Perahu Tambang

One can get to see lotsa perahu tambang (traditional boat) or teksi sungai (River Taxi or Cab) on the Sarawak River in Kuching Waterfront. Kuching is divided into two parts (Northern & Southern Kuching), by the Sarawak River. Nowadays, most of the government departments are located in the Northern Kuching Region. The fare to cross the Sarawak River with this perahu tambang is only RM 0.30 per person. It is more expensive at night time with the price of RM 1 per person.

These perahu tambangs are brightly painted with different colours ~ yellow, green and pink, with advertisement on the roof as well :)


These boats bring the passengers across the Sarawal River, and most of the time, they were busy. Most people cross from one side of the river to the other for work purposes/school or just for pleasure/fun (just like what I do !!). Lotsa tourists took these perahu tambang as well. It's a nice experience to cross the river with the perahu tambang for those who never experienced taking or sitting in boats before.


The photos above show passengers taking the perahu tambang. One has to step into the boat carefully or else might drop into the river if stepped wrongly. Hahaha... what I mean is, the boat is "parked" near the jetty, and there's no proper "steps"or "ways" to go into the boat as u can see from the picture :) U just have to be careful, and watch out your steps.

This is the view taken from the other side of the river (from the Northern Region). Yeah, I crossed the river as well ;) Can see the Square Tower and Watch Tower from this photo.

I can see lotsa fishing boats as well besides the perahu tambang.

Besides using the boats, there's other way to cross the river as well, which is by road~ The road is located at the other side of the town.

Fellow blogger Agustus wrote a post on perahu tambang not long ago on his blog as well :)
Just a side note : I noticed Jellyfish commented there that he was so ulu (= katak di bawah tempurung) cos that's his first encounter with perahu tambang. So, Jellyfish, since this is your second encounter, so u are no longer ulu already :P