going on? (O▽O)v ﾍ(｀▽´*)

Sampan ride around Sarawak River

We went to explore the Sarawak Museum and Chinese Museum while Ying Yun sent her grandma home so she could take a rest. We concluded our day _ or rather it's my final activity in Kuching since the rest have extra days ahead of them _ with sampan ride.

That's it, guys! Until my next post. Meanwhile, I can't wait for my next adventure already! #LiveTheAdventure

Kuching, Sarawak (Day 3): Fairy Cave, Wind Cave and Kuching Waterfront (again!)

Let me start this post with food cause a vacay with friends is not complete without turning them into foodie trip!(≧∇≦) So we started our day with Mee Pok at Yen Yen Cafe in Lundu town, which was a less than 5 minutes drive from where we stayed and close to Flower Scent Restaurant where we dined the night before. This time, we decided to try Mee Pok, a specialty noodles only found in the East Coast and happened to walk past Yen Yen Cafe before deciding to try.

Ying Yun's curry mee pok. Hers seem to have the biggest portion so much that Nicholas had to help her finish. The price of food in Sarawak are ridiculous! This much and only cost RM6. You'd most probably pay up to thrice in Kuala Lumpur for this. At the top in this pic is my pork trotters mee pok, served with braised pork in thick soy sauce. My friends love this and dubbed this the best choice because of how thick and rich the gravvy is!

  

Nicholas' minced meat mee pok. Portion is smaller and cost only RM4! This is like the price of a bowl of noodles 10 years ago. If only prices go down in Malaysia, which will be unlikely.

Drinks on the other hand is just standard price, almost similar to KL. We ordered an extra cup of 'snake water' to share because we were curious. Turns out it taste past like cincau hahaha

The Chinese Iban waitress saw how curious we were about snake water and brought out the premix packet for us to see, my goodness! She really didn't have to ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ One thing we love about Sarawak is how most people we met are so friendly and nice. They're even nice on the road _ driving at moderate speed and no honkings.

Fairy Caves & Wind Caves

After our rather worthwhile meal, we decided to head to Fairy Cave and Wind Cave is just a little bit further from Lundu, we decided to drop by these places first. That day my tummy was feeling unwell which I deduced was from washing my hands at the waterfall before snacking so I ended up sleeping in the car the entire road trip, waking up when we stopped by a fruit stall along the way to buy bananas and banana chips just cause we monkeys love bananas hahahah

We arrived at Fairy Caves _ my friends initially not too keen about checking the caves _ and after climbing up the ladders towards the entrance to the cave, I decided I couldn't go on with the exploring because I was feeling dizzy and weak so I headed back down while my friends go ahead with the exploring.

Took some photos myself thinking I wouldn't have the strength to climb again

Ying Yun took some photos to show to me~

Getting back down took me lotsa steps FML. I rested at the stall at the entrance of the cave and ordered an apple juice which turned out to be from concentrated juice instead of fresh apples but after drinking I felt better, with the coldness of the drink numbing my pain hahahha.

I also noticed this stall sells homemade tuak, Sarawak's aboriginal rice alcohol packed in 1.5L bottles. We didn't buy it because we can't finish it. Heck, I am the only one who drinks aside from Ying Yun who only takes sips... Anyway, I had a few tuak sessions throughout my vacay hahaha

When I felt better, I marched up again only to feel horrible and rested a bit more FML. I did manage to explore just the center section of the caves. It didn't help the steps up the other parts of the caves were giving me the goose bumps and vertigo _ It felt as though I was standing at an angle on most steps. What's more the thick cords acting as rails for the stairs were littered with bat shits so I got guano on my hands hahahhah. But the cave is so pretty, its worth it!

After Fairy Caves, my friends were much more willing to explore Wind Cave thinking it has the same pretty scenery. This people didn't research LOL. Wind Cave is pitch black with grey-ish stalactites and stalagmites growing unlike Fairy Caves which have a hole on the roof of the caves which allows light to shine in and short shrub and moss to grow. So no photos inside the cave.

While exploring we walked past some other group, I had this mini light bulb moment_ why not play a prank and scare this people. So we switched off our lights and was prepare to strike. Unfortunately there were no walls to hide so I had Ying Yun shield me.

They found us anyway.

Obviously. 

So by the time I jumped out from behind YY they were just laughing away #epicfail  I shall try better next time.

Le Nomade, Kuching Waterfront

Back to Kuching Waterfront, this time we were staying at Le Nomade, a hostel We booked from AirBnB that is slightly a distance further from Kuching Waterfront. The hostel is definitely different from where we have stayed, having a common area for backpackers to hang out, with board games and even kitchen if you want to cook to save. There is even a veranda furnish with chairs and bbq pit, pretty cool! 

Ying Yun's all about meeting backpackers and people with various backgrounds so it came as a surprised I initiated a lot of chit chats and her staying most of the time in her room. That was where I met a solo backpacker, John who later joined us the last two days we were around at Kuching and proved to be a lamppost funny companion.

The inside story John made up was we kidnapped him. Ying Yun's very Malaysian version was we picked him up from the tong sampah.

I say Malaysian version because that's what our parents told us when we ask where babies come from. Pretty sure it's an Asian thing.

The Dyak

Dinner is at The Dyak (pronounce Dayak), a boutique cafe just less than 10 minutes Uber ride from where we were staying. I've been researching on this place for a while and was really excited to try the aboriginal dishes and experience my first tuak!

We order chicken soup with wild plants, mani chai cooked with pumpkin and tempoyak or picked durian (doesn't is sound yummy?!) . My friends only accepted my choice for tempoyak after some of the 'normal' dishes we wanted were not available. It proves to be an amazing option! We tried tempoyak at Lepau the next day but find The Dyak's version to be the smelliest and therefore, yummiestt (’▽’)♡

Nicholas remarked how the food especially the mani chai tasted so similar to Indonesian food. Make me wanna go for a foodie trip in Indonesia!

Drinks we ordered include Ying Yun's barley lemon and tuak for myself. Don't remember what the dude ordered..

For dessert, we have tuak ice cream or rather tuak drenched vanilla ice cream top with shave pistachio, I think. Quite the opposite of me, Ying Yun and Nicholas didn't find that to their liking.

Kuching Open Air Market

We didn't want to retire early so we decided to drop by the Open Air Market after our Uber driver mentioned the place, saying they serve her favorite ice cream gula apong.

 

Our gula apong is empty on the inside (｡ŏ_ŏ) The ice cream tasted very diluted. I guess it's made that way to compliment the gula apong else the dessert will be overly sweet.

Taking this photo of a random stall because Tomato Source.

 While I was away the dude went and ordered siew mai. Boy, can he eat! Though myself is guilty of gluttony too ヾ(≧▽≦*)o

Then we decided to take a walk around Carpenter Street and check out the celebrations at the temple. We bought ice creams and watch the opera before the crazy loud fireworks interrupted us.