Brief history

Cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers were living in Sarawak forty thousand years ago. Their isolation ended when the first trading boats arrived from Sumatra and Java around 3000 BC, exchanging cloth and pottery for jungle produce. By the thirteenth century Chinese merchants were dominant, bartering beads and porcelain with the coastal Melanau people for bezoar stones (from the gall bladders of monkeys) and birds’ nests, both considered aphrodisiacs. In time, the traders were forced to deal with the rising power of the Malay sultans including the Sultan of Brunei. Meanwhile, Sarawak was attracting interest from Europe; the Dutch and English established short-lived trading posts near Kuching in the seventeenth century, to obtain pepper and other spices.

With the decline of the Brunei sultanate, civil war erupted early in the eighteenth century. Local rulers feuded, while piracy threatened to destroy what was left of the trade in spices, animals and minerals. In addition, the indigenous groups’ predilection for head-hunting had led to a number of deaths among the traders and the sultan’s officials, and violent territorial confrontations between powerful tribes were increasing.

Sarawak place names

As you travel through Sarawak, you’ll notice certain terms cropping up repeatedly in the names of places, longhouses and other features. You’ll seldom encounter them elsewhere in Malaysia, so it pays to know what they mean:

Batang “Trunk” or “strip”; used before a river name, it denotes that the river is the central member of a system of rivers.

Long “Confluence”; used in town names in the same way as the Malay “Kuala”.

Nanga “Longhouse” in Iban; many longhouses are named “Nanga” followed by the name of the river they are next to.

Pa or Pa’ In the Kelabit Highlands – denotes a village.

Rumah “House” in Malay; some longhouses are named “Rumah” followed by the name of the headman (if there’s a change of headman, the longhouse name follows suit).

Ulu From the Malay hulu, meaning “upriver”; when used before the name of a river, it indicates the region surrounding the headwaters of that river – for example, the Ulu Ai is the upriver part of the Ai River and its tributaries there.

The White Rajahs

Just when matters were at their most explosive, the Englishman James Brooke took an interest in the area. A former soldier, he helped the Sultan of Brunei quell a rebellion by miners and, as a reward, demanded sovereignty over the area around Kuching. The weakened sultan had little choice but to relinquish control of the awkward territory and in 1841 James Brooke was installed as the first White Rajah of Sarawak. He had essentially created a new kingdom, not formally part of the British Empire.

Brooke built a network of small forts – many are now museums – to repel pirates or tribal warring parties. He also sent officials into the malarial swamps and mountainous interior to make contact with the Orang Ulu. But his administration was not without its troubles. In one incident his men killed dozens of marauding tribesmen, while in 1857 Hakka Chinese gold-miners, based in Bau near Kuching, retaliated against his attempts to eliminate their trade in opium and suppress their secret societies. When they attacked Kuching, Brooke got away by the skin of his teeth. His nephew, Charles Brooke, assembled a massive force of warrior tribesmen and followed the miners; in the ensuing battle over a thousand Chinese were killed.

In 1863 Charles Brooke took over and continued to acquire territory from the Sultan of Brunei. River valleys were bought for a few thousand pounds, the local tribes either persuaded to enter into deals or crushed if they resisted. The sultan’s territory had shrunk so much it was now surrounded on all three sides by Brooke’s Sarawak, establishing the geographical boundaries that still define Brunei today.

Charles was succeeded by his son, Vyner Brooke, who consolidated his father’s gains. However, the Japanese occupation of World War II effectively put an end to his control. Vyner escaped, but most of his officials were interned and some executed. Upon his return in 1946, he was compelled to cede Sarawak to the British government. The Brooke dynasty was effectively at an end, and a last link with its past was severed in 2011 when Vyner’s nephew Anthony Brooke, his designated successor who had briefly run Sarawak before World War II while Vyner was in the UK, died.

To the present

With Malaysian independence in 1957, attempts were made to include Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei, but Brunei declined at the last minute to join the present-day Federation of Malaysia, inaugurated in 1963. Sarawak’s inclusion was opposed by Indonesia, and the Konfrontasi broke out, with Indonesia arming communist guerrillas inside Sarawak. The insurgency continued for three years until Malaysian troops, aided by the British, put it down. To this day, many inhabitants of the interior remain displaced.

Since then, Sarawak has developed apace with the rest of Malaysia, though at considerable cost to the environment, with up to ninety percent of its primary rainforests having been logged. Politically, the state today is closely identified with the policies of Taib Mahmud, a Melanau, who was chief minister from 1981 to 2014, and who to an extent oversaw a time of infrastructural and economic growth, yet also passed laws that gave him control of the logging industry during that time. The support of his PBB party and allied parties has helped prop up the ruling coalition in general elections, and the PBB is often viewed as a proxy for UMNO. Sarawak is the only state where Malaysia’s main Malay party has no presence.

There are signs of a backlash, however, brought on perhaps by the rising cost of living, economic disparity, and allegations from international environmental groups as well as Taib’s opponents and the Malaysian media, that Sarawak’s administration is tainted by corruption – the list of allegations is far too long to include here, but an internet search will return dozens of examples including damning leaked US embassy cables published by Wikileaks in 2011. In 2014, Taib resigned as chief minister (a role taken over by Adenan Satem, his former brother-in-law) to become Governor of Sarawak, although many feel that Taib is still a big influence in the government.

The 2016 local elections saw the PBB claw back the swing to the opposition that took place in the 2011 election – ironically enough, given what is happening to the state’s natural resources, with the continued help of rural voters. Much of this may have to do with the fact that rural areas in support of the PBB have seen much more infrastructure development in recent years than those that supported opposition parties.

Taib’s main environmental legacy is the project to construct twelve hydroelectric dams in the state, of which only the Bakun and Murum dams have so far been commissioned and neither of which is generating to full capacity due to lack of demand. The Baram Dam was all set for construction but local and international oppostion to the project, which would have displaced over twenty thousand mainly Penan people, saw the plan shelved in 2015. Construction has already started on the newest dam, Baleh.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SARAWAK

By plane It’s easy enough to fly into Kuching, Miri, Bintulu or Sibu from the Peninsula, and there are also decent connections with Sabah, Brunei and Singapore; Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Firefly, MASwings and SilkAir provide a comprehensive service between them. There are also flights from Pontianak in Indonesian Kalimantan to Kuching, operated by AirAsia. Note that Sarawak has its own immigration controls, so you will be stamped in and out even if flying between here and the other states of Malaysia.

By boat There’s a boat from Labuan island, off the Sabah coast, to Lawas.

By bus A handful of buses connect Bandar Seri Begawan and Miri, and Kota Kinabalu and Miri via Lawas. The only official border crossing between Kalimantan and Sarawak is at Entikong/Tebedu (daily, roughly 6am–6pm), 100km south of Kuching by road; it’s used by frequent buses plying between Pontianak and Kuching and all the way to Miri. However, there may be another once the latest section of the Pan-Borneo Highway is completed to Telak Melano, on the Indonesian border near Sematan, in 2019.

Getting around

Sarawak covers pretty much the same area as England or the state of Mississippi, but with much of the state wild and thinly populated, there’s not that much ground to cover unless you wish to visit remote communities or the interior’s national parks, such as Mulu. As ever, it’s essential to book public transport at least a week in advance if you want to travel around the time of a major festival, notably the two-day gawai harvest festival at the start of June, when huge numbers of indigenous people return to their original longhouses.

By plane Flying is a useful timesaver between Kuching and Miri, and to reach Mulu from either Kuching, Miri. and Kota Kinabalu. However, the most memorable flights are on the tiny Twin Otter planes, connecting the interior with Bario and Ba’Kelalan.

By bus Numerous buses ply the trunk road between Kuching and Miri, though thanks to slow-moving trucks journeys take a little longer than distances might suggest. Buses operated by MTC (mtcmiri.com) and Biaramas/Bus Asia (no relation of AirAsia; ba.my) are a cut above the rest in terms of comfort. Fares are reasonable – Kuching to Sibu, for example, costs RM50–55 one way (7hr). Local bus services also radiate from the main cities, in daylight hours only.

By boat The only scheduled boat services you’re likely to catch are those between Kuching and Sibu, and express boats along the Rejang River.

By taxi On some routes, buses are supplemented by kereta sapu; any “taxis” mentioned in small towns here will usually be of this type. Useful in rural areas, such share taxi services are generally reliable though, of course, their operators are neither licensed nor insured. Prices are comparable to bus fares, unless you’re in a 4WD. Uber is available in Miri and Kuching, while other smaller cities only have Grab.

By car Sarawak’s road network is simplicity itself. Given that signage is adequate and drivers’ behaviour a little less manic than in the Peninsula, renting a car is worth considering. The state’s one and only trunk road, part of the so-called Pan-Borneo Highway, runs between Kuching and Miri, via Sibu and Bintulu, and on into Brunei. It’s a dual carriageway only as far east as the turning for Sri Aman, a 3hr drive from Kuching; beyond that it becomes little more than a two-lane country road. The coastal highway between Bintulu and Miri is also mostly a two-lane affair. Unlike its counterpart, it holds few facilities or settlements; if you intend to use it, fill up beforehand and set off in plenty of time to arrive before nightfall.

By longboat or 4WD Finally, in remote areas, you might need to charter a longboat for a river trip or a 4WD to gain access to the network of rough logging roads that have begun to supplant boat travel. As always in Malaysia, getting off the beaten track isn’t cheap unless you’re travelling in a small group – ideally of four people. Chartering a longboat for a 2hr trip might cost RM200–250 for two or three passengers (depending on luggage), assuming you can get hold of a boatman at all, while four passengers might pay the driver up to RM200 to go 100km in a 4WD. Details are given in the text where relevant, but unless you’re on a budget it’s often more worthwhile to pay a tour operator to arrange things.

Hitchhiking Although we don’t recommend it in general, for male travellers and couples, hitching can significantly reduce your travel costs and help you meet Sarawak people. It’s also possible to hitch along logging tracks, though be prepared to spend the night at a basic jungle rest stop if you don’t find a ride.

< Back to Sarawak

Southwestern Sarawak

Visitors flying in from Peninsular Malaysia or Singapore are treated to a spellbinding view of muddy rivers snaking their way through the jungle beneath lush peaks. It not only just about sums up Borneo, but also sets the tone for what the southwest of Sarawak has in store. The area is home to several of Sarawak’s national parks, notably Bako, with its proboscis monkeys and excellent trekking. It’s also a good place to get a grounding in Borneo’s tribal cultures, which you can do at the museums in the likeable state capital Kuching. Among other top draws are the orang-utans of the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and the Sarawak Cultural Village, a brilliant collection of tribal houses near the beaches of Damai. You can also see a proper longhouse at Annah Rais, or head east to the edges of Batang Ai National Park, home to many Iban communities, though they’re very much maintained purely for the tourists, and whose inhabitants seem a bit sick of hanging around already.

Kuching

KUCHING, the state’s oldest, largest city, is the perfect gateway to Sarawak. This is one of Malaysia’s most charming and laidback cities, revelling in a picturesque setting on the Sarawak River, with Mount Santubong looming on the western horizon. Despite central high-rises, much of the recent development has been confined to the bland but burgeoning suburbs, and the historical core remains appealingly sleepy and human in scale, its colonial architecture redolent of a bygone era. Kuching’s blend of contradictions – of commerce alongside a sedate pace of life, of fashionable cafés rubbing shoulders with old-fangled kedai kopis – makes it an appealing place to chill out for several days while exploring sights such as the Sarawak Museum, showcasing the state’s ethnological heritage, and making excursions to the numerous national parks and other sights in the vicinity.

Most of Kuching lies on the south bank of the river, its core an easily walkable warren of crowded lanes. The area sandwiched between Jalan Courthouse to the west, Jalan Wayang to the east and Reservoir Park to the south, usually referred to as old Kuching, includes several colonial churches and administrative buildings. Chinatown occupies the same general area, incorporating what were once the main shopping streets of Main Bazaar, facing the river, and Carpenter Street, and Chinese businesses and restaurants also dominate Jalan Padungan to the east. The traditional Malay district is dominated by the domes of the Masjid Negeri, with several Malay kampungs north of the river too. The Chinese and Malays together make up nearly two-thirds of Kuching’s population of just over 700,000, though there are also substantial communities of Bidayuh and Iban.

Brief history

When James Brooke came up the river in 1841, he arrived at a village known as Sarawak, on a small stream called Sungai Mata Kuching (“Cat’s Eye”), adjoining the main river; he probably shortened the stream’s name, which came to refer to the fast-expanding settlement. However, a much-repeated tale has it that the first rajah pointed to the village and asked its name. The Malay locals, thinking Brooke was pointing to a cat, replied – reasonably enough – “kuching” (“cat”; which explains the city’s obsession with cat memorabilia). Either way, in 1872 Charles Brooke officially changed the settlement’s name from Sarawak to Kuching.

Until the 1920s, the capital was largely confined to the south bank of the Sarawak River, stretching only from the Chinese heartland around Jalan Temple, east of today’s centre, to the Malay kampung around the mosque to the west. On the north bank, activity revolved around the fort and a few dozen houses reserved for British officials. The prewar rubber boom financed the town’s expansion, with tree-lined Jalan Padungan, running east from Chinatown, becoming one of its smartest streets. Kuching escaped relatively lightly during World War II, since Japanese bombing raids largely focused on destroying the oil wells in northern Sarawak.

In recent decades, the city sprawled south and port facilities and warehouses in the centre closed as new shipping terminals and industrial estates were created downriver, to the northeast. Robbed of waterborne traffic, downtown’s riverside was reinvented in the 1990s with partial success as a leafy, pedestrianized recreation area, its quaint panoramas spoiled only by the bizarre oversized hulk of the State Assembly building, completed in 2009 on the north bank, currently being joined to the south bank via a rather funky new bridge.

Kuching waterfront

Beginning along Jalan Gambier and continuing for just over 1km until it peters out close to the Grand Margherita hotel, Kuching’s central waterfront is where most visitors begin exploring the city – almost everything of interest is within 500m of this esplanade. Sporting the odd fountain and several fast food kiosks, it has a somewhat sanitized feel, but a sprinkling of whitewashed colonial buildings, tranquil river views and the shophouses of Main Bazaar and Jalan Gambier make for a worthwhile wander.

For views alone, the best time to turn up is around 6pm on a fine day, when you’ll be treated within an hour to a fiery sunset behind Mount Serapi (one of the peaks of Kubah National Park), casting an orange glow over city and river. To get an aerial view, head up to the cinema on the top floor of the colourful Medan Pelita building on Lebuh Temple, where a large balcony offers a fine vista over old Kuching. It’s possible to do an expensive sunset river trip, marketed as the Sarawak River Cruise (daily 5.30pm, from the jetty near the Sarawak Steamship Company building; 1hr 30min; RM65; 082 240 366, sarawakrivercruise.com), but the views are little better than those from dry land.

Along the Main Bazaar

The fast-gentrifying Main Bazaar is home to a few of guesthouses and tour agencies, plus a rash of souvenir shops and a gallery, the odd attempt at a posh café, and a handful of more traditional shops. At its junction with Jalan Tun Haji Openg lies the Old Courthouse that used to house many of the region’s tourist facilities but has been now rented out to an assortment of high-end restaurants . Built in 1874, and sporting impressive Romanesque columns, the complex is fronted by the Charles Brooke Memorial, a 6m-high granite obelisk erected in 1924. Stone figures at its base represent the state’s Chinese, Malay, Dayak and Orang Ulu communities.

Diagonally across, on the waterfront itself, the single-turreted Square Tower is all that’s left of a fortress built in 1879. An earlier wooden construction burned during the 1857 gold-miners’ rebellion. The trio of compact 1930s buildings next door, once belonging to the Sarawak Steamship Company, now house the so-called waterfront bazaar, a disappointing collection of souvenir outlets; you’re better off checking out the touristy shophouses opposite.

Chinese History Museum

Eastern end of the Main Bazaar • Mon–Fri 9am–4.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm • Free; no photography allowed • 082 231520

The squat, pale orangey-pink Chinese History Museum was built in the 1910s as a courthouse for the Chinese community, after which it became the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. It’s a source of pride to the local Chinese in a country where state-run museums often snub traditions that aren’t Malay or tribal. While the artefacts are modest, apart from the half-sized – but depressingly large, given that it is made of ivory – carving of an emperor and empress, the museum gives a decent account of how nineteenth-century Chinese migrants opened up western Sarawak to agriculture and mining.

Around the Padang

Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg leads away from the riverfront past a smattering of colonial buildings just beyond the courthouse complex and close to the Padang. Unfortunately the area’s character has been diluted by the brash Plaza Merdeka mall and hotel just north of the Padang, though it doesn’t totally steal the thunder of Kuching’s grandest building, the Neoclassical central post office on the street’s east side. That said, the street is so narrow that you can’t get far back enough to enjoy a decent face-on view of the ornamental columns and a huge pediment, completed in 1931.

Sarawak Craft Council

Round Tower, Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg • Mon–Fri 8.30am–1pm & 2–4.30pm • Free • 082 245652, sarawakhandicraft.com.my

Unlike the Square Tower, the Round Tower is not the shape its name would suggest – it actually has two roundish towers on either side of a flat facade. Built in the 1880s as a fort, it’s now used by the Sarawak Craft Council, formed to preserve and promote traditional skills in art forms such as weaving and beading, with an excellent showroom where all products are labelled with the part of Sarawak where they were made.

Textile Museum

Beside the Round Tower, Jalan Tun Haji Openg • Daily 9am–4.30pm • Free • museum.sarawak.gov.my

“A piece of New Orleans transplanted to Kuching” is how the tourist office describes the ornate building with shuttered windows beside the Round Tower. They advisedly didn’t say “literally”, for it was originally built here in the early twentieth century as a hospital. The handsome restored structure certainly catches the eye, unlike the low-key signs announcing its present-day role as the city’s Textile Museum, presenting Borneo costumes and artefacts across the centuries – headdresses, belts, traditional woven fabrics known as pua kumbu. Worthwhile though the collection is, it’s less well presented than the Iban weaving at the gallery of the Tun Jugah Foundation.

St Thomas’s Cathedral and the Bishop’s House

Jalan Tun Haji Openg • Mon–Sat 8am–5pm (though hours can vary) & services on Sun • Free

On a hillock off the east side of Jalan Tun Haji Openg, the Anglican St Thomas’s Cathedral is a tidy, plain 1950s edifice, one of a cluster of colonial churches and mission schools hereabouts. Only the vaguely mock-Tudor Bishop’s House, built in 1849, which is still the Anglican bishop’s residence and the oldest surviving building in the city, is worth a look, though the inside is not usually open to the public; reach it by turning left off Jalan McDougall and walking uphill for a couple of minutes.

Chinatown

East of the Old Courthouse complex, a gaudy Chinese archway marks the entrance to Kuching’s historic Chinatown via Carpenter Street (the name is still used rather than the Malay “Jalan Carpenter”), which becomes Jalan Ewe Hai at its eastern end. Truth be told, the district’s Chinese flavour is somewhat diluted by a rash of bars these days, but a few old-fashioned kopitiams, herbalists and snack shops still dot the shophouses of Carpenter Street and the tiny lanes running off it, and a handful of well-maintained temples merit a peek, the largest being Tua Pek Kong on Lebuh Temple, at the district’s eastern end. Tua Pek Kong, one explanation has it, is a sort of patron saint of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia; temples throughout Malaysia and Singapore bear his name. Raised behind a gaudy retaining wall, Kuching’s version was built in the mid-eighteenth century, though a rather plastic restoration has left it slightly charmless; you may find the Siang Ti (Northern Deity) temple on Carpenter Street and the Hong San (Phoenix Hill) temple on Jalan Ewe Hai more atmospheric. Any of these temples may play host to theatrical or musical performances during festivals, especially Chinese New Year.

Ethnology Museum

Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg • Mon–Fri 9am–4.45pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; 1hr guided tour Fri 9.30am • Free • 082 244232, museum.sarawak.gov.my

Borneo’s oldest museum and housed in a lovely nineteenth-century faux Normandy townhouse set in lush grounds, the Ethnology Museum used to be regarded locally as one of the country’s finest museums, thanks largely to its former curator, Tom Harrisson (1911–76). Best remembered for discovering a 39,000-year-old skull at Niah in 1957, which led to a reappraisal of the origins of early man in Southeast Asia, he also frequently visited tribal peoples to collect the artefacts that comprise the museum’s biggest attraction. The main “old wing” of the museum is currently under renovation and will not be reopened until 2020, though it’s likely Harrisson’s hoard will still make up the bulk of the collection. The “new” wing next door is still open in the meantime, and contains an interesting exhibition of Sarawak history and culture.

Islamic Museum

Mon–Fri 9am–4.45pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm • Free • 082 244232, museum.sarawak.gov.my

Just southwest of the Sarawak Museum’s new wing, a former Malay college and religious school houses the Islamic Museum. Seven galleries in its cool, tiled interior hold unexpectedly fine examples of Islamic art and displays on architecture, coinage and textiles, which are all set around a pleasant central courtyard garden.

West of the centre

The pocket of town immediately west of the Padang has a noticeably Islamic feel, with the golden-domed Masjid Negeri (Kuching Mosque; Mon–Thurs, Sat & Sun 9am–3pm, closed at prayer-times) atop a hillock at its heart and nearby streets packed with Malay and Indian Muslim kedai kopis. The most colourful approach to the area is via pedestrianized Jalan India, named for the Indian coolies who arrived in the early twentieth century to work at Kuching’s port; today it’s packed with market stalls selling cheap shoes, clothing and household items. The mosque aside, the only specific sight is a popular weekend market, further southwest.

Sunday market

Just north of the Tun Abdul Rahman Bridge at Medan Niaga Satok • Sat mid-afternoon until late, Sun early morning until noon • City Public Link buses #K5 and #K7 leave every 30min or so from Jalan Mosque bus park office or it’s probably quicker to walk; head to Masjid Negeri, then down Jalan Haji Taha and under the flyover at Jalan Kulas, turning right into Jalan Satok at the second flyover, then follow Jalan Satok until it crosses the bridge

Variously known as the Sunday market or night market, the weekend market on Medan Niaga Satok is not quite the spectacle it used to be when it was in the street – but for once, that’s no bad thing. The bush meat trade of years gone by has been halted by better environmental enforcement; these days the most exotic thing you might see on sale are edible sago grubs, which live on thorny sago palms in the jungle. However, the market is certainly colourful and frenetic, selling a good range of snacks as well as a few tribal souvenirs, jungle products including wild honey, and local vegetables such as the ubiquitous fern tops.

Sama Jaya Nature Reserve

Jalan Setia Raja, 8km southwest of the Padang • Daily 6am–6pm • Free • 082 368528

Little-known to anyone other than from the joggers that frequent it, the Sama Jaya Nature Reserve is the closest you’ll get to real wildlife in the city. Despite being entirely surrounded by the city, the reserve is home to both a boistrous troop of short-tailed macaques and a wide range of birds. Most people come here to use the jogging trail, though there are also four short nature trails that give you a bit of an experience of the jungle (if you can ignore the hum of traffic). Here you’ll also find the Sarawak Forestry accommodation booking office, and a couple of tiny tree-related museums, though you’ll have to ask for the keys at the office if you want to look inside.

Sarawak’s ceramic jars

The status and wealth of members of Sarawak’s indigenous tribes depended on how many ceramic jars they possessed, and you can still see impressive models in longhouses as well as in the Ethnology Museum. Ranging from tiny, elegantly detailed bowls to much larger vessels, more than 1m in height, the jars were used for such purposes as storage, brewing rice wine and making payments – dowries and fines for adultery and divorce settlements. The most valuable jars were only used for ceremonies like the Gawai Kenyalang (the rite of passage for a mature man of means, involving the recitation of stories by the longhouse bard), or for funerary purposes. When a member of the Kelabit people died, the corpse was packed into a jar in a foetal position to await rebirth from the jar, its “womb”. The Berawan did the same, and as decomposition took place, the liquid from the body was drained through a bamboo pipe, leaving the individual’s bones or clothing to be placed in a canister and hoisted onto an ossuary above the river bank. It’s said that the jars can also be used to foretell the future, and can summon spirits through the sounds they emit when struck.

East of the centre

Downtown Kuching’s commercial district, east of Chinatown, is home to most of the city’s modern hotels, a handful of ordinary shopping malls and several banks. The easiest way to get there is to follow Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the continuation of Main Bazaar, east until it swings away from the river at the Grand Margherita hotel to join the area’s other main thoroughfare, Jalan Padungan. This road feels like a natural extension of Chinatown, its shophouses still home to several largely Chinese restaurants and kopitiams, though Western-style cafés and bars have made their presence felt too.

The archway by the major gyratory further east on Jalan Padungan has a certain notoriety as the site of Kuching’s original cat statue, a tacky 1.5m-high white-plaster effigy, paw raised in welcome. Though the location isn’t at all prepossessing, the statue was regarded as a city icon for many years, so much so that more cat statues have since appeared elsewhere on Jalan Padungan and in other parts of town.

Tun Jugah Foundation gallery

Level 4 (via lift), Tun Jugah mall, 18 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman • Mon–Fri 9am–noon & 1–4.30pm • 082 239672, tunjugahfoundation.org.my

The excellent modern Tun Jugah Foundation gallery, the showcase for a charity set up to honour a long-serving Iban politician who died in 1981, showcases fine Iban weaving – around a dozen examples of pua kumbu cloth, wall-mounted or framed in sliding panels. The geometrical patterns are fascinating but bafflingly abstract to the untrained eye, though once you read the labelling you might be able to make out the animal and other motifs. Most are in shades of reddish brown and black, the colour applied through ikat (tie-dyeing) with a base brown pigment traditionally made from the bark of the engkudu tree (Morinda citrifolia); vegetable indigos are added on top, yielding black in areas already dyed brown. The depth of colour depends on the type of yarn and the number of times it’s dipped in the dyes.

In a large teaching room, the arts of weaving are passed on to a new generation of local women, not just Iban; you may be able to sit in on some classes or talk to the instructors or participants. An additional side gallery is devoted to beads, as used in the jewellery of the Iban and other tribes, and featuring examples in semiprecious stone and snazzy multicoloured glass.

The north bank

Orchid Garden 150m north of the Astana • Tues–Sun 9.30am–5.30pm • Free • 082 370141

The leafy far side of the Sarawak River, views of which are the major part of the waterfront’s appeal, is currently being redeveloped with the construction of the new S-shaped Golden Bridge and a riverside walk past the two important colonial buildings here, the Astana (closed to the public) and Fort Margherita, which holds a small museum. The shoreline, however, is dominated by the outlandish State Assembly Building (also called the DUN Building), a sort of giant espresso maker crossed with a spaceship that locals disdain as a waste of taxpayers’ money. Still, it is worth crossing the water to look back at downtown Kuching and perhaps to wander through the Malay kampungs.

The orchid garden, just up the road from the State Assembly Building, is home to around one hundred orchid species, which mostly bloom from late October to late December. Sampans shuttle across the river all day and into the evening, leaving when full from four small jetties along the waterfront (RM0.50 before 10pm, RM1 after 10pm); ideally you should depart from the jetty more or less opposite where you want to go, though once the bridge is finished this way of travelling may well disappear.

