Another thing you can do while in Sarawak is to visit the Mulu and Niah Caves. They're not near Kuching but is through a town called Miri instead. That's where one of largest caves system in world is. One of them can fit several 747s!

kakijalan, in some of my guidebooks, it mentions caves in Borneo but it also says that the caves are literally crawling with zillions of cockroaches! Is this the case with the caves you mention? I ask because I HATE ROACHES!!!!

i've never been to the caves myself so I suppose what the travel books are telling you must be correct. It is in the wild afterall...
one thing i can confirm is that there are many bats in the caves too...
Maybe you shld give the caves a miss then... sorry

Bats I can deal with. Roaches I can't!

Laurie -- never move to NYC if you don't like roaches. ;-)

Gloria, I LIVE in NYC!!!!! This is why I hate them so much. I've made it my life's work to rid the world (well, at least my apartment) of as many roaches as possible. Luckily, I haven't seen one in my apt in over a year, knock on wood ;-)

Hi, we went to Sarawak about 7 years ago so it has probably changed quite a bit since then. We stayed in the city for 4 days then went out to the Damai Lagoon Resort for 8 days of R&R not to be confused with the Damai Beach Resort (both Holiday Inns). We booked a trip from the Tourist Centre for a Bako day trip and it was the highlight of our stay. The guy that took us, his name is Aba, actually picked us up from the hotel in his car, he used to be a guide in the National Park so he knew exactly what to see and where to go. We saw lots of monkeys that other groups did not see. And the pitcher plants were another highlight. We walked a long way and it is very hot and humid so take plenty of water. We ended up climbing down to a beach area and Aba had arranged a long tail boat to take us back to the main jetty, other groups had to walk back and were not looking forward to it. We even had a meal with him at the fishing village at the jetty and it was the best meal we had in Sarawak. You must also visit the night market, its really interesting. And just sitting on the riverfront at anytime of the day but especially at sunset. We will get back there some day.
We were also in Penang this time last year, stayed in the Golden Sands. There is not a lot to see but we found a great night market place to eat! Just love those Chicken Satays!!!!!
Hope you have a great time, enjoy every minute.

Thanks for that info Maudie. I plan on visiting Bako and am really looking forward to it. Where did you stay in Sarawak? Was it in Kuching? We'll be in Kuching for several nights at the Hilton and also going to the Batang Ai Longhouse Hilton for 2 nights. Were you in either of those places?

Hi Laurieco,
Yes we stayed in Kuching but at the Holiday Inn, it was very tired and we went and had a look at the Hilton and wished we had stayed there. We didn't get to Batang Ai, it wasn't really advertised much back then but it is on the list for next time. Make sure you have a Steamboat meal, one of the hotels offered it but we went "local" for ours - goodness knows what we ate but it was great fun and we enjoyed it. Cheers.