Sarawak - Borneo - page 258

( http://kuching.anglican.org ; 6am-6pm Mon-Sat, to 7pm Sun) Facing Padang Merdeka
(Independence Sq), with its huge and ancient kapok tree , Kuching's Anglican cathedral
(1954) has a mid-20th-century look and, inside, a bright red barrel-vaulted ceiling. The
main gate is usually closed, so enter from Jln McDougall, named after Kuching's first
Anglican bishop, who arrived here in 1848.
At the top of the hill, on the other side of the new Parish Centre (opened in 2012) from
the cathedral, stands the Bishop's House . Kuching's oldest building, it was constructed in
1849 - with admirable solidness - by a German shipwright.
Tucked away in a corner of the Anglican compound, behind the Verger's Quarters, is
the Old Anglican Cemetery , a number of whose tombs - there are just a few dozen - go
back to the 1840s. Some are finely carved in granite while others are just weathered
wooden planks; several belong to infants.

KITSCH

Cat Statues
It's just a coincidence that in Bahasa Malaysia, Kuching means 'cat' (spelled 'kucing'),
but the city fathers have milked the homonym for everything it's worth, branding
Sarawak's capital as the 'Cat City' and erecting a number of marvellously kitschy cat
statues to beautify the urban landscape.
The Cat Fountain Offline map Google map (Jln Tunku Abdul Rahman) is an ensemble of
polychrome cats who pose and preen opposite the Hotel Grand Margherita Kuching. On
the roundabout at the corner of Jln Padungan and Jln Chan Chin Ann, the Cat Column
features four cats around the bottom and four Rafflesia flowers near the top - the latter are
just below the cat-adorned shield of the South Kuching municipality. And the Great Cat
of Kuching Offline map Google map (Jln Padungan) , a 2½m-high white pussycat with blue
eyes and wire whiskers, is perched at the eastern end of Jln Padungan, on a traffic island
just outside the Chinese ceremonial gate.

MUSEUM

Cat Museum
( www.dbku.sarawak.gov.my ; Jln Semariang, Bukit Siol; admission free, camera/video
RM3/5; 9am-5pm) A veritable shrine to feline kitsch, this homage to the city's name
features hundreds of entertaining, surprising and bizarre kucing (cat) figurines - some the
size of a cow, others tiny, ubercute and very Japanese - alongside learned presentations on
'Cats in Malay Society' and 'Cats in Chinese Art'. The cafeteria, used by council workers,
is quite good.