Kuching Civic Centre & Planetarium

I was eager to escape the hazy conditions here in Miri, which suffocated me literally. I was going to KL, via Kuching as it was cheaper ..... and had a few hours to spare. So my personal tour guide was kind enough to pick me up from the airport.

My friend D brought me to the Kuching Civic Centre .... Well, I had not been here for a long, long time. Since I was in secondary school, really! And I do not think Kuching folks come here anymore, because the place is looking pretty rundown. It's such a pity really.

Where the library used to be is now a gymnasium ... and we did see a few people heading there. D and I had intended to go up to the viewing platform .... but the lift was closed, unfortunately.  Another set of rickety lifts brought us to the offices .... the lift was rather scary and I prayed that it would not break down!

Planetarium Sultan Iskandar is also located at the Kuching Civic Centre. It is the only planetarium at this part of the world, and when in secondary school, we had always enjoyed having our field trips here! Aah, the good old days .....

There was a show at 12.00 p.m. .... and we thought we'd go watch it. We made a simple enquiry at the booth ... and paid RM2.00 each to enter. While the staff got the film ready, we were asked to wait outside.

Models of the solar system inside the planetarium

Because there were only the two of us in the entire planetarium, we could pick where we wanted to sit. I thought we were watching a cartoon, entitled "Larry and the Cat" ... so I was surprised when we did not. We watched a short documentary about light pollution, and another on Google Lunar Xprize .... Both were informative.

We thanked the staff before we left. It's nice to re-visit this place after so many years .... it did bring back fond memories of my childhood .... but I was also sad to see this place in a dilapidated condition. I do hope the authorities do something about it .... and I am sure many tourists would enjoy the 360 degrees view of the wonderful city of Kuching, my hometown.