Bintawa now has a new landmark: a roundabout featuring a traditional kotak fishing boat to honour Kuching’s early fishing community. [image: 1784595888415-bintawa-kotak-roundabout.jpg] Source: DayakDaily The Bintawa Kotak Roundabout was officially launched on July 20, with the landmark built around a traditional wooden fishing boat once widely used by Bintawa fishermen. Mayor of Kuching South Dato Wee Hong Seng said Bintawa was one of Kuching’s earliest fishing settlements. Many early Chinese immigrants settled there because of its close link to the Sarawak River, where fishing supplied fresh seafood to the growing city. He said the kotak boat symbolises the courage and resilience of local fishermen, and that the city should keep these stories visible even as Kuching continues to modernise. MBKS Deputy Mayor Dato Zaiedi Suhaili, Bintawa community leaders and MBKS councillors were also present. Location: Bintawa, Kuching South Details: New roundabout landmark features a traditional kotak fishing boat; MBKS says it honours Bintawa’s early fishing community. Source: https://dayakdaily.com/bintawa-kotak-roundabout-honours-kuchings-early-fishing-community/ What do you think?

On a Waterfront walk, Square Tower is the building I would stop for after the river has done its big performance. It is small enough to miss, yet its white walls and wooden shutters make the old river edge feel legible. [image: 1784513434214-square-tower-01.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons - Square Tower 01 The first anchor is a date and a place: Sarawak Tourism Board records the tower as built in 1879 at Pangkalan Batu, on the south bank at the eastern end of Kuching Waterfront. That position matters. It was part of the river-facing city, not an isolated decorative pavilion, and today the same location lets you read the building against the promenade and the golden State Legislative Assembly building across the water. [image: 1784513434344-square-tower-02.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons - Square Tower 02 What changed is the visitor's relationship with it. A structure associated with the Brooke-era riverfront now works mainly as a public-walk landmark: the exterior, shutters, compact proportions and waterfront sightlines do most of the storytelling. The inside is not a reliable full museum visit, so I would not build a two-hour plan around an unlocked door. [image: 1784513434446-square-tower-03.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons - Square Tower 03 Allow 15–30 minutes and arrive from Main Bazaar, the Old Courthouse or the Waterfront on foot. Around 5 pm onward is kinder for heat and photographs. The outside sits by a public walkway and is free to view; indoor access, tenants, signs and maintenance can change. If driving, use a nearby legal parking area and walk in rather than stopping on the road for a photo. [image: 1784513434509-square-tower-04.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons - Square Tower DSC05966 Architecture fans and first-time visitors building a compact heritage route will get more from it than someone crossing town for one photo. Pair it with the Chinese History Museum, Darul Hana Bridge and Main Bazaar, then let the riverfront carry the rest. I would give Square Tower a deliberate five minutes—not because it is large, but because this is one of the few places where Kuching's defensive-era edge and its relaxed public promenade share the same frame.

If you like quiet little stops where you can slow down and actually look at details, the Textile Museum is one to keep on your old-town list. Quick heads-up first: as of 19 July 2026, the Sarawak Museum Department website says the museum is temporarily closed for maintenance, so treat this as a save-for-later spot until it reopens. [image: 1784427122557-education_department_-_sarawak_pavilion_01.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Yeojiuntzen [image: 1784427122699-education_department_-_sarawak_pavilion_02.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Yeojiuntzen [image: 1784427122771-wanderlog_textile_01.jpg] Source: Wanderlog [image: 1784427122848-wanderlog_textile_02.jpg] Source: Wanderlog What makes this place interesting is not that it is huge. It is more of a close-up look at Sarawak textiles, clothing and craft. The official museum page mentions Pua Kumbu from the Iban community, Kain Songket Melayu Sarawak, and displays that follow the process from yarn to finished cloth. If you usually only see the finished pieces around Main Bazaar, this museum helps the patterns and workmanship make more sense. My take: do not plan this as a half-day museum mission. It works better as a 45-minute to 1-hour stop on an old-town walk. Pair it with Padang Merdeka, the Old Courthouse area, Waterfront, or a coffee break around Carpenter Street and it feels just right. Useful info: Address: Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg / 5, Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg, 93000 Kuching, Sarawak ️ Entry: older visitor sources list it as free; check again after reopening Status: official page shows temporary closure for maintenance as of 19 July 2026 Time needed: around 45 minutes to 1 hour once reopened Tip: the exterior is still worth a look if you are nearby, but check the official page or call first before planning an indoor visit Anyone here visited before the closure? I am especially curious about the Pua Kumbu section. Those patterns never feel like “just decoration” once you start looking properly.

