Many tourists like to visit Kuching city, fondly known as the Cat city in Sarawak, Malaysia. Some tourists come on their own based on Lonely Planet guide recommendations of where to go, see and experience. What better ways to experience the city than through a local person's recommendations.

1. Upon checking in at the hotel in the morning, go for a Kuching city tour. If you follow one of those guided tour, the tour will bring you to the top of Civic Centre Tower for a panoramic view of Kuching city skyline, Sarawak Museum to learn about the past histories and then drive past the gigantic Cat Monument. Many tourists would stop by to take pictures. If you come during the Chinese New Year, the Cat could be seen wearing a traditional Chinese costume. If you come during the Ramadhan month where the muslims celebrate Hari Raya, the Cat would be wearing a green Malay costume. You will also get a glimpse of Kuching South city council, drive through Chinatown, visit Sarawak's older Taoist Temple, Catholic church, pass through the Malay village and then visit the old State Mosque with 5 golden domes.

2. Next, you will go to one of those famous Sarawak Pottery Factory. If you visit it in the morning, you may get a chance to see the skilled workers carving the lamp, vase and etc. The tour will then end at Kuching Waterfront where most of the pre-colonial buildings are situated.

3. Next, you will go for souvenir shopping at Waterfront or along Gambier Road. You may even chance upon some antiques that you like to buy home.

4. In the afternoon, go visit Semenggoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. You may want to check with your guide or the travel agent counter the feeding time of these orang utans so that you can catch them in action.

5. You will then come back to city and have your dinner at Topspot Seafood Restaurant. There are several seafood centre for you to choose from. The dishes that you MUST order are stir fried midin, a local jungle fern stir fried with belacan, a type of prawn paste, bamboo clam fried in curry powder and oyster pancake.

6. The next day, you will have the famous Sarawak Laksa for breakfast. You can easily find stalls selling them at any of the coffee shops in the city. The food is spicy. If you cannot eat spicy food, then you are recommended to have Sarawak kolok mee for breakfast.

7. Then you will set off to Sarawak Cultural Village and spend the whole morning there. As it is almost an hour drive from the city, you are recommended to take shuttle service to there. You may purchase the shuttle service ticket at Grand Margherita Hotel entrance. Otherwise, you can easily inquire from the hotel receptionist. When you have reached Sarawak Cultural Village, do visit the various ethnic houses and do not miss the cultural performances. You should be back in the city by noon time.

8. You will then have stir fried tomato noodles for lunch. It is a specialty dish available only in Sarawak.

9. Next, you may want to go for a foot massage by this blind masseur located beside Mc Donald outlet opposite Grand Margherita Hotel. The service is not expensive.

10. Then you head for dinner at any of the fine city restaurants in Kuching. Some of my recommended restaurants are Jambu Air, Magenta and several others.

After an evening of fine dining, you will head back to hotel to catch a flight home the next day.

Mukah, located in Central Sarawak is slowly emerging into an important coastal town with a bright future. Its population are mainly Melanau where they are know as the sago-eating tribe. Kuching city on the other hand is located at the Western tip of Sarawak. There are many ways to go to Mukah and one can go to Mukah either by car, plane from or by boat from Sibu. It takes over 5 hours to reach Mukah from Sibu.

The local Melanaus in Mukah, Sarawak recently celebrated the Kaul Festival (Pesta Kaul). It was a myriad of events with more than 10,000 people attending it. This festival is unique to the Melanaus is held every year around the month of March to April. Kaul Festival is a thanksgiving festival to appease the spirits of the farms, forests, land and sea. The Melanaus would express their gratitude to the spirits for keeping them safe through the monsoon season. They are also expressing their desire for an abundance of fishes caught on their fishing journeys.

The main highlights in the event is the "tibau", a traditional giant swing 20 feet high. Young people would daringly dive down to catch a swinging rope. This is obviously not for the faint hearted. Graceful dancers also performed at the event with their traditional alu-alu dance. Sri Ritma won the first prize with rm2,000 prize money. Other activities included martial arts demonstrations and parade by local community leaders. It is at this event that you get to witness the many facets of the Melanau community.

The most famous dish from Mukah would be the umai dish, which is a raw fish delicacy prepared out of raw fish and consumed in the form of salad. Several different types of raw fishes are used for preparing Umai. You can either have it plain, sliced fish with spicy chili sauce or raw fish mixed with lime juice, sliced onions, chilies, sugar and salt. The other popular dish would be the sago pellet.

Come visit Mukah and learn about culture and their uniqueness.

Ethnic tribes in Sarawak considered clay beads a mystical item. Each tribe's unique and differences are reflected in how they string the beads together. New born babies wear bead anklets to mean another set of protective eyes to protect them from evil. Beads are commonly sewn into clothing or a beaded collar for iban's jackets or dresses to be worn on special festivities or occasions like weddings or other grand ceremony.

