Malaysia: July 6th - Kuching

Breakfast has progressively been getting better in each hotel, and the fruit selection at the Holiday Inn was very good. It was then off in a taxi to see fruit and veg, fish, meat and other food being sold at the huge Sunday market. Of course, I had no intention of buying anything, but it was nice to wander around a bit to get a bit of the local colour.

Headed back to the waterfront area at around lunchtime, and seeing as many places were closed on a Sunday, opted for an afternoon trip out to the Sarawak Cultural Village in Santunbong. Clearly designed for tourists, but nevertheless tastefully done, the village has examples of traditional dwellings of some of the different tribes present in Sarawak as well as traditional Malay and Chinese houses. There are seven sites to visit in all and each dwelling is staffed by representatives of the appropriate tribes. It's a great opportunity to find out quite a bit about the peoples of Sarawak that would be hard to experience by yourself otherwise. In addition, if you're there at the right time of day, you can see an hour-long show of dances of the different tribes.

On returning to the city in early evening I took a bit of time to freshen up before going out to enjoy the sunset over the river and then heading of to the Top Spot Food Court, with its many stalls offering a huge selection of fresh seafood. I opted for some garlic fried prawns and steamed red snapper with ginger, and ended up with portions that would feed a family of six. Still it was absolutely delicious.