We started our exploration of Kuching Waterfront at Chinese History Museum located opposite the Tua Peh Kong Temple.
The Chinese History Museum was an excellent place to visit for those who want to know a little more about the history of the Chinese community in Kuching. Entry to the museum is free.
Trip report here.
After visiting the museum, we head west along the tree-lined esplanade by the Sarawak River.
.On our right, across the river, we could see the majestic Sarawak State Legistrative Assembly Building.
On our left is Jalan Main Bazaar. The Main Bazaar was the downtown commercial centre of Kuching in its early days with its long row of typical Chinese shop houses. Many of these shop houses dates back to the early 1900s and earlier. They looked very similar to buildings in Singapore’s Chinatown area.
One of the fun activities to do at the waterfront is to take a ride on one of the traditional wooden sampan boats called the Perahu Tambang across the Sarawak River to the Malay village on opposite bank. This is also an opportunity to shop for more kek lapis at the village.
“Kek Lapis” means layered cake. Those from Singapore are familiar with the Indonesia-style layered cake rich in butter, called Kueh Lapis. In Kuching, the local bakers have been extremely creative to create multi-coloured and multi-flavoured variants.
There are a number of jetties along the waterfront where the sampan man will pick up and drop off passengers, offering a traditional mode of transportation that is popular with the locals and tourists.
I knew the cost of the ride was supposed to be 0.5 MYR per person but the boatman wanted 1 MYR per person for the one way trip. I did not bargain with the boatman since the fee was already affordable and this guy needs to make a living.
The 12 of us practically filled up the whole boat. One unique feature of this boat is the wooden tent-shaped roof over the passenger compartment.
Yanking a rope that ran across the roof of the boat, the boatman seated at the bow starts the outboard motor located at the back of the boat. Simple but effective remote control!
He steered the boat with a paddle from the front as the boat makes a slow turn towards the opposite bank.
Someone in the boat started to talk and joke about crocodiles in the river and the boatman was not too pleased to listen to this talk about the crocs. A bit of superstition I guess. But then, yes. There are reported cases of crocs lurking in the river near the waterfront.
The trip across the river took only a few minutes. The boatman pulled another piece of rope to cut off the engine as we approached a jetty on the opposite shore.
I told the boatman that we will take his boat back after we take a quick look-see in a kek lapis shop. He became our self-appointed tour guide, personally leading us to a kek lapis shop in the village.
The shop was quite similar to the Kek Lapis shop along Bishopgate Road earlier in the day. Since we had already bought our kek lapis from there, we did not buy any more.
It was sunny and hot at the village so we did not linger. After a quick visit, we took the same boat back to the waterfront. The boatman was eager to take us to the Astana but we declined his offer.
Arriving back at the pier where we boarded the boat earlier, we continued our stroll down the waterfront.
We soon arrived at the Darul Hana Bridge, an iconic S-shape bridge along the Kuching Waterfront.
The best time to visit this bridge would be at night when it is beautifully lit, but we did not have that luxury.
We walked up the bridge under the scorching mid-day sun. There is a sheltered area at the top where we took a rest and enjoyed the breeze and the views.
Next to the Darul Hana Bridge is the Square Tower. This small white building was built in 1879 and used to serve as a prison and a fortress to protect the waterfront.
We headed to the road junction where the Old Court house could be seen. The old Clock Tower and the Charles Brooke Memorial is in front of the Courthouse.
We continued down Jalan Gambier or Gambier Street. Some of the oldest shophouses in Kuching are found along this street. There are many sundry and stores and shops selling Indian spices and pastes with their pungent curry flavours.
We walked till the end of Gambier Street, turned left along Jalan Market. Most people would turn left into India Street and miss seeing some interesting street art on the walls along Jalan Market, just after the entrance to India Street.
Thanks to research prior to my trip, we did not miss the photo opportunities.
Further down, there is a street with more street art.
After enjoying a few photo moments with the murals, we went to explore India Street.
The street got its name from the many Indian shops that occupied the place. Originally called “Kling Street” in the 1850s (Kling means Indian in Hakka), it was changed to India Street under Rajah Brooke’s administration in 1928.
India Street was converted into a pedestrian shopping mall in 1992. The street is lined with shops selling all kinds of goods.
Street art could be seen on some side streets along India Street. I was more interested in some of the old buildings and street art than the goods on sale.
India Street led us back to the Old Court House.
We ended our walking tour of Kuching’s Old Quarters at the Old Court House. Across the Old Court House is the entrance to Carpenter Street, where we started our day. Here, we contacted Brandon, our chartered van driver to pick us up.
After all the exertions on a particularly hot and sunny day, we told Brandon to take us to Swee Kang Ais Kacang for our tea break.
Swee Kang is known to serve good Ice Kacang, called ABC in Kuching. ABC is short for “Ais Batu Campur” which is translated from Malay as “Mixed Ice”. It is basically shaved ice topped with various syrups, grass jelly, condensed milk and sweet red beans.
Although nice on a hot day, I was somewhat disappointed by the Ice Kacang as I has tasted better ones back home in Singapore.
The coffee shop also has stalls selling delicious fried carrot cake, rojak and cucur udang (fried prawn fritters).
After our tea break, we took a slow drive to Top Spot Food Centre. We plan to end our Kuching trip with a nice seafood dinner at this place before taking a flight back home.
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