Fort Margherita

Although I knew today was a public holiday in the UK, I didn’t think that it might also be a holiday here. Until I found out that most places were closed. So instead of visiting the places I had planned, I did some aimless wandering and found lots of interesting things.

The only bridges across the river in Kuching are a long way from the historic city centre (although there is a bridge under construction nearby). Small boats still ferry passengers across the river. It takes about 30 seconds to cross. I was walking along the river and saw a ferry arriving so I decided to jump on and see what was on the other side. I got a better look at the building I blipped on my first evening here. It’s the Sarawak Assembly building. And I found this small fort on the hill. It was built as a defence post in 1879 but never needed to be used and no shots were fired from here. The fort was closed but the grounds were open.


Back on the south side of the river, I acquired a new travel companion (see extra). She’s Elly, named because that’s the name given by one of the staff of the turtle project to the green turtle I saw on the island 2 weeks ago. (I heard that she returned to the island last week and laid another lot of eggs.)