Trip Report: Malaysia

Old Oct 9th, 2005, 11:11 AM
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Trip Report: Malaysia

As promised, here is the first installment of my trip report. I’m really too tired to attempt this but I can’t sleep (and know I shouldn’t anyway, not in mid-afternoon) so I have a choice between starting the report or unpacking, getting laundry together, food shopping and cleaning. Guess which I’ve chosen?

We left JFK Thursday, Sept. 22, pretty much on time at 11:15pm, on Cathay Pacific, economy class. Instead of having a non-stop to Hong Kong, we first stopped in Vancouver, at about 2:30am Pacific time. We were not allowed off the plane so we just sat there for an hour and a half while a cleaning crew came on. There was a baby in the row in front of us who cried the entire way. I was hoping they were getting off in Vancouver but no such luck. This kid cried almost non-stop (unlike our flight) from NY to HK. Truly the flight from hell. I know I’m going to catch a lot of flack for this but I wish planes had a sound-proofed cabin for parents and their children on long haul flights. The service on Cathay was very good, as always, and the food at least edible. The last time I flew them was quite a few years ago and I remember the food as being dreadful.

Cathay changed our original flight out of HK to Kuala Lumpur. We were originally to have a 1:25 layover but the flight to KL was moved up giving us only a 50 minute layover. I had called the airline about this and they said no problem. Guess again, big problem. There was a typhoon in the region causing strong headwinds and we landed in HK late, missing our connecting flight of course. We would have made it had the flight not been changed. Once on the ground, I tried to get Cathay to upgrade us to business for the HK-KL leg but this was a no go. They did however allow us to use their first class lounge, which was very nice, with free food and drinks (but who can drink at 9am?) They also gave us food vouchers for HK$75 each. This may sound like a lot but HK$75 is only about US$10. Since we got food in the lounge, we used our vouchers at Starbucks and bought a couple pounds of coffee and some biscotti. The flight to KL was empty and very pleasant. We finally arrived in KL Saturday, Sept. 24, at about 4:30pm, about 4 hours late and 30 hours after leaving JFK. I have absolutely no memory of going through immigration and customs. We took the KLIAEkespres into the city, a very pleasant 28 minute ride, and from there got a taxi to the Mandarin Oriental. At the train station in Sentral KL (not a typo, it’s what they call it), in fact at every airport we were at in Malaysia, you buy a voucher for a taxi to your hotel. It’s a flat rate so you don’t have worry about being overcharged. From Sentral to the MO, the cost is 17 Malaysian Ringgit (about 3.76 RM to the US dollar). The train from the airport to Sentral is RM35 each way.

At the MO, as soon as our taxi pulled in, there were about 5 attendants to open the door, get our luggage and check us in. When I said we were staying on the Club Floor, we were whisked up to the 24th floor, which is where the Club Lounge is and were checked in immediately. Our room was on the 29th floor. Our luggage arrived about one minute after us. After quick showers, and a call to postpone my pre-booked massage to the next day, we headed back to the Club Lounge to catch the last 20 minutes of the cocktail hour. The cocktail hour goes from 5pm to 7pm and is fabulous. They have French and Australian wines, imported beer, hard liquor and a huge spread of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. You really can make quite a good meal of this, which was our intention for our first night, but getting there late, we only were able to eat a little before they began to clear everything away. We ended up eating at the Pacifica Grill which is the MO’s signature restaurant. It’s a very nice place and I’m sure the food was delicious but we were too tired to enjoy it. I think I had lamb (or was it duck? Not sure). I can’t remember what Eric had. In the future, I’ll have to be more like Bob’s wife Karen, and take note of what we eat and the cost so I can report it back.

