Kuching

One thing’s for sure: Kuching is like no other town in Malaysia. For one, it’s spotlessly clean, rising from its pretty and palm-dotted coastal stretches on the edge of northern Borneo in an array of shimmering skyscrapers and graceful streets. For two, it’s multicultural to boot, with the bustling traffic lanes of Pending and thriving weekend markets of Satok ticking over to the earthy vocals of Chinese Foochow, Thai, Sarawak, Urdu and local Malay alike.

Many Kuching tour guides urge travellers to take the city esplanade stroll towards the downtown, where the grand Sibu temple of Tua Pek Kong looms large, the city’s Waterfront bustles with bazaars and the grand Astana sits proudly on the riverbanks, a lingering remnant of the Sarawak White Rajahs that called this city their capital. There’s also a huge array of museums to enjoy, and of course plenty of chances to sample the flavoursome mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian foodstuffs that make the markets here so famed. There are then the wild jungles of greater Borneo waiting on the peripheries, with spots like the Semenggoh Reserve and Kubah National Park arguably the most fascinating and untouched in all of Southeast Asia.