I touched down at Kuching International Airport around 4pm on Wednesday, May 15.
In this post I’ll share some photos and information from my first day-or-so on the island of Borneo.
It is written in chronological order, from touchdown at the airport to submitting ‘publish’ on this very post the next evening.
By the end of this piece you will know:
*How much the basic necessities cost in Kuching.
*How to avoid the major mistake I seem to have made.
*Why I’m already so happy that I decided to visit this place.
UPDATE 17-May-2019
See a video tour of the apartment here.
Why fly to Kuching?
I read very positive reviews of Kuching from two different bloggers: Chris from Bloody Tourist and James from Location Independent.
It was suggested that Kuching could be ‘the next Chiang Mai’, and CM is of course the Mecca for digital nomads.
The major selling points of Kuching, according to the two bloggers in question, include:
*Ease of arrival. Malaysia is one of the most welcoming countries in SEA as far as visas (and visa waivers) are concerned.
*Cost. Everything is supposed to be even cheaper in Kuching than the already-cheap capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.
*Peacefulness. Kuching has built up a reputation as a ‘chilled’ city. More on this later.
For me personally, I also liked the idea of going to Borneo. It sounds cool.
When I hear the name Borneo, I think of ‘The Wild Man of Borneo’. Having just googled that term, apparently it was ‘men’, not ‘man’ i.e. ‘The Wild Men of Borneo’. Well, how would I know that? I don’t know who the man (or men) from Borneo are or were. I don’t even know the context behind the phrase.
Seriously, prior to reading the two blogs linked above, that is just about all I knew about Borneo: the phrase ‘wild man from…’, and that there are meant to orangutans here.
Australians (and most people who are likely to read this post) get three months upon arrival in Malaysia, no questions asked. I arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Thailand in late March, which means that I have to leave the country towards the end of June. Having already spent well over a month in KL, I figured it was worth checking out another part of Malaysia before moving on to the next country.
So I’m here in Kuching for four weeks exactly, and then I will go back to KL in order to board my next flight, probably to Vietnam — but who knows (and, for now, who cares?).
This post is about Kuching, the major Malaysian city on the western side of the island of Borneo.
Flights from KL to Kuching
I picked up my AirAsia return ticket (KL -> Kuching -> KL), including 20 kg checked luggage, a week before departure, for AUD $120 ($85 USD) total. Without the checked-in luggage it would have been about AUD $100 (USD $70) return.
Getting from KL Sentral to Kuala Lumpur Intl Airport is easy and cheap: the skybus runs every 30 minutes, takes just over an hour, and will cost you 12 RM (AUD $4 | USD $3). An absolute bargain.
You can also catch a train, but the ticket is about five times more expensive than the bus, and only saves half an hour.
You’ll need your passport to fly from KL to Kuching, even though it is technically a domestic flight. Don’t ask me why. They are on different landmasses, though, so I figure that has something to do with it.
Immigration at Kuching Airport is just like KL: the officers are friendly, and let you through quickly. Nothing like Phuket Intl Airport, but I digress…
Grab from Kuching Airport to Kuching proper
A grab ride from Kuching Airport into the middle of town will cost you 12 ringgit (AUD $4 | USD $3).
In my case, the driver was waiting there already; he would have been able to see me while I was booking him through the app.
Grab (a platform very similar to Uber in other countries) is outrageously cheap in Malaysia. One of the best things about this country. Short distance Grab trips are practically free, in comparison to what you would expect to pay Uber (let alone taxis) in places like Australia.
It takes about fifteen or twenty minutes to get from the airport to the built-up area of Kuching. My driver was a warm and welcoming fellow, we had a pleasant chat, his English was perfect.
Accommodation
I found a place on Air-BNB prior to arriving here. It is a two-bedroom apartment on the eighth floor of a relatively-new apartment complex in an area known as City Squares.