The MO is a gorgeous hotel, truly 5 star luxury. The public areas are as nice as any I’ve seen. The guest rooms, while very very nice, are not as nice as those at the Peninsula Bangkok. At the MO, the rooms really don’t reflect the country, they could be anywhere in Asia. The rooms are large and very comfortable however and the bathroom, while not large, is beautiful with lots of marble and nice amenities. We had booked a room with a view of the Petronas Towers and it was spectacular, especially at night. Anyone going to KL should consider the MO and splurge for the Club floor and the view. I would definitely stay there again, in fact, I’d go back to KL JUST to stay there again! A regular room at the MO can be had for as little as $105++ per night. We paid $175++ for the upgrades and felt it was worth the extra money (the ++ being 5% tax and 10% service). On the Club floor, you get a breakfast buffet, with eggs made to order and anything else you might want, afternoon tea, with finger sandwiches, scones and clotted cream and pastries, and the evening cocktails, which feature different foods each night. The tea is from 3pm until 4:30, with a half hour break before the cocktails start at 5pm. Or, as Eric said, time to go to the vomitorium. They really do feed you constantly. Coffee, cappuccino, etc., as well as bottled water and soft drinks are available in the club lounge all day long. You also get 5 pieces of laundry per day. I was very impressed by this service as they not only launder your clothes, they press them as well and do a beautiful job of it. I took pictures of our room and will post them , hopefully within the next few days.

We went to bed at about 9:30. I woke up at about 3:30 am and not wanting to disturb Eric, got dressed and went to the lobby for a few minutes. I thought maybe the Club Lounge would have been open but it closes at about 11pm. I went back to sleep a little after 4am and didn’t wake up until 9:30 Sunday morning. My only complaint with the hotel is that the beds are a bit too hard, but I’d rather have a too hard bed than a too soft one. At least our backs didn’t hurt.

Well, I’d better get to some of those chores. I’ll continue this later, probably in the same thread.
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 01:16 PM
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Thanks for the first installment, Laurie.

I have the sense that KL is like Bangkok in having a number of superlative hotels. Ive heard nothing but raves about the MO and we loved the Ritz-Carlton. Yes, I'd go back to KL just for the great hotels!
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 04:02 PM
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Laurie-Thanks for the first installment. Please bring your pictures to the Boston GTG.
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 05:44 PM
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great report laurie....anxious to read more as you have time to add it...

looking forward to seeing you on saturday

bob
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 06:25 PM
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I hope I'm not boring anyone with all the detail. When I start to write, I tend to keep on going! On to the next part:

Since we woke up late on our first full day, and were too tired to trek up 272 steps, we decided to not go to the Batu Caves as originally planned and save it for the next day. We opted to just stay close to the hotel and went to the pool. The pool area at the MO is very nice and the pool is spotless, but I think the lounge chairs are just a bit too close together or maybe there are just too many of them. We stayed at the pool for a couple of hours just being lazy and resting. The flight took a lot more out of us than usual, we usually recover quite fast but not this time.

After showering, we walked over to Suria KLCC, an upscale shopping mall connected to the hotel. This would be the first of many visits there. After walking around and checking out the jewelry stores (me, Eric could do without that) it was time for lunch so we picked one of the outdoor restaurants at the mall for lunch. I can’t remember the name of the place or what we ate, but I do remember removing the lettuce and tomato from whatever it was. I also remember enjoying whatever it was we had but I don’t think it was anything unusual. I think it was just being in KL, having a couple of beers, sitting there soaking up the atmosphere, with fans with cold water filtered through them (common in KL at outdoor restaurants) blowing cold air. The mall and hotel are adjacent to a nice park with fountains and it was just fun to sit outside, drinking and relaxing without a care in the world. I was eager to explore KL but couldn’t bring myself to get off my butt and do it! After looking around the mall some more, it was almost 4:00 and time for my massage.

I originally had a massage booked for the day we arrived but since we got in late, I changed it to the next day. The massage rooms at the MO are very serene, and I had an hour Traditional Aromatic Oil Massage, cost RM215. It was a good massage but not the best I’ve ever had. I would have rather had a Thai massage but it wasn’t on the menu. After my massage, another shower for me and then it was cocktail time.

