Kuching Part 1

In some ways this seemed to be a slightly surreal holiday. I'd come across The Kebun on Trip Advisor sometime in July and mentioned it to Mei. She was keen and contacted Adrian who said they were quite booked out until mid-October. We were quite happy to holiday then and asked a couple of friends who might be interested and finally it was Sharon who could make it.

October proved to be a busy month. I was caught up with trying sort out where Chronicle People and Hypnosis Works would operate from as our lease was expiring - all this while Johann and Joe were caught up with various other things.

Mei was busy at work and then we organised a Wong family lunch gathering at our place on the day before our departure and a dinner with Mei's dad and sister on the same day. So the holiday kinda crept up on us and seemed to lack some of the build up characterised by research and shopping that our other holidays have.

So it was that we found ourselves still packing an hour before we were due at the airport. All was right in the end and we were at the airport with enough time to have a cup of tea and a light meal. The flight in to Kuching was uneventful and as we came in we found the weather rainy - our bags were damp from having been out in the rain on the tarmac as they were unloaded.  Still, our spirits were quite sunny especially when I found a nice offer for prepaid Internet access. For RM30 I had a voice and data plan that was bound to be more than sufficient for all 3 of us.

The Kebun is owned and run by Adrian and Olivia and it was she who was at the airport to pick us up. On the 45-minute drive to The Kebun on the outskirts of Kuching, we discovered that she and Adrian have owned the place for some years. It began as a weekend retreat and stayed that way for the best part of the previous decade before they decided to turn part of it into specialty lodging about 2 years ago.

So what exactly is specialty lodging? Well, at The Kebun we got a kampung-style bungalow which was once part of a movie set - The Sleeping Dictionary, starring Jessica Alba in fact. There are 2 bungalows and a long house on the 10-acre plot - we got Olivia's Bungalow which is nearer the entrance and a little larger, with enough beds for 5 in 2 bedrooms. Adrian's Bungalow is a short walk away and has space for 4. The longhouse can hold 10 or so. All this is set in beautiful surroundings with vegetable and herb gardens, goat pens, chicken coops, enclosures for ducks, geese, guinea fowl and turkeys and even a couple of small ponds. Oh, and a little stream that ran just next to our elevated back verandah.

Adrian and Olivia do have a place to stay on the farm, for a farm is what it really is, though they actually have their home some minutes' drive away.

Our bungalow had a TV which Sharon watched news on at night, stacks of DVDs if you wish - and we didn't (why would we when we were serenaded by insect and animal sounds at night?) - a stocked fridge (soft drinks, beer, tuak, cheese, butter etc etc), a well-equipped kitchen and bedroom air-conditioning which we hardly used.

You can make your own breakfast with milk, eggs and sausages provided free. And you can have meals in as part of the package too. We usually had packed lunch which was fried noodles, fruit and vege on one day and fried rice with the same accompaniments the next, and we had dinner in too.

The Kebun is kind of like a cross between a B&B, an overseas friend's house and a small hotel. Some things you do yourself, other things you get as part of a package and some other things you pay extra for like the drinks in the fridge. Well, not the tuak which was complimentary. And which was finished not long after I discovered it…

What you probably wouldn't get anywhere else is a free GPS-equipped car as part of the package. We used this extensively and it made our holiday special and hassle-free.

What I am getting is ahead of myself, so back to our ride in from the airport. Olivia made a slight detour to a little shop where we had our first taste of Sarawak Laksa which is not at all 'lemak' like the laksas I'm more accustomed to. But it certainly was delicious.

I had the Sarawak Laksa which was delicious...

It was raining as I said and the weather report wasn't encouraging. Still, when we did get in to The Kebun, our spirits lifted and not just because the rain also did, but of course because the place is just so endearing. You turn off the main road, head towards the Matang Wildlife Centre and then turn right onto a narrow, winding, hilly road that crosses an old wooden bridge before rising up towards a peak from which you get some expansive views of the surroundings and then a metal gate and a driveway past a goat pen and a geese enclosure to your bungalow nestled amongst lush greenery. It’s a drive home I would never tire of.

The drive in to The Kebun.

A neighbour's house. We thought it was abandoned but later discovered it was not.

Olivia's Bungalow.