A Bidayuh's main costume is black and red, with the beads adding colours to it. Women's dance costumes have colourful beads embroidered into the colourful artworks of black and red velvet.

Beads signify wealth and status of the Melanaus and Bidayuhs. These beads include rare antique beads from the Middle East, Venice and China which dated back to centuries ago ie. that ancient traders have traded here in Sarawak.

The natives in wearing these beads would include a wild boar tooth for strength and responsibility or a brass bell for women wearers, to protect the wearer from harm. Beads are passed down from generation to generation, and like an asset, its value increases over time. Mothers collect beads from the time their child was born. A man may also use beads as a dowry when he wants to get married. The type and numbers of beads that a man owns reflect his worth and status in society.

The Lun Bawang tribe in Sarawak, also known as Orang Ulu (the Ulu People) are famous for their beadworks. The Lun Bawang tribe from a village called Long Tuma located at the northern tip of Sarawak produces their own ceramic beads to decorate their baby carriers, women handbags and sun hats,bracelets,anklets, belts and others.

Most of the Lun Bawang tribe stays in Lawas, a 4 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Those Lun Bawang women uses their creative skills to make beadworks from clay and sell it to tailor shops in the city.

Long Tuma's history dates back since the Brooke era. Most of the women in the village are involved in producing ceramic beads for necklaces, bracelets and other clay based accessories as a source of income for them. The government of Sarawak through the Development of Rural Industrial Programme has commercialized the bead making skills of the Lun Bawang people through exhibitions and expositions around Sarawak. These beads are attractive to Bruneian tourists. Lawas is located quite near Brunei. Hence, the tourists would frequent the village to purchase the beadworks. The government has exported these beads to Sabah, West Malaysia and overseas.

Diving for me means; explore a breathtaking new world, experience breathing under water, seeing many different kinds of beautiful creatures and have fun with your buddy. For all of these elements you will have to dive at the right location with the right person. Here is a list with 10 of best places to dive worldwide.

1. Pulau Sipidan: Pulau Sipidan (what means Island Sipidan) is situated on the east coast of Sabah and the north coast of Borneo and is by far the best dive place. The island can be visited by a limited number of people. Make sure you make a clear reservation and make sure you have all the required papers carrying with you when you will visit the island. The underwater world is filled with many turtles, lobsters, rays, barracuda's, coral fishes, white tipped sharks and if you are very lucky you can see a hammerhead and more.

2. Pulau Mabul: Pulau Mabul is located nearby the island Sipidan. From Sipidan you can reach the island in 25 minutes by boat. You dive along steep walls with beautiful corals and on the other side you see a dark endless hole. In the steep walls you will see many lion fishes, turtles and all kinds of fishes. I think it also is a good place to start your PADI dive course.

3. Hurghada - Egypt is a very beautiful place to dive, especially the coast in front of the city Hurghada. Here are many manta's, colorful coral reefs, napoleon fishes, moray eels, sharks and turtles. And if you are taking a boat trip and you are lucky, you might get to see some dolphins.

4. Belize - Belize is situated on Mexico and Guatemala and it has a coast of 280 kilometers which is the second largest barrier reef in the world. Over here you can see nurse sharks, (which I think are great!) rays, turtles, canyons, sponges, soft coral species, tarpons and angel fish. You really have to experience this! It really makes you feel unreal and dreamy.

5. Great Barrier Reef - The Great Barrier Reef is located in the Coral sea, east of the state Queensland and is the biggest coral reef in the world. In this place, every dive is an adventure! The many colorful fishes, manta's, sharks and the amazing amount of coral is indescribable. Henron Island is the place to be for divers and snorkelers. It is part of the Great Barrier Reef and mainly divers and nature lovers come here because, the sea turtles are laying their eggs over here and in June and July you can see humpback whales swimming in front of the coast. That truly is an experience you will never forget.

6. Lanzarote - Diving in Lanzarote is a great place to dive! I think it is a special place because in front of the coast are many reefs and spots where you can dive such as the Homereef, Timanfaya Reef and Cathedral. Here you can make a cavern dive that is almost 15 meters high and wide on a depth of 30 meters, I think it is amazing. Furthermore there is a variety of fishes such as angel sharks, moray eels and many squids.

7. The Galapagos Islands - The Galapagos Islands is a beautiful place to dive but you really must have dive experience because on the Gorden Rocks is a heavy current. The dive schools over there will not give you any kind of equipment unless you can prove how many dives you have made. The minimum dives you must have done is 30. But ones you are in the water, you can see hammerheads, sea turtles, stingrays, eagle rays, sharks and sea lions.

