Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
Gunung Gading National Park is 85km northwest of Kuching.
Four public buses a day link Kuching Sentral long-distance bus station with Lundu, but
from there you'll either have to walk north 2.5km to the park, or hire an unofficial taxi
(about RM5 per person).
A tour from Kuching costs about RM230 per person including lunch (minimum two
people) - for a group, that's much more than chartering a taxi for the day (about RM250).
Sematan
The quiet fishing town of Sematan, Sarawak's westernmost town, serves as the gateway to
Tanjung Datu National Park. The nearby Indonesian border - yes, those forested moun-
tains are in Kalimantan - is not (yet) open to tourists.
Sights & Activities
A grassy north-south
promenade
lines the waterfront, where a concrete
pier
affords won-
derful views of the mouth of the river, its sand banks and the very blue, very clear South
China Sea. The deserted beaches of
Telok Pugu
, a narrow spit of land across the mouth
of the Sematan River from Sematan's jetty, can be reached by boat (RM30 return).
At the northern end of the row of stores facing the waterfront, check out the shop called
Teck Huat
(shops 1, 2 & 3)
, which hasn't changed in over a century. Built of
belian
, it
still has wooden shutters instead of windows.
The sands of shallow
Pantai Sematan
, clean and lined with coconut palms, stretch
along the coast northwest of town. It is home to several resorts that fill up with
Kuchingites on the weekends.
Sleeping
Sematan Hotel $
( 013-828 1068, 082-711162; 162 Sematan Bazaar; d RM50; )
The nine very basic
rooms, all upstairs, have tile floors and rudimentary furnishings. Bathrooms are attached
HOTEL
