Hello,
I will be in Sarawak for 5 days in August.
First, I would like to see Kuching and plan to be there for 2 nights. I have been unsuccessful in finding budget but non-dorm accomodation. I am a single woman. I did look into Sighhassa Lodge (spell?) but found them very difficult to work with and after several emails explaining I would not give them a photocopy of my visa I dropped the whole thing. Are there other places to stay in Kuching on a budget that I can book from here? (I am in India).
Second, I plan to head to the Rainforest Resort for 2 nights after I leave Kuching and am hoping I can do most of the sites from there. It looks like Bako and some nices beaches are close. Is this the case? How about the orangutans...would it be better to do that from Kuching? And the Longhouses...whats the best way to arrange that?
I have the LP guide but only feel thoroughly confused by it all. Any idea if I could just wait until I get to Kuching to figure all this out? My only concern is having limited time and wanting to relax and chill on my vacation...not so keen on running around organizing things..but if it makes more sense and would be easier I can wait.
Any help would be much appreciated!
squid
There're several bed & breakfast hostels around Kuching which you can find & book online at HostelWorld.
Cozee Hostel - located at Song Thian Cheok road, which is approximately 10 to 15 mins walking distance to Kuching Waterfront. There's plenty of nice food around, such as Sarawak Laksa, Kolo Mee, Belacan Mee Hoon at Song Thian Cheok food centre, Tomato fried kuey tiow & etc.
Axiel B&B - A new guesthouse that make use of their private own bangalow. Their location is not very convenient & not much thing to find around the guesthouse. You need a taxi ride to city centre, or a bus. You can walk too, it's about 20 - 30mins walk to Kuching Waterfront.
Borneo B&B - Recently closed down.
City Chime Square (BORNEO TREKKERS B&B) - Located at the heart of Kuching. Relatively new, & within 5 - 10 mins walk to Kuching Waterfront.
Singgahsana Lodge - Centrally located, popular guesthouse, nicely renovated & it's kind of little luxury type of budget hostel. According to some guest, room can be very noisy with vehicle noise.
Borneo Seahare Hostel - 10 mins walking distance to Kuching Waterfront. Next to B&B Inn.
B&B Inn - Old hostel, but cheap & cosy. 10 mins walk to Kuching waterfront.
Carpenter Guesthouse - Located right behind Main Bazaar, centrally located & within 5 mns walk to Kuching Waterfront.
Pinnacle Kuching - Opposite the Hilton Hotel main entrance. Centrally located, & within 5 mins walk to Top Spot seafood centre.
Beside the above B&B guesthouse, there's plenty of budget hotel scattered around the city centre, especially at the green hill road or around Padungan Road. The price range is from RM25 per room per night up to RM80 per room per night. They do not have the Internet booking facilities, so the best is walk in directly & ask. There are many of them & full occupancy is almost impossible.
there's a selection of cheapie RM50-60 hotels, one or two quite decent, some fairly dire, behind the Harbour View Hotel, which was good value at RM98 when I was last there in early 2006.
the best one is an RM60 Chinese place, quite nice double rooms with reasonable air con, fridge, and a tv (not a bad thing to have in Malaysia as many of the movies, as well as some news programs, are shown in English, rather than dubbed) a couple of doors down from the laundry on the corner. I have their card somewhere, I'll dig out this thread again and post you their name when I find it. Friendly bunch, too - I ended up going out for karaoke with the family.
I stayed at Singhassana hostel just last week - I just turned up and there didn't seem to be too much trouble (although I stayed in a dorm). It is a nice hostel - although, yes, a little noisy (ear plugs are an essential for everywhere though aren't they?), but the staff are very helpful.
From there I organised a 3 day long house trip - there's plenty of places around town but I just took the recommendation of the folk at the hostel and all was well.
Helga
You basically can't go anywhere from Rainforest resort, unless you book your trip through the travel agency desk or office at the resorts. If you are traveling in shoe string budget, go with the travel agency can be very expensive, especially those operating in the resorts.
Bako National Park is nice & it's must to visit place if you come to Sarawak. You can take a bus from Kuching city center bus station (please obtain a copy of Kuching's map from Sarawak Tourism Board information centre at Kuching Old Court house, there's a bus guide there) to Bako Village, & then take a 40 mins boat ride to the resort. Boat transfer cost RM40 per way, can share with other travelers, if available. If you want to stay overnight at the Bako, you have to book with Sarawak Tourism Board located at the Kuching old court house, before heading to Bako. .http://www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my/forweb/np/np/bako.htm</a><BR><BR>To see orangutan, the best way is to Semenggoh orangutan centre. They are in the wild. You can take a taxi from Kuching, which they will drive you straight to the park headquarter. If you are taking a bus, they will drop you at the park entrance & you will have to walk for 15 mins into the headquarter, where the feeding area that can spot orangutan. click here
To see more pictures, follow this link http://www.pbase.com/mr2c280/malaysia_semenggoh</a><BR><BR>Besides, you can also visit to cultural village for more longhouse model (they were built for tourist, unlike Annah Rais longhouse, which is an authentic longhouse that was already there since few hundreds years back). Cultural village consist of all kind of longhouses model from different type of tribes found in Sarawak. Moreover, they have a cultural show for your viewing pleasure too. It's worth a visit, just very near to Rainforest Resort.
Hope you have anice day ahead.
As for the longhouse visit, you can visit to Anah Rais Longhouse (it's where we operate our longhouse adventure & homestay program too), which located at Padawan district, about 60km from Kuching. You can just have a day visit, or join our 2D/1N or 3D/2N program, which you get to stay in the longhouse, eat the traditional meals daily, jungle trekking, waterfall, hot spring, & so on. For a day visit, you have to arrange the transport yourself, but for overnight stay, we will pick you up from Kuching. Visit www.LonghouseAdventure.com</a> for more information.
You can refer to some info & map in the Kuching Guide 2007:
Kuching Guide 2007
Or download the 5 different issues of the Kuching Talk from
Kuching Talk (5 Issues)
Accomodation - the hotels around the Green Hill area vary a lot in quality and friendliness, be sure to check rooms before deciding. Bako is nice and as #4 says, its quick and easy to get to. Accomodation in Bako varies with price, cheapest are the four bed rooms with shared kitchen and bathrooms. However if the place is not fully booked you could ask to see if you could have a room to yourself, my girflfriend and I did that and got a room to ourselves at no extra cost.
Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate all the tips and advice. I am very excited to explore KL and Sarawak :-)
squid
I spent 10 days in Kuching, mostly at Singhassanna, one of the best/friendliest place I've been too in 20 years of travelling.
Because they are full most of the time, they require some payment or doc from you, to be sure you are going to show up. You can book with your credit card though (that's what I did). The dorm bed is 7.5 euros, and dorms are never full. You can just pop up there. Noise depends upon where your room is, but it was not bothering.
The thing to do: spend at least one night in Bako. This is a fantastic place to be, animal life and the variety of plants are incredible. You can do that by yourself.
You can see Orang Utans at Serrengho (can be done as a half day trip).
I would not recommend longhouse trip as they are tourist traps. Understand that the locals are fed up with having 150 people going to their home everyday. If you want to take a picture, you need to pay. This is the type of longhouse you'll get to with most travel agents.
You can go to remote places where very few people go to, but you'll have to find them.
The son of Singhassana's owner knows about a fantastic place to go to, but you'll need 3 days.
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