Fort Margherita/Brooke Gallery

600m east of the Astana • Mon–Fri 9am–4.45pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm • RM20 • 016 310 1880, brookegallery.org

Dwarfed by the State Assembly Building, Fort Margherita is one of the best examples of the Brookes’ system of fortifications, and named after James’s wife Margaret – she must have been quite a woman, as one of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, The Young King, is also dedicated to her. It’s a fine sturdy building, well preserved, too, since it never saw any action. The interior contains the three floors of the Brooke Gallery, explaining his extraordinary life and works as well as their effect on the iniginous peoples. You can also visit the grassy courtyard, where the small antique cannons still point out, and the execution room on the ramparts, containing a hanging bag of “laughing” skulls.

Malay kampungs

Quite a few Malay kampungs are visible on the north bank from downtown Kuching; the cluster of three east of Fort Margherita are the most visited. The obvious target is Kampung Boyan, marked out by its waterside food court with its twin-humped roof, though the mixture of traditional clapboard dwellings and more modern houses is not particularly atmospheric. Look out for the local cottage industry, the manufacture of multicoloured kek lapis (layer cake); street traders all along Main Bazaar hawk examples. If you come in the evening, consider dining at My Village Baruk, a fine Malay restaurant.

Arrival and Departure: Kuching

By plane

Kuching international airport

The airport (082 454242, kuchingairportonline.com) is 12km south of the city. AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air and MASwings all have ticket offices in the departure terminal.

Facilities There’s a small Tourism Malaysia desk (generally daily 9am–10pm) in the baggage hall, though the tourist office is much better. The arrivals hall also holds car rental agencies, ATMs and a foreign exchange counter.

Getting into town At least one booth in the airport sells coupons for the taxi ride into town, which will cost you around RM26. Alternatively if you walk to the main road beyond the car park (about 2km), you can cross at the lights where there is a bus stop heading north, and you can flag down any local bus (6am–8pm; 25min), all of which end up at one of the stops in the Kuching mosque area – ask here for which buses head out to the airport too.

Destinations Bintulu (5 daily; 55min); Johor Bahru (3–4 daily; 1hr 25min); Kota Kinabalu (4 daily; 1hr 25min); Kuala Lumpur (22 daily; 1hr 45min); Miri (6–7 daily; 1hr); Mukah (3 daily; 1hr); Mulu (Mon, Wed, Thurs & Sat; 1hr 30min); Pontianak (11.45am daily; 45min); Sibu (6 daily; 40min); Singapore (3-4 daily; 1hr 20min).

By bus

If you’re leaving by bus, and want to avoid trekking out to the new bus station to buy a ticket in advance – advisable around the time of a festival – it’s useful to travel with Biaramas/BusAsia, which has a ticket office just off Jalan Padungan.

Kuching Sentral Regional express bus terminal

All the bus companies arrive and depart from Kuching’s long-distance bus station, 6.5km south of the centre on Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce.

Getting into town Taxi drivers may attempt to charge R50 to take you to the city centre, and are unlikely to be bargained below RM30 – those figures double between midnight and 6am. Alternatively, take a Grab/Uber or cross the main road and flag down any bus for RM1 – all will take you to the centre, most likely to one of the stops in the Kuching mosque area.

Destinations Bintulu (every 20min–1hr; 11hr); Miri (10 daily, most after 2pm; 15hr); Mukah (3 daily; 9hr); Pontianak (Indonesia; 8am & 11am daily; 8hr 45min); Sarikei (9 daily; 5hr 30min–6hr 30min); Sibu (7 daily; 8hr); Sri Aman (20 daily; 4hr).

By boat

Ferries Express Bahagia (082 410076 or 016 896 6235) operates passenger ferries to and from Sibu (daily 8.30am; 4hr 30min; RM45), via Sarikei on the coast, using the Pending terminal 6km east of the centre. A taxi to the terminal from town costs RM30. It’s advised to arrive an hour before departure.

getting around

By city bus and minivan You’re unlikely to use Kuching’s city buses in the easily walkable downtown area, where bus stops offer practically no information or labelling. Also, while some services run two or three times per hour, many only go a few times a day, and local buses have in any case been in flux for years; ask at the Visitors’ Information Centre for the latest schedules. All buses operate between dawn and dusk only, and most start out from the area just east of Masjid Negeri, where cramped minivans shadow many bus routes. Minivans leave when full – avoid if you value comfort.

By local bus Most bus services that start and end inside Kuching are run by Rapid Kuching (red vehicles) or City Public Link (largely green vehicles). Both firms, along with the Sarawak Transport Company (green and cream buses) and some minor operators, also provide handy services out into Kuching’s hinterland; details are given in the relevant accounts.

By taxi There are taxi ranks near the mosque and in front of hotels along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman; alternatively, try Kuching Taxi (082 480000) or T&T (082 343343). Downtown journeys should cost RM15–20; double that between midnight and 6am.

By motorbike A couple of guesthouses along Jalan Carpenter rent motorbikes, but the best deals are to be had from Ah Hui Motor (082 240508), who rent 110cc bikes from RM30/day or RM175/week, and you need to show a licence.

By bike Paredesa and CPH Travel are the only places currently renting bikes, with bikes costing an an outrageous RM50/day. CPH also organizes bike tours of Kuching and the surrounding kampungs.

By car Kuching Holidays (082 463318, kuchingholidays.com) at the airport; Flexi (082 452200, flexicarrental.com) at the airport and at Lot 7050, Jalan Sekama; Hertz at the airport (082 450740). Prices start at around RM100/day.

Information

Visitors’ Information Centre The state’s tourism office is in the Old Courthouse complex at the western edge of the waterfront (daily 9am–6pm; 082 410944, sarawaktourism.com). Staff are knowledgeable about Kuching and its environs as well as the rest of Sarawak.

Sarawak Forestry Corporation Located some way out of the centre at the Sama Jaya Nature Reserve; Mon–Fri 8am–5pm; 082 248088, sarawakforestry.com). it takes bookings for accommodation at many national parks, though not Mulu. The friendly and knowledgeable staff can also tell you where Rafflesia flowers are blooming, though in theory all information and accommodation bookings (ebooking.sarawak.gov.my) are online; this is a great place to work out which parks would be best for you (and see monkeys).

Newspapers and Magazines English-language newspapers such as the Borneo Post, New Sarawak Tribune and The Star (which has a separate Sarawak edition) detail cultural and other happenings in town and around the state. There’s also a local lifestyle magazine called Kuching In & Out (kuchinginandout.com), which features not only a comprehensive listings section with maps, but also articles on tourism and culture; print copies are available free from hotels, restaurants and bars.

Guides Kuching is the ideal place to engage the services of a licensed guide through the Sarawak Tourist Guides Association (0168675296, sktgasecretary@gmail.com, FAO Abang Azahari or Edwin Lim). Guides are experienced, speak good English and have expert knowledge. Although they cannot by law arrange a package (you’ll have to book everything yourself), they can help arrange visits – sometimes more cheaply than a tour agency – to longhouses, parks or other points of interest that are otherwise hard to reach or have few amenities. You will need to give them at least one week’s notice. If you have a group, this is by far the best way to organize trips, especially to-off-the-beaten path destinations.

Tour operators

Sarawak’s tour operators come into their own for longhouse stays, typically around the Batang Ai area, and other trips off the beaten track – which could mean the less touristy national parks or a foray into an ulu area where local contacts are needed to ensure transport and accommodation. That said, if you’re an experienced traveller, many of these destinations are perfectly easy to visit by organizing yourself using this Guide – and considerably cheaper, especially if you travel with companions.

Adventure Alternative Borneo Lot 37, Jalan Tabuan 082 842000, adventurealternativeborneo.com. By far the best choice for interesting, off-the-beaten-track tours at reasonable prices. This British-run outfit also has top ethical credentials, not only putting half their profits back into the communities they work in, but also treating them with a lot more respect than some of the larger agencies. They go to many locations in southern Sarawak that nobody else goes to, with some excellent trips to remote Iban longhouses and wildlife spotting in the area between Simujang and Sri Aman.

Borneo Adventure 55 Main Bazaar 082 245175, borneoadventure.com. Award-winning, pioneering operation, particularly good on longhouse stays. Its jungle lodge along the Batang Ai at Nanga Sumpa, is probably the best of the three companies that go to the region; prices for three days/two nights start at RM1588.

CPH Travel 70 Jalan Padungan 082 243708, cphtravel.com.my. Especially good on boat trips, for example to the mouth of the Santubong River (RM160; 4hr) to spot Irrawaddy dolphins, though they also do longhouse tours on the Lemanak River from RM583 (two days, one night).

Kuching Caving 012 886 2347, kuchingcaving.com. Knowledgeable day tours (RM275–425) to little-visited limestone cave systems near Serian, southeast of Kuching. All you need is a reasonable level of fitness; gloves, helmets and helmet-mounted lamps are provided, while boots and other gear can be rented if they’re not included. Prices are for a minimum of two people and get cheaper with groups over five. Two-day trips may feature accommodation in Bidayuh villages.

Paredesa Borneo 1 Jalan Wayang 082 238801, paradesaborneo.com. Offers a great one-day bike tours of Kuching (RM96–116), as well as one- and two-day kayaking, biking and trekking tours – or a combination of all three – out in the wild.

The Rucksack Rainforest Kayaking 013 804 8338, rainforestkayaking.com. Superb kayaking day-trips down a tributary of the Sarawak River, taking in a couple of Bidayuh villages and bizarrely shaped limestone hills. Packages start at RM188 including a riverside picnic, photo CD, and transfers; pricier trips include side visits to the Annah Rais longhouse

Accommodation

There’s plenty of choice when it comes to places to stay. Guesthouses are clustered in and around Chinatown (especially Carpenter Street); they all have pretty similar rooms and prices (though most are without en-suite bathrooms), and include a “simple breakfast” which invariably turns out to be toast and jam. Most hotels are in the commercial district to the east, although it’s not as atmospheric as staying near Carpenter Street. To stay at or near the beach, consider the Santubong Peninsula, a 30min bus ride west. As ever, you should book ahead to stay during a major festival – a month ahead if you plan to be here over the weekend of June’s Rainforest Music Festival.

Guesthouses, HOSTELS and B&Bs

Hotel 48 13 & 14 Jalan Greenhill 082 521016; map. Very clean, inexpensive but large a/c rooms and dorms. There’s not a great deal of character, but it’s efficiently run and fantastic value. The cheapest doubles are fairly spartan (though some have windows), but you’ll have to pay RM70 if you want a bathroom. Close to lots of places to eat and drink. Dorms RM22, doubles RM43

Fairview 6 Jalan Taman Budaya 082 240017, fairview.com.my; map. This family-run guesthouse – a rare thing in Kuching – has assorted a/c, en-suite rooms. It’s fraying slightly at the edges, but it’s hospitable and set amid the lushest of gardens. On the downside, traffic can be noisy and Jalan Reservoir, the shortest route to Chinatown, is badly lit and eerie at night. Rates drop by a third Sept–May. RM90

Kuching Waterfront Lodge 15 Main Bazaar 082 231111, kuchingwaterfrontlodge.com; map. Atmospheric and cosy lodge housed in a refurbished shophouse done out like a Chinese mansion with floor tiles, wooden beams and a chandelier in the foyer. Rooms are less slick and occasionally a bit tatty, but all are en suite, with a/c and TV, and some even have four-poster beds. RM115

Singgahsana Lodge 3 Lorong Temple 082 429277, singgahsana.com; map. Behind the unprepossessing orange and yellow facade is a warren of rooms, all in bright colours, with a spacious central lounge featuring rattan lamps. Impeccably run and deservedly popular, it also has a tour agency and rooftop bar. All rooms – from the ten-person dorms (both female-only and mixed) to en-suite doubles and shared-bathroom family rooms – have a/c. Dorms RM34, doubles RM125

Threehouse 51 Upper China St. 082 423499, threehousebnb.com; map. Run by noted Iban tattoo artist Ernesto Kalum and his Swedish partner, Threehouse impresses with well-maintained, cosy six-bed fan dorms and a/c doubles, decorated in bright colours in a kind of 1970s-tribal fusion. Dorms RM22, doubles RM70

Wojia Lodge 17 Main Bazaar 082 251776, wojialodge.com; map. The name means “my house” in Mandarin and the place does try to be homely, its spacious lounge featuring floor matting and a large sofa, and although nothing is terribly fancy (even the river view), it’s comfortable, and it has a good smoking area. There’s an a/c dorm, plus singles and doubles, some of which are a/c, though these mostly lack windows. Dorms RM30, doubles RM49

hotels

Basaga Holiday Residences Jalan Tabuan, nearly 2km south of the centre 082 417069, basaga.com; map. Take one disused school built around a colonial mansion, apply a large dose of design expertise, and the result is this charming complex where you can only just tell the sleek rooms were once classrooms and dorms. Choose from rooms in the old house, or facing the swimming pool or the back garden (the latter have outdoor showers). The distance from town is a drag, but they have a convivial restaurant and bar with a central open-air dining area shaded by a great old tree. Rates include breakfast, and airport pick-up if you book directly. RM186

Batik Boutique Hotel 38 Jalan Padungan 082 422845, batikboutiquehotel.com; map. This boutique hotel has some of the classiest and cosiest rooms in town. Though not eye-poppingly stunning, all the funkily decorated rooms boast silk bedding, an iPod dock and a terrazzo bath or overhead rain shower, and there’s also a decent Western restaurant, a small lobby bar and a courtyard. Rates include breakfast. RM201

Grand Margherita Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman 082 423111, grandmargherita.com; map. Swanky top-end affair, with Cantonese restaurant, river-facing pool, and shuttle services to many local attractions and the airport. It’s also pretty child-friendly, with a children’s pool, playground and babysitting service. Rates on Fri & Sat can fall by RM50 or so. RM215

Kuching Hilton Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman 082 223888, kuching.hilton.com; map. As well organized as you’d expect a Hilton to be, with many large, modern rooms, boasting comfortable beds; those on upper floors have great views. There is also a pool (with bar), mini-gym and six cafés and restaurants, but you may have to pay for in-room wi-fi. RM297

The Limetree Jalan Abell 082 414600, limetreehotel.com.my; map. Though lacking any character, this is a reliable and clean mid-range option. The Limetree boasts modern rooms with stylish minimalist decor, including some jumbo-sized executive suites (from RM200), and a pleasant rooftop bar. Non-smoking throughout, and rates include breakfast. RM167

The Marian Boutique Lodging House 23, Lebuh Wayang 082 252777, themarian.com.my; map. Housed in an old girls’ school on a hill overlooking the main bazaar, this newly opened heritage boutique hotel has retained many of the 1885 building’s original features. The forty-odd rooms (named after previous headmistresses) have the dark timber or tiled floors, with faux nineteenth-century decor but modern fittings. Also has a pool and a very good Western restaurant. RM170

Telang Usan Off Jalan Ban Hock 082 415588, telangusan.com; map. Now in its fourth decade, this pioneering hotel is Kayan-owned, hence the swirly Orang Ulu motifs in its decor. The rooms are comfortable enough; on the downside, reaching the waterfront requires you to head south to Jalan Ban Hock and double back. Rates include breakfast. RM130

The Waterfront Hotel 68 Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg 082 227227, thewaterfrontkuching.com; map. Perched on top of Plaza Merdika, this high-rise, high-end hotel is far better located and has better views than those in the commercial district, and for a much better price. Decor of both rooms and public areas is “artrageous”, painted in bright colours with artwork on the walls, and the hotel also boasts a pool, gym and restaurant. RM188

Eating

Kuching’s lively and dynamic eating scene offers opportunities to sample indigenous dishes as well as international cuisine. Popular local dishes include manok pansoh (or ayam pansoh), a Bidayuh/Iban dish of chicken and tapioca leaves stewed in bamboo tubes; umai, Sarawak’s answer to sashimi – raw fish or prawn shreds mixed with chilli and lime juice; ambal, delicious rubbery little clams, usually curried; and, as greens, the ubiquitous fern tops paku and midin. And of course Sarawak has its own variants of common Malaysian dishes, notably laksa – the Sarawakian variety uses rice vermicelli and is usually served in the morning – and kuay teow, often prepared in a tangy tomato gravy (outside the state people add a little vinegar to get the same sourness). Many top-end restaurants close for several days over the Gawai festival, when staff return to their “hometown” longhouses or jungle villages.

Hawkers, food courts and kedai kopis

Bismillah Café Jalan Khoo Hung Yeang 082 415803; map. This little Malay place does a good range of rice and noodle dishes, plus roti and curries, at mostly RM4–5 – its location makes it the best place to fill up before catching a bus. Daily 7am–3pm.

Carpenter Street stalls Opposite Siang Ti temple; map. A tiny, venerable clutch of Chinese-run stalls where the highlight is the Sarawak laksa (RM7–15) plus other popular favourites such as chicken rice (RM7) and kueh chap (pork and pig offal in broth; RM8.50). As ever, stalls keep their own time; don’t expect to find laksa after late afternoon. Daily early–late.

Top Spot Food Court Jalan Padungan; map. Forget the unpromising location – atop a blue multistorey car park topped with a giant plastic prawn – this is a great place, featuring a dozen large stalls focusing on seafood. Sit near a stall you like the look of and they’ll present you with their menu; try ambal, or crab and prawns done with garlic or chilli, or oh jian – the Sarawak version of this oyster omelette is like an enormous bowl-shaped crêpe. No pork served. Not super-pricey – one seafood dish plus veg and other things to share should cost RM30/head upwards, excluding alcohol. Daily 5–11pm.

Cafés

Bing! 84 Jalan Padungan 082 421880, bingcoffee.com; map. Kuching’s plushest, slickest independent café chain, with a stylish a/c interior and prices to match – you’ll pay at least RM16 for coffee and, say, a brownie. Serves Illy coffee, has a smoking terrace, and free wi-fi. Daily 10am–midnight.

Black Bean Coffee 87 Carpenter St 082 420290; map. This tiny café and shop serves coffee grown in Sarawak and parts of Indonesia, made using robusta and the little-known liberica beans – certainly worth a try, though some people find it bitter or even “burnt”. A takeaway cappuccino blended from either type of bean costs around RM5.50, and they also sell beans – though beans can also be bought (and ground) at a convenience store on Main Bazaar for RM8–25/kg. Mon–Sat 9am–6pm.

Indah Café & Art Space 33 Upper China St. 012 388 6535; map. Funky little café just off Carpenter Street, this small, friendly place serves great espresso coffees (RM5–8), outstanding cakes (including lime cheesecake and their famous fruity “messy affair”) as well as local dishes, sandwiches and a vegan menu (all dishes RM5–11). They also have a small gallery for local artists and a couple of rooms (RM75), plus they run yoga classes (Sun; RM25), day-long cookery classes and village tours (both RM150), and art and batik workshops upstairs. Daily 8am–5pm.

Restaurants

Annuar BBQ Steamoat Close to the Telang Usan hotel, off Jalan Ban Hock, 019 886 7900; map. Among the best places in town for steamboat; for RM18/person you get unlimited helpings from their spread of seafood, meat and other ingredients, which you then cook yourself at the outdoor tables. Their slogan is “you cannot go home if you are not full”. Daily 6–11pm.

Aroma Café Jalan Tabuan 082 417163; map. This simple Bidayuh-run restaurant, on the ground floor of a dreary commercial block, is a fine place to sample tribal dishes such as umai, ayam pansoh and midin with garlic. Best value is the popular lunchtime campur-style spread (Mon–Fri 11.30am–1.30pm; RM5–7), but going à la carte is unlikely to cost more than RM15/person with soft drinks. Mon–Sat 7am–11pm.

Bla Bla Bla… 27 Jalan Tabuan 082 233944; map. Designer touches such as Oriental water features set the tone at this fusion restaurant where you can savour Chinese-style renditions of un-Chinese ingredients such as salmon, ostrich and lamb, and round off your meal with cheesecake (RM10). Their speciality is a tangy midin salad (RM22), but many main courses will set you back double that. Mon & Wed–Sun 6–11.30pm.

Bombay Spices Lot 62, Lorang 4, Jalan Nanas 016 700 8807; map. One of the best curry houses in town, serving excellent and authentic North Indian food. It’s a little difficult to find unless you take a taxi – it’s about 2km out from the centre just off Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce. The tandoori items are the speciality (including a fine chicken tikka masala), with great nan bread, and you can sit inside the a/c interior or outside if you want to smoke. Veg mains RM6–15, non-veg RM10–16. Daily 10am–10pm.

Ceylonese Restaurant Jalan Greenhill 082 231391; map. Open, spacious and clean restaurant with outdoor seating, serving a range of cuisines, from Sri Lankan biriyanis (RM5–16) and curries (RM8–10) to North Indian tandoori dishes (RM8–15) and filling nan (after 1pm; RM3–12) – the chef’s special nan with cheese and meat is perfect for pre- or post-drinking. Also has a range of local Malay and Chinese standards. Daily 8am–11.30pm.

the.Dyak GF, Panovel Commercial Complex, Jalan Simpang Tiga, almost 3km south of the centre 082 234068; map. Tribal food (and beautiful decor) meets haute cuisine at this popular high-class Dayak restaurant that serves jungle foods such as jani tunu (chargrilled pork longhouse style) – they also cater for vegetarians and vegans with the tasty ubi randau (a type of fern), among others. Dishes are impeccably presented and you can eat either in the stylish a/c interior or outside. Vegetable mains are RM12–15, meat dishes RM22–25. They also serve tuak laki stambak Ulu (RM90/bottle), the best tuak you’re likely to encounter, which compares well with quality European-style wines, and made to a traditional (and secret) family recipe. Mon–Sat noon–8.30pm.

The Granery Marian Boutique Lodging House, 23 Lebuh Wayang 011 2508 9321, abellhotel.com; map. Housed in a high-ceilinged, stylishly restored 1920’s grain warehouse, this well run bar-restaurant isn’t cheap but serves up very good Western favourites such as burgers (RM28–32), pizza (RM24–28), and meats such as steak, lamb shank, and sausages (RM38–62), plus desserts like pineapple-vodka crumble (RM15). It’s also got a decent bar with imported draft and bottled beers, and live acoustic lounge music at weekends. Daily 7am–11pm.

Hong Kong Noodle House 95–98 Jalan Padungan 082 421622; map. Inexpensive Cantonese restaurant serving familiar Chinese dishes in clean, bright surroundings. All the items on the long menu of noodle dishes are RM6–7, and you can get meat with rice (such as duck or sweet and sour pork) for the same price. For something more sophisticated, they have fish head curry (RM10–25) or pork belly in spicy sauce (RM15), plus soups such as crab meat and sweetcorn, and hot and sour (RM12–28). Daily 9am–9pm.

James Brooke Bistro and Café Waterfront, near the Hilton; map. It’s very touristy, but this open-sided, greenery-surrounded building offers nice views, even if the food – a mixture of Western and local standards such as Sarawak laksa (RM10) – is nothing special and the prices on the high side (mains from RM20). Unusually for this class of restaurant, they don’t take plastic. Daily 10.30am–11pm.

Junk 80 Jalan Wayang 082 259450; map. Part of the labyrinthine Backstage Bar this place has the same higgledy-piggeldy junk-store look, serving hearty and good-quality plates of Western cuisine, such as lamb shank, steak, fish’n’chips and other standards. Mains RM25–68. Mon & Wed–Sun 6–11pm.

My Village Baruk Kampung Boyan, down the lane from the jetty and then to the right 082 448970; map. Here’s that rare thing, an excellent Malay restaurant in interesting surroundings – a two-storey wooden building decorated with drapes and lanterns and meant to recall a baruk, or Bidayuh roundhouse. Nasi ayam penyet – chicken tenderized by pummelling and then grilled – is the speciality, but they also grill mussels and fish, plus (off-menu) ayam pansoh, emptied gloopily from bamboo tubes, and nasi goreng dabai, rice fried with the locally grown olive-like dabai fruit, when available. Most dishes around RM10. Service can be slow at busy times. Daily 4.30pm–midnight.

Pincho Loco 94 Jalan Ewe Hai 082 232833; map. This chic, Barcelona-style tapas bar has a tile-decorated interior, black tablecloths and authentic Spanish food – all masterminded by the Catalan chef from Zinc. Great bocadillos (RM15), patas bravas and other typical tapas (RM10–15), plus pizzas (RM15–25) and an decent Spanish wine list. Mon, Tues & Thurs–Sun noon–3pm & 6–10.30pm.

Zhun San Yen Jalan Chan Chin Ann, 016 898 8367; map. The best of a handful of Chinese vegetarian places in the area, this is a cafeteria-like place where you can choose from a spread of two dozen stir-fries and soups (noodles dominate at breakfast). A meal with soft drinks seldom comes to more than RM10. Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 9am–3pm.

Zinc 38 Jalan Tabuan 082 258000; map. Smart and convivial, this well-run and stylish restaurant’s Catalan chef uses many imported ingredients to create delicious Mediterranean cuisine, such as imaginatively topped thin crust pizzas (including a laksa variety), paella and risotto, plus a variety of main salads and even suckling pig. Expect to pay at least RM40–50/head for a meal before drinks. They also serve a range of tapas and have a decent wine list and other imported booze. Housed in a restored 100-year-old shophouse, it has bags of charm and also has a pleasant terrace bar, popular with the after-work crowd. Mon, Tues & Thurs–Sun noon–3pm & 6–10.30pm.

Drinking and nightlife

Kuching’s drinking scene is pretty good in a low-key kind of way. Venues are intimate for the most part, and the locals are very approachable. Carpenter Street is now clogged with bars, all of which are pretty similar, catering to both tourists and locals, though they seem to open and close with alarming rapidity. For a city with a sizeable middle class, the entertainment on offer is surprisingly meagre, however, though Culture Club has nightly shows of tribal music and dancing. The Rainforest Music Festival is the highlight of the cultural year, but otherwise a lack of performance venues means there’s not that much on apart from bar bands and DJs. To find out what’s on, check out Kuching In & Out (kuchinginandout.com).

Culture Club 18 Jalan Green Hill 016 800 0155; map. Currently the largest performance venue in the city, this large, mainsteam a/c bar features daily Dyak music and dance perfomances from 8–9pm (till 10pm on weekends) followed by cover bands and DJs until 2am. They have a wide range of beers on tap as well as more pricey cocktails. Daily 4pm–2am.

Junk/Backstage Bar 80 Jalan Wayang 082 259450; map. The tiny Junk bar feels like an extension of the restaurant, whereas Backstage has its own look, festooned with Chinese lanterns. Both draw in a suave clientele, especially for the live music and DJs on Fri & Sat night and there’s draught Heineken (RM19) and Hoegaarden (RM23) on offer, among other imported beers and spirits. Mon–Fri & Sun 6pm–midnight, Sat 6pm–2am.

Monkee Bar Jalan Song Thian Cheok 082 410588; map. Cosy and low-lit foreign-owned bar décorated with Dyak and Iban woodcarvings and dedicated to the orang-utan rehabilitation centre at Matang – half of profits are donated there. Fun and friendly, they serve a large range of imported beers (RM6.50–20) as well as wine, cocktails and of course local tuak. Daily 3pm–3am.

