Post by twoton on Aug 24, 2007 21:31:36 GMT 7
Selamat datang!
It's been a fantastic summit, but the actual summit was only part of the whole experience. Everything else - the city of Kuching, the countryside, the food, the people, the field trips, and the plants, was just as fascinating and truly overwhelming.
So I've decided to break my report into sections for smoother digestion:
Part I: Kuching
Part 2: The Conference
Part 3: The Food
Part 4: The Field Trips, which I'll again subdivide into
(A) Pre-Conference Outings
(B) Bako National Park
(C) Bau, Padawan and Serian
I'll be posting a total of 171 pix in seven categories, that'll take time, so I'll probably do one part per day.
As an appetizer and mood-setter, I'll start out with Kuching. It's a wonderful, peaceful, and relaxed town, recently voted for "Most Liveable Town in South East Asia", and it sure feels like it. Much is being made about and many pictures have been taken of the beautiful Waterfront, so I'll skip my own crappy pix here - the Waterfront has its own website, and here is a very nice picture blog..
That said, let's jump right into the fray:
"India Street" - one of the myriads of shopping centers in Kuching. Here's where you go for dirt-cheap clothes, such as the two-dollar T-shirts with the shrunken head motives (see also below) I bought for my sons.
The Singgahsana Lodge - Kuching's "boutique backpacker hotel", featuring among other things - friendlyness, artsiness and cleanliness come to mind - a little cozy bar on the top floor, which was quickly nominated as the Un/official Summit Bar, and where you could find Nepenthes freaks of all colors discussing anything from horticulture to taxonomy till the water buffaloes came home (usually around 2 a.m.)
The Sarawak Museum - small, but very interesting, especially if you keep in mind its 120-odd year history. You can almost feel Robert Shelford lurking in the backrooms, dusting the specimens....
The entrance to the Aquarium outside the Museum
The Astana - the old residence of the White Rajahs
Right next to it, the Sarawak Parliament Building - the new residence of the current rajahs
The James Brooke Bistro & Cafe by the Waterfront. The White Rajahs faced unemployment when Malaysia became independent in 1957, so I guess for lack of better ideas they just went and opened a beer joint....
An old fort by the Waterfront. This was also the jail in later years, providing space for all six local thugs.
If you need to get across the river, you take these little red sampans (oddly enough, covered in large-scale ads by the local telecom).
These good people had a ball with my girth and the serious rockage it created for the small, narrow and quite light boat. I'm sure that captain was happy to see my back after the crossing...
On the other side, you'll find the above-mentioned Astana, a nice Malay kampong (village) and Fort Margherita, built by the second White Rajah, James' nephew Charles in the latter half of the 19th century.
Fort Margherita overlooks the river, and if you look closely, you'll see a painted skull on the door of that tower on the left.
If you open that door, you'll be tete-a-tete with this - a wicker basket containing six or seven shrunken heads; remainders from Sarawak's headhunting heyday. I don't know why Charles Brooke had them put there, but they're certainly gruesome to look at.
One of the maaaaaaany souvenir shops along the Waterfront
Nice root carving in a travel agency
A pepper shop. Yep. Pepper. Sarawak is the world's largest producer of Piper nigrum[/url]. Incidentally, 19th century German had the expression "go to where the pepper grows!", meaning "go to hell!". Well, now I've been there.
A ferry outside Kuching near Gunung Matang
Last, not least, a street hawker offering various pleasure enhancers for adults. Besides the usual Chinese tinctures and herbal Viagra, they had this - pecker rings made from deer (?) hair. Guaranteed stayin' power!
Next part: my pre-conference field trips
It's been a fantastic summit, but the actual summit was only part of the whole experience. Everything else - the city of Kuching, the countryside, the food, the people, the field trips, and the plants, was just as fascinating and truly overwhelming.
So I've decided to break my report into sections for smoother digestion:
Part I: Kuching
Part 2: The Conference
Part 3: The Food
Part 4: The Field Trips, which I'll again subdivide into
(A) Pre-Conference Outings
(B) Bako National Park
(C) Bau, Padawan and Serian
I'll be posting a total of 171 pix in seven categories, that'll take time, so I'll probably do one part per day.
As an appetizer and mood-setter, I'll start out with Kuching. It's a wonderful, peaceful, and relaxed town, recently voted for "Most Liveable Town in South East Asia", and it sure feels like it. Much is being made about and many pictures have been taken of the beautiful Waterfront, so I'll skip my own crappy pix here - the Waterfront has its own website, and here is a very nice picture blog..
That said, let's jump right into the fray:
"India Street" - one of the myriads of shopping centers in Kuching. Here's where you go for dirt-cheap clothes, such as the two-dollar T-shirts with the shrunken head motives (see also below) I bought for my sons.
The Singgahsana Lodge - Kuching's "boutique backpacker hotel", featuring among other things - friendlyness, artsiness and cleanliness come to mind - a little cozy bar on the top floor, which was quickly nominated as the Un/official Summit Bar, and where you could find Nepenthes freaks of all colors discussing anything from horticulture to taxonomy till the water buffaloes came home (usually around 2 a.m.)
The Sarawak Museum - small, but very interesting, especially if you keep in mind its 120-odd year history. You can almost feel Robert Shelford lurking in the backrooms, dusting the specimens....
The entrance to the Aquarium outside the Museum
The Astana - the old residence of the White Rajahs
Right next to it, the Sarawak Parliament Building - the new residence of the current rajahs
The James Brooke Bistro & Cafe by the Waterfront. The White Rajahs faced unemployment when Malaysia became independent in 1957, so I guess for lack of better ideas they just went and opened a beer joint....
An old fort by the Waterfront. This was also the jail in later years, providing space for all six local thugs.
If you need to get across the river, you take these little red sampans (oddly enough, covered in large-scale ads by the local telecom).
These good people had a ball with my girth and the serious rockage it created for the small, narrow and quite light boat. I'm sure that captain was happy to see my back after the crossing...
On the other side, you'll find the above-mentioned Astana, a nice Malay kampong (village) and Fort Margherita, built by the second White Rajah, James' nephew Charles in the latter half of the 19th century.
Fort Margherita overlooks the river, and if you look closely, you'll see a painted skull on the door of that tower on the left.
If you open that door, you'll be tete-a-tete with this - a wicker basket containing six or seven shrunken heads; remainders from Sarawak's headhunting heyday. I don't know why Charles Brooke had them put there, but they're certainly gruesome to look at.
One of the maaaaaaany souvenir shops along the Waterfront
Nice root carving in a travel agency
A pepper shop. Yep. Pepper. Sarawak is the world's largest producer of Piper nigrum[/url]. Incidentally, 19th century German had the expression "go to where the pepper grows!", meaning "go to hell!". Well, now I've been there.
A ferry outside Kuching near Gunung Matang
Last, not least, a street hawker offering various pleasure enhancers for adults. Besides the usual Chinese tinctures and herbal Viagra, they had this - pecker rings made from deer (?) hair. Guaranteed stayin' power!
Next part: my pre-conference field trips