The cocktail hour at the MO Club is great and I enjoyed it as much as anything. The Lounge was hopping with business people and vacationers. I remember being on the Club Floor at the Sofitel in Rangoon a couple of years ago and there being only one other person besides me and Eric for the cocktail hour. The MO was quite a different story. We brought our bottle of Dom Perignon, hoping to have it there with the hors d’oeuvres, but were told by the staff that it wasn’t allowed. They did say that we could have it there if we paid a $20 corkage fee. I was a little annoyed since they aren’t selling drinks at the cocktail hour, everything is free, and a $20 corkage fee was high, especially since I am perfectly capable of opening a bottle of champagne myself. I had told them it was our anniversary and the fee was unacceptable. $10 would have been more reasonable but not $20 so we brought the bottle back up to the room and decided to have it later that night. While we were in the Lounge, enjoying some red wine and food, the assistant manager for food and beverages came over to us to apologize and said of course we could have our champagne there. We thanked him but declined as we already started with the red. He was very nice and gave us his card and told us to contact him if we encounter any more problems. When we got back to our room, there was a beautiful chocolate mousse cake there, with raspberries and blueberries and dark chocolate shavings on top, and two white chocolate pieces with a message written on them wishing us a happy anniversary! There was also a letter of apology. I thought this was very nice and it was totally unexpected.

We left the cake and DOM for later and went back to the mall. I wanted to have a bracelet I brought with me made smaller and was hoping one of the jewelry stores would do it. A few years ago, while in Greece, I bought a really beautiful hand made 22k gold Byzantine bracelet but it was too big for my wrist so I hardly ever wore it. I brought it to a couple of stores in NY but they didn’t want to touch it since it’s delicate and they aren’t used to working with 22k. I did find a chi chi jewelry store in my neighborhood that said they could make it smaller, and a week after I dropped it off they called me with an estimate of $120. My reaction was that they were out of their minds and I decided to bring it to Malaysia figuring I could get it done there much cheaper. We went to Tomei and within 2 minutes, they came back with a price of RM50, about $13. They said it would take about 30 minutes. It took the NY jeweler a week just to figure out he could do it! I left the bracelet at Tomei and went to a phone store to buy a Sim card for my cell phone. My cell will work just about anywhere in the world but Cingular, my carrier, charges $4 per minute from Malaysia. I got a card for my phone for a few dollars and within minutes, was able to call the US for pennies per minute. This worked out great since I wanted to stay in touch as my uncle went into the hospital the week before we left, and it gives my mother a real thrill to hear from me when we are away. I know I could just email her but I also have to admit, it’s FUN to call home from far flung places! After getting my phone set up, back to Tomei to pick up my bracelet. They did a beautiful job, you cannot tell where the cuts were made and soldered back together. After that, it was getting late so we decided to have dinner at a restaurant at the mall. We chose a Thai place and the food was so so. Back at the hotel, we popped open the champagne and had that with the delicious cake the hotel provided, looking at the Petronas Towers all lit up. It was a wonderful way to end the day. Of course, on our first full day, all we managed to see was a few stores and the bottom of a few wine glasses but I can think of worse ways to spend time.

We got up earlier the following morning and I was determined to see something. We decided to go to the Batu Caves but after breakfast, my stomach started to really bother me and I was feeling queasy. I thought oh no, we just started this trip and I haven’t been sick overseas in years! We needed to stop at Suria KLCC for something and while there, I thought it was very hot. Eric said it was comfortable and that’s when I decided to start taking Cipro. I was not going to take a chance of ruining this vacation. I felt better a little while later so the Batu Caves were on. We hired a taxi through the hotel to take us there and wait for us.

The Batu Caves are about 30 minutes from KL, and it is a Hindu Temple built in limestone caves with many shrines and a gallery of Indian deity figures. It was very colorful and interesting. First you walk through the gallery, set in a cave, and the main cave is reached by climbing 272 steps. It was very hot but the climb wasn’t too bad. It actually took a lot less time than I thought it would. All along the sides of the steps are monkeys. They were very cute and as long as you don’t show them any food, they leave you alone. I enjoyed the caves and am glad I went, but if you’re in KL and don’t happen to get there, don’t fret. This is not a must see sight. I think I was just happy to see something other than the hotel and shopping mall! On the way back to KL, the driver stopped at an HSBC so I could withdraw some cash from my checking account. We had only cashed $20 each the day before at the train station in Sentral.

Back at the hotel, we had lunch at Lai Po Heen, the hotel’s Chinese restaurant. Lai Po Heen is very elegant. We had dim sum, which is a la carte, but very reasonable. We ordered about 7 or 8 different selections, each selection having 3 or 4 pieces. Everything was absolutely delicious. We also had 2 Tiger beers each. The bill for this, including tax and service, was about $28. This was the only food we paid for this day so I can’t say that eating in KL will break the bank.

