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Welcome people, welcome to the land of hornbills.

If you are planning a trip to Kuching, here are a few things to expect.

Politeness: People of Sarawak always greet their visitors with an open heart, which often make people taken aback by our genuine warm hospitality. But we don't blame anyone as the world nowadays are full of selfish people.

Tolerance: We tolerate ignorance very well, as we are used to them. First time visitors normally expect Kuching to be some dark undiscovered remote primitive world. We don't ask much from visitors but here are a few tips and information when visiting us as I found that many visitors to Sarawak are either naive, stupid, ignorant or just plain don't care. And what ever it is, here are a few facts that you nincompoops visitors to Sarawak need to get straight

• Pesta Keamatan is in Sabah for goodness sake, we in Sarawak celebrate Gawai festival.
• Kuching is in Sarawak, not Sabah. Miri is in not another state and we are not related to Brunei and yes we are part of Malaysia and not any foreign country. Get your facts right or even better, buy a map!
  
• Air plane is one of our main mode of transportation, so don't come and tell us that you come from far especially those from kampungs in Kuala Lumpur. We take plane like we take bus you know.
  
• We city folks like to keep our place clean, please just the dustbin and do not litter indiscriminately.
  
• We are multi lingual, beside bahasa melayu, chinese and half a dozen other local dialect, we can speak and understand english well, so don't try any funny kiddy languages with us.
• Some other quirky but real life questions can be found here <click>

Unique Food: Local food are normally available in the morning and through out lunch although do expect majority of stalls to be closed after 2pm as they are normally sold out by then. Some stalls reopen in the evening or even start in the evening but not to worry as food are available through out the day especially the numerous fastfood chain. However, the food on the must try list are Sarawak Laksa, Kueh Chap, Butter Kaya Toast, Kolo Mee Noodles, Char Kueh, Prawns Cucur to name a few. They go well with local drinks, thats if you can order them correctly with my guide! :)

Bargain Shopping: For shoppers, Kuching is a shopper's paradise but please bargain at a reasonable price. The old age advice written in guide books and given by tour guides are obsolete can be an insult to the traders and your own pride if you try to bargain at a ridiculous 50% discount from the original price. Traders are in business to make profit and not to do charity works. Besides, businesses are very competitive these days and so are their prices. Offer a fair price for what the items are worth and traders here do not scold customers like the rude one found in petaling street in Kuala Lumpur. Do have some pride and shop with some dignity, expect some discount but don't' push your luck to the edge of being silently branded as a stupid cheapskate. It will also save you time and effort which can be use to enjoy the many scenery, food and people.


to be continue.....