Kuching

You go at feeding time or you do not see them. Platforms are set twice a day, though when the forest is in fruit the apes stay away for days. They are released animals, not caged ones, and a sign at the gate makes no promise that any will come.

Fix the return boat before you go in. Nothing but a boat gets you in, and at low water it cannot reach the jetty, so you wade the last stretch. Proboscis monkeys climb into view early and near dusk. With seven trails a half day covers about two.

A promenade runs 900 metres along the river and fills with stalls in the evening. Crossing means a sampan at a fixed fare that leaves as soon as it fills. The view back at the government buildings is better from the Malay village on the far bank.

The oldest museum in Borneo, opened in 1891 with the naturalist Wallace advising on what it should hold. A full-size Iban longhouse anchors the display, taking in the practice of hanging taken heads. A move to a new building in 2022 expanded it considerably.

Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu houses stand full-size at the foot of Mount Santubong. Someone from each group sits inside with bamboo instruments, blowpipes and beadwork. A stage show runs afternoons. The Rainforest World Music Festival takes this ground in July.

White cats stand at junctions across town, on the reading that the city's name is Malay for cat. Scholars lean toward a fruit or a river as the real source, but the city picked the cat and went as far as opening a museum to it.

A footbridge of 2017, curved into an S. There is no shade by day, which makes crossing hard, but after dark the lighting cycles through colours and the deck takes in both banks at once. Bicycles have to be walked over.

The Brookes raised it across the river in 1879 against pirates. It now houses a display on the family's rule, and the roof looks back over the river and the town. Crossing by sampan and walking up is the quickest way there.

A pedestrian row where Indian shops selling cloth and spices have held their ground for over a century. Turn into the side lane and an Indian Muslim mosque sits wedged between buildings, invisible from the street. Morning stalls sell porridge and fritters.

A small white building on the waterfront, once the Chinese chamber of commerce. One room sets out which dialect groups arrived when and on whose ships, and half an hour covers it. There is no charge, which makes it an easy stop off the promenade.

A Bidayuh longhouse joined by bamboo verandas, where many families still live together. It lies around ninety minutes south of Kuching by car. Visitors pay to enter at the village gate, and some households run overnight homestays.

Rainforest covering the hills to Kuching's west, known for the sheer variety of its frogs. After dusk visitors walk the pond edges with torches, tracking them by their calls. The trails are steep and slippery after rain.

Two caves in limestone hills near Bau, usually done together. At Fairy Cave tall stairs climb into a vast chamber flooded with light. Wind Cave follows a stream on a wooden boardwalk past roosting bats. Take a torch.

A lone peak rising from the coast north of Kuching, climbed by a steep trail of ropes and ladders. Up and down eats five or six hours of the day, so leave at dawn, before the morning heat. Cool off afterwards on Damai beach below.

Kuching's oldest street, a row of 19th-century shophouses facing the river promenade. Shops selling tribal crafts, pepper and textiles follow one after another, good for souvenirs. Prices vary even for the same item, so compare a few before buying.