The original asking price for four weeks was close to AUD $800 (USD $550) but I sent the host a private message and offered something more within my intended budget. He replied in the affirmative just two minutes later, and the final cost (including Air-BNB service charge) came out to AUD $630 (USD $440) for the four weeks.
The super-quick reply time from the host indicates that I ought to have offered less than I did, or ‘haggled hard’, just as recommended by James of Location Independent.
In retrospect, I reckon I could have gotten this place for much less than I paid, given what I have since learned about Kuching in general, and this part of town in particular. Next time, if I decide to take up residence at the same place, I will offer closer to AUD $500 total (USD $350), and probably still reach a deal with the host.
I’m still relatively new to the DN game, still learning the ropes. This is my first ever booking through Air-BNB.
I’ll come back and post photos and a video of my place soon. It’s as advertised, but a much longer walk from the main riverfront area than expected. Especially in the Kuching heat. But I’m close to shops, eateries, and most importantly, a short walk from the cowork space and gym which led me to want to be in this part of town in the first place. More on that soon.
Food
After arriving at my apartment, unlocking the door with the passcode I was sent by thr host, and checking that everything worked, my first move was naturally to go for a walk and learn about my new surroundings. I sat down at the first eatery I found; I hadn’t eaten all day.
The lady who runs that particular establishment, I quickly realised, can’t speak a word of English. Fortunately I know a few words in Chinese, and ordered some suan-la-tang.
Well, my pronunciantion must be more rusty than I had imagined, because what arrived a few minutes later was no hot and sour soup, but sweet and sour pork with rice. Perhaps I pointed at the wrong thing on the board, but then why did she repeat ‘suan la tang’ back to me?
Perhaps she was humoring me.
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by the food.
For that price I was getting a full plate of a variety of food in KL, so I have kinda been spoiled, I guess.
Then again, for 10 RM (AUD $3.50 | USD $2.50), you can’t really complain, can you?
The drink is advertised as ‘wheat grass drink’. It tasted delicious, no doubt due to the copious sugar which would have been added. Malaysians are fiends for sugar. If you don’t keep an eye on them, they’ll even try to add sugar to your water.
The pork was nice, but I suspect the sauce was store-bought. Again, though, for the price, can you complain?
JLB, if the board was also in English, why did you try to order in your rusty Chinese?
Good question. I tried English at first, but the lovely lady couldn’t understand at thing I was saying.
I ended up with tang cu zhu rou, which is indeed sweet and sour pork. Item 11 on that menu.
100% my own error, and a reminder to me that I need to brush up on my Chinese.
I was soon to learn that Kuching — especially the part of town where I’m staying — is much more Chinese than KL.
Which is a good thing for me. Evidently I need to practice my Chinese.
The coworking space
On my first walk I made sure to stop by iCube, the coworking space which I had read good things about, and which played a large role in my decision to take an apartment in this part of town.
No photos for now, but it seemed like a nice place. The guy who runs the space was happy and helpful and gave me a nice tour.
It was far more empty than I was expecting. But I did meet two fellow Westerners there: one British, one Kiwi, both guys appeared to be in their thirties.
I plan to return to iCube with laptop in hand soon. Their day-rate is 10 RM (AUD $3.50 | USD $2.50) for a hotdesk, so I’ll try before I commit to their month-long plan.
A month of hotdesk access is RM 120 (AUD $40 | USD $30), a month of dedicated desk space is RM 220 (AUD $75 | USD $50).
With either plan you get access to the kitchen area with (instant) coffee.
On this particular occasion, however, I was simply there to check it out.
So I bid my new buddies farewell and continued the long walk toward the city.
Some random amusement
Check out the following convenience store, which I saw along the way:
I was so enthralled that I took a second photo.
Given what I do to earn my money, I couldn’t help but find this store a little amusing.
Forgive me.
Rest and Relaxation
I continued walking West toward the city centre. It takes a lot longer to walk from my part of town to the main riverfront area than I had expected.
Once again, 100% my own fault. I often underestimate how long it will take to walk distances, especially when trying to judge by google maps.