Ruai Café & Bar Jalan Ban Hock. 282 Yun Phin Building, off Jalan Padungan 013 826 1147; map. On its sixth location (so check before you go), this simple but excellent Iban-run community chill-out joint features tribal decor and antique artifacts on the inside and a terrace on the pavement outside festooned with jungle plants, with a couple of live music sessions a month at weekends. A Tiger beer costs RM7 and they also serve home-made tuak, not just regular rice wine (RM30/bottle) but also varieties they’ve concocted from fruits such as apple or dragon fruit (RM5 more). For the adventurous, there’s also langkan, a surprisingly smooth yet potent scorpion liquor, and there’s even a barber’s inside, if you need a shave (RM10). Happy hour 4–7pm. Daily 4pm–2.30am.

Shopping

Although Kuching offers the best shopping in Sarawak, that’s not always obvious from a stroll around downtown, which is mostly devoid of huge modern malls. There are certainly more souvenir shops than anywhere else in Sarawak; outlets along Main Bazaar sell tribal textiles, pottery, rattan mats, locally grown pepper and so forth. As ever, however, their handicrafts may well have been made abroad – especially in Indonesian Kalimantan. The listings here concentrate on places selling domestically made items; the Sarawak Craft Council is the obvious place to start. If you’re heading out to longhouses, you may prefer to defer buying crafts until you get there, though what you’ll be offered will probably vary considerably in quality.

arts and Crafts

Bricks & Earthenware Factory 5th mile, Jalan Penrissen (just past the airport) 082 451540; map. Kuching has a cottage industry producing Chinese ceramics with tribal influences, and this is probably the best of the potteries. Watch the potters in action at the wheel and firing kilns, and buy wares ranging from huge pots to coffee mugs or vases. Take Rapid Kuching bus #3a or #6, or STC bus #K3 or #K6. Daily 8am–6pm.

The Museum 94 Main Bazaar 082 550190; map. This café-shop sells paintings by famed local artist Ramsey Ong, whose excellent and somewhat abstract, highly-textured paintings of Sarawakian nature and tribal peoples go for RM200–20,000. At the cheaper end, there’s also postcards of his work (RM2), as well as bead and silver jewellery. Daily 9am-6pm.

Sarakraf 78 Jalan Tabuan 082 232771; map. Locally produced high-quality (and pricey) crafts, near Sarawak Plaza, with a decent stock of baskets, woodcarvings, ceramics and other items, some made to their own designs. Daily 10.30am–10.00pm.

Sarawak Craft Council Round Tower, Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg; map. The Craft Council’s shop showcases some of the best crafts made in the state, labelled by area of origin. Here you’ll find beaded necklaces, hats made from breadfruit-tree bark and bags woven from bemban reeds, all costing several tens of ringgit, and the sun hats of the Orang Ulu, shaped like giant mushroom caps and sold for several hundred ringgit. Mon–Fri 8.30am–1pm & 2–4.30pm.

Camping gear

Greek’s Outgear Discovery Second floor, Sarawak Plaza, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman 082 235205; map. This oddly named store sells a range of high-end rucksacks, waterproofs, tents and so forth. Daily 10.30am–9pm.

Malls and Supermarkets

Plaza Merdika 88 Jalan Tun Haji Openg plazamerdeka.com; map. The biggest and best of the downtown malls, with a good range of foreign and domestic shops and food outlets, including a Parkson department store, a decent supermarket, and pharmacies. Daily 10am–10pm.

Spring Mall 3km south of the centre, Jalan Simpang Tiga thespring.com.my; map. Kuching’s biggest, busiest mall holds a Parkson department store, a supermarket and outlets selling electronic gadgets, clothes, household items and so forth. Buses #K8 and #K11 come here from the centre. Daily 10am–10pm.

Ting & Ting Jalan Tabuan; map. This well-established supermarket is a convenient (though pricey) place to buy cheese and pork products as well as other imported food and drinks. Mon–Sat 9am–9pm.

Iban tattoos

For the Iban, tattooing is not just a form of ornamentation, but also an indication of personal wealth and other achievements. Many designs are used, from a simple circular outline for the shoulder, chest or outer side of the wrists, to more elaborate motifs (highly stylized dogs, scorpions or crabs) for the inner and outer thigh. The two most important places for tattoos are the hand and the throat. The tattooing process starts with a carved design on a block of wood that’s smeared with ink and pressed to the skin; the resulting outline is then punctured with needles dipped in dark ink, made from sugar-cane juice, water and soot. For the actual tattooing a hammer-like instrument with two or three needles protruding from its head is used. These are dipped in ink and the hammer is then placed against the skin and tapped repeatedly with a wooden block.

Kuching has become a magnet for people wanting to have a Bornean tattoo, and guesthouses may be able to introduce you to practitioners. The leading light of the scene, however, is the Iban artist and musician Ernesto Kalum, whose studio, Borneo Headhunter, is upstairs at 47 Jalan Wayang (best to make appointments two weeks in advance; 019 856 6317, borneoheadhunter.com). He offers traditional motifs done either the traditional way (from RM900) or by machine (as in any Western tattoo parlour; from RM450), and can also do modern designs (always by machine).

Around Kuching

One joy of visiting Kuching is the sheer number of potential excursions within the vicinity, including several worthy of an overnight stay. Within an hour’s bus ride north are the beaches and resorts of the Santubong Peninsula, also known as Damai after the beach area at its tip. Nearby is the Sarawak Cultural Village, a showpiece community where model longhouses are staffed by guides from each ethnic group. Bako is the essential national park to visit nearby, but there’s also decent trekking at Kubah National Park.

South of Kuching, the main attractions are the orang-utans at the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre and the easily accessable Bidayuh longhouse at Annah Rais. Sarawak’s remote western edge draws a trickle of visitors who mainly head to the Gunung Gading National Park to see Rafflesia blooms, though the beaches at Sematan and near Lundu, and the stunning Tanjung Datu National Park, further west, are also worthwhile.

Unless otherwise stated, all buses mentioned below are local services leaving from the area east of Kuching mosque.

Santubong Peninsula

Cut off from Kuching by the Santubong River to the south, the Santubong Peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Excavation in the 1960s and 1970s found tens of thousands of artefacts, including digging implements, across six neighbouring sites; they dated back to 3000 BC, when the Indian/Javanese Empire extended here, though little of any ancient civilization can be seen today.

Dominated by the 810m Mount Santubong, the area is dotted with oddly shaped geological formations amid patches of thick forest. The mountain is a national park (with the entrance 1km south of Damai Central; 082 367100) and the well-marked, moderately taxing trek to the top takes five to six hours return, with rope ladders to help where things get steep; if you’re lucky you might see hornbills, or proboscis and silver leaf monkeys. There’s also a shorter marked path past a small waterfall that takes just 45 minutes. Oddly, there is no charge to enter the park here, though if you enter via the privately-owned Permai Rainforest Resort you will be charged RM8.

However, most visitors prefer to venture out to the beaches of Damai, 35km from Kuching at the Peninsula’s northwest tip, or the excellent if pricey folk museum nearby, the Sarawak Cultural Village. Since the 1980s, stretches of the river and coastline have been developed as retreats for tourists and city-weary locals, though thankfully the resorts have left the tranquil, almost lonesome, nature of the area largely undisturbed. There are also two low-key villages, Buntal and Kampung Santubong.

spotting Santubong Wildlife

The mouth of the Santubong River is a promising spot to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphin. With a rounded snout rather than a beak, these marine mammals live in brackish coastal waters and river deltas, as well as in fresh water further upriver – for example, along the Mekong in Indochina, where the population is dwindling. In fact the dolphin is considered vulnerable in many habitats due to human activity – they may get snared in nets or see their range whittled away by barrages, for example.

Several tour operators can take you on dolphin-spotting cruises, though the specialist is CPH Travel, which has its own launch; their trips leave in the late afternoon, taking you along the Santubong River in search of proboscis monkeys and fireflies as well as dolphins (3hr 30min; RM180). The odds of spotting dolphins aren’t great during the rainy season if seas are rough; the rest of the time you have a fair chance of seeing them, though not necessarily close up.

Sarawak Cultural Village

33km north of Kuching • Daily 9am–5pm; cultural shows 11.30am & 4pm • RM63.60; day-tours from Kuching around RM120 • 082 846411, scv.com.my

After crossing onto the peninsula from Buntal, the main road continues west and then north past several resorts, ending at the modern leisure development of Damai Central. Not far from the end, the Sarawak Cultural Village features seven authentically styled, if rather too perfect, tribal dwellings of timber and thatch, close to a central lake, with the jungle escarpment of Mount Santubong looming dramatically behind. As folk museums go, it’s worth the steep price of admission and doesn’t feel forced; in fact, many of the staff you see kitted out in traditional finery live on site, and the place has become a community in itself.

Arguably the most impressive dwelling is the massive Orang Ulu longhouse, raised almost impossibly high off the ground, though the Melanau “tall house” also grabs the eye, with windows on two levels. You’ll also see Iban and Bidayuh longhouses, a refreshingly simple Penan lean-to shelter, and – mundane by comparison – a Chinese kampung house and a formal Malay house in a style that only someone of status could have afforded to build.

Despite being out of context, the twice-daily 45-minute cultural shows are worth catching, striking the right balance between entertainment and education, and demonstrations of activities such as weaving, sago-processing and blowpipe-making are staged throughout the day.

Tua Pek Kong Temple, sibu

Damai Beach

While the pleasant stretches of beige sand at Damai have individual names, such as Teluk Bandung and Teluk Penyuk, most people simply refer to the area as Damai Beach. The beaches don’t belong to the resorts, though resort staff may levy a small fee if you try to access them via their compounds. One way to avoid this is to head to Damai Central, the shopping development opposite the Cultural Village, from where a path leads down to the beach. It’s also possible to arrange activities in the area, such as trekking in the nearby Kuching Wetland National Park (which also has a birdwatching tower) or kayaking along the coast – you can arrange these at the Permai Rainforest Resort.

arrival and departure: Santubong Peninsula

Transport from Kuching Private shuttles leave from the Grand Margherita hotel for Damai and the Cultural Village (every 2hr; RM20 each-way), and some Kuching guesthouses can arrange transport for the same price. Otherwise, unreliable minibuses (RM10) leave when full from opposite the food stalls in the Kuching bus station area, near the mosque (and take a while to get there as they visit many of the villages on the way), while a taxi should cost RM100 one way.

Accommodation

Campsite Next to Damai Beach 012 856 6557. You can rent a two-person tent here or pitch your own – though you’ll have to make do with Damai Central’s bathrooms. Site only RM31, two-person tent RM51

Damai Beach Resort Teluk Bandung beach, Damai, 1km north of Damai Central 082 846200, damaibeachresort.com. The rooms are mostly modern and not all that special, but the lovely freeform pool set back from the beach sets the tone beautifully at this huge complex, all the more homely for being one of the area’s oldest resorts. Rooms near the reception and in the blocks stacked up on the lush hillside behind are cheaper, though you might feel like splashing out on a baruk suite (RM572), built to look like a Bidayuh roundhouse with a conical roof. There’s also a spa plus a couple of restaurants and a bar, and staff can organize guided jungle walks (RM5) and other activities. Rates include breakfast. RM280

BB Bunkers Damai Central 082 846835, bbbunkers.com. The only budget accommodation in town, this vast, somewhat industrial thirty-bed dorm has single beds downstairs, with somewhat more private raised double beds upstairs with curtains. There’s a/c, all beds are comfortable and have their own power sockets, but there are only three toilets and one shower. Singles RM60, doubles RM100

Nanga Damai 2km from Santubong village, right of the road as you head north 019 887 1017, nangadamai.com. Not a longhouse, as nanga might suggest, but a swish six-room “boutique homestay” in a substantial, beautifully decorated modern house. Good value, with rates including breakfast. They also have a dorm. Note that there’s a two-night stay minimum and no under-14s. Dorm RM80, doubles RM200

Permai Rainforest Resort Keep going north after Damai Central then follow the boardwalk 082 846487, permairainforest.com. You could come to this place to laze by the beach, but the emphasis is on being active – they offer kayaking, Santubong climbs and even an obstacle course. Guests stay in individual en-suite cabins, mostly sleeping up to six and good value if you’re in a group of three or more (a/c RM30 extra), or two-person treehouses and they also have a small campsite. Quite cheekily, they’ll charge you RM8 to enter and use their jungle paths and access the two pretty, small beaches along here, despite the fact that the whole place is built within the national park. Rates include breakfast but activities cost extra. Camping per person with own tent RM10, treehouses RM385, cabins RM480

The Village House Kampung Santubong, 30m down the track to the beach from Santubong crossroads 082 846166, villagehouse.com.my. This gorgeous timber-built development features en-suite rooms set around a long, narrow swimming pool. Many have four-poster beds, but otherwise the decor is elegant without being over the top. They also have two of the slickest six-bed dorms you’ll ever see, each with its own bathroom. The restaurant serves Western, local and fusion food. No under-12s. Rates include breakfast. Dorms RM123, doubles RM334

The Rainforest Music Festival

Since 1998, the Sarawak Cultural Village has been home to the annual Rainforest Music Festival (day tickets RM147, three-day pass RM410; rwmf.net), usually held during July. It would be hard to find a more appropriate and evocative setting for a major world music event, with the Village’s beautiful tribal homes not far from the stages and Mount Santubong the perfect backdrop.

While the event attracts performers from across the globe, it’s especially worthwhile for the opportunity to watch indigenous Bornean musicians – some of whom can seem decidedly exotic even to city-dwelling Sarawakian youth, never mind audiences from further afield. With some noted performers having died since the festival was first staged, the sense that many traditions are living on borrowed time makes the chance to glimpse sape players (pronounced sap-ay, the sape is the Orang Ulu lute, shaped like a longboat), gong ensembles and the like that much more valuable (especially if you catch them in the intimate confines of a workshop). Favourites have included Tuku Kame, led by the flautist Narawi Rashidi (who is also head of the Village’s Heritage Resource Centre) and featuring charismatic electric sape player Jerry Kamit. Beds are hard to come by in Damai and Kuching over the period, so book accommodation early. During the festival City Link provide a late-running shuttle bus between Damai and Kuching until 1.30am.

Eating

In addition to the places listed below, there’s likely to be food available at your accommodation, or you can head for the inexpensive (if unexciting) stalls at Damai Central’s food court.

Budaya Sarawak Cultural Village 082 846411. Authentic tribal cooking, with dishes from all over Sarawak served in an ethnic setting. The set menus (RM26.50/37.10) are very good for a taster of a diverse range of dishes, and include mamok pansoh, chicken and rice cooked in bamboo in the firepit. You can eat at the restaurant without paying the entrance fee if you ask at the ticket office. The same menu is also served at a higher price at the the outside D’Sea restaurant (until 9.30pm) on Damai beach, which also has a big seafood menu. Daily 9am–5pm.

Escobar Bar and Grill Damai Central 082 846039. This place by the beach offers Western bar food such as burgers and meat/fish with chips, (not so good) pasta, and a few Indian and Malay dishes. Mains mostly RM17–33. It’s a great place to watch the sunset, especially with a bottle of their tuak (RM33). Daily 11am–11pm.

Bako National Park

East of the Santubong Peninsula, and no further away from Kuching, a second peninsula is occupied by the fabulous BAKO NATIONAL PARK, named for its location at the mouth of the Bako River. Sarawak’s oldest national park (once a timber reserve, it attained its current, fully protected status in 1957), it’s also among its most memorable. Its steep coastal cliffs, offering huge vistas over the South China Sea, are thrillingly different from the rest of the predominantly flat and muddy Sarawak coastline, and there are opportunities to spot proboscis monkeys, swim in jungle streams or at isolated sandy coves, and hike through terrain that takes in rainforest, mangrove and kerangas, with pitcher plants easily visible on some trails.

Bako is such a gem that trying to pack it all into one day is not ideal, though you can make a go of it if you set out early from Kuching and pay a boatman at the park to take you out to a remote beach, then walk back to the park headquarters; this gives you a good taste of the park without having to do a trek in both directions. A stay of at least one night is still preferable, though, and there’s a range of accommodation to choose from – this also gives you the chance to see many of the park’s nocturnal animals.

Note that the entire eastern side of the park (east of the Tajor Waterfall) is closed for path renovation with no date set as to its completion.

Inside the park

First impressions of Bako, the coastal forest and craggy outcrops you see as you head here by boat, don’t begin to do justice to its riches. The park boasts a multitude of different types of vegetation, including peat bog, scrub and mangrove; most trails run through a mixture of primary dipterocarp forest and kerangas, an Iban term referring to soil too poor to support rice, and now used to mean a type of woodland on poor soil characterized by fairly sparse, small trees and scrub, plus insect-eating plants such as pitcher plants. The kerangas stems from the unusual, largely infertile sandstone geology of the peninsula, eroded down to produce striking honeycomb weathering on some trails, and contorted rock arches rising from the sea. As for fauna, proboscis monkeys are top of most visitors’ lists; there’s a good chance of seeing them not far from the park headquarters itself, though silverleaf monkeys tend to be harder to spot. Less exotically, monitor lizards and assorted snakes are sometimes seen, along with bearded pigs (a group have even made themselves at home close to the park cafeteria) and the usual assortment of creepy-crawlies, best spotted on a guided night walk.

No special equipment is needed, but pay particular attention to sun protection – it’s amazing how you can be walking through a jungle glade one minute and in baking hot kerangas the next.

Visiting Sarawak’s national parks

Sarawak’s two dozen or so national parks vary enormously, not just in terms of terrain and habitats – some boast accommodation for various budgets, well-marked trails and other amenities, while many others have nothing more than a ranger post and require a minor expedition to reach. All are managed by the state-owned Sarawak Forestry Corporation (sarawakforestry.com) with the notable exception of Mulu, where tourist facilities have been privatized. You can pick up information about park conditions and accommodation at Sarawak Forestry’s offices at the Sama Jaya Nature reserve on the outskirts of Kuching and at the desk inside the Sarawak Tourist Office in Miri. Informal accommodation bookings can be made by calling the park concerned, while the Kuching office can confirm reservations with payment up front, and you can now also make reservations online at ebooking.sarawak.gov.my. Almost all parks have well-organized campsites (RM5/person), usually covered, with bathrooms and cooking facilities, as well as a basic canteen nearby.

Guides can be engaged at just a few parks for around RM100–200/day, depending on their level of experiencee and English ability. Many, but not all, know about the local wildlife. Knowledgeable, licensed guides for parks in the Kuching area can be contacted through the Tourist Guide Association.

The trails

A free map from the park headquarters shows the trails, colour-coded and waymarked with splashes of paint on trees and rocks. Park staff can advise on what you can expect to complete in the time you have available, or whether to take a boat ride as a short cut.

Most trails start from a spot north of the park headquarters, back towards the jetty and reached by a series of boardwalks through mangrove. You then ascend through steepish jungle, with the option of branching off left early on to Teluk Paku, a small, not particularly attractive cove where proboscis monkeys are often seen. Most people carry on to reach the Padang about 45 minutes from the start – here not a grassy colonial town square, but a rocky plateau of kerangas that’s another hangout for proboscis monkeys.

At the Padang you’re on the park’s most popular trail, the looping Lintang trail that leads alternately through jungled slopes and kerangas via occasional stretches of boardwalk, and returns to the park headquarters from the south. Taking around four hours to complete if you don’t pause frequently to rest or take photos, it can get monotonous after a while.

You may find it more interesting to branch off the Lintang trail at a clearly marked point only a few minutes’ walk along the Padang. This two-hour side trail heads east to the Tajor Waterfall; a couple of low cascades in a jungled stream, the waterfall itself is no great shakes, but the pool just down from it is good for a swim. From here you can return to the headquarters the way you came, or continue east and south along a much bigger loop, the Ulu Serait trail, and returning along the southern part of the Lintang trail; allow at least six hours to do this.

Even more worthwhile may be to branch off the Tajor trail at another signed side trail, less than a quarter of the way towards the falls, which leads north towards two beautiful beaches, Teluk Pandan Kecil and Teluk Pandan Besar. Curiously, semi-dry stream beds seem to serve as the trail in some sections, eventually bringing you to viewpoints with superb views of the beaches and the South China Sea. The Pandan Kecil viewpoint also features bizarre hexagonal sandstone formations in the ground, where iron-rich rock has eroded less than the surrounding material. The steep descent to Pandan Kecil (15min) is rewarded with a swim at a secluded cove with whitish sand; unfortunately, no path leads down to Pandan Besar.

Other possible treks include heading to the remote Teluk Limau or Teluk Kruin beaches at the park’s eastern end, taking at least eight hours (you’ll probably want to travel one way by boat), or hikes off the main trails up to hills such as Bukit Gondol (260m) for great views.

Arrival and departure: Bako National Park

By bus Reaching the park from Kuching is straightforward: Rapid Kuching’s red bus #1 heads east to Bako village roughly hourly from Jalan Khoo Hun Yeang, close to the Masjid Negeri, from 7am–5pm (1hr) with return buses running 6.30am–5.30pm. It stops en route at the Old Courthouse complex and along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, though given the lack of signage at bus stops, be sure to ask other commuters if the bus will call where you hope to flag it down. The bus stops at the Bako boat terminal for onward travel to the park.

By boat At the Bako boat terminal you can buy your park permit, register, and board a park-bound boat (25min; RM40 return). They leave when full, from early morning until 3.30pm; last boat back is 4.30pm.

Information

Park HQ Just a few minutes’ walk from the jetty, where you can pick up a simple park map, hire a green-jacketed official guide (RM100–200/day for up to 8 people, depending on English ability) or book to go on a guided night walk (8pm; 1hr 30min; RM20), which takes you south along the Lintang trail to spot insects, spiders and, with luck, nocturnal mammals and birds.

Information Centre Close to the Park HQ, the excellent information centre holds displays on the park’s geology and history, and plenty of photographs to help you get a handle on the plants and animals you may see on the trails.

Admission Park permits, which you buy from the Bako boat terminal, cost RM20; a day-tour from Kuching (including admission) costs around RM280.

Contact details 082 370434, sarawakforestry.com.

Getting around

By boat Saving time by using a boat to reach one of Bako’s beaches is well worth considering; park staff can give an idea of the going rate, though you’ll still have to negotiate with the boatmen at the jetty once you’ve signed in at the headquarters. The longest journey possible, out to Teluk Kruin (currently only accessable by boat), costs around RM250 one way for a group of five, but you’re more likely to make the short hop to a popular beach such as Teluk Paku (around RM20) or Teluk Pandan Kecil (around RM40); prices are per person and boats leave when full.

Accommodation and eating

It’s much cheaper to buy provisions in town before you arrive than to eat at the park’s sole café, though note that cooking is not allowed inside any of the accommodation.

Bako National Park accommodation 082 478011, sarawakforestry.com. The park’s accommodations include a campsite; a recently renovated hostel with four-bed dorms; forest lodges, which are a little worn, where the three-bedded rooms share facilities; and en-suite doubles. Best are the newer a/c chalets, with two bedrooms that sleep up to six. Camping RM5, dorms RM15, en-suite doubles RM50, lodge rooms RM100, chalets RM225

Kubah National Park

Some 20km west of Kuching, Kubah National Park is a rainforest reserve considered one of the world’s richest sites for palm species: of the 95 types found, including coconut, sago and many rattans, eighteen are endemic to the region. Look out too for giant squirrels, which are the bigger than a cat.

Three modest peaks, Selang, Sendok and Serapi, emerge out of the lush forest; they’re crisscrossed by trails, waterfalls and streams. Marked hikes include the three-hour Raya Trail, a good walk to catch sight of the palms, and the Waterfall Trail, a ninety-minute uphill hike to impressive, split-level falls. Kubah’s best views, however, come on the three-hour Mount Serapi (Summit) Trail – from the top of the peak, you can take in Kuching and much of southwestern Sarawak.

Also within the park is Matang Wildlife Centre, where injured, sick or orphaned wild animals such as orang-utans, gibbons and hornbills are rehabilitated before being returned to the wild. There are many foreign volunteers working here, but it’s fairly underfunded so you may find the conditions and state of the animals distressing – if you want to help with funding or volunteering, visit the Monkee Bar in Kuching.

arrival and information: Kubah National Park

By bus City Public Link bus #K21 runs to Kubah from Kuching (every 3hr – check timetable with the tourist office; 30–40min).

Admission The RM20 entrance ticket includes the wildlife centre.

Contact details 082 845033, sarawakforestry.com.

accommodation and eating

Kubah National Park accommodation 082 370422, sarawakforestry.com. The park offers accommodation in either a hostel or a two-bedroom lodge. There’s no canteen, or anywhere to eat nearby, so bring supplies to cook meals yourself. Dorms RM15, lodges RM150

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

Off Sarawak’s main trunk road, 25km south of Kuching • Feeding times daily 9am & 3pm • RM10; a day-tour from Kuching costs around RM80 • 082 442180 • City Public Link bus #K6 (45min) leaves Kuching to coincide with feeding times (8am & 2pm), and returns shortly after (10pm & 4pm); it stops by the ticket office on the main road, a 1.5km walk from the centre along an undulating access road

The first forest reserve in the state, the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre was set aside by Vyner Brooke in 1920. Today it’s a sort of open zoo in a surviving pocket of forest, where tourists flock to watch orang-utans being fed fruit by rangers, who have names for all of them. How many you’re likely to see will depend on the time of year – when wild fruits are in season, fewer orang-utans emerge from the forest to seek out the rangers.

Most of the action takes place at a clearing, with seating close by, reached by a short jungle trail from the car park. Don’t be surprised if you see the orang-utans roaming around the car park itself – and give them a wide berth if you do. Look out also for orang-utan nests, which they build in the treetops using clumps of leaves and branches, for sleeping. The morning feeding is usually better, and arriving by 8.30am will give you a decent seat.

Annah Rais

Near the mountains that straddle the border with Kalimantan, 60km south of Kuching, the Bidayuh longhouse settlement of ANNAH RAIS, while occasionally touristy, makes a decent day-trip from Kuching, particularly if you don’t have time to see longhouses elsewhere in Sarawak. It’s easy to combine a visit with a trip to Semenggoh if you’re driving, and not too hard by bus, though confirm bus times with the tourist office.

The settlement of around 1300 feels like a hybrid of longhouse and village – assorted differently styled wooden “houses” are joined together in two long parallel rows and raised off the ground, with platforms of bamboo slats on planks serving as “streets”. This higgledy-piggledy style is in part due to the fact that it is one of the oldest remaining wooden longhouses in Sarawak, with a written history of more than 175 years, and an oral tradition that goes back 500. Behind the facades, individual family quarters open off vast corridors, just as in a regular longhouse, and as ever there’s a river nearby for bathing (a bridge brings you to a third longhouse). You’ll probably be offered a small glass of tuak (or Borneo brandy) upon arrival, while depending on the season, you may see the rice harvest or longhouse-made latex sheets being dried. Be sure to pop into the panggah, or skull house, where skulls hark back to a martial tradition that only ceased a few generations ago – the villagers claim that they were actually used as part of a ceremony to bring peace.

arrival and information: Annah Rais

By bus City Public Link bus #K6, which also serves Semenggoh, heads from Kuching to the small town of Kota Padawan (8 daily; 30min) from whose market you can catch a minivan (1hr; RM10) to Annah Rais. The longhouse homestay programme can arrange transfers from/to Kuching, RM100 for up to four people. or RM140 for up to ten people. Day tours are available from hotels and travel agents in Kuching for RM100-250.

