CHAPTER 1 Sarawak, into the LonghouseThe name of Sarawak still evokes romance rather than reality. While Rajahs and Borneo headhunters ring more bells than 125,000 square kilometers of hills, jungle and swampland just north of the Equator. In this land of abundant rainfall, innumerable rivers weave their way over the state’s boundaries into Indonesian Kalimantan and provide routed into remote jungles areas. Read More...
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CHAPTER 2 Catching the Midtown SampanSarawak’s capital city, Kuching, is suffused with memories, especially the many colonial buildings that have withstood the march of 20th century progress. Amid the noisy traffic and the bustling markets, which are typical of every Malaysian town, the old buildings give the capital an elegant and dignified air. Read More...
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CHAPTER 3 Images Charged with IntensityPerhaps the most important and enthralling building for the visitor is the marvelous Sarawak Museum, set in its grounds between Jalan McDougall and Jalan Tun Haji Openg. The naturalist and co-founder of the theory of evolution along with Charles Darwin, Alfred Russell Wallace, spent many years in Borneo, and became a particular friend of Rajah Charles Brooke. Read More...
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CHAPTER 4 Kuching’s Other TreasuresSome of the local handicrafts you might have admired in the museum are for sale in small shops along Wayang Street – for a price. Outrageously fanciful and symbolic renditions of the sacred hornbill are craved on a large scale and painted with vivid reds and greens. Behind in a case is a human skull, which makes you catch your breath – but the proprietor grins, and explains it is a plastic replica. Read More...
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CHAPTER 5 Sarawak’s BeachesSun worshipers, beach lovers and golfers head for Damai Beach, near Santubong, just 30 minutes by road from downtown Kuching. The pioneer resort here, Holiday Inn Damai Beach, has been joined by the Santubong Resort and Damai Beach Resort. Read More...
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CHAPTER 6 Tours from KuchingTour companies arrange many trips form the capital to many of the surrounding points of interest. Choose your tour operator carefully; the Tourist Information Office may be able to help you select one to suit your interests. Read More...
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CHAPTER 7 Rugged Coastal JungleA bus ride and a boat trip away from Kuching bring you to Bako National Park, situated on a peninsula at the mouth of the Sarawak River. Bako’s relatively small area of 27 square kilometers, has primary rain forest bounded on one side by a picturesque coastline of sandy bays and steep cliffs, and is uniquely rich in both flora and fauna. Read More...
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CHAPTER 8 Journey up the Rejang RiverBeyond Kuching, cosmopolitan city life fades away and the innumerable rivers that mark Sarawak’s green interior become the highways to the center of inland settlements. Sibu, capital of Sarawak’s third and largest division, is an easy-going and predominantly Chinese town, where trishaws are still in service and where fish markets are overflowing with gigantic freshwater fish such as carp and the much-prized kolong, which finds its way to the elegant dining tables of Hong Kong. Read More...
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CHAPTER 9 Boom Towns and Inland RiversBintulu and Miri lie on the northwest coast of Sarawak and are towns that mushroomed with oil industry. Bintulu is an increasingly modern town with luxurious hotels, restaurant and bars which cater to the new-found wealth of the town’s inhabitants. On Canada Hill overlooking Miri is Sarawak’s first oil well. Constructed by the Shell oil company in 1910, the well was the forerunner of a further 623 oil wells drilled in the area known as the Miri Land Field. Read More...
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