After lunch we went to the pool for about an hour. The pool looks over the park and is really nice. The pool is on the third floor (it is an outdoor pool) but since the hotel is set on a hill, it sits high up and you get good views of the park and city beyond.

After the pool, we went back to the room for showers, and then afternoon tea. We hadn’t had the tea yet so I wanted to see what that was all about. I don’t drink tea so I had cappuccino and a scone with clotted cream and jam. It was quite good, like all the food at the MO. I only tried one small pastry, not wanting to gain a ton of weight on this trip. You could easily put on lots of pounds just from eating the food offered at the Club Lounge.

At some point we went back to Suria KLCC, whether this was in the afternoon or evening, or both, I can’t remember. I wanted to look at jewelry. I LOVE gold, and the higher the karat, the better. We went to Habib, a small but nice store with quality stuff. I saw a bracelet I liked that was very unique and was yellow and white 22k gold. I wasn’t sure if I should get it, this was still the beginning of the trip and I also just had my Greek gold bracelet fixed so I could wear it. I decided to wait since we would be back at the MO in a couple of weeks. The bracelet would be there when I got back and it would be one less thing to worry about losing while traveling around. We went to Suria KLCC an awful lot but I can’t recall buying anything of note there.

5:00 and cocktail time. This night, we did make our dinner out of the offerings. We didn’t want to go out and there was so much good food there, why not? Besides, we were still full from lunch and the afternoon tea. It was a lot of fun sitting in the Lounge, drinking good red wine and “people watching”, (Gloria understands this ;-) ) You can hear the business people trying to make deals, people from all over the world trying to find some common ground with one another. I could sit there every night and never get bored. It must seem strange to have enjoyed this so much but I absolutely loved it. I wasn’t too sure how I felt about KL at this point, we hadn’t seen much of it and what we did see, although clean, orderly and pretty, seemed quite sterile. This was no Bangkok! But I would later change my mind when we got back to KL.

Next time, on to Borneo.

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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 08:10 PM
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great report laurie...very detailed...i think you guys eat more than we do and the pool...fodorites will be after you for going there so often!!!

i was yelling out when i read about the braclet...go to thai stone in bkk for repairs...$5 probably or $10 at the most...

get some sleep and we will look for more tomorrow??

bob
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 08:16 PM
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Sleep? What's that? I've barely slept at all in the last 48 hours but my body thinks it's noon and doesn't want to lie down just yet. soon I hope...
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 08:53 PM
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Hi laurieco. I just love the part about the vomitorium. It's something my Bruno would say!!!

I also love the story about the DOM and the cocktail lounge. Madness not to allow you to open your special wine! At least they did the correct thing and tried to make amends. And so they should!

Hope you can get some rest and thanks for the interesting posts! All the best.
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Old Oct 9th, 2005, 10:15 PM
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Hi Laurie,

I'm certainly not finding it boring - please continue with the details - love it. I also love people watching - one of my favourite occupations and what could be better than sitting with a glass or two of red while you watch!

Hope your body clock gets sorted out soon.
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Old Oct 10th, 2005, 10:11 AM
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We got up very early for our 7:15am flight to Sandakan, in East Borneo. Eric hates these early flights and I’m not too crazy about them either, but I hate to waste a day getting somewhere. Also, earlier flights tend to be less problematic. We took the train from Sentral to the airport and checked in for our Air Asia flight. Other than being charged about $32 for our overweight luggage, everything went well. This gave us a false sense of security about Air Asia, something that would change drastically a week later. Air Asia has a checked baggage allowance of 15 kilos, about 33 pounds. Now, I have never learned the art of packing light and my suitcase, when empty, weighs 12 pounds, so I wasn’t surprised we were over the limit. I was just relieved that they accepted our bags. I was afraid they wouldn’t allow them on. What I didn’t know at the time is that Air Asia’s scales lie, something we found out much later, but more on that at the appropriate time. I also figured that since the flights were so cheap, even with the charge for baggage, we were still getting a bargain.