Admission fee RM8, payable at the information booth in front of the longhouse.

Accommodation

Annah Rais Homestay Programmes 090 049762, longhouseadventure.com Several longhouse homes host homestay programmes, which are for the most part very basic but clean. The English-speaking coordinator, Patrick, lives at #71, in the second longhouse. Packages are available (1/2/3 nights RM298/398/498); these include food and drink, and activities such as jungle-trekking, hunting with blow-pipes and rafting, as well as cooking, basket-weaving and traditional dancing and music. Activities start at 10am, so you’ll need to arrive around 9.30am. Full board/person RM100,

Bau and around

Nineteenth-century prospectors were drawn to BAU, half an hour’s drive southwest of Kuching, by the gold that veined the surrounding countryside, but the modern-day market town is mundane in the extreme, though it does have a picturesque mining lake, Blue Lake, on its southwestern edge. Pretty though the lake is, it contains arsenic and is unsafe to swim in; the main reason to come to Bau is to visit the two nearby caves, around 4km apart to the west.

Bau caves

Daily 8.30am–5pm • Both caves RM5 • Sarawak Transport Company bus #2 goes from Kuching to Bau (3 daily), from where the Bau Transport Company #2 bus (2 daily) runs to the caves (catch the 11.40am service if you want to return to Kuching by bus; the last service back to Kuching is at 4.30pm) – each cave has its own bus stop on the main road, at least 15min walk from its entrance; there are also taxis from Bau (RM20 each way for Fairy Cave, RM14 for Wind Cave) – get the driver’s number for the return.

If you have to pick one of the two Bau caves – which you may well have to do if relying on public transport – choose the larger, Fairy Cave. Steps inside enable you to wander through the gloom towards a gaping maw at one end of the system, which lets in refreshing breezes and enough light for the cave floor to be blanketed in ferns and moss. The smaller Wind Cave is a little less impressive, with two dark tunnels inhabited by a colony of bats –you’ll need to make sure you bring a decent torch with you to fully explore it.

Accommodation and eating: Bau

Lan e Tuyang 14km short of Bau and 23km from Kuching on the Batu Kawa Rd, parallel to and north of the main Bau Rd 016 816 8525, jacksonlianngau@gmail.com. This excellent homestay is run by the Kenyah sape exponent and artist Mathew Ngau Jau, a mainstay of the Rainforest Music Festival, who has created a sort of mini-longhouse decorated with Orang Ulu motifs and sapes built in his workshop below. He can teach you the rudiments of the lute-like instrument and how to build one, or you can try your hand at woodcarving. Five simple guest rooms have fans and mosquito nets, with toilets and showers in a separate block; take traditional meals (RM25) in the house or they can give you a lift to the simple restaurants in the Chinese hamlet of Tondong a few minutes’ drive away. Arrange ahead for pick-up from Bau town, Kuching or the airport (all RM50/person). RM50

Gunung Gading National Park

The main claim to fame of Gunung Gading National Park, 75km by road west of Kuching, is that it’s home to the parasitic Rafflesia plant, with its stinky blooms. However, when the buds are maturing the park can go for months without a single Rafflesia in flower; if you’re coming specifically to see the plants (as the vast majority of visitors are), check with the park in advance.

The park can be visited as a day-trip from Kuching. With an early start, you can tackle the Waterfall Trail, on which it takes ninety minutes to reach the end at waterfall 7 – it really is the seventh waterfall en route – where you can have a good, refreshing swim. With more time, you can also climb Gading, one of the park’s two hills. It’s a full-on hike and a six-hour round trip, though it’s a well-marked trail and a guide is not needed.

arrival and information: Gunung Gading National Park

By bus There are eight daily buses from Kuching’s regional express bus terminal to the town of Lundu (1hr 30min), from where you can either walk 3km north along the main road to get to the park, or catch a minivan or taxi which congegate next to the bus station (RM5–10).

Admission fee RM20.

Contact details 082 735144.

Accommodation

Gunung Gading National Park accommodation 082 735144. The park has a campsite, a hostel where four rooms offer dorm beds (or can be let as four-bed rooms) and a lodge holding six-bed chalets. There’s no canteen, but you can cook at the park’s kitchens. Camping/person RM5, dorms RM15, doubles RM40, chalets RM150

Tanjung Datu National Park and around

Some 40km west of Lundu town, and at the end of the road from Kuching (until the new section of the Pan-Borneo Highway opens), the seaside town of Semantan has a long, picturesque beach and reasonably clean almost-yellow sands. However, most foreign visitors are here to visit Tanjung Datu National Park (sarawakforestry.com), whose beaches are far superior to the wide flat beach in the town.

At the very western tip of Sarawak, this tiny park covers a mountainous region around a coastal spur close to the Kalimantan border. Although it offers splendid rainforest, swift, clean rivers and isolated bays, the main draws are its two dazzling beaches, with shallow, unspoilt coral reefs perfect for snorkelling only a short distance from the shore, and occasionally frequented by dolphins – bring your own equipment.

The park is also among the few destinations in Sarawak where green turtles come to lay eggs (April to October), while the jungle holds six species of primate, seven species of hornbill, elusive clouded leopards and much more easy-to-spot deer and wild boar. There are four marked trails, too: the hardest, the Belian Trail, takes around an hour and a half, leading halfway up Mount Melano (542m) to where Rafflesia bloom, while the Pasar Antu Laut Trail (also 1hr 30min) leads almost 4km north through the jungle, ending up at the isolated and slightly surreal Golden Sand Beach.

arrival and information: Tanjung Datu National Park

By boat At the time of writing, the only independent access to the park was by boat from Sematan (40min; RM600 for up to six people, RM800 for up to eight; Minhad is the best boatman 012 848 6549). From the Sematan jetty, it’s also possible to catch the erratic public boat (often leaving around 10–11am) that takes locals back to the village of Telok Melano (RM50), a 90min walk from the park HQ. However, once the new section of the Pan-Borneo Highway from Sematan to the Indonesian border near Telok Melano is completed (maybe as soon as 2018), all of this will change, and taxis and minibuses may well ply the route. Getting to Sematan itself is fairly straightforward, with four daily express buses leaving from Kuching’s regional express bus terminal, via Lundu (where you may have to change), returning at 7am, 10am, 12.30pm & 4pm.

Package tours You can also come to the park on an over-priced package tour from Kuching, such as from CPH Travel, or locally from Telok Melano Homestay Program.

Admission fee RM20, payable at the Park HQ.

Accommodation

There are several accommodation options in Sematan, includeing a couple of resorts along the coast, several homestays signposted from the main road near the bus station, and one grubby but cheap guesthouse.

Tanjung Datu National Park Accommodation 082 248088. Basic accommodation is available at the park HQ, with four fan twin rooms, a six-person, dorm-like forest hut (bedding RM16 extra) and a campsite. There’s no canteen, so for food you’ll either have to walk to Telok Melano and back or cook your own – cooking equipment can also be rented for RM16/day. Camping/person RM5, jungle huts RM10, twins RM42.50

Telok Melano Homestay Program 082 711101, right.sarawak.gov.my. This tiny Malay fishing village of fifty families, around a 90min walk from Park HQ, operates a local homestay programme, with over half the homes here offering rooms. It is used by tour operators (who massivly overcharge for it), though you can contact them directly for one of their packages (starting from RM1150 for up to five people), which includes transport from Sematan, full-board accommodation, cultural shows, park entrance, and other activities. It’s also possible to stay on a nightly basis if you are travelling independently. The village has community wi-fi near the only restaurant on the beach. Full board per person RM100,

Batang Ai – the Iban longhouses

The Iban longhouses of the Ai headwaters, both 150km due east of Kuching beyond the lake of the Batang Ai hydroelectric dam, and also to the north along the Lemanak river system, are the best excuse for anyone travelling between western and central Sarawak not to catch the fast Kuching–Sibu ferry. Despite being on the tourist trail, the longhouses offer a glimpse (if somewhat fake) of what used to the semi-traditional lifestyle in this remote corner of the state, much of which is protected as a national park and wildlife sanctuary. Sadly, most locals now prefer to live nearer to the road, and many of the villages and longhouses you’ll be taken to are only inhabited while tourists are there – unfortunately, the locals see little of the profits made by the agencies that run tours here, and you may get the impression that they’re all rather weary of the whole thing.

Batang Ai dam and lake

Around three and a half hours’ drive from Kuching, a couple of kilometres beyond the village of Jelukong, a signed 38km turning branches southeast off the main trunk road, passing a few modernish longhouses en route to the small border town of Lubok Antu. Some 12km short of that, another small road branches east (left) towards the Batang Ai dam, a way station en route to the upper Ai. Built in the 1980s as Sarawak’s first hydroelectric venture, the Ai dam created a lake covering 90 square kilometres. Though now dwarfed in scale, generating capacity and controversy by the Bakun dam, it’s an impressive sight nonetheless and the road up gives good views of the narrow valley downriver.

No parts of the dam are open to tourists, though, and once you get there you’ll head to one of the jetties to continue east by boat to an Ai longhouse or the Aiman Batang Ai Resort & Retreat.

Batang Ai National Park

Only accessible with an official guide, who can be hired in Lubok Antu; if you’re on a tour, you have to pay a tour operator for a day-trip to be added onto a longhouse package • RM20 • 014 718 2342 (manager in Kuching), sarawakforestry.com

East of the lakeshore, an hour by boat from the dam, the little-visited Batang Ai National Park preserves an important area of rainforest that merges with the Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary (LEWS; off-limits to visitors), which itself merges with another protected area across the border in Kalimantan. Orang-utans are occasionally spotted on various trails in the national park, but a boat to these trails will set you back RM700–800 from the HQ. The park holds no residential or other facilities, and all visitors must be accompanied by a guide.

The Iban

Easily the most numerous of Sarawak’s indigenous peoples, the Iban make up nearly thirty percent of the state’s population. Their language is from the same family as Malay, and any Malay speakers will notice considerable overlap in vocabulary as well as predictable changes in word endings – datang (come) and makan (eat) in Malay, for example, become datai and makai in Iban.

ORIGINS AND CONFLICTS

Having outgrown their original home in the Kapuas river basin of west Kalimantan, the Iban migrated to the Lupar River in southwest Sarawak in the sixteenth century, and came into conflict with the Melanau and Malays. With the Brunei sultanate at its height, the Malays pushed the Iban back inland up rivers such as the Rejang, into interior areas dominated by the Kayan. Great battles were waged between the two groups; one source recorded seeing “a mass of boats drifting along the stream, [the combatants] spearing and stabbing each other; decapitated trunks and heads without bodies, scattered about in ghastly profusion”. Although such inter-ethnic conflict stopped as migration itself slowed, the Iban were still taking heads as recently as the 1960s during the Konfrontasi, when the Indonesian army came up against Iban who had thrown their lot in with Malaysia.

Society

The Iban figure prominently in the minds of visitors, thanks to their traditional communal dwelling, the longhouse. Each has its own tuai (headman), who leads more by consensus than by barking orders. Traditionally, young men left the longhouse to go on bejalai, the act of joining a warring party – essentially a rite of passage for a youth to establish his independence and social position before marriage. Nowadays, to the extent that bejalai has meaning, it may translate into going to university or earning a good wage on offshore oil rigs or in a hotel or factory in Singapore.

Further complicating the bejalai tradition is the fact that women are now much more socially mobile, and can pursue education and their own careers. Traditionally, however, women had distinct duties, which is cited as a reason why a woman is not permitted to be tuai. They never went hunting, but were great weavers – an Iban woman’s weaving prowess would once have determined her status in the community. The women are most renowned for their pua kumbu (blanket or coverlet) work, a cloth of intricate design and colour. The pua kumbu once played an integral part in Iban rituals, hung up prominently during harvest festivals and weddings, or used to cover structures containing charms and offerings to the gods.

Development and urbanization

More than half of Sarawak’s Iban have moved permanently to the cities and towns in the west of the state, or may spend the working week there and weekends back in their longhouse. Most rural Iban no longer live purely off the land but also undertake seasonal work in the rubber and oil industries. By no small irony, logging – the business that most devastated their traditional lands – also long supplied plentiful and lucrative work; these days oil-palm cultivation and production provide more employment.

Ai River

An hour east from the Batang Ai dam, longhouse-bound boats leave the lake and head up the Ai River. As is clear from the tall trees that come right to the water’s edge, the initial stretch is still a drowned portion of the river. Further up you’ll observe a transition to the true river banks, the vegetation more open and compact. Also visible sporadically to either side are the odd school and clinic in simple metal-roofed timber buildings, and areas of hillslope cleared for traditional rice cultivation. The Iban leave paddies to the jungle once the soil is exhausted and move on to clear new areas. As the river narrows, you also begin to see the occasional longhouse lurking in the vegetation. Among those that take tourists are Nanga Delok (also called Rumah Ipang, on the Delok, a tributary of the Ai) and the more distant Nanga Sumpa (the Sumpa being a tributary of the Delok). Wherever you stay, you will be offered opportunities for additional longboat trips to areas where you can make short treks or local beauty spots such as waterfalls.

Lemanak River

The Lemanak River is, like the Batang Ai dam, reached by the Lubok Antu Road, though you turn off earlier to head to the jetties. Several longhouses here regularly host travellers, notably Ngemah Ulu, where guests are put up in the longhouse itself, which has been adopted by Diethelm Travel in Kuching (diethelmtravel.com). Independent travel here is not easy. Coming on a two-night package offers the option of a great local trek.

Longhouse architecture

Longhouses can be thought of as indoor villages, housing entire communities under one roof. Although several indigenous peoples build dwellings that are sometimes called longhouses, the definitive article is the Iban longhouse. This has a long veranda or tanju at the front where rice, rubber and other produce can be laid out to dry; it’s accessed by steps or sometimes a log into which notches are cut. Behind the front wall, running the entire length of the building, a corridor or ruai serves as a sort of main street where the community can socialize. Multiple doors (pintu) open on to the ruai, behind which lie each family’s quarters (bilik); locals describe a longhouse not in terms of its length or the number of inhabitants, but by how many bilik or pintu it has. Above the living quarters, a loft space (sadau) is used for storage.

Traditionally longhouses were built of hardwood timber and bamboo, perhaps with ironwood shingles on the roof. Even though most longhouses now feature plenty of unsightly concrete, they still retain their characteristic ruai inside, and most continue to be sited close to rivers or streams, where people enjoy bathing even when piped water supplies exist.

Arrival and departure: Batang Ai

By tour Most visitors book with a Kuching or Miri tour operator, which usually includes the road transfers, the journey in and out by longboat, plus all meals.

By travelling independently Roads have reached some longhouses north of the Ai, but since many longhouses aren’t signposted, having your own car is little advantage unless you have local friends or hire a guide in Lubok Antu. That said, you can visit by public transport. If you get dropped at Jelukong Junction on the main road by any bus to or from Miri, then it’s 39km to Lubok Antu (RM50 taxi, often possible to share) where there is accommodation and you can ask around to find a guide (around RM100–200/day). To get to the more remote settlements by boat (without hiring a whole one), there are usually “public” boats taking students back for the weekend from the dam; they’ll most likely leave Friday afternoon, and return on Sunday afternoon. When leaving, there’s no need to backtrack all the way to Kuching; to head on to Sibu and beyond, flag down a bus on the main road. There are at least a couple of buses per hour and tickets can be bought on board.

Accommodation

Aiman Batang Ai Resort & Retreat Southeastern shore of Batang Ai lake, 40min from the dam 1300 889908, aimanbatangai.com. A 5-star resort is definitely a misfit in this isolated area, but then, so is the dam – so you might as well just enjoy the lake vistas from the hotel terrace. Each block is a timber building with rooms on one side of a long corridor, just as in a longhouse; built in the 1990s, the rooms now look a tad dated. Either drive up and be collected at the dam, or pay RM150 (min 4 people) for shuttle transport from the Kuching Hilton. RM380

Nanga Sumpa Ai River, a 90min boat ride from the dam; only bookable as part of a package. This longhouse deserves special mention as the site of an excellent purpose-built tourist lodge, sited at a discreet distance from the longhouse itself across a creek. Rooms have wooden platforms that hold a simple mattress and a mosquito net, but little else, though there’s a pleasant open sitting/dining area and modern shared bathrooms. Prices vary; only bookable through tour operators based in Kuching.

< Back to Sarawak

Central Sarawak

For travellers, central Sarawak offers rather slim pickings compared to Kuching’s hinterland and the north of the state. Those visitors who venture here tend to be drawn by the prospect of travelling into the interior along the Rejang (also spelled Rajang), Malaysia’s longest river. All such trips start from the bustling city of Sibu, some 50km inland near where another major river, the Igan, splits away from the Rejang. Express boats depart daily to zip up the Rejang to Kapit, beyond which, through the Pelagus Rapids and on to the sleepy town of Belaga, eight hours from Sibu, the Rejang becomes wild and unpredictable and the scenery spectacular. There’s not much to do in either Kapit or Belaga, and while there are longhouse communities near both, almost all are made from concrete – the last easily accessible traditional wooden longhouse is east of Kapit along the Balui River. Public transport is thin on the ground, so it’s best to regard the Rejang journey as an end in itself or else fork out for (pricey) local guides to arrange trips for you.

With Sibu being so far from the sea, and the coast here dominated by mangrove swamp, the main trunk road runs deep inland until it finally hits the coast again at Bintulu. Halfway along, a side road leads off through a chink in the vegetation to the coastal town of Mukah, which has an appealing museum-cum-guesthouse nearby. Bintulu itself is a nondescript but (thanks to oil and gas) prosperous town, whose main attraction is as a base for Similajau National Park, easily reached yet appealingly quiet.

Sibu

From its humble 1850s origins as a tiny Melanau encampment, SIBU has grown into Sarawak’s third largest city and its biggest port. Nearly half its quarter-million population are ethnic Chinese. Unusually for Malaysia, many are Foochow, descended from migrants from what’s now Fuzhou in southeast China. Their diligence is often credited with helping the city become the commercial centre it is today. Its Foochow flavour aside, Sibu is also identified with Sarawak’s controversial logging industry, which helped the city recover from the Japanese occupation, when many Chinese were forced into slave labour. Sibu subsequently became, for a time, the centre for timber processing in Sarawak and investors, many drawn from long-established Chinese families, made large fortunes as a result.

Having experienced devastating fires in 1889 and 1928, plus serious damage during World War II, Sibu is characterized more by energy than visual appeal. However, boasting a huge market and a lively waterfront, it has enough sights to keep you occupied for half a day – just as well, as most travellers en route to or from the upper Rejang spend at least a night here.

Waterfront

If you arrive on the boat from Kuching, you’ll find yourself on the waterfront on the Rejang’s right bank, facing rows of dull modern shophouses and commercial buildings. Efforts have been made to landscape and beautify the Rejang Esplanade – the tiny riverside recreation area by the ferry terminal – but it’s still a fairly humdrum spot. Look out, however, for a riverside marker indicating the Rejang’s level during historic floods. Sibu’s commercial lifeline is also a scourge; every few years the river overtops this area and inundates the city centre. Efforts are ongoing to tame the Rejang by dredging away sediment, some of which no doubt results from forest clearance.

Tua Pek Kong temple

Eastern end of Jalan Temple • Daily 6.30am–8pm • Free • 082 312005

A small wooden temple stood on the site of Sibu’s Taoist Tua Pek Kong temple, at the northern end of the riverfront, as early as 1870. Soon afterwards it was rebuilt on a much grander scale, with a tiled roof, stone block floor and decorative fixtures imported from China. Two large concrete lions guard the entrance. The statue of Tua Pek Kong, the temple’s most important image, survived both the fire of 1928 and Japanese bombardment. The pagoda at the back is, by contrast, Buddhist, and if you ask for the key you can walk up to enjoy the views from the top.

Central Market

Northern end of the riverside Jalan Khoo Peng Loong • Daily dawn–dusk, hawker stalls upstairs stay open into the evening

Sibu’s modern and entertaining Central Market, one of the biggest in the country, is housed in a long, curved-roofed building. It’s best to turn up on a Saturday, when it’s at its busiest and the entire ground floor is taken up with vendors selling items such as bamboo tubes for stewing ayam pansoh, live roosters tied up in newspaper, slabs of what look like mummified bats but are in fact smoked fish, and, in the run-up to tribal festivals, gongs – which prospective buyers have no qualms about trying out. Stalls at the edge offer a tasty Sibu speciality, kongbian, sometimes called Chinese bagels but more like dainty versions of the sesame-seed breads sold in Turkey and Lebanon. An upstairs food court offers a few vantage points overlooking the colourful goings-on below.

Sibu Heritage Centre

Jalan Central • Tues–Sun 9am–5pm • Free • 084 331315

The Sibu Heritage Centre is a fine museum highlighting the city’s history and cultural diversity. There’s a good discussion of how Chinese pioneers, with the support of Brooke officials, founded the settlement and got it off the ground with crops such as rubber – logging didn’t arrive until the 1930s – and of Foochow immigration, which only began in earnest at the start of the twentieth century. Among the basketware, beadwork and so forth you can see a striking nineteenth-century Kayan burial hut (salong) atop a 1m-high totem pole.

Arrival and Departure: Sibu

By plane Sibu’s airport (084 307770) is 25km east of the centre. While you could walk 10min to the nearest major road junction and flag down a passing bus or yellow-topped van into town (roughly hourly; RM3), it’s a lot easier to pay for a taxi (RM32). Heading out to the airport, any bus from the local bus station bound for Sibujaya or Kanowit can drop you at the same junction. MAS/MASwings and AirAsia, have offices at the airport.

Destinations Bintulu (7.20am daily; 35min); Johor Bahru (11.50am daily; 1hr 35min); Kota Kinabalu (2 daily; 1hr 35min); Kuala Lumpur (8 daily; 1hr 55min); Kuching (7 daily; 40min); Miri (2–3 daily; 55min).

By boat Sibu’s express-boat terminal on the esplanade, Terminal Penumpang, is used by Bahagia fast boats between here and Kuching via Sarikei downriver; it’s advised to take the more expensive upper-deck seats, which have better views and a/c (11.30am daily; 4–5hr; 084 319228). There are also more frequent boats upriver to Kanowit (3 daily, last at 8.30am; 30min) and Kapit (18 daily, last 2.30pm; 3hr).

By long-distance bus All express buses use the long-distance bus station, 5km northeast of the centre off Jalan Pahlawan with a taxi to the centre costing around RM15. Hourly Lanang Bus Company services #20 and #21 go to the local bus terminus, which is in front of the express-boat terminal close to the centre.

Destinations Bintulu (every 1–2hr; 4hr); Kuching (7 daily; 8hr); Miri (10 daily, morning and evening only; 7hr 25min); Mukah (around 5 daily, last at 4.30pm; 3hr 30min); Pontianak (Indonesia; at least 2 daily; 18hr).

Information and tours

Tourist information Knowledgeable and helpful staff at Sibu’s central Visitors’ Information Centre, at the Sibu Heritage Centre (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm; 084 340980, vic-sibu@sarawaktourism.com), also cover the Rejang River towns plus Bintulu and Mukah, which don’t have tourist offices. They produce a very good guide to Sibu town and the region with several maps included.

Tour operators

Great Holiday First floor Pusat Pedada, eastern end of Jalan Pedada 084 348196, ghtborneo.com. This agency does a one-day Sibu tour (RM160/person), and a half-day one (RM120) to visit to the Bawang Assan longhouses.

Greatown Travel Behind the Rejang Medical Centre at 6 Lorong Chew Siik Hiong 084 211243, greatown.com. Unusual one-day trips downriver to Sarikei (RM220), where you can do some trekking, see pepper being cultivated and visit a wooden Iban longhouse where you can also add on a homestay (RM100/person full-board). Even more unusually, they can take you north down the Igan River to Mukah (three days/two nights full board RM900), which includes a visit to Lamin Dana. Book a few days in advance.

Accommodation

Sibu has a couple of decent inexpensive hotels, plus loads of choice once you get to mid-range and above. The cheapest guesthouses are around Chinatown, though this area also hosts a couple of loud bars and is also frequented by prostitutes.

Kingwood 12 Lorong Lanang 084 335888, kingwood.sibu@yahoo.com.my; map. Incredibly, this huge hotel, with a gleaming extension back from the river, has never seen fit to have a website despite boasting a pool, gym, sauna and other amenities. Prices can be slashed by RM50 when things are quiet, making the place an absolute steal. Rates include breakfast, though you can save yourself RM54 if you get a rate without. RM170

Li Hua By the river at the junction of Lorong Lanang 2 and Jalan Maju 084 324000; map. It’s not the place to come for little refinements, and the sound of guests’ chatter can echo around the small lobby, but this is a terrific budget hotel, efficiently run, with dated and plain but well-kept en-suite rooms and free wi-fi on quite a few floors. Reserve ahead. RM65

The Paramount Hotel 3 Lorong, 9A Jalan Kampung Dato 084 331122, paramount_hotel@yahoo.com; map. Located a five-minute walk north of the market near the river, this ageing mid-range place is a little careworn but retains a certain style, like a glamourous great-aunt. The rooms are good-value and, while not super modern, are spacious and have nice views of the river. The hotel’s restaurant serves local food, including a RM12.90 lunchtime buffet. Avoid staying on the fourth floor as this is where the karaoke room is. RM141

Tanahmas Off the eastern end of Jalan Chambers 084 333188, tanahmas.com.my; map. This slick mid-range hotel boasts some of the nicest rooms in its class, fairly spacious with elegant modern furnishings, a swimming pool, mini-gym and a popular Chinese restaurant on the second floor. RM207

Ting Ying Hotel Jalan Channel (directly opposite the market) 084 341122; map. By far the best (non-sleazy) budget option, it has small but clean rooms with good bathrooms, and is fairly quiet at night – the market is noisy in the morning, but if you’re getting a boat you’ll need to be up early anyway. No wi-fi. RM42

LONghouses near sibu

There are very few traditional wooden longhouses left along the Rejang, but there are a couple of semi-traditional ones within easy striking distance of Sibu that are excellent and well-established at hosting tourists.