About the middle of the distance between my apartment in City Squares, and the main riverfront area, I found a place advertising one-hour foot massages for 15 RM (AUD $5 | USD $3.50). I felt like I’d earned it, and I was also curious to see just what kind of massage a person can expect for such a low price.
I took the photo above after the massage, which is why it appears to have been taken at night — because it was.
Once inside I realised that the full body massage for 25 RM (AUD $9 | USD $6) was even more impressive than the foot massage, so that’s what I asked for.
The lady behind the counter made a phone call, told me to wait on the couch, and five minutes later, another lady entered the establishment and was pointed toward me.
The massage was excellent; the massuese hit some sore spots and left me feeling terrific.
No funny business, just a proper, full-body massage, from a lovely ethnic Chinese lady who speaks practically no English.
It was strange to me that there was no background music in the venue, but the place was empty at the time, and threfore very quiet, so no problem.
I’ll be going there again, make no mistake about that. What a bargain!
The city centre
Eventually I made it to the main riverfront area, where I walked around for a long time, but took no pictures. I will come back and post photos and videos later.
Kuching is a beautiful city, especially at night. Here are some photos taken by other people:
I walked down streets like the one above.
While crossing this bridge I was ‘toing and froing’ about whether or not to drink some alcohol that night.
I had checked out a few bars and found, to both my delight and my horror, that cocktails tend to go for 15 RM to 20 RM (AUD $5-$7 | USD $3.50-$5).
Oh no. On my 16th day sober, and first night in a beautiful city, all alone…
The entire walk across that bridge, I had two voices in my head. They sounded like this:
‘Go on, you like to meet new people, and it’s $5 cocktails here bro, enjoy yourself’
‘You can’t drink tonight you retard so shut up’
That’s how my brain talks to itself sometimes.
I managed to get through the entire evening sober, which I am only partly embarrassed to admit is something of an achievement for me.
But I wouldn’t blame anybody for having a few quiet drinks along the river. The riverfront area is so much prettier and more peaceful than I had expected.
You can’t walk around here without feeling some sense of ease and tranquility. Difficult to describe.
More food
I did treat myself to a Pizza Hut personal size pizza. I’m not proud of eating fast food, especially Pizza Hut, but for 5 RM (AUD $1.70 | USD $1.20) it is amazing value.
Sadly I didn’t take a photo, but I’m sure I’ll be eating more of these pizzas in the future, so I can come back and update later.
A personal pizza, I should add, is small, only four slices, more of a snack than a meal. But lots of toppings, absolutely delicious.
Judge me, I deserve it.
More Grab
I walked half of the way home, listening to some music and taking in my surroundings, trying to memorise where different cafes and restaurants are located along the way.
Eventually I realised that my pizza would be cold by the time I got home if I didn’t hurry up the process.
Two minutes later I was in a Grab which cost me 5 RM (AUD $1.70 | USD $1.20) to get home. Amazing stuff.
More food
Okay, I was hungry. I got home, ate my pizza, and decided to go and get more food.
Remember that all I had eaten for the entire day was a small helping of sweet and sour pork and a small pizza.
Near my apartment is a small eatery. Soon I was enjoying this:
The guy in charge of the establishment was lovely, he recommended the meal pictured above, and I took him up on the suggestion.
A leg of chicken, a bowl’s worth of rice, some kind of chilli sauce, some lettuce and tomato, and a small bowl of soup.
Only 5.50 RM (AUD $1.90 | USD $2.30).
This fellow has a new best customer for the next month. I can walk there in literally two minutes from my apartment, and they appear to be open late.
Some supplies
There’s a convenience store near me (sadly not a 9/11) and after dinner I purchased some basic necessities: a bottle of water, a new toothbrush, and some sugary treats.
Again, judge me, I deserve it.
It cost 10 RM (AUD $3.50 | USD $2.50) for everything I needed.
The next day
I awoke without a hangover. Thank you, sensible part of my brain.
