Do(n´t) travel: Kuching: Orang-utans and nearly the best mattress in the world in Borneo

Amazing beach in the Bako national park in Malaysia

My favourite mattress in the world is the one we have at home. It is always a pleasure to sleep here and is a reason way I do not miss travelling so much when I am at home. But there is another mattress I fell in love with. And that one I found last year at the Pullman Hotel in Kuching/Malaysia.
My wife and I had just 10 days for a quick vacation and decided to flight to Southeast Asia, because we are so in love with it and we had never been to Borneo. So I made my way from Hamburg, my wife came from Hong Kong and we were excited to discover the foreign world of Borneo. When I thought of Borneo before, I thought of jungle, exotic people, jungle, jungle, jungle, orang-utans, jungle and jungle. And then we arrived at the new Kuching airport: Fully air-conditioned, officers at the passport control asking for your passport in perfect English and the cab-driver driving us along the highway to the newly built Pullman Hotel. I was not really disappointed about that, but a little bit disaffected. Even Borneo seems to be not wild and full of secrets anymore. But that was just my first thought. Soon I was really fascinated by Kuching.

Pullman in Kuching

The bed with my second favourite mattress

It started on the taxi ride to the hotel and as we arrived at the Pullman I felt really happy and welcomed by a different Kuching and Borneo than I had expected. But it felt good.

The Pullman in Kuching is really a nice hotel and even if it is of course not one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, it is one of the hotels were I felt most like home. Hotel experts will answer that it is not a real five star hotel and objectively they might be right. I think it is a European 4 star and the rates are often like a European 2 star. But I don’t mind at all: I had one of my best hotel experiences in my life.

It started with a free upgrade to a junior suite at the check in. I like those surprises and as we entered the room even more. The room was really big, with a walk-in cupboard and a really nice bathroom with shower and a bathtub overlooking the whole city and the river from the 12th floor. Really nice! After enjoying the room we started to discover the city. We just went downhill to the river and by chance we just arrived at the promenade shortly before the last rivercruise started. So we bought some water and some fresh fruit and hopped on the boat. The tour took 2 hours and was maybe a little bit too long but it was nice to be on the river and get a first view of the sights. Afterwards we strolled down the promenade and tried some of the local delicacies from the street kitchens. Back in the hotel we fell asleep, because we had to get up early for our tour to the Bako National Park.

Amazing views, ...

... nice beaches, ...

... and more nice beaches! - In the Bako national park!

So we got up early and that was really hard because I fell in love. Not only with my wife but also with this nice bed in the Pullman with a perfect mattress and a amazing view over the city of Kuching, the river and the hills around. Perfect! But finally I made it and so we catched the local bus to Bako Bazaar. Even when we do not have much time we always try to travel with local busses and trains. We think it is the best way to get a real insights to a city or a country. Yes the bus did not have a proper air condition and yes we would have enough money to take a taxi or a private transfer, but that is for me not fun because everyone can do that. After about 90 minutes we arrived at the harbour of Bako Bazaar. Here you have to pay the entry fee to the park (10 RM= 2 €= 2,6$) and you will be grouped with some others because you have to charter a boat from the fishermen to get into the park (50 RM=10€= 13$ return for a boat with up to 6 people). After we arrived in the park we had a drink in the only and really basic restaurant. Here you will also find a ranger station and some simple bungalows for an overnight stay. They are pretty basic but wanted so if you want to spend the night there do make a reservation.

The harbour of Bako Bazaar

After our drink we had to decide for one of the many tracks in the park. It is really important to sign you and your track into the book at the ranger station and of course sign out when you are back. It is always possible that you get lost or injured and so it is possible to send a search party if you will not come back on time. We went for one of the shortest and were pretty happy with it. It is really exhausting to hike first uphill in the jungle, then over a dry and hot high plateau and then in a dry river bed even if it is only one kilometre or two. The description said: 1 hour per km and we first made fun of it. But finally it was true. First we followed the really beautiful wooden way at the coast line before we turned into the jungle and even if you know that you are not far out in the jungle you get a good feeling for it. It is also possible to do the tour with a guide. I am sure you will learn a lot and see things we were just passing by. But we decided this time to do the trip on our own. Sometimes it is good to do things together as a couple without help. In the jungle the clime is suddenly very humid even if you are just a few steps from the coast line and you will need a lot of water. Even more then we expected. We had about 3 litres with us and soon we learned that it will be not enough. The way was much longer and took much more time than we expected. And on our way we had some small crisis because sometimes we thought we got lost and the water became fewer and fewer. But finally we arrived at a really beautiful bay and took a bath in the warm sea. Even if it was not refreshing because the water was too warm we enjoyed it much. But we were not able to solve the water problem we had. 90 minutes back through the hot jungle with just a sip of water? Impossible! Luckily we met fishermen at the beach who took us back to the ranger station. And we were really lucky because so we had the chance to see the park with its jungle, beaches and the rocks that remembered us of Halong bay in Vietnam. So we went again to the little restaurant and had as many drinks as we wanted. Of course we signed out at the ranger station and then we took a boat back to Bako Bazaar and the public bus to Kuching.

After a shower and a nap in the hotel we went to the Filipino restaurant “Pinoy”. Due to the reason that a tropical rain started it was not that crowded. But I had great spare ribs and some cold Carlsberg. Afterwards we went to the Lime Tree Hotel. At the beautiful rooftop bar we had some great Lime Tree mojitos and a nice Lime cheesecake for dessert and were thinking about our two days in Kuching. We were pretty happy with it and but until now we didn’t see any orang-utans. But that changed the next day as you will read in part two next week.