Olivia’s Bungalow rests on a slope with the back verandah jutting out towards a stream and the gardens and ponds behind. A deep front verandah looks up the driveway and is a comfortable place to sit and relax. A table and some chairs would be a nice place to have breakfast though we chose to have ours in the kitchen. Sitting here you’ll hear the honking of the geese and the occasional bleating of a couple of goats just a little way up the driveway - a surprisingly relaxing symphony.

The living room opens onto the verandah along one side and is a very comfortable place to sit and relax. As I mentioned, there’s a TV and music if you want, a couple of deep and ensconcing two-seater sofas and a couple of armchairs too. There are ornaments of all sorts and I suspect some of the ceramics and crockery on display are actually worth something. The ikat hanging on the wall certainly is and is protected by an acrylic sheet.

The front verandah.

Sharon and Mei in the living room. 

Getting ready for a meal in the amply-stocked kitchen. 

Remarkably though, no one bothers to lock up around here. Well, we couldn’t even if we wanted to as we never did get a front door key. Thing is that you just feel so safe - for yourself as well as your belongings.

At the far end of the living room is a little hallway with doors to the two bedrooms, a door to the only bathroom, a door through to the back verandah, and the kitchen. Every room, including the bath, was spacious enough to accord comfort and the three of us never felt helmed in at all. How could you though, when every window opened up to verdant greenery and brought in the sound of insect and bird call, the rustling of branches and leaves in the wind, and fresh air. And despite the moquettes (for which we had plenty of quite effective mosquito coils) we did leave most of the windows open most of the time.

The back verandah was a lovely place to enjoy a cigar and some tuak and to have a chat in the evenings. Which is something we did most nights.

Our bedroom which had a queen and a single bed. And a wardrobe. And a dressing table. And a baby cot. And a clothes rack... It was big...

The door to the back verandah

The back verandah.

Off the back verandah. You can see the path leading down to the stream and a hint of the gardens on the other side.

What a lovely view out one of the kitchen windows. How nice to prepare a cup of tea while looking through this window.

A little after settling in, we went for a walk and found the back path which crossed the stream or went along the fence towards Adrian’s Bungalow and the Longhouse. We took that route and also discovered a jetty and a large river at the other end of the property. A couple of workmen looked up and smiled at us as we perused their work on the worker’s quarters I think it was. And that kind of set the tone for our time in Kuching - as we were to discover, almost everyone we met was generally warm and friendly, or at least amiable.

Looking back up at Olivia's Bungalow.

'Friend' or his brother. Quite hard to tell them apart. Cute fellas who came around sometimes.

One of the ponds.

The geese next to the driveway.

The two fellas are near the geese too.

Whereas this lot were round the back in a much larger pen.

A view along the stream.

These silly guinea fowl were so nervous, all I did was swing the camera lens and they;d all scurry to one side. When I swung the lens to follow them, they all came scurrying back the other way.

Herbs and vegetables and other plants...

A couple of ducks along the stream.

The path to the jetty.

Adrian came by later that evening and he turned out to be a restless, energetic guy. Tall, loud, funny and with a glint in his eye that said in equal measure ‘Let’s have a beer’ and ‘Don’t mess with me’. I liked him immediately and when he found out later that I liked the Tuak and offered some to me to take home to Singapore, I liked him even more.

He showed us the car and clarified a few things and we started planning the next day’s itinerary - it was to be Gunung Gading and the hunt for Rafflesia.

More information on The Kebun can be found here.

Me and Mark go roadtripping Part 4

I like Melaka. I like its easy confidence in its culture and history and its informality. I like how the old fits in with the new and I like how you can just wander around for hours and make friends so easily. I like how you can find something for yourself, no matter if you’re looking for a drinking-hole tucked away in a corner or a more middle-class eatery by the river.

All this is on the menu in Melaka, sometimes despite the worst  efforts of politicians, cvil servants and planners. Like almost everywhere else in Malaysia, Melaka is not without fault - one of which would be the need for land reclamation. Still, it remains one of my favourite destinations.

And talking about menus, you can find quite an array of cuisines here of course and after dabbling with and abandoning some - like Ikan Bakar where the hype is better than the actual thing - I have a few favourites now. The last trip with Mei and my in-laws unearthed one or two more, but generally I promised Mark some Satay Babi and some Eurasian/Portugese food.

We had booked into the Baba House, a hotel I’ve stayed in many times before. It’s not swanky but the location along Heeren Street is unbeatable, and there’s a free car park. Add to that now the free wifi too and you’ve got a fantastic mix.