We arrived in Sandakan sometime after 10am and got a taxi to our hotel, the Sabah Hotel. The ride to the hotel took about 15-20 minutes. From the taxi, Sandakan didn’t look like much. This first impression turned out to be correct. Sandakan is pretty much a tank town, no place you would want to spend a lot of time. But we were there for one reason and one reason only, to see the orang-utans at Sepilok.

We got to the hotel, which is billed as being the only international style hotel in Sandakan and is rated as 4 stars. Well, I guess so, but barely. Don’t get me wrong, it was more than adequate and the pool area was actually very nice, with a waterfall and Japanese style bridge. I’ve stayed in much worse. We had booked an executive suite for our two nights here (about $80++ per night through asiahotels.com). I don’t know about anyone else, but to me, an executive suite means that there are two rooms, with a door separating them. This room, while a decent size, had an open hutch separating the bed from the living area. It made me wonder if perhaps they put us in a junior suite, which was about $15 cheaper than the executive. In any case, the room wasn’t bad but the furniture needed some help. It wasn’t in bad shape, just the style looked like something from the 1970’s. The bathroom on the other hand, was horrible. It was big enough but bare and ugly, with fluorescent lighting that was very dim. Forget about even trying to put on make-up in there. I figured I didn’t need to look beautiful for the orang-utans so it would do.

After getting settled in, we were hungry and it was lunch time. Since the pool looked so inviting and the town did not, we decided to eat at the hotel and then get some pool time in. There is a restaurant right at the pool area and we ate there, on the outside patio. It was very pleasant and while the food was not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination, it was okay. We had satay and spring rolls as an appetizer. I can’t remember what we had for the mains. We sat out there for quite a while and had several beers.

I found a pair of leech socks at the souvenir shop at the hotel (RM10) and bought a pair. Eric declined. After, I went to the pool while Eric took a nap. It was nice lying out there, listening to my ipod, but I had to take cover after a while as the sun was very intense. Eric came out a while later. We don’t usually spend so much time at pools, except at the Pen in Bangkok, where we always get a little time in each day, but on this trip, we were more tired than usual and passing time at the pool seemed like a good idea.

For dinner, we decided to go to a seafood restaurant on the water called Ocean King. It’s supposed to be the most famous and best seafood restaurant in Sandakan. Ocean King is a huge place on the water, with both indoor and outdoor seating. There was a wedding there that evening taking up the inside so we sat outdoors, which was just fine with us. We ordered jumbo tiger prawns and lobster. We also ordered two Tiger beers, which were also jumbo size. I had forgotten that sometimes beer in Asia comes in giant bottles. The prawns were the biggest I have ever seen, and were split in half. It was more than enough food. It was a thoroughly enjoyable meal and watching the sunset over the water made it that much nicer. Dinner cost us RM144.70, about $38. Not too bad!

Back in our room at the hotel, we put on the radio for some music and opened the other bottle of champagne that we brought from home, a bottle of Veuve Cliequot. We were enjoying our champagne when we started hearing some very loud noises coming from the bathroom. Eric went to investigate and saw that the radio speaker, which was flush with the ceiling in the bathroom, was moving quite a bit and coming loose, almost to the point of falling off, like someone or something was unscrewing it and pushing down on it! A bunch of dead bugs fell out from it onto the bathroom floor. We weren’t sure what to make of this but we knew that we did not want to stay in this room. I called down to reception and said that someone or something was trying to break into our room from the bathroom, and to send someone up immediately! You would think that perhaps they would send the house detective or someone in a similar capacity, but no, they sent up two clueless maintenance men who didn’t speak English and couldn’t understand what we were saying. The two men stood there looking at the speaker moving around, scratching their heads. At this point, I went down to reception and told them we needed to change rooms. It took about 10 minutes of explaining but they finally got it and agreed to change our room. How they could have possibly thought we would stay in that room is beyond me. They moved us to a room just like the one we had but on a lower floor. Originally we were on the top floor so we assume that an animal must have gotten in through the roof and decided to break into our room. A cat burglar perhaps?

