Alright, more walking around this beloved city of cats, and more pictures taken. Honestly I do wish I have transport to take me further away from the city district, maybe somewhere as far as the beaches. I shall only complain so much on the things I could not achieve, but I shall make do of what I can, and share my stories whatever ways I could with you beautiful people out there.
Lets explore the not so beautiful waters of the Sarawak River.
KUCHING WATERFRONT
Kuching Waterfront, opened to public in 1993. Gosh I must have been in primary 3 or something back then. What a long way back. Waterfront was such a great place to have a stroll along in the evening, with family and friends.
However, I do believe things have changed over the years, taking the unfortunate turn I suppose.
A BANANA ON THE WATERS
The yellow color painted boat kind of reminded me of a gigantic banana floating on the river. Pardon my odd imagination, but yeah. The sampan, or simply a motorized boat remains as the main form of transport crossing the Sarawak river from the city district.
Somehow, due to strong protests the locals here refuse the proposition of building a bridge structure to close in the gap between those two river fronts. Hence, the sampan is very much maintained till this day. With very low costs, as cheap as 40 cents (or was it 50 cents) you get to cross the river with single ride in the sampan.
On another note, I do wonder how much those boat/sampan operators could earn each day by navigating the boats both ways crossing the river, minus the maintenance cost of the boats and the ever rising fuel costs. Maybe the earnings beat an engineers pay anytime, who knows right?
ASTANA AT THE MOUTH OF A CROC
Yeah, we have HEAPS of crocodiles in Kuching. We even have legends and fairy tales based on a warrior (Bujang Senang) who was cursed and transformed into an ever living crocodile haunting the people here for centuries.
Never mind the odd stories, but we do have plenty of wild crocodiles to bite your ass should you not watch where your legs are stepping into especially out in the swampy areas. And the white castle lookalike building across the river, is called the Astana, the place where probably all the tax money of the overly worked citizens are being pocketed into. Hence, having a giant crocodile swallowing it does not seem to be such a bad idea, I dare say.
GREEN GREEN GRASS BY THE LAKE
Of course, since the climate of this land is very much tropical, you can expect greenery everywhere, and trees and grasses growing out of proportions due to abundant sunlight and extreme amount of rainfall we get. This shot was taken at the Reservoir Park, one of the only few properly maintained parks in Kuching where people still want to visit.
In the early evenings, you can find this place getting packed with locals from everywhere, some doing strenuous running, some barely walking, and some just sitting there enjoying the not so fresh air. It is an ideal place (since no other more ideal ones around) for a family outing.
THE MAIN BAZAAR
It is a wonder how many Chinese shops were opened in Kuching, and still standing till this very day. The long stretches of shop rows, called the Main Bazaar, along the river is now the main attraction of tourists, selling souvenirs and handicrafts at incredibly hiked up prices. Smart tourists would look for their stuff elsewhere, and just have a look see here.
Some of the shops underwent serious renovation and reconstruction to keep them standing over the years.
GOING TO THE CITY
WHERE WAS THIS??
I guess my journey ended up at the city center. I only snapped a few random shots right in the heart of the city center, and could not go on any further since the heat of the sun was suddenly biting my ass off. After a few hours of walking around under the unbearably cruel sun, the inspirations to take any more pictures do kind of wear off drastically in the end. Therefore I shall leave you guys with the two very odd photos, and let you guys guess where the pictures were taken.
That should wrap up my mini-series on Kuching From My Eyes. I sincerely hope you guys truly enjoy the shots I have shared with you guys. I know there are plenty of important places that I have not covered in these three entries, but hey, this opens up opportunities for future entries, right? Of course this does not mean I am not gonna blog about Kuching again, I definitely will. Kuching food, will undoubtedly be another seperate mini-series, which I do not plan to explore yet. But at the mean time, I am sure everyone has gotten a little overloaded with Kuching from my blog.
So you people from Kuching reading these entries, do tell me, do you see Kuching the way I see it?
Those of you not from Kuching, what do you think of Kuching now?
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i wanna go to kuching!
i like how the old buildings are still being maintained till this day. it brings character to the place rather than just starring at tall concrete buildings
-Marcus