![[FLUSH]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_e8fa2jA0i70/RsHT7QwopNI/AAAAAAAAACY/7IMB0ZO_j2g/s1600/Untitled-1.jpg)
After a brief 10 minutes, we finally reached to the other side of the river where the Astana was at. The Astana is the official resident of the head of state. It was a colonial like building which I was told used to be the resident of the Brooke family. Within this area, I could see that this area seem to look like a park. We walk towards the front to be met by an enclose area filled with all types of hibiscus. Purdey mention that this area was given to a fellow Sarawakian, a hibiscus enthusiast who have won numerous awards for his display of the flower. There were so many myriads of hibiscus that displayed a multihue of colour. They were all planted and decorated in various fashion. The entire area was well design and it was one of the best place to take loads of pictures. Besides that, the entrance was free.
My parents decided to go their separate way as they wanted to go across the river and head back to the hotel to pack our stuff before we headed off to Damai Beach for a night. On the other hand, my sisters and I decided not to waste any precious moment and took some of the available time to visit Fort Magharita which was situated along the other end of the Hibiscus Sanctuary. We made two boat trips to get to that place. Things didn't look all that convincing when we saw that we had reached a village. There was no indication at the jetty as to where the fort is. We walk through the village and saw a sign thereafter indicating its location. Our journey to the fort took us pass a primary school and a police base.
I See YOU!!!
It was almost about 10 minutes hike up the hill where the fort was located that we finally manage to reach it. At the entrance, there was a display of old police vehicles ranging from patrol car to jeeps. We made our way further on and finally saw the white building. There seem to be no one in sight but the building. As we entered the building and make our way to the outer courts of the fort, there was a tower that had a mock person standing and an old finder. We decided to take some pictures while gazing out to the Sarawak River.It was a small area to walk around and nothing much interesting to see. I would not recommend visiting this place as it was not worth it if you have limited time unless you are an enthuasiast of old relics.
Time had pass by so very quickly and it was almost time to return back to the hotel to pack our stuff before we leave to Damai Beach at 12.30pm. We made our way back to the Riverfront sitting on the same taxi that we had took earlier. It was surprising to meet the same person everytime we needed a lift back. As time was soon catching up, we quickly dashed across to the other side of the roads to catch up with a last minute craft hunt that we would not be able to do any longer considering we had to go to a different place and not be able to come back to Kuching town. Our short shopping spree ended us getting a few ethnics bracelets.
We made our way back to the hotel to pack and quickly made our way to the lobby as we await the guy who would be picking us up. After settling the necessary checking our procedure and settling some fees, we made our way to the van who was waiting for us. The driver was already waiting on us very much earlier. Our journey to Damai Beach took us around half and hour to an hour as we cross to the other side of town. We passed through many small villages. There was many things that caught our attention along the day. This included an exact replica of MMU Malacca Block B and Hostel building in the vicinity of a local college grounds. There was also the relatively wider and cleaner river that seem similar to Sarawak River in terms of width. Other than that, we were met before our eyes the breathtaking view of Santubong which was explained by our driver as "King of the Wild Boar". Damai Beach would be situated at the foot of Santubong. We reached to Damai Beach and was received by not a very friendly welcome from the reception who should not a hint of a happy face. This was the begining of a bad impression of the place.
The rooms were very much spacious and big that a family of five could fit in well with extra space to move around. However, we encountered some problem when the aircon didn't seem to be working. As time was reaching almost 2pm, we decided to leave the room and inform reception later of our problem when we return. We quickly got ready and make our way to the ever much awaited visit to the Sarawak Cultural Visit. We arrived that at 3pm and were given around an hour and a half to venture the entire area before we made our way to the main hall where a cultural show would take place. At the purchasing ticket counter, we were estatic to find out the priviledges we had as students as we manage to obtain an RM10 entry only for it. It seems like everywhere we went, students were given much priviledge in terms of rebate. My parents who got the normal price ticket of RM45 was given a passport book which had details of the types of houses that we were going to visit and were asked to chop our passport at every houses to keep as souvenier. On the hand, we only had the normal ticket.