After getting settled into our new room, we continued drinking our champagne. I called my cousin in NY who assured me all was well. I also called my friend who was looking in on my cat, to see how that was going. I would have called the cat but I was afraid that if she heard my voice on the answering machine and couldn’t find me, it would upset her.
;-)


After a good night’s sleep and a lousy breakfast, we hired a taxi to take us to Sepilok. We wanted to get there early, to make sure we would be there for feeding time. Sepilok is an Orang-utan rehabilitation center about 25km north of Sandakan. They take in injured and orphaned orang-utans and rehabilitate them with the hope of them returning to the jungle. Twice per day, they are fed from a feeding platform, and many of the animals will come back for food if trees are not fruiting and to supplement what they can find on their own. This may not be the most ideal way to see them, but it’s probably the only way. I don’t think it is realistic to assume you can just take a walk through some jungle and run into an orang-utan. As we all know, animals don’t always cooperate with your plans and show up on cue. On the walk to the viewing platforms, we saw a bunch of macaques. They are very cute little monkeys and some of them were carrying their babies. The babies are adorable and have very expressive faces. They really look like little people but, dare I say it, are more endearing. I really love animals and there is something about babies, whether they are monkeys or lizards or whatever, that really get to me.

The viewing platforms are large enough to hold a lot of people so it never felt like you were being crowded out. There were a fair number of people that morning but it didn’t matter, I was able to get a good view. The viewing area is fairly close to the feeding platform and there are ropes strung between trees. It was extremely humid there. I was soaking wet and it took a while for my camera lenses to defog. A few minutes later, the orangs started showing up. There were about 10 or 12 of them, children and adults. They are very entertaining creatures, swinging from the trees, across the ropes and generally behaving like, well, apes. They put on quite a show. I took a lot of pictures and really enjoyed it.

After the orang-utans eventually left, we walked around some but it was becoming way too hot so we decided to go back to the hotel for a rest and some lunch. As the breakfast at the Sabah was less than satisfying, I was getting very hungry and the “café” at Sepilok was anything but appealing.

We had lunch at the hotel and walked around the grounds a little. After a short rest, we decided to go to the Agnes Keith House and then walk around town and then go out to dinner from there.

Agnes Keith was an American writer who lived in Sandakan from 1934 to 1952. She was married to an Englishman who was the Conservator of Forests in North Borneo. She wrote several books about living in Borneo and she spent three years in a Japanese internment camp and wrote about that as well. The original house they lived in was actually destroyed during the war but was rebuilt exactly the way it originally had been. A look through the house was interesting and was good for about 30 minutes. On the grounds is an English tea house so we stopped there for some coffee and a scone. The grounds are very pretty and it was nice to sit outside there.

After the Agnes Keith House, we walked around Sandakan. I needed to buy a light jacket since I had left mine on the plane on the flight from HK to KL. It was very hot in Malaysia but the Air Asia flight was freezing so I wanted to make sure I had a jacket for the following day’s flight to Kuching. I was looking for a stretchy jacket that zips in the front and you would wear with sweat pants, something light to keep me warm in air-con or keep mosquitoes off my arms without suffocating me. The town doesn’t have a lot to offer but I did find a store selling kind of sporting clothes. The only thing suitable they had came in a set with matching pants and a tank top. Grand total for all three pieces: RM60 (about $16). This would do.

After walking around some more, we agreed that there was nothing much to see so we decided to have an early dinner. We wanted to go to a restaurant we heard about that served good steak flown in from Australia. We got a cab and when we got to the restaurant, it was closed down, permanently. The driver said he thought they moved and knew where the new location was so he drove us there, but when we got there, the place looked like it was a fast food joint and did not look very good. It did have the same name but we decided to go back to the hotel and eat there. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant at the hotel. They had a buffet that night, all you can eat for RM32. There was no choice, it was the buffet or nothing. We had the buffet. It was awful.

We went to sleep early since we had a 7:10am flight to Kota Kinabalu, connecting to an 8:00am flight to Kuching. At least after this, we wouldn’t have to look at an airport for another 5 days.

Next stop: Kuching.
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Old Oct 10th, 2005, 10:50 AM
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nice stop....i would love to see the animals but the rest of it you can leave for someone else....

glad you got those leece socks...but what about poor eric??? he may die from the sucking of the leeches???
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Old Oct 10th, 2005, 11:06 AM
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Apparently drinking expensive champagne is also a leech repellant, as the silly leeches don't like the taste.