Bawang Assan Sibu Longhouse Homestay Program 14km southwest of Sibu 014 582 8105, rantaukemiding.blogspot.com. Just 40min by road from Sibu (RM50–60 by charter taxi, or RM2 by minivan every two hours from the Central Market), there are nine colourful longhouses here where Iban families (all with English-speaking members) take guests. The longhouses are a mix of traditional and modern, and prices include food, board and a range of activities such as paddy planting and fishing. The tourist office in Sibu can help you make the arrangements. RM110

Rumah Benjamin Angki Rantau Kemiding, 4km southwest of Kanowit, which is a boat stop or a 40min bus ride upriver from Sibu 013 882 3076, rantaukemiding.blogspot.com. Painted bright yellow, this venerable longhouse with more than 64 doors and a correspondingly vast ruai dates back to 1936. Being set in an agricultural area just uphill from the Kanowit River, it isn’t a full-on outback experience, and is great for families with young children. Guests can stay in a purpose-built modern block with two a/c rooms, or in the longhouse itself, where some of the Iban speak good English. Call Benjamin in advance to discuss prices and some kind of programme as well as to arrange a pick-up from Kanowit; potential activities, all costing extra, include guided walks through the woods, fishing trips and so forth; check website for available packages. Per person, full board in modern block RM65, longhouse without meals RM75

Eating and drinking

Local specialities include Foochow noodles – steamed and then served in a soy and oyster sauce with spring onions, chilli, garlic and dried fish; and kang puan mee, which literally translates as “dry-plate noodles” though it is in fact mee fried in lard and garnished with pork slices. Good bars are thin on the ground, but not for lack of trying; a few venues, such as along Jalan Tukang Besi, are beautifully done out but lack finesse and descend into karaoke at the slightest opportunity – there is also quite a lot of prostitution.

The Ark Café Rejang Esplanade 084 313445; map. It may look like a designer home, but The Ark is actually a multi-cuisine restaurant that serves Thai, Western, Chinese, Korean and Malaysian dishes. The food, at best, is not bad (try the Emperor Pork Belly), but the contemporary decor compensates, and prices are reasonable (from around RM30/person without alcohol) and rice and noodle dishes are just RM20–25. Several outdoor tables, set around a courtyard that’s nicely lit at night, have river views by day. Daily 11am–11pm.

Café Café 8 Jalan Chew Geok Lin 084 328101; map. While not as swish as The Ark, Café Café is for many middle-class locals the place for a smart night out. The food is mostly a mix of Chinese, Malay and Thai dishes (the Thai chicken salad is very popular), served in different portion sizes with rice for around RM18–38, with set lunches for RM12.90–19.90. No credit cards. Tues–Sun noon–4pm & 6–11pm.

Hai Bing 31 Jalan Maju 084 321491; map. Well-established, earthy, and often busy Chinese restaurant known for its seafood, such as ginger crab (RM60/kg), though the prawns and other options are a bit cheaper. If you stick with the meaty rice and noodle dishes you can eat for under RM10. Daily 11.30am–1.30pm & 5.30–11.30pm.

Hock Chu Leu Upstairs at 28 Jalan Tukang Besi 084 330254; map. Kopitiams aside, you’d expect Sibu to have a more formal downtown place offering Foochow cuisine – and this is it, and though it’s a little fusty it’s certainly Chinese-looking. Come here for classics such as Foochow noodles and ang chow kai, chicken that’s red from being cooked with the sediment from a certain type of Chinese wine. Around RM20, excluding drinks. Daily 11am–1.30pm & 5–8pm; sometimes closed Tues.

Payung Café Jalan Lanang, 016 890 6061; map. This smart and stylish restaurant, smartened up with tribal artefacts and a thatched awning, is one of the quirkiest in Sarawak, with a fusion menu that reflects enthusiasm rather than fancy culinary training. Their cooking often uses local herbs and could feature anything from Indochinese pomelo salad to prawns with starfruit and spaghetti. You can wash down your meal with, say, their brilliant home-made pineapple ginger soda (RM7), or even fresh durian milkshake, if the pongy fruits are in season. Around RM30 with soft drinks. Daily 11.30am–3pm & 6–11.30pm.

Peppers Café Tanahmas Hotel, off eastern end of Jalan Chambers 084 333188, tanahmas.com.my; map. The usual hotel restaurant menu ranging from Western staples – including lamb chop and rump steak (RM28–69) – to Malaysian fried rice and Chinese noodles (under RM25), in plush surroundings and at somewhat elevated prices. It’s the best Western grub in town, and not a bad option for a slap-up buffet breakfast (RM31). Daily 6am–1.30am.

Rejang boats

One explanation for the nickname “flying coffins” – formerly attached jokingly to the Rejang express boats – is that they are long and narrow, and feature aircraft-like seating. Otherwise they are serviceable, if not massively comfortable or user-friendly: boarding entails stepping off the jetty onto the boat’s rim or gunwale and walking around until you reach the entrance hatch. You may also have to fling your luggage on the roof yourself, although sometimes staff are on hand to help load and unload.

Several companies operate the boats, but look out for people selling Bahagia and Husqvarna tickets at the boat terminal; both companies stand out for having more comfortable boats that are also more likely to leave on time and to have windows through which you can see clearly – though the jungle views may get monotonous after a while. Otherwise you’ll have to be entertained by the onboard DVDs of overly patriotic Chinese and Hollywood action flicks – one of the advantages of going first class is that they often leave the volume down.

Schedules and fares

Boats depart Sibu at least twice an hour from 6.15am until 11am, then every 45 minutes until 3pm. All go to Kapit (around 3hr), just a couple to Kanowit (45min) and many more serve Song, the stop before Kapit. Downriver boats from Kapit operate to a similar schedule. To get to Belaga, you’ll have to change at Kapit, where the connecting boat leaves at 11am, so if you’re going to go all the way in one day, you need to ideally leave Sibu before 7.45am. Note that during the dry season, if the river level is low, Belaga boats are cancelled – ask at the jetty or tourist office in Sibu for the latest.

The fare from Sibu to Kapit is RM20 (RM5/10 extra for second/first class, which when available offers a bit more legroom and slightly better air conditioning). A Kapit–Belaga ticket costs RM25. You should try and arrive thirty minutes before departure time, and at busy times, say during the run-up to a festival, buy tickets a day or two before.

Kapit

KAPIT is the main commercial centre upriver from Sibu, and it looks it too, trapped in an architectural no-man’s-land between the modern town it could become and the rustic backwater it was a generation ago – the place feels like an utter jumble, despite a certain appealing energy. If you do end up here, you may well stay the night – either because you can’t face the journey to Belaga in one go or because this is as far as you intend to get – and fortunately it has some good accommodation options. Although there are a couple of museums (plus several banks and a couple of internet cafés), there’s not much else to do beyond wandering the river bank or having a look around the market.

Fort Sylvia

Tues–Sun 10am–noon & 2–5pm (you may need to wait for the caretaker to show up with the keys) • Free • 082 239672

Fort Sylvia, the white, low-slung building a couple of minutes’ walk upriver from the boat terminal, makes quite a grand first impression. Built in 1880 of tough belian (ironwood) timber, it was an attempt to prevent the marauding Iban attacking smaller and more peaceable tribes, and to limit Iban migration along the nearby Baleh River, confining them to the Rejang below Kapit; note the diamond-shaped gun holes all along the facade.

The fort is now a small museum and conference venue, managed by the people behind Kuching’s Tun Jugah Foundation gallery. Evocative photographs depict great moments in the history of the Ulu Rejang, including the 1924 peace-making ceremony in Kapit between Brooke officials and the warring Iban and Kayan tribal representatives. In addition, ceramic jars, pua kumba textiles and small cannon are on display.

Civic Centre and Museum

Jalan Hospital • Tues–Sun 8am–5pm • 084 796003 • Free

Also known by its Malay name, Dewan Suarah, Kapit’s Civic Centre and Museum holds interesting exhibits on the tribes in the Rejang region, including a well-constructed longhouse and a mural painted by local Iban. Sketches and watercolours of Kapit, Belaga and Song portray a life that is slowly disappearing. The museum also describes the lives of the Hokkien traders who helped put towns like Kapit on the map.

Rumah William Unchat Longhouse

Yong River • Entry, photo permit and community donation for 1–6 people RM65; skull room RM40 extra • Contact Cikgu (teacher) Jega Keling on 014 881 2906 or 084 796903 • You can visit using a guide from Kapit, though it’s not that difficult to organize yourself; a minivan from Kapit’s market square should cost around RM120–130 return (45min) – if the driver speaks English, ask them to come in with you as not many people speak English here

Some 50km southwest from Kapit, the weather-worn Rumah William Unchat Longhouse is one of the last remaining traditional wooden longhouses in the region, and one of the few anywhere that still keep the skulls hanging outside the skull room, though most of today’s inhabitants now live in the shiny new 34-door longhouse built next door. It’s also possible to stay here, and although you’ll have to bring your own food, they’ll help you to cook it.

Clockwise from top Gunung Mulu National Park; street market; Teluk Pandan Kecil, bako

Arrival and information: Kapit

By boat Kapit’s large boat terminal is used by all boats except Belaga services, which use a pier just a couple of minutes’ walk downriver.

Destinations Belaga (1 daily; 5hr); Kanowit (1–2 daily; 2hr); Sibu (18 daily; 2hr 30min).

Guides If you want to visit Rumah William Unchat Longhouse, your accommodation can usually organize an English-speaking guide, which should cost around RM250–300/person from Kapit for an all-inclusive overnight stay, depending on group size. For trips into the jungle, contact Iban guide Jose (019 485 9190), as well as for destinations such as Nanga Pulang Longhouse (two nights RM595/person) or the remote Horse Mountains (four nights RM1350/person); both minimum 4 people. Make sure all the terms are clearly agreed before you set out.

Accommodation

Kapit has a few reasonable budget hotels (if the ones listed here are full, you’ll easily stumble upon a handful more around town) and two mid-range options, though accommodation tends to be slightly overpriced. There is also the option of staying at the Rumah William Unchat Longhouse nearby. If you want to experience staying at one of the longhouses between Kapit and Belaga, or on the less-visited tributary between Kapit and the logging camp at Putai, residents often hang out around the docks looking for tourists.

Ark Hill Inn Jalan Penghulu Gerinang 084 796168, arkhill168@gmail.com. Good-value budget place with spartan but quite serviceable and clean en-suite doubles, twins, triples and a couple of “single” rooms that hold a bed large enough for two (RM55). Wi-fi in lobby only. RM90

Dragon Inn Lot 46, Jalan Teo Chow Beng 084 796105, kingsingwong@yahoo.com. It’s the first hotel you come to walking up from the jetty, and it has the most economical rooms. Most are a/c, en suite, and bare but clean. The fan rooms on the top floor are more worn, with shared bathrooms, but they’re the cheapest in town. Wi-fi in lower floor rooms only. RM40

Greenland Inn Jalan Teo Chow Beng 084 796388. Snug, clean and carpeted en-suite rooms, all with a/c, TV, comfy beds and the best bathrooms in Kapit. It can be noisy at reception, so try to get a room on an upper floor. No breakfast. RM120

Eating

Eating in Kapit is largely a matter of picking from the numerous kedai kopis and ordering from a fairly predictable range of dishes. All eating places – apart from the Taman Selera Empurau, the KFC, and the Sugarbuns – close by 6.30pm.

Taman Selera Empurau One block back from Jalan Teo Cheow Beng, behind the Methodist church. The only decent option after dark, this open-air food market serves inexpensive and delicious Malay food at plastic tables – noodles, fried rice, excellent satay sticks and of course nasi goreng. It would be hard to spend more than RM10. Daily 5pm–1am.

Belaga

Belaga-bound boats make frequent stops upriver from Kapit, and some passengers decamp to the roof for views of longhouses as the Rejang narrows. Forty minutes from Kapit, the Pelagus Rapids is an 800m-long, deceptively shallow stretch of the river where large, submerged stones make the through passage treacherous, and although it might get your adrelalene pumping slightly, remember that the boatmen are well-practiced in traversing them. Further upriver, the population shifts from being largely Iban to featuring a mix of other tribes, including the Kayan and Kenyah.

Five hours beyond Kapit, the boat finally reaches tiny BELAGA, 40km west of the confluence of the Rejang and the Balui. The town started life as a small bazaar, and by 1900 pioneering Chinese towkays were supplying the tribespeople – both the Kayan and the then-nomadic Punan and Penan – with kerosene, cooking oil and cartridges, in exchange for beadwork and mats, beeswax, ebony and tree gums. The British presence in this region was nominal; Belaga has no crumbling fort to serve as a museum, as no fort was built this far upriver.

The Kayan and Kenyah

The Kayan and the Kenyah are the most populous and powerful of the Orang Ulu groups who have lived for centuries in the upper Rejang and, in the northern interior, along the River Baram. The Kayan are more numerous, at around forty thousand, while the Kenyah population is around ten thousand (with substantially more Kenyah over the mountains in Kalimantan). Both groups migrated from East Kalimantan into Sarawak roughly six hundred years ago; they were pushed back to the lands they occupy today during the nineteenth century, when Iban migration led to clashes between the groups,

The Kayan and the Kenyah have a fair amount in common: their language, though of the same family as the other Bornean tongues and Malay, has a singsong quality that sounds like Chinese, and they have a well-defined social hierarchy, unlike the Iban or Penan. Traditionally, the social order was topped by the tuai rumah (chief) of the longhouse, followed by a group of three or four lesser aristocrats or payin, lay families and slaves (slavery no longer exists). Both groups take pride in their longhouses, which can be massive.

Kayan art

Artistic expression plays an important role in longhouse culture. The Kayan especially maintain a wide range of musical traditions including the lute-like sape, used to accompany long voice epics. Textiles are woven by traditional techniques in the upriver longhouses, and Kayan and Kenyah woodcarvings, among the most spectacular in Southeast Asia, are produced both for sale and for ceremonial uses. One artist, Tusau Padan, originally from Kalimantan, became much revered. He used mixed media of vibrant colours to create the flowing motifs he applied to painting and textiles – adorning burial poles, longboats and the walls of many Ulu Sarawak chiefs’ homes. Some Kayan still drink potent rice wine, although now that nearly all the communities have converted to Christianity, alcohol is harder to come by.

The town square and around

The first sight that confronts new arrivals climbing the steps from the river bank is Belaga’s slightly shabby tennis and basketball court. Next door a small garden serves as the town square, with a hornbill statue atop a traditional-style round pillar bearing tribal motifs. There are just six streets and alleys in the centre, and while quite a few shops sell provisions, there’s no market, though Orang Ulu traders may arrive at weekends to sell jungle produce in the streets. In the morning, picturesque mists settle on the Rejang.

Walks around Belaga

Having made it all the way here, the best thing you can do is luxuriate in Belaga’s tranquillity, a welcome contrast from Kapit. Short walks lead through the Malay kampung just downriver (which includes the shanty town by the river for children from outlying villages attending the school here) or cross the river (boat RM5) and walk two hours along a red paint-marked path through the jungle to the Sihan (a semi-nomadic people) village – there are only a handful of sporadic inhabitants now, coming for harvest and festivals only.

Arrival and Departure: Belaga

By bus There is one daily boat to Kapit, which leaves around 7.30am. Boats use the jetty by the basketball court.

By 4WD Most days at least a couple of 4WD vehicles leave for Bintulu from the town square, usually in the early morning (3hr 40min; RM60/person). It costs RM50 to reach the main trunk road, where you can flag down a long-distance bus. Contact Daniel Levoh for a booking. Alternatively, it’s possible for men and groups to hitch the route (just stand by the bridge in Belaga or at the junction on the main road) – you may be asked to pay RM20–60, so clarify whether you’re expected to pay before you get in.

Information and tours

Banks The town has a Bank Simpanan National, with ATM, three streets back from the river.

Tours and longhouse trips About the only person seriously organizing tours in Belaga is Daniel Levoh, who runs trips to the small waterfall 20min away up a tributary (RM90 for one to three people), as well as an all-day tour to the Bakun Dam using 4WD and boat, which stops in various old and new longhouses on the way (RM600; one to four people) – this tour could drop you on the Bintulu–Miri highway. Although his guesthouse is very good value, the tours are pricey. However, if you bargain, prices may come down considerably.

accommodation and eating

The town’s Malay kedai kopis cluster on the main street, while there are a couple of decent Chinese places, which serve beer, a few doors down from the Daniel Levoh Guesthouse. None of them are bad, but none particularly good, and all close shortly after dark. This is when you can get the best food at the sociable night food stalls just north of the centre, which dish up inexpensive Malay foods including outstanding grilled meats and satay.

Belaga Hotel Main St 086 461244. The oldest of the main street’s three all-but-identical hotels (all the same price) and it looks it too, with dated fittings. The simple en-suite rooms have a/c, and – this gives it an edge – there’s a café below with wi-fi. RM40

Daniel Levoh Guesthouse Two blocks behind Main St 013 848 6351, daniellevoh@hotmail.com. More like a homestay, with two double rooms and a dorm that open up on to a nice and homely communal area where there is also a small kitchen. Daniel, an ex-history teacher, is a good host, and can tell you stories in the evening about the local area over a glass of tuak. Dorm RM20, doubles RM40

Sing Soon Huat At the end of a lane, just back from the Sing Soon Hing 086 461307. Sharing management with the nearby Sing Soon Hing, these are probably the best rooms in town; bigger and a little quieter than those on the main street, with a/c, TV and better en-suite bathrooms. RM50

The coast from Sibu to Bintulu

The drive from Sibu to Bintulu is mundane, the roadscape lacking the grandeur of southwest Sarawak’s mountains, though there are occasional glimpses of (usually modern) longhouses by the highway. The chief point of interest on this coastal stretch is Similajau National Park, a strip of forest with isolated beaches thirty minutes’ drive beyond the industrial town of Bintulu. With plenty of time, you could also get a dose of the culture of the largely Muslim Melanau people by diverting off the trunk road to the small coastal market town of Mukah. While not of huge interest in itself, it’s a potential base for the Melanau water village of Kampung Tellian, which has a heritage centre, Lamin Dana, that you can also stay at.

Kampung Tellian and around

The Melanau water village of KAMPUNG TELLIAN, 3km east of MUKAH, is a veritable spaghetti junction of ramshackle wooden houses connected by precarious crisscrossing boardwalks and bridges. It’s an immensely atmospheric and peaceful spot, the kind of place where you might wish you were born so that you could always go back there. Some of the Melanau residents of its many stilt houses still process sago the traditional way – by pulverizing the pith in large troughs and squeezing the pulp through a sieve, then leaving it to dry.

The Bakun Dam

The massive Bakun hydroelectric dam (sarawak-hidro.com), 37km east of Belaga on the Balui tributary of the Rejang, has been dogged by controversy since the project got the go-ahead in the 1990s. The 200m-high dam was designed to generate 2400 megawatts – much more power than Sarawak could use – but construction would flood an area of rainforest the size of Singapore, displacing ten thousand Orang Ulu and destroying many thriving longhouses.

Furious environmentalists and human-rights campaigners asked what was the point, and for years their concerns seemed vindicated as the dam was beset by delays. First, the Asian economic crisis of 1997 put the project on hold, but even so the government continued to resettle local communities to Asap, two hours’ drive along the logging road connecting Belaga with the coast. When construction resumed it lumbered on until, in mid-2011, the dam finally began operating. However, it still doesn’t run at anything near capacity, since there is no obvious market for the surplus power (one idea, to lay a submarine cable to Peninsular Malaysia, would be technically challenging and prohibitively expensive). Despite this, yet another dam has been built just upriver on the Rejang at Long Murum – it and another proposed dam on the Baram have seen massive protests and blockades by local people, thanks to which the Baram dam was cancelled in 2015.

Attempts have already begun to create tourist facilities at the Bakun Dam lake, as has been tried with limited success at Batang Ai and Tasik Kenyir in Terengganu, though these have yet to bear fruit, and the hotel there is mostly used to house dam workers. Sibu’s tourist office and Daniel Levoh in Belaga (whose family live there) have details of the enormous and quite swanky Kayan and Kenyah longhouses at Asap that accept guests (RM50/person), and whose inhabitants have a fishing lodge on the lake itself.

Lamin Dana

Daily 9am–5pm for non-residents • RM3 • 019 849 5962, genistarose@gmail.com

Aside from its picturesque appeal, Tellian’s main attraction is its beautiful heritage centre and guesthouse, Lamin Dana, built in 1999 in the style of a traditional Melanau tall house, though not quite on the scale of the one at the Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong. Exhibits include a collection of betel-nut jars, once used to store heirlooms, finely woven textiles for ceremonial occasions, musical instruments – including the obligatory gongs – and handicrafts such as hand-woven rattan baskets for which the Melanau are well known. A short walk along the plankway to the front of the tall house reveals a Melanau burial ground, or bakut, amid a clump of bare, ancient trees.

Arrival and Departure: Kampung Tellian and around

By plane No buses run between Mukah’s airport, 4km northwest of town, and the town itself; a taxi costs around RM15. MASwings flies to both Kuching (2–3 daily; 1hr) and Miri (daily; 1hr 10min).

By bus The bus station in Mukah lies off Jalan Setiaraja, on the southern edge of the old town.

Destinations Bintulu (3 daily; 3hr); Miri (1–2 daily; 4hr 20min); Sibu (3 daily; 1hr 30min).

By taxi Taxis from Mukah’s bus terminus can take you to Kampung Tellian for RM6–10. Note that all taxi-drivers finish work at around 4 or 5pm.

Accommodation and eating

Lamin Dana Cultural Boutique Lodge Kampung Tellian 019 849 5962, lamindana.com. This recreated tall house is an atmospheric place to stay, with ten variously sized, airy doubles and a couple of family rooms. Bathrooms are shared and there’s no a/c. If you come on a package, you’ll be taken on a boat trip through the mangroves, do a guided village walk, and see a sago-processing demonstration; contact proprietor Diana Rose for details and to customize an itinerary. Doubles with breakfast US$40, three-day, two-night full-board package including pick-up from Mukah per person US$250

Sri Umpang Hotel 29 Jalan Lintang, Mukah 084 872415. Mukah’s best choice is a 20min walk from the bus station in the old town, with a bright and appealing foyer and clean, a/c rooms with sizeable bathrooms. Best to book ahead as it’s often full; the similar, though slightly more expensive, Weiming Hotel is just a few doors down. RM50

Bintulu

Forty years ago, BINTULU was little more than a resting point en route between Sibu (220km to the southwest) and Miri (210km northeast). Since large natural gas reserves were discovered offshore in the 1960s, however, speedy expansion has seen Bintulu follow in Miri’s footsteps as a primary resources boom town. Today some quite prosperous neighbourhoods can be seen on the outskirts, though the old centre remains as unassuming as ever. There are only two reasons why you might want to stop over: to use Bintulu as a base for the excellent Similajau National Park or, if you’re heading south from Miri, as a springboard for Belaga and the Batang Rejang. You can also reach Niah National Park from here (though it’s easier to go on a trip with one of the Miri backpacker lodges), while any express bus to Miri can drop you at Lambir Hills National Park.

The old centre

You could spend a couple of hours strolling around Bintulu’s old centre, a grid of streets squashed between the defunct airfield to the east and the wide Kemena River to the west. This is why the town feels so low-key: the centre simply hasn’t been able to grow. It looks as though developers and road builders are finally being allowed to chip away at the unaccountably abandoned airfield, however, so the heart of Bintulu is changing rapidly.

The obvious place to start is on Main Bazaar in front of Tua Pek Kong, a grand Chinese temple that’s really in too good a state of repair to impress. Redevelopment of the riverfront has created the open square here, as well as an esplanade and parkland area leading north towards the South China Sea – only 3km away, concealed beyond the Kemena’s final bend.

Just downriver are the modern day market (pasar utama) and the more informal Tamu Bintulu, where locals still bring in goods and lay them on rough tables to sell. The jetties behind are a good place to observe life on the river: fishing boats bring their catch in every morning, barges laden with timber or building materials lumber past, while the opposite bank is dotted with rustic kampung houses.

Arrival and Departure: Bintulu

By plane The airport, 5km southwest of town (086 331073), holds an AirAsia and a MAS ticket office. It can only be reached by road, detouring east and then south. A taxi into the centre costs RM37 (25min).

Destinations KK (2 daily; 1hr 15min); KL (4 daily; 2hr 5min); Kuching (5 daily; 50min); Miri (1–2 daily; 3hr 50min); Sibu (1 daily; 35min) Singapore (3 weekly; 1hr 50min).

By bus Bintulu’s long-distance bus station is 5km northeast of town in the lively suburb of Medan Jaya. You might be able to find an hourly local bus into the centre, but otherwise you’ll have to pay around RM15 for a taxi.

Destinations Kuching (early morning and evening only; 11hr); Miri (13 daily; 4hr); Mukah (3 daily; 3hr); Pontianak (Indonesia; at least 3 daily; 19hr); Sibu (every 1–2hr; 4hr).

By minivan Minivans (which leave when full) ply the highway up to Miri and down to Sibu; the depot is in front of Tamu Bintulu. One route north passes the turning to Similajau National Park (RM5).

By taxi The main taxi rank (086 332009) is next to the Tian En Ting temple.

Bintulu to Belaga by road

When the water level in the Batang Rejang is too low for boats to reach Belaga, the one sure way to get there – and an interesting drive through remote terrain – is by 4WD from Bintulu. The four-hour journey involves turning south off the main trunk road, 50km out of Bintulu, on to the road for the Bakun dam, 125km southeast.

After 80km, another right turn puts you on a logging road which, while not a classic bone-shaker, is roughish much of the way. The road undulates at first through jungled areas, then climbs steadily, snaking past isolated communities and through areas either already under oil palm or being cleared for it. Eventually there are gorgeous views of lushly forested peaks in the distance; the highest, Bukit Lumut at nearly 1000m, is 25km west of Belaga. If you do the return leg in the morning you’ll probably see whole valleys blanketed in mist, too. Just as bumping along begins to pall, the road descends quite steeply, and you pull into Belaga.

One or two 4WDs leave Bintulu daily for Belaga, with pick-up from hotels or other central locations by arrangement; a seat costs RM60. You can book the service though Daniel Levoh in Belaga.

Accommodation

Central Bintulu holds a number of unexciting budget hotels, all with a/c, en-suite rooms. The cheapest are in the red-light district east of Li Hua Plaza, but are a bit unsavoury. Several business-oriented hotels, including some north of the centre towards the seafront, cater to visiting oil-industry executives.

Kemena Plaza 116 Jalan Abang Galau 086 335111, kemanaplazahotel@yahoo.com; map. A business-oriented hotel with an opulent lobby, rooftop swimming pool, bar, restaurant (with Western lunches from RM15.90) and café – though the atmosphere can be sterile. Rates include breakfast. RM180

Public Inn 47 Jalan Abang Galau (Main Bazaar) 019 815 5510; map. Very clean, safe, quiet and respectable guesthouse with good-value rooms that have comfortable beds, TV, a/c and wi-fi, as well as friendly staff. There’s a food court next door. RM60

Riverfront Inn 256 Taman Sri Dagang 086 333111, riverfrontinn@hotmail.com; map. Both smart (for Bintulu) and homely, and thus deservedly popular even though it lacks the facilities of the Kemena Plaza. Rooms are comfortable and done out in muted colours, and the busy restaurant is open all hours and does room service. RM110

Eating

Buoyed by oil and gas money and a small expat population, Bintulu boasts several decent restaurants, though many – along with a handful of bars – are in the suburbs. Still, quite a few central eating places are worth trying, and for evening snacks you can always try the pasar malam in the open space close to the airfield.

Famous Mama Café Jalan Somerville 086 336541; map. The closest thing you’ll find to a West Malaysian mamak-style joint, this excellent Indian kedai kopi draws in people of all colours and faiths to socialize and stuff their faces from the great nasi campur spread (eaten with plain or biriyani rice) or various roti plates – around RM5–12. Daily 6am–11pm.