Mark in the lounge area of the Baba House.

First thing we did after settling in was to go for a walk. The new riverside project has prettied up the river banks at the expense of a few things, but it’s quite a nice stroll now and that’s what we did before going past that swanky new condo/hotel/retail thing called Casa del Rio. I must say they’ve done a decent enough job with this place and the river-facing side has restaurants and clubs which, as we strolled past, were in the process of opening for the evening and night.

We walked along the new esplanade and into the Kota Laksamana area where Sun May Hiong’s Satay Babi shop is… only to discover the owners closing up for the day. A quick chat ascertained they would be open for lunch the next day so we were not to be disappointed.

We walked back and that’s when we discovered Melaka now has a revolving tower. A tall thin tower was the spine of a revolving elevator whose glass sides gave a panoramic view of Melaka city and the surroundings. I thought it was a rather clever idea.

As we walked I pointed out various landmarks, some of a personal nature and others of historical significance. We imagined what it must have been like in the old days when Melaka was a bustling port and the centre of an empire and when the Portugese then the Dutch and finally the English colonists came and waged war. The river we crossed would have been a hive of activity as well as probably a scene of bloodshed at various points in the last 600 years.

The banks of the river now are a great place to enjoy a stroll. Or a sit-down-and-look-at-the-map-to-figure-out-where-we-are moment...

A new development called Casa del Rio

I have no idea what this fake water wheel is all about...

This dragon floats in the air above the little roundabout. 

The rivercruises have been modernised. You can see the spine of the tower in the background.

Mark near the main roundabout near Christ Church and the Stadhuys.

I've never figured out what this building is along Heeren St. It's set back some ways and looks very nice.

The Cheng Ho Museum was already closed at this point in the early evening so we went past and up the hill. Just outside St Paul’s Church is the statue of St Francis Xavier with his right hand broken off. In Goa, his right forearm - the arm used to baptise and bless his followers - was detached and placed elsewhere. In Melaka, a tree fell across the statue and broke off the right hand in eerie synchronicity…

We wandered around the church and the nearby cemetery, trying to soak in the atmosphere of the place and what it must have been like years ago. I sometimes wish I had had a better History education and that somehow my teachers had made History out to be more exciting. Because that’s what it is to me now - when I vista old places, I imagine the sights and sounds and smells of the place years ago. Melaka is a huge repository of history. Sleepy village, bustling port, centre of an empire, colonial territory, it’s seen it all and sometimes as I wander its streets I wish there was a wormhole or a tear in the fabric of space-time that would allow me a momentary step into what it was 300, 400, 500 years ago…

Mark on the way up to St Paul's Church. The statue of St Francis Xavier with the broken hand can be seen in the background.

Mark at the last remaining gateway at A Famosa.

 Mark reading some inscriptions on a burial chamber.

 The resting place of St Francis Xavier before his body was moved to Goa.

At the bottom of the hill was another museum - does Melaka have the highest concentration of museums in one town centre? - and a motley collection of planes, trains and automobiles. We clambered into the railway engine and found it surprisingly intact. The cabins on either end were dusty, cobwebby and rusty but still had most of the controls in place. The large diesel engine sat in the middle and there was a narrow corridor on either side of this engine through which the driver or engineer could move. It must have been a noisy, throbbing environment with little by way of creature comforts.

A couple of planes and even an airport fire tender represented the rest of the display and standing beneath the twin-engined propeller plane made me marvel how fragile these early airliners looked.

This area was a concreted and tiled area but smack in the middle of the area was a large hole in the ground, barricaded with railings. The excavation revealed some crumbly stonework in the ground and we later discovered these were the remains of the fort that once stood here. Works had revealed these centuries’ old archeological remains and to the credit of the Melaka authorities, all work stopped and the area became a tourist spot instead. I told Mark how it was the same in Rome and that is why you see so few high-rise buildings there - if the builders had unearthed anything, they would have had to stop work and the project would grind to a halt.

We wandered back to the hotel, going through Jonker Street and past The Orangutan House where we'd shopped a little earlier. This is one of my favourite T-Shirt places and I love the work of Charles Chiam who has now returned to Malaysia after years away in Hungary. Both Mark and I bought a few shirts including a couple of ‘I’m Hot’ ones for Mei and Megan.

We rested a bit before setting off for dinner with my old friend Amaranathan.

More on my Melaka friends in the final part.