August 27,

Up and about, we had our Javas and breakfast with the last of our butterscotch bread with PB & Nutella, and yogurt. By 0930 we loaded up into our car and headed out. We went to the Sarawak Museum. The original museum, now empty, was built in 1891 by Charles Brooke. Interesting side: Charles Brooke was called the White Rajah of Sarawak. More on him later…

The museum is now called Borneo Cultures Museum (BCM) and is housed in a modern built structure across the street. This building’s exterior is decorated in high arches and columns and is five stories inside. Upon entering the first level – lobby, the entrance fee was a bit steep for a foreigner. It was 50 RM for me, Jeff – getting a senior 😆 discount – was 25 RM. Totalling 75 RM, which came to $17.74. Jeff’s senior discount helped though. The Temporary Exhibition Gallery was empty, so we went up to level two.

This level was the Children’s Gallery and the Arts & Crafts Hall. The Arts & Crafts Hall was closed for restoration. So we went through the Children’s Gallery. It started with a short video film that set up an adventure. The theme was ‘Love Our Rivers,’ learning about the Sarawak river system and how to keep it clean. Even as “grown kids,” we had fun and it was a very interactive experience. We moved up to the next level, since the Art & Crafts Gallery was closed.

On level three, thankfully it was all open! (I was starting to wonder.) This level was ‘In Harmony With Nature’ and we were taken through stories of people who live in the Coastal, Rainforest and Highland Regions of Sarawak. We saw or listened to locals telling of their livelihoods, beliefs, or past traditions in their region. There were also displays of animals/birds, pottery, and artifacts of living tools, baskets, etc… even a house on stilts and ‘lengguai.’ Lengguai are hollowed out tree trunks that store the deceased’s possessions (and maybe the dead person?) during the month-long mourning period.

We went up to level four, ‘Time Changes’. This Gallery incorporated the whole floor also – starting in Cave Discoveries. One item of note that was found was the skeletal skull of a woman from 35,000 years ago (I think). The next three sections were Borneo and Empires, the Making of Sarawak and Sarawak in Motion. These went into the political, governing and rulers of the Sarawak region. And this is where Charles Brooke comes in – in the making of modern Sarawak. He, Charles Anthoni Johnson, was British, born in 1829. Simplified from Wikipedia… he came to Sarawak, in service to help his uncle, James Brooke, who was the first White Rajah of Sarawak. Charles took his uncle’s name, Brooke, and succeeded James in 1868. Charles was instrumental in expanding the borders of Sarawak; continued in suppressing piracy, slavery, and headhunting, as his uncle started; and encouraged trading & development. By the time of his death, in 1917, his son Charles Vyner Brooke took over as the third and last Rajah, but Britain had established a protectorate over Sarawak at this same time. Anyway, Charles really helped establish/set up Sarawak. It was fascinating.

Next we went up to level five and the ‘Objects of Desire,’ which showcased the “beauty of artefacts… the best examples of material culture from collections of Sarawak.” There were many nice pieces in four different exhibit rooms. Ones that stand out: a an engraved Barking Deer Horn; a Sape, which is a four string, lute-like instrument and it’s carved from a single piece of wood; two Bali Jawa, which are statues made for a mock fight known as Jawa, to dispel aggressive feelings for a Baram Peacemaking Ceremony in 1899- according to a placard; and a Beaded Bridal Attire dress, many hours of work would have been involved for this masterpiece. There were so many other pieces, of course – lots of vases.

With that we left the Museum and walked the grounds a little bit. We then loaded up and went to lunch at Duckies, specializing in Pak Lo – braised duck; also Taiwan drunken Chicken since 1999. We had one Pak Lo Duck, Taiwan Veggies, and Pak Lo Noodles. We were also served two small complimentary Duck Broth Soups. The waitress talked us into a Peanut Mochi, which is a mochi skin (gooey dough?) wrapped around a mass of roasted fine chopped peanuts. It was all very good. We may be changing our minds on some Malay foods. We paid 47.40 RM, or $11.21.

We finished and went to an Alpro Clinic to get our second Dengue vaccine shot. These were expensive- 200 RM, or $47.43 each! Wowza, but it will help protect us from those pesky mosquitoes! Now we went to the Kuching esplanade and walked it a bit, even on the pedestrian bridge over the Kuching River. It was warm, but we had good feelings walking around here, and decided to come back around sunset and get a night view of the area.

We walked back to the Kuching waterfront right before sunset. It has a very nice esplanade/walkway along the river. There are some historic buildings along here lit up at night. The pedestrian bridge across the river here has a very nice ‘swirl’ design lit up very well. A very pleasant atmosphere after the sun fades and the temp drops down a little. We got a Grab ride back to our place.

For supper we just had a bit of cheese and crackers with a red wine. Great day!