Popular Corner Food Centre 50 Jalan Abang Galau; map. The size of four or five kedai kopis put together, this brilliant food court could hold its own in downtown KL. An endless range of stalls sell the likes of duck noodles, yong tau foo and dim sum, and there’s a pastry stall doing custard tarts and local savouries including sweet potato or yam fritters. You can easily eat for RM4–10. Daily 7am–10pm.

Riverfront Inn Café Riverfront Inn, 256 Taman Sri Dagang 086 333111; map. A mere hotel coffee house it may be, but in Bintulu’s centre it counts as posh. Come for the fierce a/c during the day or a late meal if you arrive at an ungodly hour. Choices include Western standards (RM14–42) such fish and chips and spaghetti, or try some of their local specialities such as Sarawak umai (chillie and lime-flavoured raw fish), or rojak Sarawak (a spicy salad with peanut sauce). Daily 24hr.

ARRIVAL AND Information: Similajau National Park

By minibus The park lies 9km down an access road off the coastal road to Miri; minibuses heading along the coast road from Bintulu can drop you at the junction from where you can walk or hitch.

By taxi Taxis from Bintulu cost at least RM50–60 one way, and the driver can collect you for the same price.

Park HQ The friendly and helpful staff at the Park HQ (019 861998, sarawakforestry.com), where you pay the admission fee (RM20), can provide a schematic trail map; find you a guide (RM30/hr); book you on a night walk on which you just might see pangolins or wild boar (RM40/person, minimum five people); and arrange boat trips.

Getting around

By boat Boats are a useful timesaver – instead of trekking in two directions, you can pay RM220 (RM280 return) for a boat for up to five passengers to head out to Golden Beach, or RM180 (RM230 return) to either of the Turtle beaches, then trek back. You can also use boats to reach Batu Mandi (“bath rock” in Malay), a rock formation out at sea with large depressions that regularly fill with sea water (RM150), or do a so-called night cruise along the Likau to spot kingfishers and those notorious crocodiles (RM150, up to six people).

Accommodation and eating

Similajau National Park accommodation 019 861 0998. The park’s generally under-utilized accommodation makes it a relaxing place to spend a night or two and has recently been refurbished. There’s quite a range on offer, from two hostels that have rooms rather than dorms, each with one bunk bed and some with a bathroom too, to quite fancy a/c accommodation; check for the latest pricing. A simple canteen serves the usual rice and noodle dishes for RM5–12. Camping RM5, hostel rooms RM40, a/c lodge rooms RM150

< Back to Sarawak

The northern coast

North of Bintulu, the scenery along the main trunk road is increasingly dominated by oil-palm estates; if you’re driving, the quiet coastal highway is a more scenic option for the 210km drive to Miri, Sarawak’s second largest city. Though boasting no important sights, Miri is nearly as important a gateway to Sarawak as Kuching, thanks to good flight connections and its location amid the riches of northern Sarawak, mostly deep inland and requiring days to explore properly. A couple of national parks lie close to the coast south of Miri: Niah is noted for its formidable limestone caves, while Lambir Hills offers more predictable jungle trekking.

Sarawak’s northern coastal strip is also home to Lawas, near the Sabah state boundary. It has an air connection to Ba Kelalan that’s useful if you want to see the Kelabit Highlands immediately before or visiting Sabah.

Miri

Before oil was discovered in 1882, MIRI was a tiny, unimportant settlement. While production has now shifted offshore, the petroleum industry largely accounts for the thriving city of today, with a population of 300,000. Some of Miri’s earliest inhabitants were pioneering Chinese merchants who set up shops to trade with the Kayan longhouses southeast along the Baram River, and the city retains a strong Chinese flavour, though the Iban and Malays are also well represented, along with a significant number of Orang Ulu.

Now blandly modern for the most part, Miri makes a surprisingly pleasant base from which to see northern Sarawak; visitors generally wind up staying longer than expected, sometimes in several stints interspersed with trips into the interior. The town is unusually placed within a hairpin bend of the Miri River, with its centre on the east bank close to the river mouth; beyond the west “bank”, a mere sliver of land seldom more than 500m wide, lies the South China Sea. In terms of sights, it holds one museum focusing on – guess – the oil industry, plus a few markets and a not bad stretch of beach. Where Miri shines is in its great restaurants, accommodation and air connections. The hub for MASwings’ services to the tiny settlements of the interior, Miri also has flights to Kuching, KK, KL and Singapore and a handful of international destinations.

Markets

Daily dawn–dusk

Though eminently walkable and easy to navigate, the centre lacks any obvious focus. It makes sense to start exploring at the clutch of markets close to Jalan China and the Padang. The most interesting, the Tamu Muhibbah on Jalan Padang, is across from the tourist office. Nothing very unusual is sold in its main building, but the little building at the back is used by indigenous traders selling produce such as akar bakawali, spiny twigs boiled up as a high blood pressure cure, and “Bario rice” in various colours (it may in fact be varieties from Bario and grown elsewhere, rather than the genuine article for which the Kelabit Highlands are known). Less positively, you may also spot items that it’s no longer legal to sell, such as porcupine quills and other animal-derived products.

Just across the road, in the Tamu Lama (also signed Tamu Kedayan), Malay traders sell foodstuffs and dried-leaf strips woven into square parcels for cooking ketupat, the rice cakes eaten with satay. Just beyond on Jalan Bendahara, next to the Chinese temple, is a lively fish market. Most prominent but least interesting of all is the large Central Market a couple of minutes’ walk east on Jalan Brooke, known to Malays as the pasar babi or “pig market”, as it’s where Chinese meat traders operate. If you’re around at the weekend, look out for more jungle produce being sold at a Sunday market in the streets to the south of the Tamu Lama (until around 1pm).

Petroleum Museum

Canada Hill (aka Bukit Tenaga); turn off Jalan Miri Pujut opposite Jalan Setia Raja • Tues–Sun 9am–4.30pm • Free • Taxis up cost at least RM15, or it’s a stiff 20min climb

From certain points in downtown Miri, for example along Jalan Kingsway, you can catch glimpses of what appears to be a tapering tower on the wooded ridge east of the centre. The tower is the Grand Old Lady, Miri’s first oil well, drilled in 1910 and now marking Miri’s one purpose-built sight, the Petroleum Museum. Unfortunately, the displays are – pardon the pun – boring, concentrating on the technical aspects of drilling and refining, with some historical context but no tales of the human impact the nascent industry must surely have had.

The beach

Just over 3km southwest of the Padang • A taxi costs around RM10–15

The coast road out of town (the extension of Jalan Bendahara) holds a stretch of public beach around 500m long. The sands are fairly narrow, but it’s a relaxed enough spot and a fine place to watch the sun go down. The beach’s proper name is Tanjung Lobang, though many locals call it Taman Selera as Malay stalls sell seafood at a simple evenings-only food court.

Arrival and Departure: Miri

By plane Miri’s airport is 10km south of town (085 417315, miriairport.com); AirAsia and MAS/MASwings have ticket offices in the departure lounge. To get a taxi into town, buy a RM25 voucher from the taxi counter.

Destinations Ba Kelalan (3 weekly via Lawas; 1hr 35min); Bario (2 daily, plus one via Marudi; 40min–1hr 15min); Bintulu (11.15am daily; 35min); Johor Bahru (3 weekly 1hr 55min); Kota Kinabalu (1–2 daily; 50min); Kuala Lumpur (8–9 daily; 2hr 10min); Kuching (6–7 daily; 1hr); Labuan (4 daily; 40min); Lawas (5–6 daily; 45min); Limbang (2 daily; 35min); Long Akah (weekly; 40min; 3 weekly via Marudi; 2hr 30min); Long Banga (2 weekly via Marudi; 1hr 25min); Long Lellang (3 weekly; 45min–1hr 15min); Long Seridan (2 weekly; 45min–1hr); Marudi (3–5 daily; 20min); Mukah (1 daily; 1hr); Mulu (2 daily; 30min); Sibu (2–3 daily; 55min); Singapore (4 weekly; 2hr).

By bus The long-distance bus station is at Pujut Corner, 4km northeast of the centre off Jalan Miri Pujut. Services to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, via Kuala Belait and Seria, are run by PHLS (085 407175; daily 8.15am & 3.45pm; 4hr); it’s seldom necessary to book tickets in advance, but you must show up 30min before departure, as the conductor gathers passport details for the border crossing. Borneo Express (085 430420; daily 8am) and Bintang Jaya (085 432 178, bintangjayaexpress.com; daily 11.30am) run bus services to Kota Kinabalu, which pass through Brunei but do not call at the capital. Heading all the way to KK is laborious and entails four unpleasant border crossings and thus eight new stamps in your passport, so many people choose to fly direct or via Mulu or Bario. To get into town, you can either walk to the bus stop on the other side of the nearby shopping centre to Jalan Bulan Sabit, wait around for the infrequent #20 bus (every 60–90min) or take a taxi (RM18) or kereta sapu, Grab or Uber (RM10–12).

Destinations Bintulu (10 daily; 4hr); Kota Kinabalu (2 daily; 11hr); Kuching (10 daily; 15hr); Lawas (2 daily; 6hr 30min); Limbang (8.30am daily; 4hr); Mukah (1–2 daily; 4hr 20min); Pontianak (Indonesia; at least 3 daily; 24hr); Sibu (10 daily; 7hr 25min).

By kereta sapu Miri is one part of Sarawak where you might want to make use of informal taxis to head into the northern interior – most places can be reached by logging roads, although it will be a long and expensive slog. Some 4WD vehicles leave regularly from the streets close to the tourist office; others will need to be arranged in advance through you accommodation in Miri or Barrio.

Car rental Transworld, second floor, Wisma Pelita Tunku (085 422227, twtmiri.com.my); Kong Teck, at the airport (085 313219, kongteck.com.my).

Getting around

By local bus As Miri’s centre is easily walkable, you’re very unlikely to catch any of the very limited bus services, which only run to the main hospital.

By bicycle Bicycles (ideal for heading to the beach), can be rented for RM10/day from Hock Sen Hin (085 412255, hocksenghin1@gmail.com) on Jalan Rice Mill.

By taxi Miri Taxi Association (085 432277) and Koperasi Teksi Miri (085 431000) are both 24hr. Meters are not used, so agree the price beforehand; the minimum fare is RM15. Both Uber and Grab are easily available.

Information

Tourist office Miri’s excellent Visitors’ Information Centre, on Jalan Padang at the southern end of downtown (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat & Sun 9am–3pm; 085 434181, vic-miri@sarawaktourism.com), covers all of northern Sarawak as well as Bintulu, and has good maps and leaflets. A Sarawak Forestry desk here (Mon–Fri) has up-to-date information on nearby national parks.

Tour operators

A small number of tour operators offer Mulu and Kelabit Highlands packages, as well as, more usefully, genuinely imaginative trips to help you get off the beaten track in the upriver Baram and other parts of the interior. A couple of firms offer dive trips at the reefs off Miri’s coast, which offer a few wreck dives; practically all sites are within an hour’s boat ride.

Borneo Mainland Lot 1081, Jalan Merpati 085 433511, borneomainland.com. One- to three-day birdwatching trips to little-visited Loagan Bunut National Park, as well as packages to the usual Sarawak and Sabah destinations, includeing the Headhunter’s Trail.

Borneo Dive Network (Majestic Leisure & Dive) Lot 1084, First Floor, Jalan Merpati 085 427751 borneotravelnetwork.com. PADI courses plus guided and unguided dives, and other courses up to and including dive master. The same company also does the normal range of Sarawak tours as well as a mammoth five-day deep-sea fishing trip.

Tropical Adventure Across the road from Puma Sera restaurant on Jalan Maju 085 419337, borneotropicaladventures.com. Well-thought-through packages from this excellent outfit include trips to Mulu, the Kelabit Highlands – usually easy four-day packages in and around Bario, and other much longer and more challenging trips of up to fourteen days. They’re also good for excursions on the Headhunters’ Trail.

Accommodation

Miri’s accommodation is mostly used by business travellers, or tourists just passing through. It’s not cheap, and although there are quite a few budget hotels (RM35–50) in the backstreets around Mega Hotel they are pretty bad, with tiny airless (though sometimes a/c) rooms, and the area is a bit of a red-light district.

Dillenia Jalan Sida 085 434204, sites.google.com/site/dilleniaguesthouse; map. Named after a shrub found all over Malaysia, this guesthouse has a cosy lounge painted green, plus dorms and rooms on two floors, including a family room that sleeps four (RM110). It’s very relaxed, but what really sets it apart is that it’s impeccably managed by the super-efficient Mrs Lee, who can organize transport to the two nearby national parks and other local destinations (service available to non-guests). Dorms RM30, doubles RM90

Dynasty Jalan Miri Pujut 085 421111, dynastyhotelmiri.com.my; map. The good impression given by this hotel’s sizeable marbled lobby is reinforced by the spacious, comfortable rooms; some have bathtubs and sea views, too. Facilities include a mini-gym and sauna, though no pool; it’s among the best-value places in its class. Breakfast is RM30 extra (note they add the B&B option automatically online). Book ahead. RM135

Next Room Homestay First Floor, 637 Jalan North Yu Seng 085 411422, nextroomhomestay@gmail.com; map. On its third name change (and owner) in nearly as many years, this guesthouse is still somewhat haphazardly run, though it partly makes amends through its informality and socialiabilty, and the rooms are clean and comfortable enough. However, it’s on a busy stretch for bars and restaurants and so the rooms by the street (which includes both dorms) can be very noisy till late. It’s also big, with a rooftop area from where you can take in the nightlife below. Dorms RM32, doubles RM60

Old Town Backpacker 3 Jalan High Street 085 322507; map. Small, new backpacker place almost slap-bang in the middle of the old town. It’s not luxurious, but it does have very keen prices and is kept spotlessly clean – ideal for a typical Miri in-and-out. Rooms are small and windowless, but the eight-bed dorm is okay, and there’s a decent communal area with a kitchenette. A/c throughout and simple breakfast included. Dorms RM25, doubles RM40

ParkCity Everly Jalan Temenggong Datuk Oyong Lawai, 2.5km southwest of Padang 085 440288, vhhotels.com; map. Unlike the Marriott, this seaside hotel has kept its beach and boasts reasonable rates, too. Some of the luxurious, spacious rooms have great views over the lush garden with its pool, and the sands just beyond; sea views cost RM20 extra. RM208

Silverwood Inn 20A, First Floor, Jalan Bendahara 085 420577; map. Near the markets in Chinatown, this is a central but quiet budget choice. It’s a little run down but the Malay staff are very friendly and the larger-than-average a/c rooms are clean and en suite. The rooms downstairs are a bit dark and pokey, while those upstairs have windows for the same price. Booking through an online booking site will save you around ten percent. RM55

Eating and drinking

Miri’s eating scene rivals Kuching’s for quality, if not variety – it’s a treat to taste genuinely delicious and interesting food after days spent hiking in the northern interior. North and South Yu Seng roads hold a particular concentration of restaurants, while along the riverfront you’ll find a bunch of not-bad seafood places (no sea views, but occasional sightings of crocodiles in the Miri River). There’s also a concentration of more mid-price restaurants and bars at Centrepoint on Jalan Kubu. For inexpensive stalls, try the Chinese options at the Central Market (also good for cheap beer) or the Malay outlets on Jalan North Yu Seng and at Taman Seroja, up the road from the Miri Handicraft Centre. Unfortunately the bars aren’t up to much. Apart from a couple of so-so establishments near the Dillenia guesthouse, not geared towards backpackers, venues opposite the Next Room Homestay on Jalan North Yu Seng are your best bet for a drink in sometimes karaoke-free surroundings.

Ang Roasting Fastfood Lot 304, Jalan Bendahara 012 805 9799; map. This restaurant in Chinatown serves up Cantonese-style roasted meats – RM5–6 will get you a plate of rice with a choice of roast chicken, duck, crispy pork belly or barbecued pork char siew, or a range of noodle soups such as laksa. Add some steamed veggies for an extra RM1. Daily 6.30am–2pm & 5.30–9pm.

Apollo Seafood Centre 4 Jalan South Yu Seng 085 420813; map. Not much to look at, this old-fashioned Chinese place serves well-regarded standards such as fish-head curry. Around RM25 without drinks, though much more if eating fresh seafood. Daily 10.30am–11pm.

Khan’s Islamic Restoran 233 Jalan Maju 085 418440; map. Though a little dreary, this is a central and well-established kedai kopis where the cheap-and-cheerful description really does apply (most dishes RM4–15). Offerings are predictable: nasi campur, a range of biriyani dishes, curries (veg and non-veg) and tandoori chicken, plus various roti and murtabak options. Daily 6am–9pm or so.

Krishna’s Fish Head Curry & Banana Leaf Centrepoint 2, Jalan Kubu 085 430095; map. A modern, airy open-air restaurant serving enormous portions of “South Indian” food: order a plain or biriyani set plate (RM8–16) and you’ll be presented with a mound of rice, and a choice of veg and non-veg curries and dhal soups, with poppadoms, on a metal plate with a token sliver of banana leaf on it. There are also less expensive dosai, nan and roti. Daily 7am–10pm.

Ming Café Corner of Jalan North Yu Seng and Jalan Merbau 085 422797; map. Probably the most popular bar-restaurant with foreigners, with an a/c indoor section and a prominent, more bar-like area outside with powerful ceiling fans. Separate menus feature Chinese stir-fries (under RM10), Indian curries and sets (RM5–19) and some Western offerings (RM11–30) such as fish and chips and thin crust pizzas, all pretty good if a little overpriced. And it’s not a bad place for a drink with a reasonable wine list (from RM15/glass) and a massive selection of imported beers, with seven on draft and around twenty bottled. Happy hour until 7pm daily. Sometimes open later on Fri and Sat. Daily 10am–11pm.

Puma Sera Corner of Jalan Maju and Persiaran Kabor 085 413468; map. A tiptop Malay/Indonesian kedai kopis with a fantastic nasi campur spread that might feature ikan patin (catfish) curry, umai or chilli-fried aubergine. It’s also a good place to try the Indonesian dish lalapan: lapan means “eight” in Malay, so chicken lalapan, for example, is a plate of fried chicken, rice, Malay ulam (herbal salad) and condiments – eight items in all. Reckon on RM10–15 with a soft drink. Daily 24hr.

Summer Cafe Lot 453, Krokop 9, a small alley between Lian Hua San Ching Tien Temple and Jalan Krocop Utama 019 885 9923; map. Around 3.5km north of the centre and a little hard to find (check on Google maps), this open and airy garden café-bar-restaurant is worth seeking out for its most agreable atmoshere and mix of local and Western meat and seafood dishes (their burger is mammoth). There’s also a wide variety of vegetarian options, including their signature veg sushi (Fri–Sun after 6pm only; RM5–6). Most dishes RM5–15. Daily 8am–9pm.

Summit Café Off Jalan Melayu; head up the lane with Maybank on the corner and you’ll see it on the left; map. One of Sarawak’s most interesting restaurants: run by a Kenyah woman whose husband is Kelabit, it serves Kelabit food of a sort you may struggle to turn up in Bario. Specialities include labo senutuk, smoked shredded pork or wild boar, and kasam, a sour/salty fermented combination of wild boar and rice. The latter is sold in tubs, but you order most dishes from a nasi campur spread to be eaten with rice or nuba laya, made by pounding rice till smooth and then steaming it wrapped in leaves – under RM10. Closed for two weeks over the Christmas period. Mon–Sat 7am–4pm.

Shopping

Miri’s shopping isn’t especially distinguished and it’s disappointing when it comes to handicrafts, though the malls are lively. The best downtown mall is the Bintang Megamall (bintangmegamall.com) at the corner of Jalan Miri Pujut and Jalan Merbau. With two wings, it houses a branch of the Parkson department store, a Giant supermarket and outlets of several Western fast-food chains. Numerous small shops sell phone chargers, memory cards and the like, while Chinese discount shops here and in the Imperial Mall stock endless camping paraphernalia. Rubber studded shoes (“Kampung Adidas”) are sold in the small shops near the Miri Handicrafts Centre, and some also sell mosquito nets and other jungle necessities.

Borneo Arts Miri Handicraft Centre, corner of Jalan Brooke and Jalan Merbau 085 422373; map. The best of the shops in the handicraft centre is worth a look, with some woodcarving and Kenyah shields on show – the other shops here are a little desultory, and many of their wares are from Kalimantan. All the items in the shops here are overpriced, unfortunately. Daily 8am–6pm.

Outdoor Life Second floor, Bintang Megamall 085 425303; map. High quality but expensive torches, sleeping bags, tents and so forth. Daily 10am–9.30pm.

Sarawak Handicraft Block 9, 5B Ground Floor, Lot 96, Jalan Merbau 085 430086; map. All the same mass-produced souvinirs you’ll find in the Miri Handicrafts Centre but at a fraction of the cost. Daily 10am–6pm.

arrival and information: Lambir Hills National Park

By bus The park lies beside the main trunk road to Bintulu; any long-distance bus en route between Miri and Bintulu can drop you here.

By taxi A taxi from Miri will cost RM70 and can collect you for the same price.

Admission fee RM20.

Contact details 085 471630, sarawakforestry.com.

Accommodation

Lambir Hills National Park accommodation 085 471630, sarawakforestry.com. Though accommodation in the park is limited, few people stay so you shouldn’t have trouble overnighting. Choose either a two-bedroom lodge, or take a room within a lodge, sharing facilities. There’s also a campsite, and a canteen serving simple Malay and Chinese dishes, that will usually close at 5pm unless there are guests overnighting. Wi-fi available in main building only. Camping RM5, rooms RM40, six-person a/c lodges RM150

Niah National Park

NIAH NATIONAL PARK, 110km south of Miri and 130km from Bintulu, is practically a compulsory visit even if you’re already caved out from visiting Mulu. Yes, its main attractions are massive limestone caves, but there any similarity with Mulu ends. Whereas almost all excursions at Mulu are regimented and chaperoned, visitors at Niah simply wander the caves at will, in places stumbling along tunnels – lightless but for your own torch – like questers from The Lord of the Rings. Elsewhere the caves are alive, with not just bats but people, who harvest bat guano and swiftlet nests for much of the year. This potent combination of vast caverns, communities at work, the rainforest and Niah’s archeological significance – it’s famous for prehistoric cave paintings and early human settlement – makes even a day-trip to Niah a wonderful experience. It is indeed possible to see much of Niah in a day: allow two to three hours to get from the park offices to the most distant caves, with breaks along the way.

Niah Archaeological Museum

Tues–Sun 9.30am–4.30pm • Free; no photography

Before becoming a national park in 1974, Niah was made a National Historic Monument in 1958, after Tom Harrisson discovered that early man had been using it as a cemetery. Fragments of human skull, nearly 40,000 years old, were the earliest examples of homo sapiens found in Southeast Asia. For a sense of the park’s history and archeological importance, spend half an hour at the newly revamped Niah Archeological Museum across the stream beyond the park headquarters. Fascinating photos, from a mere half-century ago, but seeming much older, show Harrisson at work, and Iban and other indigenous people engaged in traditional dances or sporting activities, while video and interactive displays help you undestand the geology of the caves.

Caves

Trader’s Cave, the nearest cave to the museum, is nearly 3km along a concrete path that soon becomes a jungle boardwalk. En route, you may stumble upon monkeys (including silverleafs and even gibbons), butterflies, snakes, skinks and odd scarlet millipedes. Twenty minutes’ walk from the museum, a few traders sell refreshments and souvenirs at the start of a clearly marked path on the left that leads in ten minutes to a small, not all that enthralling, village, Rumah Patrick Ribau (often still signed Rumah Chang) where they have a homestay programme at the Sungai Tangap longhouse.

Trader’s Cave

A 45-minute walk from the museum, a great metal grille crosses the entire boardwalk, with a small gate below marking the entrance to the cave area. Within a few minutes you reach the Trader’s Cave, not so much a cave as a long, wedge-shaped gash in the rock, open to the jungle along the entire right-hand side. The wooden platforms here were used as shelters by nest-gatherers, who until the 1970s used to barter their harvests here for goods brought by the townsfolk.

Great Cave and Gan Kira (Moon Cave)

Labelled “Niah Cave” on some maps, the huge, 250m-wide west mouth of the Great Cave is not far beyond Trader’s Cave. A fenced-off stretch to the left marks the site of Tom Harrisson’s groundbreaking archeological digs in 1957. The dark, gradually ascending area of cave floor beyond is known thanks to its breadth and flatness as the Padang; bear left to begin a path that leads down into the depths of the cave, where you will certainly need your torch. The earthy smell of bat guano is pervasive; people you may see wandering off-path with sacks on their backs are harvesting it to sell as fertilizer. Between September and March you’ll also see bird’s-nest collectors, who work in groups of three, shinning up bamboo poles and hanging from ropes dangling from the ceiling in search of the edible swiftlet nests so prized by the Chinese. At around 6 or 7pm, you can see the swiftlets fly in and vast numbers of bats stream out for the night, and from much closer up than at Mulu – arrange this with a boatman and remember it takes at least forty minutes to walk back to the river.

The path curls round and then branches, the right-hand track taking you back up and out towards the Padang. Head more or less straight on, past several cave mouths with jungle views on the left, to reach the pitch-black, stuffy tunnel out to Gan Kira at the southern end of the Great Cave system. It takes ten minutes to traverse, though it feels like years.

At the mouth of Gan Kira, a delightful spot nearly 4km from the park offices, the boardwalk ends at a shelter bathed in fabulous breezes. A blessed relief after the stuffiness of the preceding tunnel, it offers views of lushly forested hillside beyond.

Painted Cave

A ten-minute walk through the jungle from Gan Kira, and then up some steep stairs, brings you to the mouth of the Painted Cave. Early Sarawak communities buried their dead in boat-shaped coffins, or “death ships”, perched around the cave walls. When Harrisson first entered, the cave had partially collapsed, and the contents were spilled all around. Subsequent dating proved that the caves had been used as a cemetery for tens of thousands of years.

Although the reason visitors plod here is to view the cave’s wall paintings, they’re fenced off and so faded as to be almost impossible to make out – quite at odds with park photos showing bright red boats on a journey, ridden by figures that look to be jumping or dancing.

Trails

It would be tough to squeeze in the park’s two trails plus the caves on a day-trip. Splitting off very near the start of the walkway to the caves, the Jalan Madu Trail cuts south, across a peat swamp forest, where you see sword-leaved pandanus plants. It crosses the Subis River to end after an hour at the start of the Bukit Kasut Trail. It’s nearly another hour’s walk to the hilltop, which has a fine view of both of the forest canopy and the plains beyond. Park staff may advise against the Bukit Kasut Trail if it has recently rained, as it can be slippery when wet.

Arrival and information: Niah National Park

By road The park is accessible from both the main trunk road and the coastal highway. All Miri guesthouses organize trips (RM60), or catch any express bus between Miri and Bintulu and get off at the Batu Niah junction from Miri, slightly more from Bintulu), where buses use the food court as a rest stop. Catch a kereta sapu, Grab or Uber for the 15km drive to the park entrance (RM25–30/car one way); park staff can summon a vehicle for the return trip. Driving, following signs from either the main road for Batu Niah, Niah Bazaar or the park; after a few minutes take a signed turning east for Niah Bazaar, and then another turning north (left) for the park itself.

