Flying to Kuching

I leave Sabah for Sarawak today. So I had the usual hunt for the airport bus. The taxi drivers were as honest as usual - "There's no bus, you have to take a taxi. I give you a good price". Yeah right. I eventually found the "unofficial" airport minibus. There used to be world record for the number of people in mini until Guinness started to worry that people may get crushed. I thing the Malaysians could easily break the record. The minibus had seats for ten people but we got twenty in there. Their would have been more but for some reason nobody wanted to sit in the front seat. The reason for the numbers became clear. The 7km ride to the airport cost a mere 30 cents (14 pence). The driver needed twenty people just to break even.

Another Cat Statue

The airport was more like a building site than an airport. Let's face it, it was a building site. I picked the most developed scaffolding structure and headed for it. The airport was pretty much the same inside. In fact the "queues" at the check in counters were more like the queues at Safeways of Christmas Eve. I joined the rabble and got checked in. There was an x-ray machine for luggage but not many people were using it so I didn't bother. The metal detector was much the same. It went off for every second person but the guards weren't too interested. Security was definitely tight.

Cat Statues

After a short wait in the airport lounge (ie a bunch of plastic chairs) it was time to board the plane. It seems that Air Asia does not have allocated seating. I reckon this is a bad idea because it caused a stampede for the best seats. May be they sometimes over book so you have to get their first to avoid having to stand for the whole flight?

The flight was pretty uneventful. I arrived in Kuching (Capital of Sarawak) just has it started to rain (a lot). I headed for the hostel, checked in and had a quick wander around the town.

I spent the next day looking around the city, seeing the sites and booking some accommodation at Baku national park. I also made it to the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. I went to the orangutan feeding where just one orangutan showed up, grabbed some bananas then ran off. Must have been camera shy. When I went back to the main centre there was an orangutan carrying her child and Richie. Richie is the alpha male, weighs about 150Kgs and is capable of breaking a man in half. I managed to get within about 8 feet of him and got some good photos.

Cats

Coloured building

Monkey pinching Richie's food

Richie 1

Richie 2

Richie 3