Kuching land of cats

MUZIUM sign

The entrance to the cat museum

Kuching Land of Cats

Friday, 3/27/15

The Kuching Cat Museum was very fun. Once we arrived in the parking lot under the huge building the cat museum was located in, we started seeing signs that said MUZIUM and showed a picture of a cat. We started following the signs and, we got to the entrance of the museum, a huge cat face. After the huge cat ate us (or, After we entered the museum) we saw cat stuff everywhere. Although the entrance fee was free, taking in cameras wasn’t. We had to pay some Ringgit for each of our devices before we could do anything. Once the person stamped our devices, we went into the first exhibit. It was displaying some cat related comics, like Garfield, and news articles about cats. Here, they had the of the story Puss in boots by Ruth Ainsworth. Here is my version of the story.

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far, away, there lived a miller who had three sons. When he died, he left his mill to his eldest son, his ass (the donkey kind) to his middle son, and to his youngest son, a cat. Of course the youngest son was like “What! My brother gets an ass, and I get a cat!” and “how the heck am I supposed to survive with this worthless cat!” After this the cat spoke, “Do not despair master,” the master was quite stunned, so he didn’t interrupt the cat. “Give me a pair of boots and a sack, and all will be well.” The master was quite surprised, so he made the cat a pair of boots, and gave him a sack. After the cat got his desired items, he ran off, cleaned himself, and caught some rabbits. With the rabbits he set off to the king, and gave the rabbits to him. He then said, “Here is a present from my master”, the cat thought for a while, “the Marquis of Carabas”. The king was gone, for he had already brought the rabbits to the cook. When he returned he said, “Please, Thank your master for me”. The cat left and returned the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, and, well, you get the point.

On one particularly sunny day the cat went to his master and told him to do exactly as he said. Meanwhile, the king was enjoying the sunny day by riding around in his carriage. On the way past the lake he saw a man flailing in the water yelling for help. “That man is drowning!” cried the King, “somebody do something!” The carriage driver threw him a rope and the king threw him one of his towels. “What happened to you?” The king said. At that moment the cat jumped in and said “My master, the Marquis of Carabas was attacked by a thief. The thief stole his clothes and pushed him in the water.” The king brought the pair through the town to his palace. On the way he commented on how beautiful the cornfield was and everything else and asked who owned it. Everyone else said “the Marquis of Carabas,” for the cat had come in earlier and threatened to turn them into mincemeat if they didn’t. When they reached the palace the king really thought that the miller’s youngest son was a rich and powerful fellow. The cat was glad. There was only one thing left for him to do.

Miles away there lived an ogre called Shrek (just kidding) in a large castle. The cat went to the castle to slay the ogre. When he arrived the ogre confronted him. The cat said, “ I’ve heard that you have the ability to change form.” The ogre replied “yep,” and he turned into a huge lion. The cat stepped back in caution and replied, “Can you turn into a small creature?” The ogre transformed into a mouse and the cat ate him up in one gulp. After the ogre was slain, the miller’s youngest son moved in to the castle with the cat and they were happy.

Tsuda's cats

A stuffed cat

After finishing all the stories, I went to a section that had mounted specimens of cats. They all looked especially scruffy, and some were missing their eyes. Cool, but creepy. What was really amazing was that they had a bay cat. Bay cats are only found in Borneo rain forests and are the rarest cat in the world. Here, in the museum, they had the only mounted specimen on earth. After spending a while looking at the mounted cat species, we all got hungry, and decided to go get some food and finish the museum later. We went to the Kafeteria, a restaurant right next to the cat museum. There, we all ate chicken fried rice. After eating the food, we headed back to the museum and went to the second part. This area mainly consisted of of cats in arts, merchandise, and in other cultures. My favorite part in this section was looking at Satoru Tsuda's artwork. Satoru Tsuda was a Japanese man who thought that trained cats would be a good idea. He started asking people for help and they gave him their unwanted pets. He then trained the cats to stand on their hind legs, do poses, and wear special clothes made for them. The cats passed as rock stars, doctors, maids, and police. With his great success, Satoru Tsuda and his cats lived in fame and fortune.

Saturday 3/28/15

Today, we went to the Sarawak museum. There are two Sarawak museums here in Kuching, and we went to the old one. On our way to the Sarawak museum, we passed the new Sarawak museum, the natural museum, and the art museum. The Sarawak museum's first floor was made up my of tons of stuffed animal specimens collected by the famous collector, Wallace. The cool thing about the stuffed animals was how they were arranged. They weren't just put in line, they were put in their own little habitats. Some of the stuffed animals were eating, some were flying, and most of them were doing some type of behavior. One of my favorite exhibits was the one with the kingfishers and owls. This one had trees and logs over a lake, with dragonflies and other bugs flying all over the place, trying to escape the hungry beaks of the bright and colorful kingfishers.