Ferry crossings To cross the stream just beyond the park headquarters to the museum and trails, you have to take a RM1 ferry ride (RM1.50 after 5.30pm). To see the bats flying out at the Great Cave, tell the boatman on your way out that you’ll be back at 7.30pm – he finishes work then, but won’t leave before you come back if he knows to expect you. It’s best to leave the cave by 6.45pm at the very latest – a RM5 gratuity may be apppropriate if you’re a bit late. You will need a torch to get back to the jetty at that time and if you get stuck in the park, you can stay the night at the Rumah Patrick Ribau village.

Equipment A reliable torch (flashlight) with fresh batteries is essential.

Admission fee RM20.

Contact details 085 737454, sarawakforestry.com.

Accommodation

Niah National Park accommodation 085 737454, sarawakforestry.com. Though ageing, Niah’s accommodation is in reasonable condition as it’s little used – there are no park guides and thus no night walks, so there’s little reason to stay except to see the dusk exodus of the bats and to enjoy a little quiet. Options include four-room lodges and fancier rooms with bathroom and a/c, plus a campsite. A simple canteen serves a limited menu of local food for RM10–15. Camping RM5, doubles RM40

Sungai Tangap longhouse Patrick Libau village 013 834 2461. Good homestay at a typical longhouse inside the park itself. Rooms are comfortable but tend to be a little small, and of course have shared bathrooms. Full board for two people RM100

Lawas

One of the eleven administrative divisions into which Sarawak is parcelled is a horseshoe-shaped territory named Limbang, whose western arm splits Brunei into two and whose eastern arm slots between Brunei and Sabah. This eastern prong was bought by Charles Brooke from the Sultan of Brunei in 1905 and is home to LAWAS, a bustling bazaar town on the Lawas River, with a tamu above the river. The only reason to visit is because Lawas has flights to Ba’ Kelalan in the Kelabit Highlands, making it possible to reach the Highlands en route to or from Sabah.

Arrival and Departure: lawas

By plane Lawas’s airport is 2km south of town; a taxi into town costs RM10.

Destinations Ba’ Kelalan (Mon & Weds; 35min); Kota Kinabalu (Mon & Thurs; 45min); Miri (4–7 daily; 45min).

By bus The bus station is on Jalan Liaw Siew Ann, about 200m from the main junction and just behind the indoor market. The two main companies are Bintang Jaya (085 283 178, bintangjayaexpress.com) and Sipidang Express (085 284722, sipitangexpress.com.my)

Destinations Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei (1pm daily; 3hr); Kota Kinabalu (1pm & 2.45pm daily; 4hr 30min); Limbang (11.30am & 1pm daily; 1hr 30min); Miri (11.30am & 2.45pm daily; 6hr 30min).

By boat Boats leave from the Customs Wharf beside the old mosque, 300m east of town.

Destinations Labuan (7.30am daily; 2hr 30min); Limbang (9am daily; 2hr).

Accommodation

Mandarin Lot 466, Jalan Trusan 085 283222. Centrally located on the main street, and next to the excellent Leeya Café, this place isn’t exciting, but the rooms are fairly large, clean, and have nice bathrooms – some even have windows. There is a handful of other budget options nearby. RM75

Seri Malaysia Jalan Gaya 085 283200, serimalaysia.com.my. This enormous modern hotel, just over the bridge as you enter town from the airport, is the plushest place to stay – which isn’t saying much. There’s a coffee house, restaurant and a pool, but the rooms are in need of a bit of TLC. Prices rise by RM20 Fri & Sat and rates include breakfast. RM170

< Back to Sarawak

The northern interior

For visitors who take the time and trouble to explore it, Sarawak’s northern interior often ends up being the most memorable part of their stay. Some of the wildest, most untouched parts of the state are interspersed, sometimes in close proximity, with badly degraded patches, thus putting everything you may have read about the state’s environmental problems into sharp relief. The timber industry has been systematically logging here since the 1960s, with tracts of land already under oil palm or being cleared to grow it, yet the rugged terrain still offers fabulous trekking – something most visitors only experience at Gunung Mulu National Park, with its extensive caves (including one of the largest in the world) and the razor-sharp limestone Pinnacles.

As central Sarawak has the Rejang, so the north has its major river system, the River Baram (Batang Baram). There the resemblance ends, for only the lowest part of the Baram – from Marudi, 50km southeast of Miri, to the river mouth at Kuala Baram near the Brunei border – has anything like a proper boat service, and that stretch is any case devoid of sights. Further upriver, the days of being able to just turn up and find a longboat and someone who can pilot it have long since gone. Much travel is therefore by small aircraft or 4WD, using the spider’s web of logging roads, which adds to the outback feel. Anyone wanting to get off the beaten track will most likely have to talk to the Miri tour operators, who have contacts with boatmen and drivers and can arrange accommodation in towns with hardly any formal places to stay. That said, it is possible to visit remote Penan settlements in the upper Baram using a homestay programme called Picnic with the Penan.

Mulu aside, the highlight is the lush Kelabit Highlands, accessible by air and an upgraded logging road, where the pleasant climate is ideal for long treks in the rainforest. Of much less significance unless you’re an avid birdwatcher is Loagan Bunut National Park, some distance off the Miri–Bintulu road and difficult to visit independently.

TWIN OTTERS

One entertaining aspect of travel in the northern interior is the chance to fly on Twin Otters, nineteen-seater propeller planes. More formally known as the de Havilland DHC-6, the Twin Otter can turn on the proverbial dime and take off from a standing start in seconds, making it ideally suited to the tiny airfields in Sabah and Sarawak. As such, the plane forms the backbone of the Rural Air Services operated by Malaysia Airlines subsidiary MASwings, mostly out of Miri (though it’s not used for Mulu, where the airport can take larger aircraft).

As the Twin Otter isn’t pressurized – you can see daylight around the door rim – it doesn’t fly above 3000m, and affords great views of the north’s mountain ranges. That MASwings’ Twin Otters can be old and a bit shabby (though perfectly serviceable) only adds to the experience; the cabin will be fan-cooled and the cockpit door will be open, letting you see what the pilots are up to.

On a practical note, passengers sit where they like, and luggage is limited to 10kg per person (you may well have to weigh yourself at check-in so staff know the laden weight of the plane). Prices are lower if booked well ahead, rising one week before and three days before travel; the most expensive tickets can be bought at the airport on the day. At some airfields, departing passengers are slapped with a “service fee” of RM10–15 atop the taxes included in ticket prices. Levied by the small private concerns that run the airfields, these fees appear to be condoned by the authorities. Note that the planes get booked solid during public and school holidays and over Christmas and New Year, when you may have to reserve weeks in advance. Flights are seldom cancelled except in very gusty or stormy weather.

Gunung Mulu National Park

GUNUNG MULU NATIONAL PARK, Sarawak’s premier national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is named after the 2376m mountain at its heart. Modern explorers have been coming here since Spenser St John in the 1850s, who didn’t reach the summit but wrote inspiringly about the region in Life in the Forests of the Far East. A more successful bid in 1932 saw Edward Shackleton, son of the Antarctic explorer, get to the top during a research trip organized by Tom Harrisson.

The park’s best-known features, however, are the mind-bogglingly big Deer Cave and, atop another mountain, Mount Api, the dozens of 50m-high razor-sharp limestone spikes known as the Pinnacles. Visitors stream into Mulu (as the park is generally known) year-round to catch sight of them – a three-day trek, there and back, from the park offices – and also to see the park’s incredible network of caves. Mulu contains the largest limestone cave system in the world, formed when surface water eroded vast amounts of material, dividing the limestone belt that runs southwest–northeast across the middle of the park into separate mountains as well as carving cave passages within. Most people see some or all four of the dramatic show caves, though other caves are accessible on adventure packages and yet more are still being explored (see mulucaves.org).

Mulu is unique in Sarawak for having been privatized. While the Sarawak Forestry Corporation remains in overall charge, most things to do with tourism, including the accommodation, is now run by Borsarmulu. This means that Mulu feels more like Singapore than Sarawak: tours are timetabled and formatted, and you can explore few parts of the park unaccompanied. The tours are well run, the guides are better communicators than at any other Sarawak park, and close supervision has helped prevent the poaching of valuable plants – but if it were possible to make the jungle somehow corporate, this is it. The only way to avoid taking the tours is by having your own registered guide, which enables you to book boat charter and accommodation on the trails separately, though this only makes sense if you are in a group.

The caves

The show caves – Clearwater, Wind, Lang’s and Deer – are a must, though interest can begin to wane if you see all four. If you’re doing a Pinnacles trek, the cost will usually include a tour of the Clearwater and Wind caves. If not, and you don’t want to spend ages underground, opt for the Lang’s and Deer caves – the last is the most impressive of the lot – then hang around for the incredible “changing of the guard”, when the bats leave Deer Cave at sunset. Tours of these caves fill up quickly, so book as soon as your plans are fixed. It’s also possible to do tours of Lagang Cave, where obscure cave-dwelling fauna is the highlight, plus more challenging caving trips.

Lang’s and Deer caves

3km from the park office • Tours leave park office daily 2pm & 2.30pm • RM35

Lang’s Cave, an hour’s walk from the park office, is the smallest of the show caves. It makes an unremarkable appetizer for the splendid Deer Cave, though your guide will point out unusual rock formations, most interestingly the curtain stalactites and coral-like growths – helictites – gripping the curved walls.

Deer Cave, a few minutes’ walk further, was once inhabited by deer that sheltered in its cavernous reaches. Dim artificial lighting helps you appreciate one of the world’s largest cave passages, more than 2km long and up to 174m high, though what’s really striking is how scenic it can be: silvery curtains of water plummet from the cave ceiling, while there’s at least one chimney-like structure, formed by erosion of a weaker section of limestone, where rainwater jets down as though from a shower head. Elsewhere, your guide will point out the cave’s Abraham Lincoln-in-profile rock formation and the entrance to the Garden of Eden.

Once the tour is over, walk back to the park offices unaccompanied or linger with the guide at a viewpoint – the so-called Bat Observatory, with snacks on sale and toilets – near the caves. As it approaches 6pm, swiflets fly into the caves for the night, which isn’t necessarily easy to make out, but what you can’t fail to notice is the bats. They emerge from various holes in the roof – there are about three million of them – at first in little cloud-like bursts, then in streams that can last for minutes at a time.

Garden of Eden

Tour including Lang’s Cave and Deer Cave daily 9.30am (minimum three people) • RM120

A hole at one point in Deer Cave offers a glimpse of lush ferns in the so-called Garden of Eden, a veritable “lost world” penned in by the steep cliffs of Mulu’s limestone formations. It was discovered by a Royal Geographical Society expedition in 1976 whose leader noted that “even the fish were tame and gathered in shoals around a hand dipped in the water”. Today the park offers a trip to the area, reached by wading along a river that flows through a dark passage at Deer Cave. It continues through the jungle to small waterfalls and yet more pools (where you can swim), and ends with lunch in the wilds.

Wind and Clearwater caves

Tours daily 8.45am & 9.15am from the park offices • RM65 including boat transport and a stop at Batu Bungan

As they lie upriver of the starting point for the Pinnacles trek, almost everyone heading to the Pinnacles sees these two caves as well. Most park trips include boat transport and a not-very-interesting stop en route at the Penan settlement of Batu Bungan where you can buy tribal knick-knacks and watch a blowpipe demonstration.

Wind Cave feels rather closed in compared to its much larger siblings, and is home to a great array of golden, contorted rock shapes and pillars, best seen from extended metal stairways. It’s five minutes on to the base of Clearwater Cave, either by boat along the Melinau River or using a cliffside walkway that passes some “mini-Pinnacles”, waist-high limestone shards embedded in the cliff face. Two hundred steps lead up to the cave mouth itself, adorned with curious glossy one-leafed plants unique to Mulu. Inside, the cave certainly impresses with its size – the entire system, probing 150km through Mulu’s substratum, is thought to be the longest in Southeast Asia – though it’s not all that visually interesting other than for its subterranean river, which joins the Melinau, and for its notch, a great horizontal groove in the cave wall running alongside the river. Thirty minutes are set aside for a dip in the chilly Melinau after the tour (there are changing facilities).

Adventure caving

Several of Mulu’s caves are open for so-called adventure caving activities, though only a few count as hard-core, with caving experience compulsory; all require a group of at least three for the trip to go ahead. One advanced trip, the Clearwater Connection (RM225/person), takes you through a chamber linking the Clearwater and Wind caves, wading or swimming through the Clearwater River en route. Another, the visit to the Sarawak Chamber (RM310), at 9.5 million cubic metres the world’s largest known cave chamber – starts at the crack of dawn and lasts an entire day, but there’s no descent into the chamber itself, and it’s so big that regular torches can’t actually reach the walls or ceiling, so all you can experience is turning off the lights and being in the “biggest darkness” – note, they’ll need proof of fitness to do this trip, which means doing another adventure caving trip beforehand.

If you just want to try something that isn’t a regular trek or cave walk, Racer Cave (RM160) is probably best; you spend two hours ascending and descending through tunnels, with guide ropes to help you pull yourself along. More simply, Lagang Cave can be visited on a trip in which you search for wildlife, as on the standard “Fast Lane” tour, but in a separate, “off-piste” section (RM160), an escapade that’s suitable for families. For details of other caving opportunities and what equipment to bring, speak to the park office.

Lagang Cave

Lagang “Fast Lane” tours leave daily 2pm from the park office; bring a torch • RM65 including boat rides

Animals rather than geology are the highlight in the Lagang Cave. The tour proceeds at a relaxed pace, the guide encouraging people to use their torches to spot the different beasties lurking in the darkness; the blue racer snakes who feed on the bats, the reflective eyes of cave spiders, and the blind white crabs in shallow pools. Of course there are no problems locating the many bats sleeping in little round holes in the ceiling along with mossy-nest swiflet nests (made of a mixture of moss and saliva). Later, as the cave widens, you’ll also see some well-lit and interesting rock formations.

Batu Bungan

A stop on boat tours to Wind/Clearwater caves, or a signed 30min walk from the airport in the opposite direction from the park

Just outside the park boundary, a couple of kilometres northwest of the park entrance, is a somewhat desultory collection of concrete houses called Batu Bungan which, a worthwhile information display notes, is “probably the most-visited Penan settlement in Sarawak”. Tourists indeed visit every morning en route to the caves, and the locals sell souvenirs, but the whole experience is rather artificial. The Penan here perhaps quite haven’t got the hang of the whole living-in-houses thing, and the present concrete longhouses are there because previous two wooden ones burned down within ten years.

Canopy skywalk and Tree Top Tower

Six skywalk tours daily; 2hr • RM45; Tree Top Tower free (get key from the park office; RM50 deposit; no guide needed)

Mulu’s canopy skywalk, 480m long and 20m up in the air, is reached by a side trail off the Deer Cave trail. The skywalk laces around six broad hardwood kasai, betang, meranti, peran and segera trees and takes around half an hour to complete. Though it’s not that different to the canopy walkways at Taman Negara or at Temburong in Brunei, the tours are often full, so book promptly or try spotting birdlife from the elevated hide called the Tree Top Tower, just fifteen minutes from the park office.

The Pinnacles

The park charges RM415 for the trek, including accommodation but no food; tour operators offer similar packages, as well as to the Headhunters’ Trail north of the Pinnacles

Five million years ago, the splatter of raindrops gradually dissolved Mount Api’s limestone and carved out the Pinnacles – 50m-high shards, as sharp as samurai swords – from a solid block of rock. Erosion is still continuing, and the entire region is pockmarked with deep shafts penetrating far into the heart of the mountain: one third of Mount Api has already been washed away, and in another ten million years it might all be gone.

The chance to view the Pinnacles draws many visitors to Mulu, and the trek offers exactly that, by heading not to the Pinnacles but to a ridge across the way from where you can take everything in. It’s a three-day, two-night hike, but only the ascent of the steep final ridge and the awkward descent are genuinely demanding. That said, if you’re reasonably fit and suitably equipped, you should cope, and the guides put safety first and make allowances as appropriate for the slower members of their group. With whomever you arrange the trek, book or make enquiries at least a week in advance; base camp, Camp 5, sleeps fifty people, so there’s a firm ceiling on the number of climbers per day. Considering the tough journey, some people are a little disappointed when they arrive at the Pinnacles, but as with many things in life, the journey is everything, and the views along the way are terrific.

The hike

The itinerary is simple. Day 1 usually sees trekkers visiting the Wind and Clearwater caves after which the boat takes them down the Melinau to Kuala Litut, the start of the 8km trek to Camp 5. Following a rough track of coarse stones embedded in the ground, it’s mostly flat and perfectly straightforward, and you can expect to arrive well before sunset.

Camp 5 itself is spruce and homely; all accommodation is dorm-style, and there’s a large, reasonably well-equipped kitchen and communal eating area. If you book through the park office, you’ll have to bring your own provisions and remember to ask to borrow a free mosquito net at the park HQ. It’s close to the Melinau Gorge, across which nearby Mount Api (1750m) and Mount Benarat (1580m) cast long shadows in the fading afternoon light. A bridge straddles the river here, with a path disappearing into the jungle on the far side – the first stage of the Headhunters’ Trail. It’s possible to explore the gorge instead of tackling the Pinnacles; ask at the park office for details.

Day 2 is the only time you are accompanied by a guide, setting off around 7.30am for the ascent. Departure may be delayed in heavy rain; if the weather fails to let up, and the climb has to be called off, you’ll get half your money back if you booked through the park office. After two hours, a striking vista opens up: the rainforest stretches below as far as the eye can see, and wispy clouds drift along your line of vision. Eventually the trail reaches moss forest, where pitcher plants feed on insects, and ants and squirrels dart in and out among the roots of trees. The last thirty minutes of the climb is especially steep, with ladders and ropes to assist.

Parties usually arrive at the top of the ridge that overlooks the Pinnacles in late morning. The ridge is itself a pinnacle, sited across a ravine from the main cluster, and if you tap the rocks around you, they reverberate because of the large holes in the limestone underneath. After an hour it’s time for the return slog, which can be more awkward on the legs and nerves, and takes longer, especially when the route is slippery. You’ll probably arrive back at Camp 5 around 4pm.

On day 3 trekkers retrace their steps to Kuala Litut for the boat ride back to the park office, usually arriving in plenty of time to catch an afternoon flight out.

The Headhunters’ Trail

A wonderful way to start or end a Pinnacles trek, the Headhunters’ Trail adds just one day to the total duration, but when you consider the itinerary it’s clearly all but impossible to make the necessary arrangements independently. The 11km trail – which corresponds to a route once taken by Kenyah and Kayan warring parties – leads north from Camp 5 to Kuala Terikan, at the confluence of the Terikan and Medalam rivers on the park’s northern boundary. From here it’s necessary to find a longboat down the Terikan to reach Mentawai, also on the park’s edge, where you sign out of the park at a ranger post (or sign in if doing the route in reverse). The boat then continues to a longhouse before Nanga Medamit where tour operators put visitors up for the night. From here you can drive to the coastal town of Limbang, in between the two lumps of Brunei, and pick up a flight to Miri or bus to Kota Kinabalu, Bandar Seri Begawan or Miri.

As a trek, the trail is similar to the path from Kuala Litut to Camp 5, but less well maintained and 3km longer. Some say it’s therefore better for exiting the park than entering it, as there’s a lot of ground to cover to reach Camp 5 from Nanga Medalan before dark. In practice, people continue to trek in both directions.

To tackle the route, contact a tour operator in Miri or Kuching (the park itself is not currently offering this service). As an example, Tropical Adventure has a five-day excursion from RM1805/person, covering the flight from Miri to Mulu, a night’s accommodation at their own lodge near the park, meals, the Pinnacles trek (including the two show caves), and the exit to Limbang via Nanga Medamit.

Mount Mulu

Expect to pay around RM650/person, including accommodation and a guide, though you’ll have to bring provisions and sleeping bags; a porter costs around RM100/day extra

The route to the summit of Mount Mulu (2376m) was first discovered in the 1920s by Tama Nilong, a Berawan rhinoceros-hunter. Earlier explorers had failed to find a way around the huge surrounding cliffs, but Nilong followed rhinoceros tracks along the southwest ridge trail, and thus enabled Lord Shackleton to become the first mountaineer to reach the summit in 1932. It’s still an arduous climb, a 48km round trip that usually takes four days. Few visitors attempt it, but with enough notice, the park office can usually arrange it for groups of three or more.

Day 1, for most groups, is usually spent heading to Camp 3 roughly midway along the route, passing Camp 1 en route (there is no Camp 2). The trek takes you from the limestone belt that most tourists associate with Mulu into sandstone terrain that dominates the southeast of the park. On day 2 you spend the night 1800m up at Camp 4. Most climbers set off well before dawn on day 3 for the hard ninety-minute trek to the summit, if possible arriving there at sunrise. Big clumps of pitcher plants dot the final stretch, though it’s easy to miss them as by this point you are hauling yourself up by ropes onto the cold, windswept, craggy peak. From here, the view is exhilarating, looking down on Mount Api and, on a clear day, far across the forest to Brunei Bay. Once again you spend the night at Camp 4. Day 4 is a very full day as the aim is to get right back to the park HQ by nightfall.

Arrival and Departure: Gunung Mulu National Park

By plane MASwings flies from Mulu’s airport, 1500m from the park entrance, to Kota Kinabalu (1 daily, sometimes via Miri; 50min–2hr), Kuching (1 daily; 1hr 30min) and Miri (2 daily; 40min). They’re not Twin Otter services, but demand is high, so book a week or two in advance.

Getting around

By taxi For transport around the Mulu area – for example, to eat somewhere other than where you are staying – contact Edward at the Sweetwater Café, who drives people around for a few ringgit per trip.

By bicycle Bikes are a useful way of getting to and from the park if you’re staying outside. The Mulu Marriott rents bikes for RM20/4hr, to non-guests as well.

Information

Park office The office (daily 8am–6pm) stocks good listings of treks, cave tours and activities, as well as browseable reference books on the park and Borneo.

Discovery Centre The informative displays on cave formation and Mulu’s topography and ecology in the excellent Discovery Centre, a small free museum alongside the park office, are worth at least half an hour of your time. The gift shop offers internet access until 8pm at RM5, or you could just ask another tourist for the password.

Entrance fee RM30 for five days.

Contact details 085 792300, mulupark.com; mulucaves.org is also a useful resource.

Equipment Unless you are climbing Mount Mulu itself or doing advanced caving, you will need the same gear that you would bring to other national parks. As people tend to do longer treks here than at most parks, however, items that may seem optional elsewhere become necessities. A poncho (or umbrella) is essential for extended downpours, while rubber shoes come into their own when paths and trails are flooded or waterlogged; carry bandages to deal with any blisters. If you are using regular shoes, they must have a good grip. Ponchos, rubber shoes and food you can cook on multiday treks are sold at the park gift shop, but it’s much cheaper to buy these before you arrive.

Money Bring a reasonable amount of cash – there are no ATMs – though this is the one park where you can pay for rooms and tours with plastic, and it’s occasionally possible to take cash out on your credit card at the park office, though they often run out of cash (two percent service charge; max advance RM300).

Leeches Leeches are not a problem on trails near the park headquarters, though you might want to take precautions on the Pinnacles climb.

Accommodation

Accommodation within the park is limited to a hostel – basically a twenty-bed dorm – and much more expensive private rooms and chalets; the dorm fills up, so enquire at least a week in advance. Other places to stay nearby range from hostel-type places and homestays (mainly along the road from the airport to the park entrance) to the Mulu Marriot Resort and Spa

D’Cave 700m from the airport, at the turning to the park entrance. 012 872 9752, muludcavehomestay@gmail.com; map. By far the best of the homestays, with a basic ten-person fan dorm and a couple of double rooms, one which has an en-suite (RM80). The friendly family is absolutely lovely, and the rate includes an astonishingly good breakfast served at a long table – they just don’t stop bringing out food. Dorm RM35, doubles RM70

Mulu Marriott Resort and Spa 2km from the park entrance 085 792388, marriott.com; map. The only upmarket place to stay at Mulu, well known for its swimming pool, which sticks out amid the jungle when viewed from the air, Balinese spa, and its sprawling collection of slick, longhouse-like blocks, raised on stilts. Rooms are spacious, and there’s a vaguely smart bar and restaurant – although, unless you’re having the buffet, it’s quite overpriced (mains around RM35), so many guests go to the cheaper restaurant just across the river. RM589

Mulu River Lodge Outside the park entrance 012 852 7471; map. Friendly guesthouse in a large timber building backing onto the Melinau River, containing a 22-bed dorm and clean bathrooms. When things are quiet they may give you a private room at the back of the Sweetwater Café next door, which they also run, at no extra cost. The good-value rates include a simple cooked breakfast. RM35

Park Headquarters 085 792300, mulupark.com; map. Clustered around the park office are various chalets and more luxurious bungalows (RM312), some recently built and all with a/c and bathroom, plus its hostel. All rates include breakfast. Dorms RM55, doubles RM221

Eating

Most people simply eat where they’re staying, but it can be worth moving around a bit for variety. For the Pinnacles and other long treks, the park gift shop sells sachets of instant pasta, canned beans and curries, biscuits, chocolate and so forth. If you want to save a few ringgit, use the shop for the locals on the way from the park to the Mulu Marriott.

Park Café Next to park office; map. An airy, modern affair, overlooking the Melinau River and serving pretty decent international food. Their highly spicy and creamy Sarawak laksa is their strongest suit (RM17), and they also do a tasty Indian platter (RM13), a limited range of stir-fries to be eaten with rice (including a good Indonesian beef rendang for RM21), and the odd dessert such as chocolate cake. They also have some Western options, such as burgers (RM18), and a few vegetarian choices. Beer and wine available too. Around RM15 with a soft drink. Daily 7.30am–9pm.

Mulu Marriott Resort and Spa 2km from park entrance 085 792388; map. The hotel restaurant’s buffet dinner – a grand spread of rice and pasta, salads and stir-fries, and kuih for dessert, plus a half-hour tribal dance show at 9pm – will set you back RM88. Tuak is available at a RM10 a glass. There’s also a bar, which serves reasonably priced light bites at night. Daily 6.30am–10pm.

Loagan Bunut National Park

Some 80km south of Miri as the crow flies, Loagan Bunut National Park, best visited on an overnight trip, is a good spot for dedicated birdwatchers, boasting stork-billed kingfishers and hornbills among many other species. Many live around the park’s lake, Tasik Bunut, tucked away on the upper reaches of the Teru River, a tributary of the Tinjar, which in turn flows into the Baram. During prolonged dry spells, when the lake level drops drastically, a peculiar form of fishing, which the local Berawan people call selambau, is carried out. Just before the lake dries out, fishermen use giant spoon-shaped wooden frames to scoop up any fish that haven’t escaped down the lake’s two watercourses.