Now it was time to get down to serious business. I had to go and find the gym which had also played a large role in my decision about where to base myself.
Affordable gym
I’ve only been doing the DN thing for three months but I have already learned an important lesson: be near a gym. An affordable one.
Back home I had a solid routine going at the local park: pushups, pullups, plenty of hillsprints, and some stretching in the sun.
There are plenty of parks with pullup bars in the cities of Australia. Thailand and Malaysia, from what I’ve seen, do not seem to be so blessed.
I prefer outdoor parks and bodyweight work to indoor gyms, but I prefer indoor gyms to nothing. So I made sure there was a decent gym in this part of town before I booked the Air-BNB.
On google I found a place called ‘Level Up Fitness’ which seems to have a couple of good reviews and looked nice.
Today I went to have a look in person. It turned out to be a little bit more expensive than I had expected: 150 RM (AUD $50 | USD $35) for one month.
Compared to everything else in this city, that fee struck me as a little pricey, but I can afford it — and, again, I’ve already learned my lesson.
If my exercise routine goes out the door, so does everything else. So I ponied up the cash and got myself a shiny new 24/7 Membership card.
They also took copies of my thumbprints — both thumbs — for 24-hour access. It is more difficult to get into this gym than it is to get into Malaysia.
Level Up Fitness is not a fully-kitted weightlifters gym, I don’t expect to see too many swole bros here, but they do have one free-weight squat-rack (on the right-hand side of the image below) and heaps of free-weights. They also have one free-weight bench-press.
In Australia, back when I went to 24-hour gyms (many years ago), it was common for them to eschew free-weight squat-racks and free-weight benches, apparently for insurance purposes. It makes sense that when staff aren’t there, they don’t want n00bs potentially overdoing it and killing themselves with an overweight bench bar crushing their neck or something.
So I was glad to see that Level Up have got some decent equipment — even if it only one rack and one bench.
They also provide full shower facilities. For one month, 150 RM is definitely worth it.
I’ve only had one workout there so I can’t comment on how busy they are at peak times, but around midday the place was practically empty, just the way I like it.
The girl behind the desk, who I would later learn is the manager of the gym, speaks excellent English.
She’s also an absolute qt 3.14 (which is true of a lot of the girls in Kuching).
After my first proper workout in what felt like ages (some of my lifts were truly embarrassing) it was time to head home to get the computer and begin doing some work.
Cheap clothes
On the way home from the gym I saw a clothes store and, in desperate need of some new shorts, decided to have a look around.
I picked up two new pairs of shorts, which may or may not be pre-owned (I honestly don’t know) for 12 RM (AUD $4 | USD $3) total. I might post photos later.
The fellow who owned the shop was a true gentleman. He couldn’t speak much English but his sons, who are apparently learning the ropes at the old man’s shop, could speak English pretty well, and the older boy took care of the transaction.
Never failing a chance to practice my own Chinese, I explained to the gentleman and his sons that I happen to think Kuching is a beautiful city, and I like it very much, and I’m here for four weeks.
Well now, all of a sudden, I had me some new friends.
You see, I asked them where I could find an umbrella, which I need as much to keep the sun off me as I do for the inevitable tropical rain. After realising that they had sold out, they sent me to a store nearby. More on these friendly fellows soon…
Cheap alcohol
The store they sent me to was just a few doors down (and this is all within a few hundred metres of my apartment). It is a decent-sized grocery, with more lines and lower prices than the convenience stores which litter the city. My eyes were immediately drawn to the liquor section…
One of the complaints about KL is that alcohol is too expensive, especially when compared with cities in Thailand, Vietnam, and so on.
Well, just as the aforementioned bloggers had explained, alcohol is significantly cheaper in Borneo than it is KL.
Those ‘Master Code’ whiskey bottles are 25 RM (AUD $9 | USD $6) for 750 ml (a fifth).
And those aren’t even the cheapest bottles on offer.
