Although last night we had pretty much decided that we were going to delay our trip to Bako NP, we still wanted to make sure that there was actually some kind of celebrations actually going on in Kuching and that of course we were able to actually change our booking for the park.
Our plan was an early start which became a relatively early start in the end! We had a list of things that we needed to do really and one of them was find somewhere to stay that night if we were staying in town. The previous night we stayed in a nice place near the waterfront but really it was too expensive for what we needed so we decided to find somewhere cheaper and we found a lovely little place in Chinatown where the lounge area was modelled on a longhouse which was really cosy and welcoming. Next stop was to make sure we were able to change our booking for the park.
Having sorted everything out we planned the rest of the day to be spent relaxing and enjoying the last of Kuching, the thing is I fancied a bit of souvenir shopping! Keith, in all good faith, joined me to start with but then thought better of it and headed to the bar for a drink!
What we both did manage to get though was a full size blow pipe each! That’s gonna be fun back at home.
The Chinese temples celebrations started around 5pm and consisted of a massive procession of floats, Chinese dragons, lion dance troups and lots of other different Chinese groups all parading through the streets of Kuching giving thanks to the Chinese temples as they passed by.
We started watching as we made our way back from shopping and beer laden down with goodies. The temple was right in front of us and the parade was just coming from all directions and then heading off around town, we stood and watched the procession for quite a while before grabbing a quick shower and some food and then we joined in the celebrations again. The local people really seemed to enjoy having the few tourists that there were there, involved in their party and made us feel very welcome, we even managed to get a prime position right next to the temple entrance so as each group came and gave thanks at the entrance we had a perfect view.
The celebrations went on to around 11pm, which we thought was actually quite restrained, and culminated in a massive explosion of firecrackers! Of course! :-)
Next stop in the morning, Bako NP.
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