We walked towards its direction but ended up at the Fu Jian Garden instead by chance.
There were lots of Chinese pavilions and a cat statue in the garden.
In fact, Kuching, as its name suggests, seems to be filled with cat statues or monuments of cat figures.
The gate to China Town and the giant cat
The giant cat statue
Another giant cats statue
More sculptures of cats
Vivid sculptures of cats again
We returned to the hotel at around 12.30pm and checked in to our room. We rested for two hours or so, and then left for another tour on foot to the other side of the city center. Here's the route we took in the afternoon:
For lunch, we wanted to try the oh-so-famous Kolo Mee, but we couldn't locate the place recommended by the famous blogger. The street wasn't shown on the tourist map.
We were very hungry by then, and thought that the best way to experience the local taste was to eat where the locals eat. But it was almost 2.30pm and the stalls in most kopitiams were already closed or started cleaning up for the day.
We passed by the open air market and there was a hawker center with stalls still open. So we had our first (and only) Kolo Mee there. We just ordered the Kolo Mee from a stall we chose randomly, and it actually tasted rather good. I'm not sure if it was because we were too hungry and anything would have tasted good.
After lunch, we walked around the area and took photos of the attractions that were marked on the map.
St. Thomas's Cathedral, near the Padang Merdeka
General Post Office
The Old Court House
On our way back to the hotel, we took a stroll along the Kuching Waterfront.
The Square Tower
Street artist dressed up in traditional costume
Sampan was still one of the main transport modes for some Kuchingites to travel from one side of the river to the other.
At the other side of the Sarawak River lies the Astana, the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak.
The building of the Kuching Waterfront Bazaar was previously the office and warehouse of the Sarawak Steamship Company.
The building has a historical value, but there was actually nothing to see inside. Don't be fooled by its eye-catching poster with exaggerating phrases.
Then we passed by an amphitheatre. Both 贝 and i read the name out loud at the same time, only that he pronounced it as "Go-down" and i read it as "God-own". We had a laugh and agreed that i was the one who had read it wrongly.
There was a fountain with an art form that resembled birds right in front of the Tua Pek Kong Temple and the Harbour View Hotel where we were staying.
After we reached the hotel, we took a cab to the Malaysia-China Friendship Garden.
The entrance to the Garden
Another entrance to the Garden
The Garden was built in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Malaysia-China bilateral ties. It was located in an up-market housing estate, as surrounding the Garden were rows of expensive looking bungalows and semi-detached houses.
The Friendship Globe
In the middle of the Garden stood a statue of Zheng He on a construction that resembled a ship.
The statue of Zheng He from afar
The statue of Zheng He (with our cab driver under it)
The inscriptions on the pedestal
And of course, the Garden would be incomplete without the ubiquitous cat sculpture. But what i found disturbing about this sculpture was that the cats seemed to be too hiao (flirtatious) to my liking. (Actually, i'm a dog lover and i don't like cats at all)
There were many people in the Garden, taking a stroll and exercising. We also saw two guys racing against each other on this tiny motorbike.
There was a pond full of koi and a Chinese restaurant selling dim sum. With such a magnificent Garden in this expensive housing area, i wonder how much the siew mai would cost in this restaurant.
What i like the most in this Garden were the cute-looking and symbolic benches.
The orang utan and panda bench, symbolizing Malaysia and China
The cat and panda bench, symbolizing Kuching and China
The cab driver was a nice fella and waited for us there so that we didn't have to hail for a cab again when we wanna leave. It might have been difficult to get a cab on the street because it was the rushing hour at that time.
On our way back, the cab driver said he could bring us to his friend's restaurant for dinner, but we declined. We thought of having our dinner at a restaurant that the famous blogger had recommended and located at the shop lots just behind the hotel. Too bad that it turned out to be more like a pub than a restaurant as it wasn't open during dinner time. In the end, we just went to a nearby kopitiam and had tomato fried kuay teow as dinner. This was also a dish that could only be found in Kuching. It was actually pretty much like the normal wat dan hor cooked in tomato sauce.
It might not be much to look at, but the tomato sauce rendered the fried kuay teow a sweet and sour taste that was rather appetizing.
After dinner, we returned to the hotel and decided to turn in early. We had walked a long distance on the first day and needed a good rest, as we would have another full schedule on the following days.
Labels: travel
