City of cats

This evening we arrived in Borneo hot, tired and grumpy after six days of intense urban living in KL. As we stepped out of the Kuching airport terminal, a thunderclap had us scurrying to the waiting vehicle. "You brought it with you!" joked Bernard, our host from Destination Asia, as he expertly guided the minivan through rush-hour traffic, puddles the size of Wellington Harbour and the vertical ocean that is rain at the equator.

An hour later the rain had stopped and we were ready to venture out into the capital of Sarawak. This state of Malaysia is different from peninsula (west) Malaysia, but also different from the east Bornean state of Sabah. When we entered Malaysia in KL, we were stamped into "west Malaysia and Sabah". At Kuching airport we lined up at Immigration a second time and received a separate stamp for Sarawak. There seems to be a certain amount of independence here.

As we stroll along the waterfront road in Kuching city, Sarawak state flags appear at least as often as the Malaysian national flag. Souvenir shops abound, crowded with shirts and keyrings speaking of "Borneo", not "Malaysia". The vibe is different too - buskers along the riverside walkway play Bornean reggae on guitar and drums; hawkers sell all kinds of snack food; people make eye contact and smile. Walking by the river, we relax properly for the first time since leaving Wellington. The night is warm and a few stars are showing. Unlike KL, this city has an outdoors.

We stop for dinner at a bistro named for one of the first "White Rajahs" of Sarawak. It's open on three sides with a small garden sloping to the river. Cats stroll in and out as we eat - Kuching means "cat city" and I assume people feed these local icons. Dessert is cake and dragonfruit, a surprisingly tasteless, soft, melon-like fruit with brilliant red flesh. We amble back to our hotel via the souvenir shops, sellers of party pills dozing quietly at their stalls every dozen yards. We have no need of their wares to get happy - Kuching has done that for us already.