Permai Rainforest Resort, Sarawak

  From the Sheraton Kuching, we moved to the Permai Rainforest Resort.

This is on the Santubong peninsula, near the Damai Resort. It opened in 1991 and I stayed there in 1994, before the tree houses were built. This time we stayed in a tree house. There are 10. The first was constructed using steel props and legs and is painted blue, the rest are all on a wooden framework and have decorative 'bark' covered walls. They are quite sturdy and quite luxurious, with aircon, fully tiled bathroom with scalding hot water, tea and coffee making facilities, fridge, and a balcony looking down onto the sea.

fully tiled bathroom

Day visitors are welcome

There are 2 small beaches, one is sandy, the other very rocky.

stream on beach

not much water
There is also a small pool which although is manmade is fed by cold river water. The sea was warmer than the pool.

The water is cold but I did go in

clear streams

forest 'apples'

Board walk
Sarawak laksa breakfast -

Lots of prawns
The open air cafe is visited by squirrels - some largish brown ones and the Black Giant Squirrel, which is one of the world's largest arboreal rodents weighing up to 1.5 kg or more.

There were also some monkeys although I didn't see those close up.

Large skinks

toilet sign

No nudity!

For other activities there is an obstacle course, bridge building, a high ropes course with canopy walk, and a flying fox, as well as canoeing.

swinging plank

'seesaw'

cross the posts

spider's web

rst in first out

up & down

high bars

climbing wall

lined up to be shot

over the electric fence

concentration

good jump

bridge building

crossing the bridge

high ropes course

canopy walk

flying fox

strange glow
Surau -

sandy beach

niceeeeeeeee

new resort

paradise

Santubong
Views of Santubong from the road

On the way back Kuching we went around the roundabout with the longest name, Bulatan Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah Bin Datuk Bandar Abang Haji Mohammad Kassim. I think this may be a world record.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Kampung Buntal seafood, bamboo clams

Kampung Buntal is famous for its seafood restaurants. It is located on the Santubong peninsula, outside Kuching in Sarawak. The same day that we visited, a freak mid-day thunderstorm wreaked havoc in Kampung Buntal, uprooting trees and sending zinc roofing sheets flying hundreds of metres away.

We went to Lim Hock Ann Seafood.

As we had had large crabs and prawns the previous night, this time we had a change.

http://cavingliz-noncave.blogspot.com/2010/11/permai-rainforest-resort-sarawak.html

crayfish

large fish head

this head weighs 4 kg
We chose bamboo clams, crayfish and an oyster pancake, as well as some other dishes.

Bamboo clams are bivalves, similiar to the European razor clam. They have long tubular shells, 3-15 cm long and the animal can stretch itself out of the shell to feed. They are filter feeders, filtering the mud and sand for nutrients. They are found all over Southeast Asia, and I've watched men pulling them out of the mudflats at Tanjong Tuan, near Port Dickson.

In the Kuching area, they live in the mudflats of the Sarawak River, which is supposedly quite clean and free from industry pollutants. In Sarawak the local Malay name is ambal, also known as sea needle and even monyet punya! I read a good description of the dish "Imagine a bowl full of fat, glistening, juicy white worms scattered amongst a heap of rusted razor blades. When steamed the tubular molluscs expand in their bamboo-like shells (hence the name bamboo clam) and burst them, leaving their bloated little bodies arrayed amongst a bed of shell slivers and fragments". People say they have a very delicate flavour, depending on how they are cooked, but I didn't find them especially exciting. Ours were served without the shells.

veggie

oyster pancake

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Kuching

We spent the first 2 days of our Kuching trip at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Kuching's latest four star hotel, opened January 2009 and located near the airport. From the outside it looked like a large boring rectangular block, but the inside was surprisingly impressive.

During our stay we noticed that everything in the hotel was rectangular, except for the large circular lights in the foyer.

The bathroom fittings were rectangular, with narrow taps and shower heads and the same rectangular theme continued throughout the public areas.

The swimming pool was probably the longest I've seen in a hotel, but unfortunately monsoon rain didn't give me very long in the pool. The bedroom had a personal welcoming message on the TV screen which remained throughout our stay.

The featherdown pillows were great.

A very nice hotel.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

seafood dinner in Kuching

Last evening had some of the biggest and best crab I've ever had in Malaysia. Yummy!!!! We also had some giant prawns, tender young ferns which are typical to Sarawak, and a plate of veg and mushrooms. This was at Bukit Mata seafood, at One Jaya, Taman Sahabat. And it was a lot cheaper than in KL - many thanks to our host, Amy.

large prawns

the cooked prawns

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

veg & fungus

kedongdong

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Monsoon 2010

The 2010 northeast monsoon started the last week of Oct. There were some impressive rain clouds sweeping past my balcony.

1st Nov and I'm in Kuching and the clouds are here as well!

See northeast monsoon for more info.

Raining in KL