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Map of Sarawak, mid-19th century.
What’s Going On In…Kuching, Malaysia
Rainforest, Kung fu, laksa, tamarind, Astana, the Great Cat of Kuching
Musician/Band
A recent Brooklyn import, Zee Avi was raised in the state of Sarawak. Her performance at Kuching’s 2012 Rainforest World Music Festival, an annual celebration of international musicians, was billed as a homecoming.
[vimeo 36329794]
Literature
Margaret Lim. author of five children’s books, threads her stories with her memories of growing up in Kuching. The setting of her first book, “Payah,” is the Sarawak’s dense rainforest. In 2007, she was inducted into the Sarawak Women’s Museum, one of Kuching’s numerous historical sites.
Also of note: Kuching, and the wider region of Borneo, was a popular backdrop for stories by European authors. Somerset Maugham’s tales of British colonialists in the region (what he called “a terribly jungly place”) make up his “Borneo Stories,” while Joseph Conrad’s “Lord Jim” was inspired by the life of James Brooke, a British explorer and the first foreign governor of Sarawak.
Film
“Needle Through Brick” celebrates the region’s influential Chinese population by examining traditional Chinese Kung Fu practice in Kuching and elsewhere on the island of Borneo. Directed by American filmmaker Patrick Daly, the film raises questions about a new generation’s commitment to tradition.
[vimeo 19075054]
Neighborhood
Kuching means ‘cat’ in Malay, and in addition to being the city’s shopping hub and resident Chinatown, the neighborhood of Padungan houses the city’s namesake, the Great Cat of Kuching.
Politician
Abang Muhammad Salahuddin is the third governor of Sarawak. Like those who served before him, he lives in the Astana—the official residence of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, or governor. Find more photos of the palace as it looked around the turn of the century here.
The Astana Ballroom, Kuching, 1930.
Food
A spicy soup with noodles, sarawak laksa is an eastern Malaysian dish flavored with sour tamarind and garlic. It’s best when sampled from a roadside stall, like the ones that grace Kuching’s waterfront and the Sarawak River.
—Audrey McGlinchy