Kuching

The waterfront, Bako, Semenggoh and a longhouse in four days

Four days suit Kuching. Spend the first in town with Sarawak laksa, Main Bazaar, Carpenter Street and the Borneo Cultures Museum. Give the second to Bako National Park, be at Semenggoh for the morning orangutan feeding on the third, and keep the fourth for Mount Santubong, a river kayak or a longhouse night.

Eat Sarawak laksa early, before the good shops run out, then walk Main Bazaar and Carpenter Street while the shutters go up. The Borneo Cultures Museum fills the hot middle of the day and gives you the background on Sarawak's Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and Malay communities. In the late afternoon, take a tambang across to Fort Margherita, then come back for sunset on the waterfront with the Astana lit up opposite.

Leave town early for the jetty at Kampung Bako, confirm your return boat with the boatman, and walk one of the coastal trails before the heat builds. Proboscis monkeys are most active around the park headquarters early and late.

On day three, be at Semenggoh for the morning feeding, then head north to the Sarawak Cultural Village at Damai, where traditional houses of the state's main peoples stand around a lake. Spend the evening over seafood at a food court in town.

Keep day four flexible: climb Mount Santubong if you are fit, kayak the river, or go out to Annah Rais for a night in a Bidayuh longhouse with rice wine and jungle walks.

Kuching breakfasts of Sarawak laksa, kolo mee and midin

Breakfast is Kuching's best meal. Sarawak laksa is a reddish, gently sour broth of spice paste and coconut milk over rice vermicelli with prawns and chicken, and the good shops run out early. Kolo mee, springy egg noodles tossed in lard and shallot oil, is the everyday alternative.

It is breakfast food, and the famous shops sell out by late morning.

Kolo mee is the everyday alternative: springy egg noodles tossed in lard and shallot oil, topped with slices of red roast pork and minced meat, eaten in the kopitiams that open at dawn. Order a cup of Sarawak coffee with it, or a White Lady, a sweet, milky fruit drink that comes in yellow or pink.

Later in the day, look for midin, a crunchy jungle fern stir-fried with belacan or garlic, and Iban-style ayam pansuh, chicken cooked inside a bamboo tube. The seafood courts around Jalan Padungan, such as Top Spot on a car-park rooftop, are the evening favourite: choose your fish and prawns from the ice and say how you want them cooked.

Take home a slab of kek lapis, Sarawak's striped layer cake, and a bag of Sarawak pepper. In the more local places English is thin, so point and smile.

Where to see proboscis monkeys and orangutans near Kuching

Bako National Park is the place near Kuching for proboscis monkeys, which feed around the park headquarters and in the mangroves early and late in the day. For orangutans, go to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre south of the city, which has a morning and an afternoon feeding. June to August gives the calmest boat crossings to Bako.

Bearded pigs root around the chalets and long-tailed macaques patrol the canteen, so keep food and bags closed. The park is reached only by boat from Kampung Bako, under an hour's drive from town, and the boats run to the tides; confirm your return time before you set off and be back at the beach on time.

Trails range from short loops to the bays near headquarters to full-day hikes across the sandstone plateau. Start walking by eight and carry plenty of water.

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, south of the city, has a morning and an afternoon feeding, when semi-wild orangutans may swing in from the forest. In the fruit season they often stay away because food is plentiful, so go with modest expectations and follow the rangers' instructions about distance.

Timing helps. June to August, the driest stretch, gives the calmest crossings to Bako and the firmest trails, while the monsoon from November to February brings rough water and mud. Gawai Dayak, the harvest festival on 1 June, is a good time to visit a longhouse if you are invited.