For birds, these dry times are a perfect time to feed too, and in May and June the surrounding peat-swamp forest supports breeding colonies of such species as darters, egrets and bitterns. Initially the lake can appear huge, its edges hard to detect as the sunlight is often hazy; however, it’s only around 500m wide and 1km long. Small cabins built on rafts house Berawan fishermen, while around them lies an intricate network of fishing plots, with underwater nets and lines tied to stakes pushed into the lake bed. The best times to drift by boat across the lake are early morning and dusk, when the birds are at their most active.

Arrival and information: Loagan Bunut National Park

By taxi There’s no public transport to the park, but cars may head here in the morning from near Miri’s tourist office; ask staff there where to wait (3hr; RM350 per car/minibus or RM50/person if you can fill it), though a Grab/Uber will be under RM200. When you want to head back, park staff can usually arrange a vehicle.

By tour Miri tour operators such as Borneo Mainland offer one- to three-day trips to the park.

Admission fee RM20.

Contact details 019 861 0994, sarawakforestry.com.

Accommodation and eating

If you’re here on a trip with Borneo Mainland you have the option to stay at a nearby farm with which the company has links. Note that there are some water issues at the park accommodation and you should phone ahead to ascertain the situation.

Loagan Bunut National Park accommodation 019 861 0994, sarawakforestry.com. Located near the lake, the in-park accommodation is limited to a hostel and a so-called VIP chalet with two bedrooms, a/c and its own bathroom; a small canteen serves basic meals (RM10–15) and snacks. Dorms RM15, chalet RM150

Kelabit Highlands

Right up against the Kalimantan border, 100km southeast of Mount Mulu, the long, high plateau of the Kelabit Highlands has been home to the Kelabit people for hundreds of years. Western explorers had no idea this self-sufficient mountain community existed until the early twentieth century, and the Highlands were literally not put on the map until World War II, when British and Australian commandos, led by Major Tom Harrisson, used Kelabit settlements as bases during a guerrilla war against the occupying Japanese. Before Harrisson’s men built an airstrip at Bario, trekking over inhospitable terrain was the only way to get here – it took two weeks from the nearest large town, Marudi, on the opposite side of Mulu. When missionaries arrived and converted the animist Kelabit to Christianity after the war, many traditions, like burial rituals and wild parties called iraus (where Chinese jars full of rice wine were consumed) disappeared. Many of the magnificent Kelabit megaliths associated with these traditions have been swallowed up by the jungle, but some dolmens, urns, rock carvings and ossuaries used in funeral processes can still be found, so the region draws archeologists and anthropologists from far and wide.

Nowadays the Kelabit (well certainly the males) seem to be the good ol’ boys of Asia; cowboy hats are much in evidence and they are very keen on pick-up trucks, country music, hunting, and their dogs. The Kelabit are not the only inhabitants of this part of the state, however; there are also populations of Penan and Lun Bawang (formerly called the Murut).

Despite logging in the Bario area, the Highlands remain generally unspoiled, with occasional wildlife sightings and a refreshing climate – temperatures are only a few degrees lower than in Miri by day, but in winter at night they can drop to an untropical 15°C (60°F). As such the region is a great target for walkers, and it is easily accessible by air, with several villages served by MASwings.

Most visitors head to Bario as it has the main airport and well-established formal accommodation, but the real point of being here is to get out into the countryside, doing day-walks or longer treks through the jungle, on which you can be hosted in little settlements or longhouses en route such as at Pa’ Lungan and Pa’ Dalih. It’s also possible to do more challenging treks up to the peaks of the Pulong Tau National Park (which currently has no facilities and no one to collect the entrance fee), notably Mount Murud. Another option is the Picnic with the Penan scheme, further south along the Upper Baram region, which enables you to really get off the beaten track and explore the jungle with the Penan people.

There are no banks in the Kelabit Highlands, so bring enough cash to cover board and lodging plus guiding/trekking fees. If you’re wondering why the 4WD prices are so high, it’s because the region has no mechanics, so if they need repairs one must be flown in once to diagnose, then flown in again with spare parts to finish the job.

Bario and around

The short flight from Miri makes a thrilling introduction to this corner of Sarawak, the Twin Otter giving passengers amazing views (sit on the left on the way in, on the right on the way back) of serried ranks of blue limestone ridges at Gunung Mulu National Park and then of the double-humped Batu Lawi before landing at the settlement of BARIO. From the air, it’s a sprawling jumble of little paths and houses, as well as fields planted with the rice for which the village is well known. There is a centre of sorts, a grassy space 2km northwest of the airfield, ringed by a few modern buildings housing a few shops, including one selling Penan baskets, uninteresting kedai kopis and a small hall with an exhibition on Kelabit culture, but much of the village is scattered around the fields 2km further northwest, along the main road and a couple of minor tracks off or parallel to it.

Between the village centre and the military base stands a memorial to Tom Harrisson in the shape of a sape, the Orang Ulu lute. Celebrating the enormous contribution Harrisson made to our understanding of Sarawak’s history, as curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching and as a roving anthropologist and archeologist (notably at Niah), the memorial has an inscription that, besides paying tribute to the military work of Harrisson and his British and Australian comrades, also cites the “sacrifice of the tribal warriors of the Baram and Rejang basins” in helping liberate Sarawak from Japanese occupation.

The village’s main street is named Jalan Penghulu Lawai, after the first English-speaking village spokesman appointed by the British in 1948. What the colonial authorities failed to realize, however, was that their appointee had learned English while in Marudi Prison, having been imprisoned by them a year earlier for headhunting – Lawai, however, didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, so had escaped and walked all the way back to Bario through the jungle.

Situated on a plateau, with very little shade thanks to agriculture, Bario is visually dull in places but scenic in others, with vistas of rice fields and water buffalo against the lush mountains of the Tama Abu Range to the north and west. Although there are a few half-day walking opportunities, and a couple of things to look at in the village itself, it is only a taster of what you can experience on longer treks.

Highlands treks

The well-run and organized guide association in Bario (contact Julian from Bario Asal on 011 2508 1114, visitbario@gmail.com) is the best place to start when planning your trip to the area, and new routes and facilities have recently been developed. Certified, English-speaking guides can be in short supply during the June–August peak season, so you should try and arrange them as far ahead as possible. Guides estimate the fitness of the group and set the pace accordingly. Trips may involve gathering wild vegetables, catching fish and cooking, Kelabit-style, on the campfire, as well as locating dolmens and visiting longhouses.

Guides cost RM120/day for around Bario, RM150/day for jungle trekking, and RM180/day for overnight trips; a porter costs around RM150/day. For remote treks, you’ll need a minimum of two guides (in case of an accident – one stays with the group and the other goes for help), though if you have a porter, you might be able to forgo the second. These fees generally do not include provisions, which cost around RM40/person/day. Where you overnight in villages, expect to pay RM70–80/person for board and lodging and remember that if you don’t return to where you started your trek, you’ll have to pay your guide per day for their return journey.

As regards equipment, travel light bearing in mind the strict baggage limits on Twin Otters, and slogging through the jungle with more than 10kg is a real drag. On top of what you’d normally bring for a day-trek at a national park, it makes sense to have a thin sleeping bag and poncho, plus warmish clothing if you want to overnight outdoors or do any mountain trekking. A tent can be useful, though it obviously weighs down luggage; guides will usually stop overnight in villages or at shelters, though may have canvas sheets that will suffice for shelter at a pinch. For jungle trekking the best footwear is by far Wellington (rubber) boots as they not only make walking through mud and rivers less hassle but also help keep the leeches off (as does wearing thick, long trousers or anti-leech socks) – all are available in Miri or Lawas.

Leeches are quite common in this region, and although mostly harmless, they are not pleasant to have on you, or worse, biting you. There are a number of ways to discourage them, but they’re not fail-safe. If all else fails simply do as the locals do and use the sharp pinch and pull technique to get them off, and at least carry some salt, which dissolves them. A good way you deter them is to get some fresh tobacco leaves, grown locally, and rub them into your exposed skin.

Bario Asal

While not the sole longhouse in the vicinity, Bario Asal is the oldest and close to the northern end of the main road – it was once the only settlement in the area and, technically speaking, they own all of the land in Bario. The unassuming timber building is unusual for effectively having two ruais – the second one, at the back, houses a communal kitchen with a long row of individual fireplaces for cooking. As a social venue, it’s as important as the main ruai at the front. The longhouse also has a special area where travellers can stay, and sells Kelabit beadwork, jackets and hats.

Walks around Bario

In addition to the popular trek to Ba’ Kelalan and the Batu Lawi trek, the guide association has developed a couple of shorter routes in the area for which you’ll need their services. The first, the Aren Bario Trail, is a half-day loop west of the village past Pa’Rumapu, via the Bario Nature Site, a newly constructed lookout (with café) that offers great views of the surrounding forest – especially of interest to birders. The trail then continues through the jungle and past five waterfalls before heading back to the village. In addition to birds, if you’re very lucky you might spot the endangered Bay Cat, a wild feline only found in Borneo.

The overnight Indigenous Trail takes you into the jungle to the northwest of Bario, a moderate four to six hour walk to the Batu Buli camp, where there is a basic shelter for sleeping, though a mossy forest and past the 30m-high Batu Buli Waterfall, with a similar return leg the next day. It offers the chance to find the Spider Raffelesia, a smaller more arachnoid version of its famous cousin.

Prayer Hill

The best views of Bario are a short hike away up Prayer Hill, which will give you a great panorama across the village and to the mountains in the middle distance including Mount Murud. Coming from the village, turn right at Bario Asal and follow the stony path for ten minutes until you reach the end. Here there is a small house up the hill and you should follow the smaller path to the right of it. The path then climbs steeply (with ropes to help haul yourself up) for another twenty minutes until you reach a small wooden church, where services are occasionally held. The summit is another ten minutes up from here, where you’ll find a small cross and magnificent views.

Batu Lawi

The most challenging local trek, apart from the one to Murud, is the climb up Batu Lawi (2044m), the strange double-horned peak that you may have seen on the flight in. The trek is an attractive prospect as it’s less arduous and time-consuming than tackling Mount Murud, though as ever logging roads blight the landscape here and there, making it look as though the forest has been gnawed by rats.

The first day out from Bario (8–10hr) is a fairly easy trek past Pa’Ukat and the Batu Buli camp, then the Batu Narut megalith and a river sinkhole to where you camp at Arur Bila Bigan. On the more taxing second day you scramble to the lower and much blunter of the peak’s two “horns” for an amazing view of the other, looking like a huge upright stone pillar, though ruder interpretations are possible. The descent has trekkers camping at Kubaan camp near a Penan village, and the fourth day, the descent to Bario. It’s also possible to do the trek from Ba’ Kelalan; contact Julian at the guide association in Bario or Mr Gukang in Ba’ Kelalan.

Arrival and Departure: BARIO

By land Perhaps the best way to enter the Kelabit Highlands is by using a car, which gives you a real sense of how remote it is, affords some lovely views along the way (despite the logging) and offers the chance to stop off at villages along the way. It’s 400km from Miri to Bario via the Lapok Junction (on the Miri–Bintulu highway, and from which you can hitch), from where a decent logging road heads inland through Kiloten, Long Supit (where there are some nice food stalls), Long Kerong, and Pa’ Dalih, finally arriving in Bario some 10–20hr later. Every few kilometres there’s a muddy bit where you really need a 4WD, and rain will slow you down considerably. A whole car costs around RM1600–2000 to/from Miri, RM600–800 to/from Long Kerong or Long Banga, and RM150 to/from Pa’Lungan.

By plane Passengers arriving by plane are met by Bario’s guesthouse owners every morning, so you should be collected if you’ve booked to stay, and be able to arrange a room if not.

Destinations Marudi (1 daily; 40min); Miri (3 daily, one via Marudi; 50min/3hr 35min).

Information

Maps & Information For information on Bario check barioexperience.com or contact the guide association. Stephen at Junglebluesdream produces beautifully drawn and useful maps of the area, including several of Bario’s limited treks.

Internet The community wi-fi has just opened up, almost next to the military base, and just far enough from village centre that you can’t use it in most of the kedai kopis. It’s free, but you’ll need help registering unless you read Malay. Mobile 3G services are likewise currently limited to the area around the military base, and only Celcom has coverage in the region. Plans are afoot for upgrading both, but may take some time.

Accommodation and eating

There are several simple places to stay in and around Bario, and although some have 24hr electricity, some only have some solar-powered lighting at night. You may have trouble finding a place to stay over Christmas and New Year – when guesthouses may shut for lack of incoming tourists – and during the annual Bario Food Festival in July (nukenen.com), when the village centre is transformed into a mini-fair. Rates all include meals, so people usually eat where they stay. Not spicy by Malaysian standards, Bario cuisine features ingredients such as wild boar and locally farmed fish such as carp, though guesthouses may not serve traditional staples unless you request them. If you’re out for the day, you can request a packed lunch. The Y2K shop on the main road, nearly 10min walk north of the centre, sells drinks and snacks at steepish prices. A full list of accommodation is available at barioexperience.com.

Bario Asal (Sonarang Homestay) 4km northwest of the airport 019 825 9505. The longhouse has a nice guest area with four homely bedrooms with double beds, one reasonable bathroom (with hot water and washing machine) and a huge lounge area, plus a little balcony where you can take coffee and watch the longhouse’s semi-tame hornbill flap around hoping for scraps. Sonarang and her family are excellent hosts, and occasionally host cultural shows. RM70

Junglebluesdream Ulung Palang Longhouse, 3km from centre, reached by a signed path northeast off main road 019 884 9892, junglebluesdream.weebly.com. Local artist Stephen and his Danish partner Tine offer nice accommodation, with four simple, cosy rooms in their section of a longhouse. Stephen’s artwork decorates a lot of the building and his cooking is a treat; everyone eats together on a spacious terrace. They also rent bikes for RM30/day. Price is per-person full-board. RM100

Libal Paradise A 10min walk east of the airport 019 807 1640, roachas@hotmail.com. With a couple of relatively private rooms, this Canadian-Kelablit-run place has two lovely little chalets that were made by the owner, Stu, who also runs kayaking trips to and from Pa’Lungan. Rose will keep you well fed and watered, and often incorporates the pineapples that grow in the garden. RM80

Nancy Harriss Next to the military base 013 8505850, nancyharriss@yahoo.com. Built next to the old British airstrip (there are the remains of a crashed Australian plane in the garden), this well-run homestay is fairly active, and often busy with groups. The rooms in the main building are pretty standard, but they’ve just built a row of two- and three-bedroom chalets – the most luxurious accommodation in the village. Rooms per person RM95, chalets RM300.

Pa’ Lungan

The lovely, tranquil village of PA’ LUNGAN, around a four- to five-hour trek (or less by road) north from Bario, is made up of a group of detached houses on stilts built around a large rectangular field for buffalo, with a “new town” slightly higher up past the modern church. While for many it’s just an overnight stay on the way to somewhere else, it actually makes a great trekking base as well as being a peaceful place to hang out for a few days. There are several trails from here for which you’ll need guides: to the 20m-high Arur Waterfall (2hr each way); the Pa’ Lungan River loop (three days) though the jungle; the gruelling trek up Mount Murud; and the easier Kalimantan Loop (four days) via Long Pedit, which involves two nights sleeping in jungle camps and one at a homestay (RM60) in one of the many villages along the way. It is advised that you arrange guides beforehand as the village only has a population of around a forty, and only two licensed guides.

Shorter walks that don’t need guides include the two megaliths within a few minutes’ walk of the village. One is leaning drunkenly, thanks to some sloppy archeology by Tom Harrisson, and the other has collapsed, damaged by villagers looking for foundation stones. There’s also a hill to the north of the village, topped with a tin cross and offering fabulous views – it’s a steep forty-minute hike through some nice jungle, but be warned there’s little cover at the top. It’s unclear as yet what effect the new Bario–Ba’Kelalan road will have on the village, but hopefully the economy will improve and its population will begin to increase.

Accommodation and eating: pa’ lungan

David and Jenny 019 805 2119. Currently the most active of all the homestays in Pa’ Lungan, David is the top English-speaking licensed guide in the village and is your best bet for organizing treks, working closely with Julian in Bario. The homestay is in a traditional stilted house, with basic rooms and all the ingredients of your meals are gathered fresh from the jungle daily. Per person full-board RM90

Pa’ Lungan to Ba’ Kelalan

It’s currently possible to walk from Pa’ Lungan to Ba’ Kelalan, either via Mount Murud, which takes five days or on the new road (when it’s finished in 2018), which for the most part will follow the route of the previous direct trekking path, and should be able to be done in a couple of days. As things may well change significantly when the new road opens, it’s best to check the situation first with the guide association in Bario.

The Bario to Pa’ Lungan trek

The five-hour hike from Bario to Pa’ Lungan along the old path is fairly easy for the most part, although it becomes trickier if it’s been raining. Otherwise the trail is pretty clear and a guide is not needed, though you will be getting your feet wet at some point. The first stretch involves heading northeast out of town along the main road. About 3km from the centre the road forks; take the left-hand branch to reach, 1km on, the settlement of Pa’Ukat– don’t follow the obvious path here, but take a right at the church. From here, it passes through a very swampy part, after which it rises into mainly secondary jungle – the really swampy sections are crossed on log or bamboo “bridges” of up to 60m long. Using a stick to stabilize yourself while shuffling forward will make these crossings much easier. Along the way you may come across monkeys and other arboreal mammals, as well as carvings on a rock called Batu Narit, an hour out of Pa’ Ukat, which shows a masked man and a hornbill, along with more than three hundred notches at the bottom which are thought to represent heads taken. Three or four hours on, you finally arrive at Pa’ Lungan.

To save time, some trekkers opt to be taken part of the way to Pa’ Lungan (or back) by boat (1–2hr; RM250 for four passengers), which Bario guesthouses can usually arrange. The boatman takes you to a point on the river called Long Palungan, and can point out the trail to follow uphill from the bank; from the right spot on the hilltop, a clear wide trail takes you on to Pa’ Lungan (1hr). At this point you can also arrange kayaking to get back to Bario.

Ba’ Kelalan (Bakelalan)

Apart from a few fruit orchards, Ba’ Kelalan amounts to a mere smattering of houses in five settlements and places selling basic provisions. The chief reason to come here is to trek – you can head to Bario (on the new road, when it’s finished, by foot or 4WD), Mount Murud or Batu Lawi, or, less ambitiously, do short walks into Kalimantan and then back within a day, or a four-hour round trip up to the viewpoint at Budukteudal. Note that the name is currently changing to Bakelalan, so you may see both spellings.

Arrival and information: Ba’ Kelalan

By plane The airfield, right next to the village, has flights to Miri (3 weekly; 1hr 35min) via Lawas (3 weekly; 35min).

By 4WD A logging road from Ba’ Kelalan to Lawas makes it possible to take a 4WD (6hr; RM70/person), which you can arrange through Mr Gukang.

Guides Guides, along with 4WDs and information, can be arranged via Mr Gukang (017 855 5048), who speaks good English and can arrange trips to Mount Murud, Bario, Batu Lawi, or Kalimantan (guide RM150–180/day, plus return trip), as well as the viewpoint at Budukteudal (RM80).

accommodation and eating

Apple Lodge Just across the landing strip from the airport “terminal” 013 286 5656 & 085 435736. This surprisingly large and well-maintained place has a total of 21 double and triple rooms, some of them en suite (RM10 extra). Breakfast is included in the price, lunch and dinner costs RM12 each, and the food is very good. In the (unlikely) event that it’s full, there are a couple of other homestay options nearby. RM80

Mount Murud

Barring the way between Bario to the south and Ba’ Kelalan to the northeast, Mount Murud is the highest peak in Sarawak at 2423m, and is part of the Pulong Tau National Park. It presents a challenging but rewarding trek, with spectacular views across the Highlands to Batu Lawi and even Mulu. From Ba’ Kelalan, it takes six days there and back; from Bario, allow one day extra.

Leaving Ba’ Kelalan, trekkers head to Base Camp 1 at Lepo Bunga (8hr) on the first night, traversing some steep hills. If you need to save a day, you can take 4WD on this leg (RM350/car). On day two the target is Church Camp (4–5hr) – a wooden shelter built by local evangelical groups for a three-day Christian meeting held once a year. The next morning sees the haul up to the summit (3hr) via the Rock Garden, an exposed area of stunted trees and sharpish boulders. After another night back at Church Camp, you retrace your steps back to Ba’ Kelalan.

If you’re starting from Bario, the first day is spent reaching Pa’ Lungan, where you stay the night. The next day brings a trek to a simple shelter at Long Rapung (7hr), with about half an hour’s worth of climbing en route. On day three, some guides head to Church Camp (7hr), others to the slightly nearer Camp 2 at Long Belaban, with hammocks to sleep in (5–6hr), though you have to ford a few streams en route and climb for a couple of hours at the end of the day. If you start from Camp 2, day four is gruelling, the climb up to the summit beginning at dawn (5–6hr); the descent usually means heading to the Rock Garden and Church Camp (4hr). On day five you head back to Camp 2 for the night; it’s then possible to get all the way back to Pa’ Lungan on day six.

Ulu Baram

The Baram River system so dominates northern Sarawak that you could consider virtually all the interior here, excepting Limbang division, to be the Ulu Baram – practically every river, including the Melinau and Tutoh at Mulu, the Tinjar at Loagan Bunut and the Dapur and Kelapang at Bario, ends up flowing into the Baram. The river itself, however, wends its way southwest from the town of Marudi, 80km from Miri, occasionally passing confluence towns such as Long Lama and Long San, before approaching the border with Kalimantan. Here it swings east to peter out beyond Lio Matoh, 200km southeast of Miri.

This Ulu Baram, due south of Mulu and southwest of the Kelabit Highlands, is definitely outback territory, rugged and lushly forested, with no specific sights; the reason you might venture here is to trek through virgin rainforest and stay in remote settlements as part of a homestay programme. The usual caveats about Malaysia homestays apply here. One key point is that villagers take turns to put up guests, so quite how adept your hosts will be is a matter of luck.

Ulu Baram trekking

It can be hard to get to Ulu Baram, but when you arrive the rewards can be considerable. There are ample chances to trek through jungle, using “trails” hacked out by your guide, spending the night perhaps in a hut of the type the Penan erect, or in a shelter that your guide might build using branches. From the Selungo River it’s also possible to climb Mount Murud Kecil (“Little Murud”; 2112m), at the opposite end of the Tama Abu Range from its more famous sibling, and there are many interesting trips to caves and waterfalls.

the Penan

For some, the Penan have a mystique beyond that of any of Sarawak’s many Orang Ulu groups, as a kind of poster child for the ongoing struggle for native peoples’ rights. That status is largely thanks to the campaign waged on their behalf by the Swiss activist Bruno Manser in the 1980s and 1990s. Manser lived with the Penan for years and became a thorn in the side of the Sarawak government, drawing the world’s attention to the destruction of their traditional forest habitat, though his PR successes had little impact on Sarawak’s logging industry. The Penan lost their champion when Manser disappeared in 2000, having trekked alone from Bario to meet the Penan in the jungle; he was never seen again, but the campaign he founded soldiers on (bmf.ch).

Most of Sarawak’s twelve thousand Penan live in the upper reaches of the Baram, Tutoh and Belaga rivers, with only two or three hundred still following their nomadic lifestyle. Their language is of the same family as Iban and Malay. Traditionally they were nomadic hunter-gatherers, but these days the majority live in tiny villages – thanks not only to habitat loss but also to the embrace of the outside world and cash economy. Their staple of sago has often been supplanted by rice, which the Penan grow like the Iban, in clearings using shifting cultivation. Many Penan struggle to make ends meet, both in towns where they may be in poorly paid work, and in their villages, where food is in reasonable supply but cash hard to come by. Another problem is the lack of identity documents, without which many Penan cannot access services, education and jobs.

Ulu Baram villages

Village life can itself be a highlight in Ulu Baram. Local people can teach crafts, and then there’s the simple pleasure of bathing in the river with the villagers, or the spectacle of being at the simple village church on Sunday (many Penan belong to the evangelical Sidang Injil Borneo or SIB movement, which has churches throughout Sarawak); it’s great to witness hymns sung in Penan with the village youths showing off their self-taught skills on guitar, keyboards and drums. After the rice is planted (June) or harvested (February), you can even accompany the men as they hunt wild pigs, aided by dogs and the odd gun.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: ulu baram

Picnic with the Penan Though it’s possible to visit independently, the best way to visit Penan settlements near Lio Matoh, such as Long Kerong and Ajeng close to the Selungo River, is as part of the Picnic with the Penan scheme (picnicwiththepenan.org), run with help from Adventure Alternative Borneo. The experience is similar to visiting villages in the Kelabit Highlands, but much more cut off. It doesn’t come cheap, as this area has resisted the logging industry – logging roads and bridges are fewer and further between, so expensive boat charter is required. Currently, the typical trip is five days (four nights; RM350) and starts with a flight to Long Akah, followed by a two-hour 4WD drive to Long Suit (RM350), where a 30min boat ride (RM250/2 people) gets you to Long Speegan from where you can walk to a jungle camp (45min). Then, a three-day trek takes you through the jungle, staying at camps and homestays, to Long Lellang, from where you can fly out – flights in and out cost RM100–110. Guides cost RM100/day, though have little English so you may want to arrange one through Adventure Alternative Borneo or the Guide Association in Kuching (typically RM200/day), while porters cost RM65 – both will also need paying for the return trip.

< Back to Sarawak

Brief history

Sarawak place names

The White Rajahs

To the present

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SARAWAK

Getting around

Brief history

Kuching waterfront

Along the Main Bazaar

Chinese History Museum

Around the Padang

Sarawak Craft Council

Textile Museum

St Thomas’s Cathedral and the Bishop’s House

Chinatown

Ethnology Museum

Islamic Museum

West of the centre

Sunday market

Sama Jaya Nature Reserve

Sarawak’s ceramic jars

East of the centre

Tun Jugah Foundation gallery

The north bank

Fort Margherita/Brooke Gallery

Malay kampungs

Arrival and Departure: Kuching

By plane

Kuching international airport

By bus

Kuching Sentral Regional express bus terminal

By boat

getting around

Information

Tour operators

Accommodation

Guesthouses, HOSTELS and B&Bs

hotels

Hawkers, food courts and kedai kopis

Cafés

Restaurants

Drinking and nightlife

Shopping

arts and Crafts

Camping gear

Malls and Supermarkets

Directory

Iban tattoos

Around Kuching

spotting Santubong Wildlife

Sarawak Cultural Village

Damai Beach

arrival and departure: Santubong Peninsula

Accommodation

Eating

Visiting Sarawak’s national parks

The trails

Arrival and departure: Bako National Park

Information

Getting around

Accommodation and eating

Kubah National Park

arrival and information: Kubah National Park

accommodation and eating

Annah Rais

arrival and information: Annah Rais

Accommodation

Bau and around

Bau caves

Accommodation and eating: Bau

arrival and information: Gunung Gading National Park

Accommodation

arrival and information: Tanjung Datu National Park

Accommodation

Batang Ai dam and lake

Batang Ai National Park

The Iban

ORIGINS AND CONFLICTS

Society

Development and urbanization