Sarawak Day 1

we started our journey real early in the morn, coz we opted for a morning flight to Kuching and had to catch a 5am bus from Melaka Sentral to LCCT. the next available bus trip is at 8am, and we definitely couldn't be on that one. whenever i am to be on an express bus, i would choose Transnasional..as they're usually very prompt (true for KL-Melaka trips, don't know about other destinations though). but for that morning, the bus was more than half an hour late. we were feeling sleepy for being up so early and looking forward to Kuching - my parents worked in Lundu, Sarawak before coming back to Melaka 22 years ago. my brother was even born there and this was the first time we went back.

i slept on the bus and only woke up when we were somewhere near LCCT. after having our breakfast, we head into the terminal and got the seats in front of those flat screen telly - all showing the world cup match. it was Netherlands vs Denmark if i'm not mistaken. i was bored and walked around several times while waiting. then a few guys distributed a newspaper section to everyone saying it's free - all six of us got a copy each, of the same thing. apparently it was a new special addition to Utusan about the World Cup, and my dad was even interviewed by a reporter.

few hours later, we touched down in Kuching. Kuching International Airport in Serian to be specific. the owner of chesu homestay was waiting for us and led us to the car. then she drove ahead of us to show the house that we rented for our stay. it was in Taman Gita Jaya. the house was fully equipped with everything - washing machine, kitchen utensils, fridge, gas stoves, rice cooker and made us feel right at home. there were even checklist of places of interest in Kuching, maps and pamphlets.

the living room

the dining area

the master bedroom

kitchen

after the owner showed us around the house, we dropped everything and went out for lunch - everyone was already starving. mom asked the owner about Halal eating places beforehand, and she said just go for those places manned by Malays - like we can distinguish Malays from the other ethnics there :p if they're wearing scarves, then it's fine..otherwise we couldn't really tell them apart.

we ate fried rice at the nearest food court as it was already past 3 and not much dishes left. then we asked the friendly stall owner about the nearest supermarket, and he directed us to emart. i was quite surprised when we arrived at emart, coz it was a bit different from here. there were different shops selling wet food stuff, dried food stuff, fruits, clothes, toys etc in the building which has a high ceiling and no air-cond. we walked around looking at the large array of veggies and found some stuff that we couldn't get here.

the gigantic fan in the middle

midin

we continued walking until we found the actual supermarket and started looking for things we need. to tell you the truth, we bought a lot of things that are available at the homestay :p we should have stopped and look around the house before going shopping.

then we headed back home and rested for a while. the first night, we cooked and ate at home before going out to the waterfront. took some pictures and we head back home. on the way we stopped by Benteng and checked it out. but we've had our dinner and were still full, so we didn't try anything. that was the first day in Kuching.