Laurieco- I am enjoying your report and love all the little details you are including. Keep it coming!
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Old Oct 10th, 2005, 06:11 PM
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Our 7:10 flight to Kota Kinabalu arrived on time. This time, we flew Malaysia Airlines. If we had flown Air Asia, we would have had to fly back to KL and then on to Kuching, which is in west Borneo, and that seemed ridiculous. There are no non-stop flights between Sandakan and Kutching, hence the stop in KK. I had made the decision not to stay in KK because from everything I had read in guidebooks, it seemed like KK was mainly a resort area, and as one book put it, a good place to relax and recharge. There didn’t seem to be anything to see. You experts out there can tell me if this was a mistake. Our flight from KK was delayed by about 50 minutes, which was okay as it gave me time to look at some of the jewelry shops at the airport. I bought a jade and gold pendant for my mother and I bought a sterling silver bracelet with an opal and blue topaz for myself. The bracelet looked very much like the jewelry I saw in Ubud, Bali but the lady at the shop told me it was made in Sabah. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but it was pretty and unique so I bought it. It was also a lot more expensive than the similar jewelry I saw in Bali, making me wish I had bought more when I was there two years ago. Oh well, next time.

Kuching, Cat City. Kuching means cat in Malay. I knew I would like this place. We took a taxi to the Hilton where we had reserved a room on the Club Floor. We were brought up to the 12th floor and checked in. Our room, on the same floor, was not large but very nice and tasteful, with a huge window with a great river view. The hotel itself is very nice but they were doing construction in the lobby when we were there. This did not interfere in any way with our stay however. After settling in, we checked out the hotel. We looked at the pool, which looked nice enough but not beautiful. We never did use the pool at the Hilton. It was lunch time so we decided to take a walk along the river to see what was there. We walked a bit but couldn’t make up our minds. I had noticed that the Chinese restaurant at the Hilton had a set dim sum lunch. I love dim sum, the only Chinese food I really like, so we went back to the Hilton for that. It was all you can eat for 35++. We ordered a bunch of different things and when we finished, we were still hungry so we ordered more. It was delicious. We also had a couple of beers with it. It was now about 2:45 and I wanted to go to the Cat Museum. We got a taxi to take us over and asked him to come back in an hour.

The Cat Museum is a real hoot. If you are a cat lover, you will love it. Everything you ever wanted to know about cats. Some of the displays are quite funny, such as one showing cat food! The museum is small and you can get through it in an hour with no problem. I really enjoyed it. I think Eric did too but probably not as much as I did. I bought a T-shirt there. I was hoping they would have some good souvenirs but nothing was calling out to me to buy it.

Kuching is a really pretty city and I was sorry I hadn’t planned more time there. We were there for three nights total but it was split up as two and one. The waterfront is nice for strolling and there are cafés where you can get a snack but most serve no alcohol. That ruled most of them out. Beyond the waterfront is where most of the businesses and stores are.

5:00 to 8:00pm is cocktail time at the Club Lounge at the Hilton. Of course we went but we got there at about 5:45. They also serve Australian wines, beer and some hard liquor. The food spread wasn’t nearly as extensive as the MO’s but it was perfectly fine and tasted good. It wasn’t as busy as the MO either but there was a nice crowd, again a mix of business people and tourists. I brought a couple of guidebooks to the Lounge and a printout of restaurant suggestions from fellow Fodorites. We decided on Junk, a suggestion from Hornbill. Since Hornbill lives in Kuching (but unfortunately was away when we were there) we figured he should know what restaurants are good. By the way, I’m guessing that Hornbill is male but I’m not totally sure. That’s the thing about the Internet, you never really know, so Hornbill, if you’re reading this, please confirm your gender ;-)

