The lesser known Malaysia

The lesser known Malaysia 
(Trip done in 2007 but still fresh in my memory!)

When a travel to Malaysia is planned, I see that it is most often centred around the circuit covering Kualalampur, LangKawi, Penang, etc.  I do not have anything against these places but seriously you are missing something if you didn’t do East Malaysia! 

Malaysia (in orange) showing eastern and western states

As you can see in the map above, Malaysia is actually made of two islands referred commonly as West Malaysia (where KL is situated) and East Malaysia.  The magic of Malaysia is truly in the Eastern region comprising of the states ‘Sarawak’and ‘Sabah’. These two are tribal states and even West Malaysians need permit to enter here (at least that is what we heard back in 2007).   

This is my travelogue to Sarawak with Sabah going into my bucket list of places to visit.

How to get there:

Flying into Sarawak or Sabah directly from India is expensive and there are limited flights.  However the better alternate is to fly from Singapore or preferably another part of Malaysia like KL or Johar Bahru (we did the latter which is accessible from Singapore by road, less than an hour’s journey).  I am not sure if we would do this again given the sorry state of affairs of Malaysian airlines.  The flight we took was adventurous too flying low over the South China Sea but it was very scenic!

About Kuching, Sarawak:

We  landed in Kuching which is the capital of Sarawak.  Everybody speaks English and nobody understands ‘Vegetarianism’.  We survived on bread, palm oil fried fronds and Chicken pineapple rice minus chicken all the five days we were there.  It is  a calm and beautiful city with the river Sarawak running through it.  River transport is common and cheap.  And a must do for sheer relaxation is the boat cruise. 

Best way to pass the day - take a rive cruise in Kuching

The city is modern with many good hotels available for stay.  Places to see in the city include Bako national park (we missed as we were travelling with a 7 month old , but highly recommended), Cat museum, Semenggok Orangutan rehabilitation centre.  The latter is a good experience , watching these animals in their unique habitat.  

About an hour from Kuching, is Damai beach which was our next stop.  This is a beach adjacent to Mount Santabong, famous for their rainforest music festival.  It is a bewitchingly beautiful place with the sea lapping onto the mountain with just blue and green on the horizon.  The properly we stayed in, (Holiday Inn then, changed management recently I believe) was beautifully located facing the sea and mountain and nothing else. 

The sea and the mountain 

Damai beach and Mount Santabong

A trek into the mountain is highly recommended.  My husband did the trek and came back bewitched; Rich in flora and fauna! 

Pitcher plant in Mount Santabong

The rich fauna in Mount Santabong

Check out this impromptu music concert among the trees of Mount Santabong; does justice as the venue of the Rainforest music festival!

I guess the reason this place sits on top of my most enjoyed vacation is because it was so close to nature, pristine but had the required comforts.  Somehow, the local population has managed to retain their history and get along with the rest of the world.  The best example of this is the Sarawak Cultural Village, very close to Damai beach.  This is a living museum showcasing the history, tradition and everyday lives of various tribes indigenous to Malaysia.  The tribal people (to cut your imagination short, most of them dress like very modern and speak good English; but are encouraged to wear traditional wear as this is a museum !) actually live here as their ancestors have lived – in traditional houses .  One feels privileged to enter these houses and watch them go about their lives.  It was not ‘’made-up” at least when we visited and the whole place was oozing charm.  The part I liked the most was that the tribes had right of the way there and tourists were just tourists; that is the way it has to be, isn’t it?


Because of the infant and our short stay, we could not do more places in Sarawah or ‘Sabah’ during this trip.  And I am told Sabah has more tourist destinations including the famous underground caves, Mount Kota Kinabalu, awesome beaches for scuba diving and turtle watching, etc.  It is in my list and will come back hopefully with a second part to this write up!