The headhunters are going to get me!

After we finished looking through the first floor, we headed up the stairs up to the next floor. In this floor, we saw the culture of Malay people. My favorite part about this place was going inside a replica of a headhunter's longhouse. It was complete with a kitchen, sleeping room, and real human skulls over a fire place for good luck (insert evil laugh here). 

Orangutan Mother and her baby 

The next day after the Sarawak museum we woke up early and headed off to the Semenggoh Nature Reserve. After we finally got there, we went into the entrance and instantly saw an orangutan. It was a young boy, and it posed for us while we took pictures. When we finished taking pictures, we headed on to the next area. In this area, we were lucky enough to see a mother orangutan with her baby. The mother was teaching her baby different climbing techniques. She would put the baby on her stomach move to a spot, do a pose, and let the baby out to copy her. It was very cute. After the mother orangutan finished teaching her baby super yoga moves, we moved on and did the bamboo trail. In this trail we saw, lots of bamboo, cool flowers, orchids, and pitcher plants. We also noticed a huge trail of thousands of ants moving along like a really, really busy highway.

Once we finished, we headed to the long houses. Unfortunately, the bridge there was under construction, and as we were trying to find our way there, we got lost. When we parked and started eating, a very nice person came up to us and invited us to his sons 1st birthday party. We came and met his family. He was a retired army sergeant major with a wife and five children. We all talked and ate some special sticky rice. I had a good time.

Sunday, 3/29/15

Today we went to the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV). The village is dedicated to teaching you about the 7 different ethnic groups in Malaysia, one long house for each. When we arrived, it was already 2:30, and there was a show that would be starting at 4:00. Because of this, we only got to visit two longhouses: the Bidayuh, and the Iban. Before we could visit the longhouses though, we had to eat, so we went to a restaurant. At the restaurant we all ate rice with food cooked inside bamboo. After our stomachs were full we went to the Bidayuh longhouse. Bidayuh longhouses are built in steep lime stone mountains. They are built there to avoid maraudin enemies, and to have a supply of freshwater. The one we visited was huge. It's inside had two floors. The top one was where people relaxed, and the bottom one was were they worked. Right next to the Bidayuh longhouse was a Bidayuh watchtower. It was a small and rounded. Inside was skulls smoking over a fire, and a man who was playing his musical instruments. He was very good at it and he even played a song on a flute for us. After the Bidayuh buildings, we headed of to find another longhouse. The next one we ran into was the Iban longhouse. Iban longhouses were built near fertile land next to water. Once the land was exhausted, usually in about 15-20 years, they would take their belongings, leave their house, and find new, fertile, land. The inside of the longhouse we saw was full of masks and artwork, there was also a lady weaving clothes.

Bidayuh Longhouse on the left, Bidayuh watchtower to the right

The Tolak Bala dance

After the Iban longhouse it was getting late, so we had to go to the show. The show was full of all the different tribes dances. They were all, fun and colorful, but my favorites were the Kanjet Ngeleput, and the Langgi Julang. The Kanjet Ngeleput showed a Orang Ulu warrior stalking his prey (balloons) and ladies with flowers running around him. When the hunter found his prey he loaded his long blowdart and Pop, Pop. The Langgi Julang had Bidayuh men run around with poles hitting the ground with them in rhythm to the music. They then did tricks with their poles. My favorite one was when the men held one pole, and one of the men climbed to the top and spun around.

Thanks for reading, Jacob

A Trip to Cambodia

A Trip to Cambodia

Before you read this blog… (look below)

(Please take your shoes off)

Cambodia, home to fourteen million people. With a diverse culture, I was very lucky to be able to visit the country. The airplane we flew on started from Phuket, stopped in Bangkok, and ended in Siem Reap. Siem Reap in Khmer, the Cambodian language, means Thai defeat. There are about three hundred and ninety nine temples in Siem Reap, and one million people.

We are staying in Borei Angkor, a four star hotel. The Hotel has several restaurants, one pool, and a spa. The room I am in has three beds, one bathroom and a TV. It has been so long since I could watch Cartoon Network in English.

