Assalammualaikum wbt,
As I'm writing this, we have safely arrived in Peninsular Malaysia, from our family vacation, Hanif Aiden's first ever experience boarding a plane. Well, it may sounded poshy, but we were just went to Sarawak only..hahaha. Still within Malaysia guys, but the struggle and tireness is real I tell ya. The main reason we chose Sarawak because my UITM Penang friend, Naddy got married. Buttttt..this lady just informed us like less than a month notice! Urgghh. We were contemplating whether it just me or husband to go, should we spend a night there or not if we were to, yada yada and at last, arghh, screw it, I just booked the tickets for 3 of us, and next thing we know, we were at the airport ready to fly!
Our tickets was quite pricey considering it's Air Asia and we just travel within Malaysia. It's due to I want to be on the safe side and booked the front seat for all of us, oh boy, it costed a bomb! We brought a stroller in, and put it in front of us but were told it wasn't allowed. All strollers on that flight need to be gathered and keep somewhere else inside the plane...err...whatttt. Their reason because there is no enough space on the head compartment (-__-) Luckily Hanif Aiden's stroller is safe and sound when we retrieved it later on. They return it when the plane had touched down and put them all at the exit. Hanif Aiden was so excited and active throughout the journey. Mind you, he woke up by himself at 3am earlier that day! And never took a nap or even sit still for that matter. We had to strap him on a stroller but not long enough when he went restless. We thought, ahh..just let him play and running here and there and he'll be tired on the plane and would catch a nap. HE DIDN'T!! I don't know where he got his energy from but good thing, when he's excited, he would finish his food..almost. Some are thrown on the floor while the cabin crew is watching.. (-___-)
When we arrived, we straight went to our hotel, luckily for us, there is a room available for early checked in..Alhamdulillah. So we could put our bags and heading to our first point, Sarawak Cultural Village. We stayed at Imperial Hotel and actually quite regret by that choice. This hotel is very near to the airport but quite far from the tourist spot/main town. We did surveyed the hotel nearby Kuching Waterfront but most of them are quite pricey, so yeah. But this hotel isn't that bad at all, there are many people staying here as well. Since it is attached to Boulevard mall, so it makes even more convenient for us to buy diapers and dinner. The food is good as well, for the price that we paid, I think it's worth it.
We were so tired from the early start of the day and the journey to Sarawak Cultural Village took like 1 hour plus.. we were all sleeping in the car. When we woke up, we still didn't arrive yet, that long! Luckily that we have decided to use Grabcar instead of renting a car, or else my husband would be too exhausted to drive. The Grab costed about RM37, it was that far! Hanif Aiden already tired when we got into the car that he fell asleep immediately and not in his best behaviour throughout our visit at Sarawak Cultural Village. I bought the tickets online beforehand and it cost about RM75 for adults and RM40 for kids. That ticket price is include lunch with local delicacies as well. Little did I know that if you're local there, if your IC address is Sarawak, the ticket price is actually less than RM10!!! How biasedddddd! Hahaha, I am Malaysian, come on, we're on the same country, sharing the same Prime Minister!
Sarawak Cultural Village is actually a place where you can learn about Sarawak's locals/cultures/living on one place without going to each place one by one. Sarawak is comprises with many races namely Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh etc and each of races has its own unique cultures and way of lives and live in different places in Sarawak. Thus, Sarawak tourism/Malaysian government take the initiative to build this tourist spot which comprises with all the races and its history without tourist need to go at their actual place. You can visit the house for each race here and watch the performances. Sarawak is HUGEEEE guys, even bigger than Peninsular Malaysia, there is no way you could visit one by one, unless you took a year leave and stay here. So, we were served the most awaited lunch, with local delicacies like Ayam Pangsoh (chicken cooked in bamboo), Umai (Raw fish with lime juice), Beef with wild ginger, and other stuff. They are all good and the portion is big for two of us. Well, Hanif Aiden is seriously restless that he refused to eat even fruits (-___-) We went to Rumah Panjang and watched their Welcome Dance, and visit the interior. You can actually rent a costume here and take a picture, about RM10 I think. There are also people cooking some local kuih inside where you can actually tasted it and buy.
The weather is so hot and we skipped some of the display houses because some is too dangerous like Rumah Orang Ulu for instance where you need to climb the stairs made out of bamboo. I mean, it's okay if it's just us, but to carry Hanif Aiden up there, we dare not to take the risk. The stairs is so high! We finished (not entirely) our visit at about 3pm, and there is actually a local performance scheduled at 4pm at their indoor theatre. We wanted to wait but there is no proper place to rest, plus coincidentally there was some official delegacy visit or something, make the place quite cramp and make the weather even hotter, and Hanif Aiden super annoyed and restless. So, we gave it a pass, and called Grabcar heading to our hotel. Yes, the price we paid for the tickets are not quite worth with actual things we do there but once a parent, your priority is always the kids. Your kids' mood will determine your holiday outcome. Hahaha. For the Grab car fare, it is cost about RM34-37. I like all our Grab car drivers, they are all so friendly and helpful in giving tips and sharing some other tourist spots.
We were so flat once we reached hotel, it was a bath, dinner and bed straight. Will continue on our second day itinerary on my next post. Till then, bye!
