We intended to stay in Kuching for three days but extended to five. We just loved the combination of adventure activities and nice urban nightlife — to say nothing of the fact that Kuching is known as “The Cat City” and even features its own Cat Museum.

The Cat Museum is on the far north end of town, quite a way from the center, but we decided to try to walk there anyhow, just to see whatever was there. It took us about an hour and a half to get there, which is a little crazy since I’d read that the place was “extremely kitsch” and “good for about 20 minutes.”

So kitsch is what we intended to see, and kitsch is what we got. I had feared that they’d try to sneak in some kind of “legitimate” exhibits about cats — maybe something about different types of cats or how cats adapt to different geographies. But I needn’t have feared anything like that. In fact, the use of the work “museum” was a pretty big stretch. It was more like a big collection of random cat junk — cat figurines, movie posters that feature cats, cat plates, cat posters.

Of course it was organized into thematic sections like “Cats in Movies” (the movie posters), “Cat Naps” (pictures of cute felines napping), and even “Cat Food” (random packages of cat food). “Cats in Cards” included a wall covered in greeting cards and postcards that feature cats, along with a description of how millions of cards with cats crisscross the globe every year.

Having hit our limit of cultural intake at the Cat Museum, we spent our final day in Kuching at the beautiful Bako National Park just outside town, where a hot, humid, strenuous hike rewarded us with a stunning beach. Then we caught a flight to Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital of the Sultanate of Brunei, which we will report on next.

We’re still lovin’ Borneo, and not just because Chinese New Years is over and things are finally open again. Here’s what we’ve learned.

While Malaysia is a Moslem-majority country, Christians make up a plurality of the population in Sarawak, the state we’re in; Sarawak in fact has the largest Christian population in the country. Interestingly the Malaysian constitution apparently officially designates all ethnic Malays as Muslim but most people here are not ethnic Malays; they’re Iban, Dayak, Chinese, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, etc., etc. And since the Christian missionaries converted lots of them before the Muslims got here, well, that means there are cool bars and happening restaurants here. Who knew Mark & I would become such big fans of Christian missionaries??

Seriously, we couldn’t make sense out of Kuching until we figured that out. When we were in Penang, there was precisely one classy restaurant in town – the one in our hotel – despite the fact that it’s a big tourist destination. We asked the GM at the hotel why there weren’t others and he told us that too many Muslims simply wouldn’t go into a restaurant that served alcohol and except for his place no one else could afford to give up on locals even with a significant tourist presence. It was just as bad or even worse in Langkowi, Malaysia’s premier beach resort and tourist destination. But here in mid-sized Kuching we’re in foodie paradise?

Well, that’s what you find in a city where the Muslim presence is significantly understated. And I’m OK with that.

Now, onto the really cool stuff. The jungle. Head hunters. Kayaking. Orangutans! Yesterday we did a day trip outside of Kuching. First stop was an orangutan rehabilitation center at feeding time. We were somewhat skeptical of this, since it sounded like we might just be looking at monkeys in a zoo. We needn’t have worried. The Semengoh Wildlife Center is a legitimate research and rehabilitation center in a large nature preserve where dozens of semi-wild orangutans live. They’re not wild anymore, but it’s not as though you could walk up and pet them or anything.

They were amazing to watch. So human-like, and yet so different. Watching them maneuver through the trees using whichever of their four limbs seemed appropriate at the time. Watching them break open and eat through coconuts with their bare hands. The power in their arms and legs and jaws was phenomenal. And, for me at least, doing that just after reading a great book about human evolutionary biology and seeing the links between us and other primates that the author described was really something.

There was a walk-through of a local village. These things can be painfully touristy – “Oh, look how poor and backward these people are!” – but it wasn’t bad. Short, to the point, and the tour company pays the village something for us to walk-through. This being Borneo, of course, they had to include some human skulls from headhunter days, so we got to see those, too.

Finally, the bulk of the day was spent lazily kayaking down the Left Sarawak River. That really felt like we were in Borneo. The sounds and the smells were all very jungly. They assured us that it was a safe river – no crocodiles, no piranhas, no leeches – so it was pretty comfortable. A couple stops for a waterfall and swimming and we were happy little boys.

We’re going to spend another day or two here – still haven’t seen the cat museum, a national park that we can walk around in – and then we’re off to Brunei. It’s supposed to be a painfully boring place, but when you’re counting countries, have the time, and are this close, you just have to go there. Then we’ll cross back into Malaysia – still on Borneo – in theory at least to climb Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak on Borneo. And then? Who knows?

And, since Jeanne said she wanted more pictures of us, here they are:

So far we’re loving Borneo.

Borneo is the world’s third largest island, after Greenland and New Guinea. Most of the island is in Indonesia, about a third is Malaysia, and a small sliver of the island is Brunei. We weren’t at all sure what to expect from the culture, the landscape, or the weather.

It hasn’t taken us long to think this might be grand. We arrived in Kuching yesterday afternoon after flying from Langkawi. It’s a medium-sized city – about 325,000 people – but is the largest city in Malaysian Borneo and the capital of the state of Sarawak. And after a few weeks on peninsular Malaysia with more Islamic presence than I’d expected (burkas, lack of alcohol at most restaurants) Kuching seems delightfully more cosmopolitan.

We went walking in the early evening and quickly discovered a city spruced up for Valentine’s Day (how do our worst “holidays” get exported to places like Borneo?), a lovely river walk, fun architecture, some nice-looking bars and restaurants – bars that open right onto the sidewalk!! – and cat sculptures.

Cat sculptures you ask? It turns out Kuching is the Malay word for cat, and they embrace that heritage fully. Cat sculptures and even a cat museum. Mark informs me that we’ll be going to the cat museum very soon. And maybe tomorrow, too.

And there’s lots of other stuff to do: cloud forests to hike in, kayaking, orangutans to spot – a real jungle of opportunities. On top of all that coolness, the weather is a wonderful change. It’s overcast, maybe even raining on and off, and not oppressively hot. After weeks of heat and sunshine, a little gloom is really nice.

The only sad note is that when Mark’s father and brother were planning their trip to Malaysia, flying into Singapore, we had a choice of going north up the peninsula or east to Borneo. We chose the former, but now it seems we’d have done better to come this way. Next time, John & Lidd!