The next day after we arrived, we decided to take a tour, and see some of the temples here in Cambodia. After a a short drive with our guide, Piture, we arrived at the point where you get your tickets for admission to the temples. After we bought four tickets (James didn't need one), we headed to the first temple. On the way we talked to our guide, and learned that Cambodia's government is a multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy.

Bayon Temple

Naga

Singah

Dvelepoula (left), Absara (right)

The first temple that we visited was named Bayon. Bayon was built as a Buddhist temple, but was changed to a Hindu temple when the king at that time tried to change the country's religion to Hinduism. Now the temple serves as a Hindu and Buddhist temple, and a historical landmark. The temple had many singhas and nagas (lions and snakes) guarding it. There was also many dvelapoulas, to guard the doors, and Apsaras (celestial dancers) to keep the dvelapoulas company. In and on the temple, there were carvings. Carvings of the battles between the Khmer and the Chan, carvings of the way of life in Cambodia, carvings of hunting, fishing, eating, royalty and poor, the carvings were everywhere. Also in the temple were the faces of Buddha. Back when the temple was built, eight hundred years ago, there was more then two hundred of them, but now there is only about one hundred and forty eight.

Ta Phrom

After visiting Bayon we headed to the next temple, Ta Phrom. Ta Phrom, a Hindu temple, was built as a Buddhist temple by Jayafarman the seventh for his family. Since then, the temple has been overgrown by many plants and trees. The temple is famous for its showing in the film Tomb Raider. The temple is full of jungle sounds and has a greenish color from all of the moss and lichen growing on it. There are many tree roots growing around the temple and they sometimes made funny shapes or interesting designs around the temple. One of my favorite places in the temple is a room where you could beat your chest and it would echo around the room. The funny thing is that no other sound would echo in the room.

We were all getting a bit tired after visiting the two temples so we decided to eat some food or, as the Khmer say it, ngam bpai. Khmer food is not spicy, but is still tasty. After a lunch of Rice and curry we headed to the next temple.

Angkor Watt

Raining Outside

Angkor Watt, or City Temple, was built nine hundred years ago as a Hindu temple by King Suryavarman II. Later it was changed to a Buddhist temple. Angkor Watt is surrounded by a man made moat and a large naga. There is also over two thousand apsaras in Angkor watt. There are lot of carvings inside Angkor Watt, but most of them were about religious beliefs. There is scenes of heaven and hell, the churning of the sea, and more. Also in Angkor Watt, there
are many pools for people (from the past) to
swim into in the morning and pray to the sun god. One of the really cool things I got to do in Angkor Watt was to climb to the highest point on the temple and see the beautiful view.

The reclining Buddha

The next day of our adventure was very fun. We had decided to go to the mountains and see the reclining Buddha and the waterfall near it. After a hour and a half, we arrived at our destination, the reclining Buddha. This reclining Buddha was built over five hundred years ago. To make it easier for people to get to it, workers made a stairway up to the Buddha. Also, beneath the Buddha, is the the Buddha's footprint. People believed that if they put money on the Buddha's footprint they could make a wish.

The next thing that we visited was the waterfall. The waterfall was huge and was the most powerful waterfall I've ever visited. Fortunately we had brought our swimsuits so we were able to swim. The waterfall was so powerful, so that when you went really close to it, it would push you back. It was very hard to get under the waterfall and when you did, the waterfall would blind you with its spray, and crush you with its water. It was great!!!

Another thing we did that day was visit the land mine museum. I learned a lot about the problem of land mines in Cambodia, and in 53 other countries.

On the third day of our trip we had a break from all the traveling, so we only did one thing: a helicopter ride over Seam Reap. The helicopter we rode in had a capacity of six people and was red. Our helicopter also had several windows. The flight was amazing. It felt smooth, not anything like a plane. We were able to see several temples from up in the air, and they all looked like miniature models. Angkor watt from above was amazing. I was able to see where I had been on it. We also got to see the floating village from above.

Floating village

Mangrove Forest

The last day of our adventure was on a Sunday. We were able to go see the floating village on boat. We took a small boat on the way there and through the main part of the village. I could almost imagine living there, fishing all day, to come back and swim, eating fish and rice. The people of the village would fish, using nets or fish traps with two entrances, designed to let fish in, but not out. After fishing, the people would bring back their catch, and make it into fish paste to eat. While I was there, I was toured around the village in a local paddle boat. We went through the mangrove forests, and through the center of the village.

Thanks for Reading, Jacob

These are the carvings in Bayon Temple.
Playing Chess (top left)
Chan fighting Khmer (top middle)
Underwater (top right)
Training (left)
Building Bayon Temple (right)