8. Scapa Flow - Scapa Flow is located on the north east coast of Scotland and offers many shipwrecks left over from World War One. The many ships are close by the surface and the depth is about 15 meters so everyone can do a dive in here. The visibility is excellent over here and it is a great opportunity to do a wreck dive.

9. Fiji's - Fiji has many islands that offer great places to dive such as the Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni and Kadavu. On Viti Levua you can do cave dives, cavern dives and wreck dives.

10. Mauritius - The best time to dive on Mauritius is from October to April because the weather and the temperature of the water are more pleasant. If you are a diver and you are on Mauritius, you should go to 'Serpent Rank'. In every little corner you will see an eel or moray, sometimes they are 3 meters long. There are also many scorpions, lion fishes and stone fishes. At Grand Baie in the North is a vulcanic crater, that is often visited by sharks and rays.

SABAH is Malaysia's premier nature adventure destination situated in the northern tip of Borneo Island, the third largest island in the world. Sabah is popular for its wildlife conservation attractions, rain forest, surrounding nature and islands, beach resorts, tropical white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, and its warm and friendly people. If you are thinking of visiting Borneo, these places of interest and activities will whet your appetite!

Mount Kinabalu

Let me begin with my favorite place and definitely not to be missed if you are visiting Borneo, Mt. Kinabalu (4,093m). It is the summit of Borneo and the tallest mountain in South East Asia. This mountain is sacred to the locals. Thousands from around the world have trekked to its peak. At the feet of this mountain is Kinabalu National Park, a botanical paradise where rare plants are found: rare orchids, nepenthes pitcher plants and the rafflesia, the largest flower in the world.

Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre

If you haven’t heard yet, the most popular native of Borneo is the Orang Utan. The world-famous Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre enables visitors to come in close contact with these amazing animals. This sanctuary allows visitors to witness an exciting conservation programme in action. Set in 43 square km of beautiful rainforest, the sanctuary helps once captive Orang Utans learn to fend for themselves in the wild. Watch how these orphaned Orang Utans being taught to climb, and then go to a platform where you can witness them coming in from within the forest for their daily meals of milk and bananas.

Danum Valley Rain Forest

If nature is close to your heart, then this next destination I am going to introduce you is a must visit, Danum Valley. Danum Valley is nestled deep in the rain forest of Borneo where nature is at its most pristine. As you travel deeper and deeper into the jungle, you will suddenly come across a magical paradise of the Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL), erected overlooking the magnificent setting of the Segama River and flanked by tall hill ranges. BRL is an impressive resort, designed by naturalists and built on stilts using traditional timber materials, and has the comfort of a 3-Star Hotel. I totally recommend Danum Valley to those who yearn to see wildlife in a primeval Borneo rainforest - the rare Sumatran rhino, proboscis monkeys, Orang Utan, elephants and over 275 species of birds.

Tunku Abdul Rahman Island Park

When you think you have enough of sightseeing and you want to take a day’s break idling around to charge your energy, then I suggest you take a 30-minute boat trip to Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. The park is made up of five beautiful islands and is a well-known sanctuary where peace and tranquility prevails. The tropical white sandy beaches are ideal for relaxing and tanning. The crystal clear water is fantastic if you fancy snorkeling or watching the sea lives and corals. The park is also a great spot for a BBQ picnic under the long hours of golden sunshine. Other activities include windsurfing, fishing, parasailing, kayaking and bird watching.

Golfing Holidays

If golf is your sport, then try the numerous high quality golf courses in Sabah. One of the courses as described by its designer - “I had to create a masterpiece by combining the natural splendor of the mountains and the seas, with ingenious architecture, and create a first class championship course to provide an enjoyable, yet challenging game for top professional golfers and amateurs alike" - Graham Marsh. Enough words said for the quality of golf courses here.

White-Water Rafting

For the true adventure seeker looking for an adrenaline-pumping activity, Sabah offers some of the most exhilarating thrills in the world. My scariest experience, only because I am not a good swimmer, is white-water rafting down the Padas River (a grade-3 river). Whilst trying to negotiate the rapids along this raging river for a distance of about 5 kilometers, do enjoy the breathtaking view that the surrounding rain forest does offer. However, be warned, don’t take your eyes off the rapids and waves too long!

Scuba Diving

Off the North Eastern coast of Borneo lies a tiny jewel of an island, Sipadan, with a marine ecosystem so perfect and unique that it is world renowned as one of the best dive spots in the world. Sipadan Island rises as a pristine Coral Sea mount, 650 meters from the floor of the Sulawesi Sea. This pinnacle off the eastern coast of Borneo is an oceanic magnet for marine life. As soon as you enter the crystal clear waters of Sipadan Island, you’ll understand why you have endured a journey that has taken you halfway around the world. As you begin to descend into this tropical water, you'll also understand why the World Wildlife Fund says, "No other spot on the planet has more marine life than this island."