I would not send a first-time visitor to India Street as a stand-alone half-day attraction. I would use it as the shaded hinge between Plaza Merdeka, Gambier Street, Masjid India and the Waterfront—the part of old Kuching where shopping remains more important than staging. [image: 1784340469928-india-street-1-resized.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Fabio Achilli India Street's story is written in its working shops. Indian Muslim trading families helped shape this part of the old commercial town, and the street's fabric, clothing, jewellery, household goods and small food businesses still make that history feel active rather than sealed behind a display case. The covered pedestrian treatment is the later visitor-facing change: it gives the route shade, but it has not turned every shop into a souvenir stop. [image: 1784340470272-india-street-jalan.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Stefan Fussan Start in the morning or early afternoon, allow 20–40 minutes for the main stretch, and continue into Gambier Street and the riverside lanes. Individual shops keep their own hours, so a quiet street is not automatically a closure—and a busy weekend is not a guarantee that every stall is open. Bring small cash for modest purchases, ask before close-up photography, and slow down around Masjid India and other active worship spaces. [image: 1784340470331-india-street-waterfront.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Aron Paul Parking is easier at the edge of the old-town route, followed by walking; e-hailing avoids the one-way and pedestrian-street guesswork. The street is free to walk, but the useful cost is the time you give it: pair it with the Old Courthouse, Chinese History Museum or Waterfront for a half-day loop. Heat, rain and shop schedules are the variables to check on the day. [image: 1784340470920-masjid-india-resized.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Zairon Visitors who enjoy textiles, everyday commerce and layered neighbourhood history will find more here than a quick photo suggests. Anyone expecting a polished mall, constant festival noise or a single must-buy item may be disappointed. I like India Street when it is allowed to remain what it is: a useful old-city passage where the route, the shops and the people matter more than a checklist.

The Ranee Museum is the kind of stop I would choose when an old-town walk needs one human-scale story. It sits inside the Old Court House complex, and its subject is Margaret de Windt—not a complete history of Sarawak, but a close look at the woman who became Ranee Margaret after marrying Charles Brooke. [image: 1783908411605-ranee_mt_exterior.jpg] Source: Malaysia Traveller The museum exists because one life opens a complicated door. Portraits, letters, music and personal objects show how Margaret presented herself and understood her place in Brooke-era Sarawak. The turn is worth holding in mind: a European woman arrived through marriage into a ruling household, while the wider state was being shaped by many Indigenous and local communities whose lives cannot be reduced to the royal rooms. [image: 1783908411750-ranee3-resized.jpg] Source: Brooke Museums / Jee Photography That narrow focus is both the strength and the limit. I would allow 30–45 minutes, read the objects slowly, then continue through the Old Court House, riverfront and Main Bazaar. Visitors curious about Brooke history and women’s stories will get more from it than someone looking for a large interactive museum; the nearby heritage buildings make the short visit feel connected rather than isolated. [image: 1783908411999-ranee4-resized.jpg] Source: Brooke Museums / Jee Photography It is a central, walkable stop, with e-hailing easier than driving directly into the old-town lanes. Museum hours, admission arrangements and access to the Old Court House complex can change for events, maintenance or private functions, so check the operator’s current notice before planning the last stop of the day. Do not rely on an old ticket or hours listing when the complex is hosting a programme. [image: 1783908412193-ranee_mt_margaret.jpg] Source: Malaysia Traveller I would pair it with Brooke Dockyard or the river walk, using the route to ask what the official portraits leave out as well as what they preserve. That makes this a thoughtful short museum, not a royal-life postcard—and a good pause before the next Kuching street.

The pink building beside Kuching Waterfront is easy to mistake for another old shoplot. I would step inside before continuing the river walk: this small museum is where the city’s Chinese story stops being a backdrop and becomes a map of communities, languages and work. [image: 1783649189531-chinese-history-museum-front.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Graystravels The building’s own turn is part of the story. Built in 1912 as a court for the Chinese community, it later became a museum rather than disappearing into the commercial streets around it. Inside, the route moves through the Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew and Foochow presence in Sarawak, with dialects, instruments, photographs and everyday objects doing more work than a row of grand portraits. Those details explain why Carpenter Street, the riverfront and the old trading quarter feel culturally layered rather than simply colonial-looking. [image: 1783649189677-chinese-history-museum-angle.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Yeo Jiun Tzen I would allow 30–60 minutes, then walk to Tua Pek Kong Temple, Main Bazaar or Carpenter Street. It is a useful rainy-day stop and a gentle introduction for international visitors who want context before wandering the old town; anyone expecting a large, air-conditioned blockbuster museum may finish quickly. The free admission is a bonus, not a reason to build a whole day around it. [image: 1783649189851-chinese-history-museum-side.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Cmglee The museum sits in the Jalan Bazar/Waterfront area, so walking or e-hailing makes more sense than hunting for a doorway-side parking space. Public opening hours and holiday access have varied between listings; check the Sarawak Museum Department’s current notice before setting out, especially on a Monday or public holiday. A programme, maintenance work or a last-entry change can turn this into an exterior heritage stop. [image: 1783649189998-chinese-history-museum-old01.jpg] Source: Wikimedia Commons / Yeo Jiun Tzen I like it as the first quiet chapter of a Kuching old-town route: learn who shaped the streets, then go outside and read the names, temples and shopfronts with sharper eyes. Would you pair it with the river at sunset or with a slower daytime walk through Carpenter Street?

