kuching city at nite....

officially the City of Kuching,^[8] and formerly the City of Sarawak, is the capital and most populous city of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. The city covers an area of 719 sq miles (1,863 km²) and has an estimated population of 1 million of 2012.
Kuching is one of the two subsets of the Kuching Proper subdistrict, the other subset being part of the Padawan municipality. Kuching Proper is one of the three subdistricts in the Kuching District, which is one of the three districts in the Kuching Division...
More than 150 years ago, Sarawak was essentially Kuching. Kuching was known as Sarawak first, then the word Proper, was added to Sarawak, thus Sarawak Proper, so as to distinguish it from the larger Sarawak which, in 1841, consisted of only the area between Tanjung Datu, and the Samarahan River.^[9] On 12 August 1872, Sarawak Proper was given its present name, Kuching, under the rule of the second Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Brooke.^[10]
Kuching was named after a tidal stream called Kuching River (Sungai Kuching) that ran between the present-day Tua Pek Kong Temple, and Chinese History Museum. The stream originated from Cat's Eye Hill (Bukit Mata Kuching) where there was an abundance of a local fruit called Green Longan (Isau, Dimocarpus longan ssp malesianus), vernacularly known as Cat's Eye (Mata Kuching).^[9] In 1928, the stream was filled up to make way for the construction of Temple Street (Lebuh Temple)..
Kuching is the third capital of Sarawak, founded by the representative of the Sultan of Brunei, Pengiran Indera Mahkota in 1827. Prior to the founding of Kuching, the two past capitals of Sarawak were Santubong, founded by Sultan Pengiran Tengah in 1599, and Lidah Tanah, founded by Datu Patinggi Ali in the early 1820s...
Sarawak was a part of the Sultanate of Brunei before it was ceded to British adventurer James Brooke, who ruled it as his personal kingdom from 24 September 1841. The official declaration was not made until 18 August 1842. Brooke took over as a reward for helping to bring about a peaceful settlement facing Bidayuh uprising against the Sultan of Brunei.
Kuching became the seat of the Brooke government and underwent remarkable changes. As the administrative capital, it was the focus of attention and development. Some of the first things James Brooke did was to introduce a code of laws and build his residence on a site at the northern bank of the Sarawak River.^{[citation needed]} The present-day Astana (Palace), which is now the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak, is next to the original Brooke building.
Under James Brooke, piracy and headhunting were banned and law and order enforced. However, Kuching remained cramped and lacking in facilities. It was not until 1868 when Charles Brooke became the Second Rajah that greater efforts were made to upgrade the town. Drainage was improved, new buildings and streets sprang up and old shophouse...
During the Second World War, six platoons of infantry from 2/15 Punjab Regiment were stationed at Kuching. Kuching would be defended because of its airfield, and because its occupation by the enemy would give access to the important Dutch airfield at Singkawang II, sixty miles to the southwest and only some 350 miles from Singapore.^[12]
Kuching was surrendered to the Japanese forces on 24 December 1941, and Sarawak was part of the Japanese Imperial Empire for three years and eight months, until the official Japanese surrender on 11 September 1945, on board HMAS Kapunda at Kuching. From March 1942, the Japanese operated a POW and civilian internee Batu Lintang camp, three miles (5 km) outside Kuching.^[13]
After the end of World War II the third and last Rajah, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke ceded Sarawak to the British Crown in 1946. Kuching was revitalised as the capital of Sarawak under the British Colonial Government...

Museums

The old Sarawak Museum was built by Rajah Charles Brooke in 1891 and modelled on a town hall in Normandy

Kuching maintains several museums showcasing its culture and history. The Sarawak Museum, the oldest of its kind in Borneo, exhibits collections on the natural history of Sarawak. Directly opposite the Sarawak Museum is the Dewan Tun Abdul Razak which serves as an exhibition venue and the office of the Sarawak Museum Department. Located right behind Dewan Tun Abdul Razak is the Sarawak Islamic Museum.
Other museums in Kuching include the Chinese History Museum, the Kuching Cat Museum, the Sarawak Timber Museum and the Sarawak Textile Museum. Kuching is also home to the first ever planetarium in Malaysia, the Sultan Iskandar Planetarium adjacent to the Kuching Civic Centre..

OLD COURT HOUSE

Sir James Brooke, the first Rajah of Sarawak...

 

 

 

KUCHING WATERFROONT

Here sum place u hav 2 visit if ur comin 2 sarawak...

SARAWAK CULTURAL VILLAGE

known as the Living Museum, The Sarawak Cultural Village is a showcase for Sarawa's rich cultural diversity. Visitors to the Village can sample instant Sarawak all in one single place. The Cultural Village built on a six hectares site at the foothill of the legendary Mt Santubong is 35 kilometres from Kuching City and is a stone's throw away from Damai beach resort...
   surrounded by 7 authentic replicas of ethnic houses: the Bidayuh centre house and longhouse, the Than longhouse, the Penan hut, the Orang Ulu longhouse, the Melanau Rumah Tinggi, the Malay house and the Chinese farmhouse...