God damn it, I could get a very nice buzz going for three Aussie dollars.
Kuching peeps are friendly AF
I was inspecting the alcohol options (purely for research purposes) when the older boy from the clothes store came in to check on me. He wanted to make sure that I had found the umbrella section. Soon he realised that this store was also out of umbrellas.
‘Follow me’, he said.
Next thing I know, his father (the guy who runs the cheap clothes store) was handing me the exact kind of umbrella I was looking for, which he had collected from his own car. I could tell from his smile and body language that he meant it as a gift.
‘I’ll give you some money for this’
‘No, you take it’ (mostly in body language)
‘Okay, in four weeks I bring back’
‘No need, you keep’
Man, what a friendly bunch of people. And this particular experience is not atypical.
Everywhere I go, there are people smiling at me, giving me thumbs up, asking me, ‘bro, where you going?’, as though they want me to sit down and have a chat with them.
If I’d been drinking, this is exactly what I would do, too. Sit down with random people and chat. All night.
At the entrance to my apartment, I met some of my neighbours on the first night. All of them were smiling what seemed to me to be genuine smiles. They apparently sit there of an evening and hang out.
Are these guys being more friendly to me because I can speak some of their language? Perhaps. But as the only white guy I have seen (except for the two Western dudes at iCube) in this part of town, perhaps I am a novelty.
Or maybe these people are just friendly people, which is my current suspicion.
Cheap supplies
After thanking my new friends for the free umbrella, I returned to the grocery to get some cheap water. I don’t know if the tap water in my apartment is drinkable, but I’m happy to pay for the bottles. 12 x 1.5l (i.e. 12 x 0.4 gal) cost 18 RM (AUD $6 | USD $4.30).
Fantastic value.
Food time
After returning home and stocking the fridge with water, it was time to get some food. I hadn’t eaten all day (I like to intermittently fast from time to time) and it was now 2pm.
My plan was to head to a cafe I had seen near the gym, and I knew there were plenty of eateries in that area as well. So that is where I walked.
While inspecting the different food options in the complex, a vendor said ‘hello’ and showed me his menu. That was enough for me, so I sat down at a table.
I asked the man for his recommendation and within about ten minutes, I was enjoying this:
I forgot to record the name of the dish, but it is basically a combination of those square noodle things which are popular in this part of Asia, some green bean-like vegetables, chicken, and a few other things, with a fried egg on top.
Total cost: 8.50 RM (AUD $3 | USD $2).
Lol.
Probably not enough vegetables to be the staple of a diet, but certainly a filling meal.
They do try to get you in other ways, though. For instance, you have to pay for your own napkins at the napkin dispenser (wtf?).
But seriously, AUD $3 for this kind of meal is exactly what I came to SEA for in the first place.
I tidied myself up with the tissues I keep in my laptop bag and made my way to the nearby cafe, ready to sit down and — among other things — write the post you’re reading right now.
Cheap coffee
I’m not proud to admit that I’ve fallen into the bad habit of drinking frappes (also sometimes known as ‘chilled coffee’ in this part of the world).
Tease Cafe is exactly what I’m looking for in a place to work:
*Plentiful bench-style seats (so I can sit cross-legged)…
*…with padding (so my bum doesn’t go numb).
*Movable tables (so I don’t have to ruin my body, trying to type on a computer sitting too far away).
*Electricity outlets (and in this cafe, there’s outlets everywhere).
*Fast and reliable internet.
*Toilet facilities.
*Cool decor.
Holy shit, we found it!
I spent five weeks in KL Sentral and came across nothing as good as this. Nothing even nearly this good.
Within 24 hours of touching down in Kuching, I had found the holy grail of DN cafes.
Oh yeah, and the coffee is good and cheap.
Americanos (which is what I’m supposed to be drinking) are 9 RM (AUD $3 | USD $2); the frappes (which I am not supposed to be drinking) are 14.50 RM (AUD $5 | USD $3.50).