Most mornings, the smoke from Tua Pek Kong Temple rises before the Main Bazaar coffee shops open. That is the first sign that this temple lives to a different rhythm than the heritage trail that surrounds it. Standing at the corner of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, opposite the Chinese History Museum and a two-minute walk from the Kuching Waterfront, Tua Pek Kong Temple — also called Siew San Teng Temple — is widely regarded as the oldest Chinese place of worship in the city. No one knows the exact founding year, but Chinese temple associations and the Wikipedia entry date it before 1839, decades before James Brooke arrived in Sarawak. What started as a simple attap hut for early Hokkien and Teochew settlers grew through major renovations in 1856, 1863 and 1880 into the building you see today. [image: 1781230879510-img1-resized.jpg] Credit: 愛子棋枰 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) What gives this temple its near-legendary status among older Kuchingites is what it survived. The Great Fire of 1884 burned most of old Kuching's wooden shophouses to the ground — the temple stood. Japanese bombs fell across the city in 1941 — surrounding buildings collapsed, the temple kept standing. Local folklore credits its feng shui: backed by a gentle hill, facing the Sarawak River, the position was chosen deliberately by the original settlers. In 1871, the second White Rajah, Charles Brooke, issued the temple's first official land title — a rare recognition of a Chinese religious site by the Brooke administration. The document is still cited by local historians as one of the earliest land grants in Kuching's Chinese community records. [image: 1781230880238-img2.jpg] Credit: Damian Pankowiec / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) The main hall is dedicated to Tua Pek Kong, the God of Prosperity, flanked by Guan Yin and Kshitigarbha bodhisattvas. Business owners from the surrounding shophouses stop by especially on the 1st and 15th of the lunar calendar. You will see them light incense, cast divination blocks and burn joss paper in the courtyard. The temple also used the name Chong Swee Heng (崇瑞兴) in earlier records, a name tied to the Hokkien—Teochew communal trust that managed it. Inside, the carved wooden altar panels, ceramic roof ridges and red lanterns are not museum pieces — they are maintained by the same families whose grandparents worshipped here. The atmosphere is compact and layered: incense hangs in the air, the divination blocks clatter on the stone floor, and the occasional chant drifts from the side hall. [image: 1781230880711-img3-resized.jpg] Credit: Boonjinchung / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) You could walk past the entrance in fifteen seconds. Most people do, heading straight for the waterfront. But ten minutes inside — watching a shopkeeper ask for a blessing, noticing the soot pattern on the incense burner that has not moved in decades — tells you more about Kuching's Chinese community than any museum plaque. A few practical notes if you do step in. Entry is free and the temple is open roughly from 6 am to 6 pm daily, though there is no strict enforcement. Late afternoon around 5 pm brings good light through the doorway. Dress respectfully — shoulders covered is the norm. Photography is fine, but pause when someone is actively praying. The busiest days are the 1st and 15th of each lunar month; quieter on regular weekdays. The temple sits about 200 metres from the main waterfront path, making it an effortless detour on any old-town walk. [image: 1781230881352-img4-resized.jpg] Credit: Flickr / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY) Would this temple stand out if it were in Penang or Singapore? Probably not. But in Kuching, where the oldest surviving Chinese structure shares a block with a 1927 fire station and a colonial courthouse, it anchors the old town's timeline. You don't need 30 minutes here. Ten is enough — long enough to smell the incense and let the history catch up with you.

A kopitiam that has survived nearly six decades — and still serves its char siew, steamed chicken and Hainanese coffee the old-school way. Just five days before Christmas in 1968, Ann Loke Hui Cafe was officially registered on Jalan Sekama. Almost 60 years later, it is still going strong under the Hua family. [image: 1780016782710-ann-loke-hui-01.jpg] John Hua (right) and his 83-year-old mother Chai Lan Jin at their coffee station. Today, 56-year-old John Hua runs the business, taking over from his father Hua Kia Jin in 2001. His father ran the cafe for 33 years before passing away at 64. His mother, now 83, still helps in the kitchen. What makes this place special? The cafe was at its busiest during the Lido Theatre era — cinema-goers would flood in before and after shows. Many regulars still come in today, reminiscing about those days. Signature dishes: steamed chicken, char siew, three-layer pork with savoury rice, meat curry rice, kueh teow in tomato sauce, and traditional Hainan coffee served in vintage kopitiam cups. [image: 1780016787269-ann-loke-hui-02.jpg] Meat curry rice and pork with savoury rice — Hainanese staples. Old habits die hard here. They still use old newspapers as takeaway wrappers — a tradition dating back decades. [image: 1780016787451-ann-loke-hui-03.jpg] Coffee served in vintage cups and newspaper wrappers — unchanged through the years. "It would otherwise go to waste," John explains about the newspaper practice. The Hua family hopes to pass the cafe to the next generation. John's children already help out, and the memorabilia on the walls tells the story of a kitchen that hasn't changed its ways for six decades. Location: Jalan Sekama, Kuching Hours: 10.30am - 2pm daily, closed Sundays Contact: 019-889 6101 Source: DayakDaily Ever been to Ann Loke Hui? What old-school kopitiam in Kuching do you still visit?