07.03. - 12.03.20 Kuching

On the day of our departure from Indonesia, we set off quite early to the bus station 5km away, as we had to "check in" at 7 o'clock. In Indonesia, there are these huge bus stations in many cities, but they seem completely deserted. It was the same in Pontianak. A huge area, actually with a "check-in" system at the respective bus company, an area only for international buses to Kuching - somehow very airport-like, and although the building doesn't look old yet, it is already very run-down and deserted.

Our bus arrived on time at 7 o'clock, but the check-in office didn't open until half an hour later and the person also came only for us, because we were actually the only passengers who boarded directly at the train station and already had a ticket. But in total, there were no more than 5 guests on the whole journey. We were glad they didn't just cancel the bus. We were expecting a 9-hour trip, but somehow everything went much faster. After an early lunch stop, where we had a really great Indonesian Nasi Campur and could invest our remaining Rupiah well, we were already at the border, where everything went quickly and smoothly. Since we have a somewhat chaotic travel route and we were generally traveling a lot on islands, we haven't had a land border crossing for a long time. On the Malaysian side, we experienced body temperature control for the first time and had to confirm on a form that we had not been in China in the last 2 weeks. But otherwise everything was as usual.

We quickly realized that we were no longer in Indonesia and quickly ended up on a real highway. In Kuching, we arrived at a very busy bus station and first got some cash. We were informed that there should be a bus from here to the city center, but at first nobody confirmed this to us. So we tried to get a Wi-Fi to order a "Grab" taxi, but we failed. In search of a regular taxi driver, we did get some information about the bus, which sent us through a very busy main road where there was no longer a bus stop due to a construction site - but we tried it anyway. We weren't even standing anywhere yet, and a car stopped and offered to take us to the center. That was a nice start.

Kuching is the largest city in the Malaysian part of Borneo, located on a river, where the historical center is also located, which is very Chinese-influenced.

"Kuching" means "cat" in Malay - so there are some cat statues in the city - but no more live cats than in other Muslim-influenced countries in Asia.

There is a beautiful riverside promenade that invites you to stroll, and in the evening it is filled with countless cafes and food stalls.

We really like Malaysia and can also imagine living here for a while (not here, but in Kuala Lumpur or Penang or something like that). And this feeling of feeling comfortable came back very quickly in Kuching. For a long time, we were once again in a city where we encountered noticeably many Western tourists (compared to Sulawesi, not only more, but also more towards "package tourists"), but this also meant that we generally received less attention on the streets, which is very pleasant.

We took the next few days in Kuching quite leisurely. We are not currently motivated to do much sightseeing and prefer to stroll around, look for delicious food, and live a bit of "everyday life".

Kuching has some really nice areas, and it also offers a lot in terms of food. Not only Mathias enjoyed it very much. After 2 months of mostly eating rice twice a day, it's great to have some variety (but we still love Indonesian food). But what bothered us the most were the opening hours of the food stalls (especially the vegetarian ones), as we usually only have our first meal at noon and most stalls are already closing or have already closed. But we managed.

One day, we visited a market a little further away, which is supposed to be very busy, especially on weekends. There we discovered some fruits that we haven't seen anywhere else in Asia.

Of course, the obligatory work session in a fancy cafe couldn't be missed - after all, we are now - at least a little bit - digital nomads.

So 4 days passed very quickly and it was time to move on, as we wanted to see more of Borneo. But we could definitely stay in Kuching for a while.