The suggestion turned out to be great. It’s a short walk from the Hilton, maybe 10 minutes. The restaurant is decorated with junk, just like Hornbill said, but it’s actually very nice. There are tables inside and out and there was a staircase leading up so I assume there is also seating upstairs. We had a table that was inside but just barely. There were some bushes in front partially blocking the street and it looked very nice from our perspective. I ordered the rack of lamb and Eric had a whole chicken. It came with vegetables and potatoes. We also had mineral water, a few Tiger beers and we shared a desert. It was really good. My lamb was with a creamy mint sauce and I loved it. The total, including tax and service was RM102.90 (I know all this because I have the receipts) We also left a tip on the table, which we did at most places, even though service is already included. After dinner, we walked a bit and went back to the hotel and watched a bit of TV before going to bed. There is no CNN at the Hilton, so I had to content myself with BBC World. I’m a certified news junkie and have to have my fix. We wanted to get a good night’s sleep because we planned on going to Bako National Park the following day for some jungle trekking. I’ll save this for the next installment.
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Old Oct 10th, 2005, 06:47 PM
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continues to hold my interest...i love it....
cats, champagne, t shirts, leech socks, eric, ny, attorney, jewerly, shopping, lite sleeper....it just isn't coming together in my mind or vision...guess i'll have to wait until saturday....
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Old Oct 10th, 2005, 06:48 PM
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As you can imagine, Laurie, I'm taking notes. We're also staying at the Hilton on the Club floor, but I opted for an executive suite. It sounds like that may be a good idea since you describe the rooms as small.

And you know I can't wait to see the Cat museum. It sounds like fun.

We have a few days in KK, and I'm wondering if we should cut one and add it to our days in Kuching... Of course, I'm thinking this right after we paid for our tickets! Fortunately, we're flying Malaysian Air.

I haven't decided what to do about Bako. Part of the decision will be based on what we see in the Danum Valley.

I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.
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Old Oct 11th, 2005, 12:20 AM
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hi laurie

just to let you know that you guessed wrongly. i am female and happy to be one!

i chose the name hornbill since i now live in sarawak and it is the land of the hornbill!

am glad you enjoyed kuching. its very laid back and very green for a city dont you think?

hoping to show kathie a little of it when she gets here.

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Old Oct 11th, 2005, 12:23 AM
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hi laurie

just to let you know that you guessed wrongly. i am female and happy to be one!

i chose the name hornbill since i now live in sarawak and it is the land of the hornbill!

am glad you enjoyed kuching. its very laid back and very green for a city dont you think?

hoping to show kathie a little of it when she gets here.

am also enjoying your report. looking forward to the next installment
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Old Oct 11th, 2005, 02:43 AM
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Hornbill, Sorry! There was never a clue in your posts and even though I knew hornbill was a bird, it just sounded male to me. I've made this mistake before, thinking someone on Fodors was of a certain gender, only to find out much later I was wrong. It's very odd because you tend to visualize people and then it's totally wrong!!

Kuching certainly is a beautiful city, one we most certainly want to come back to. I think I liked it best. It is very green and laid back. You're lucky to live there. The people were all so nice, something we found all over Malaysia.

Kathie, I wouldn't say the room at the Hilton was small, just not as large as the others we had, but it was very nice. The executive suite should be very nice. Maybe next time we'll spring for it. I think you will be very happy at the Hilton. The location is great and the hotel is much nicer than other Hiltons I've stayed in. Hiltons can be wildly inconsistent. Some are nice, others are not.

The next installment will have to wait for later. I'm going back to work today ;-( and don't have time to write one now. But I'll probably only work until about 1:00. My body clock is totally screwed up and sleep hasn't come easily. I figure by 1:00, I'll be passing out and totally useless. I wish I hadn't put in to work today. Tuesdays are our heaviest day. We generally have about 400-500 cases to hear and we split them up among 10-12 judges so it becomes quite hectic. We're generally done with hearings by about 1:00. I'm guaranteed to be a total mess by the time it's over. I'll save the write-ups for another day.
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Old Oct 11th, 2005, 04:12 AM
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dont worry about it laurieco. how could you possibly have known?

i am having trouble sleeping after the italian holiday too but mostly because of a bug i caught in the second half of the hols. cough cough. also a little down from having to go to work right after the trip.
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Old Oct 11th, 2005, 04:46 AM
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Laurie-a friend was just at the Orang-utan preserve. He said when the O's arrived, they came in essentially doing cartwheels on the ropes, i'e., hand-hand-foot-foot, Is he pulling my leg?

Thanks.
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