I’ve been sitting here for hours now. During the afternoon the place was dead: there were three employees sitting around doing absolutely nothing other than staring into their phones. I wondered how these guys were still in business.
About 8pm the cafe came to life, and even as I type these words at 10.30pm, there’s close to thirty other people here, mostly in large groups of young adults, chatting away and having fun. There were even more people here an hour ago. It turns out that this place does get the patronage it deserves after all.
The music is nice, the vibe is chilled, I think I’ve found my home for the next four weeks.
And here’s the best part…
iCom Square
The cafe sits in the middle of a retail development which is also home to Level Up Fitness, and that eatery where I got the 8.50 RM chicken meal, and the iCube cowork space. They’re all within two minutes walk of each other!
In the image above, Tease Cafe is on the base level, and the light in the upper right hand corner is from Level Up Fitness. In fact, it was the awesome views from up there in the gym which got me over the line: when I saw what a beautiful river view they have from that gym, one of the little voices in my head said, ‘just hand over the 150, bro’.
And that is, of course, exactly what I did.
Once I know more about this ‘icom square’ development, I will put together a piece dedicated to it.
From what I have gathered so far, this is a purpose-designed, multi-complex, retail development.
Parts of it are still under construction, many of the shop fronts are available to rent.
In the image above, one the left-hand side is the building in which iCube cowork space is located. If you could pan 90 degrees to the left, you would see the complex with the eateries I mentioned earlier, including the place where I bought the 8.50 RM chicken dish. In the upper-right is Level Up Fitness, middle-right is Tease Cafe.
In other words, even though the walk from my apartment to the city centre is much longer than I realised, I picked the right spot to base myself for the four weeks I’m here. My apartment is within 15 minutes walk to:
*An affordable cowork space (10 RM per day).
*An awesome cafe (with literally everything I need and want).
*A gym with all the equipment I require.
*Cheap and yummy eateries.
Yeah boi.
And if it ever rains when I need to get to iCom Square (or return home), a Grab ride is going to cost me 5 RM (AUD $1.70 | USD $1.20), tops.
I’m pretty happy right now, and its not just because I got through another day without touching that delicious bourbon, brownest of the brown liquors…
Summary of costs
Accommodation: AUD $630 (USD $430) for four weeks, two-bedroom apartment, via Air-BNB.
-> You could definitely get something for even less. ‘Haggle hard’.
Meals: 6-15 RM (AUD $2-5 | USD $1.50-3.50).
Gym: 150 RM (AUD $50 | USD $35) for one month, 24/7 access, medium-quality gym.
Cowork space: 10 RM (AUD $3.50 | USD $2.50) daypass for hotdesk.
Coffee: 9-15 RM (AUD $3-5 | USD $2-3.50).
Basics (e.g. bottles of water): Cheap AF.
Transport (Grab, like Uber): Cheap AF.
Cocktails at small bars: 15-30 RM (AUD $5-10 | USD $3.5-7).
Beers at small bars: 50-90 RM (AUD $17-30 | USD $12-20) for a bucket (six bottles).
Bottles of cheap whiskey from convenience stores: 25 RM (AUD $9 | USD $6) for 750 ml (a fifth).
One hour massage: 15 RM (AUD $5 | USD $3.50) for foot, 25 RM (AUD $9 | USD $6) for full body.
My big mistake
Not haggling harder for my accommodation. Lesson learned.
Why I love Kuching already
Read this post again 🙂
Thanks
To James of Location Independent and Chris of Bloody Tourist. Without the posts written by you guys, I wouldn’t be in Kuching right now.
And of course to all of the people who support what I’m doing with my life at the moment. You know who you are, and I hope you know how much I appreciate your well-wishes and encouragement. It is phenomenal to read some of the emails and comments lately.
Contact Me
Whoever you are, whenever you read this post, if you have any questions or want to correspond for whatever reason, feel free to contact me.
johnlebon123 — at — g mail
Published 16-May-2019. 5,000 words.