We made our way through the park visiting some 7 types of ethnic houses that comprised of Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Penan, B..., Malay and Chinese. I simply marvelled at the architecture of each of the houses which seem to differ from one another. Some were big, some were small, some were on the ground and some were above the ground. In each of the houses, there would be a storyteller who would guide us throught the house. Besides that, there was also a welcoming dance at each of this houses except the Malay and Chinese house. I personally like the gradeur of the big houses which stood above the ground. I personally like the B... house as it was simply huge and majestic. The best part of the house was its open area at the bottom of the house which was built on top supported by huge thic wood. That area had a swing and a spacious sitting area for those who would like to spend their time relaxing and chatting with fellow neighbours. Besides that, the area was so cooling that I wanted to stay there even much more longer.
Absorbing the Rich Culture
Our visit around the whole area was timely as we manage to make our way to the theatre hall much earlier. There were not many tourist around when the show started. Neitherless, we were entertained by the dancers with various ethnic dances and performances that were accompanied by traditional Sarawak musical instrument. I personally was entralled by the sound of the Sapit which was modernly jacked up to a monitor and it sounded simply soothing to hear its melodious rift. The dancers were all drapped in colourful costumes and it each were different in nature. I noticed a particular dancer who simply caught my eye because of her cool nature which seem to exhuberate her beauty. I always known that Sarawak is one of the best places to find very good looking girls and I must say, she was one of those I took notice of. What can I say? The untouched market.
We made our way back after the show as the village was due to close. We all took a bath and rested before dinner time. As we arrived, we managed to lodge our complains to the reception and surprisingly there was a guy who was very accomadating and tried his best to help us, even recommending places which were near to eat. Some of the restaurants provided transport for guest to their restaurant. The technician came later to check on the aircon unit and tried his best to fix but to no avail. Thus, we had to pack and shift to another room.
Arrangement were made for a van to pick us up at around 7.30pm for dinner at the nearby seafood place. We were accompanied by a couple from Australia who were very friendly. The Beach Restaurant was situated beside the sea and boy, was there alot of mossies around. They had to actually burn some husk to wade away these blood suckers. The food came and I would say it was the worst dinner we had so far in Sarawak. What was even worse, the food was not fresh and was most expensive out of the three dinner. Boy, did we feel cheated. Anyway, we return back as quickly as we can and were met by the same Australian. I had a chat with the guy who is a freelancer working offshore in ships doing some engineering business. I was astounded when they told me they were married and had two teenage children, a boy and a girl who were 17 and 19 years old. There simply look far younger for their age and very loving indeed. The lady as I was told by my sister was a hospital reception and I simply enjoyed listening to her talk because of her deep and cool voice that simply sounded like a TV presenter. We exchange stories and the guy was simply trying to find every oppurtunity to speak in Bahasa Indonesia which he had a little knowledge of. A very humerous, friendly and loving couple they were. Most of the guest at the hotel were mostly foreigners who seed to find solace in our country due to the impending winter of their motherland such as Australia. Reminds me alot about bird migration.
As time was still early, we decided to walk around the beach to see the area and also to burn some of those food which we did not want to stay in our stomachs for long. There was nothing much to do at the resort but mainly to rest and relax. This is something that we could not afford to waste our time on as we wanted to visit places or even do a little shopping. It seems like Kuching town was a much suitable place and staying in Damai would not be a choice unless you have all the time in the world. There were not much activity around. We were quite astounded when we were told that we had to pay RM5 to use the Internet for half and hour as my sisters and I were approached by the receptionist in the room where we were. Everything in hotel seem to cost a certain fee. Even extending our stay for a few hours so that we could leave in time for the airport to catch our flight the next day. This were all not present when we were in Kuching though both of them were under Holiday Inn. The people were not very friendly and helpful. This had caused my mum much agitated by their servive and decided to voice it out to the name who was helpful to us earlier. He had also received much complains besides my mum regarding the attitude of the staff there and ask my mum to state her sincere comments of the hotel as he would be promoted to front desk management and needed feedbacks from the guest about their service.
It was not a good stay at Damai overall. We decided to turn off the lights early today and hope for the best the following day.
No comments:
Post a Comment