Kuching Cat Museum

The weekend before we travelled back to the UK we went to Kuching in Malaysia for another friend's wedding.  Unbelievably after four years in Singapore this was my first visit to Malaysia!  Obviously we were there primarily for the wedding and although we had planned to travel so we had a day for a little exploring beforehand we ended up travelling the evening before the wedding and back again the day afterwards.  I clearly need to return again at some point to experience a bit more of here and other parts of Malaysia.

In-between the celebrations and travelling back to Singapore we did manage to squeeze one thing in though, a visit to the cat museum in Kuching.  If you know me or have read any of the blog you might have realised I am a bit of a cat lover.  We have our own cat here in Singapore and I've lived with cats all my life, so when I found out we were going to Kuching and read about the cat museum I suggested to my husband that we ought to go and visit.

Entrance to the cat museum

The name Kuching is actually derived from the Malay word for cat, kucing, so it seems appropriate for a cat museum to be there.  We took a taxi from our hotel to the museum which is actually a little out of the main town in the Kuching North City Hall Headquarters.  When we booked the taxi our hotel asked if we wanted the driver to wait for us but we declined.  However, in hindsight, given its location if you decide to visit it may be a good idea to pre-arrange for your taxi to return or wait.  Luckily we managed to locate the Malaysian version of one of the many taxi booking apps available in Singapore and booked a taxi to pick us up through that! 

The museum is pretty kitsch and quirky (just look at that entrance in the photo above) and if you are not a cat fan then don't even think about going, it really is all about cats!  There are exhibits on everything and anything to do with cats, from cats in history, modern day famous cartoon and toy cats, looking after your cat, cats in art and everything else you can probably imagine.  It was bigger than I expected and there is a lot of information in the exhibits to read though and a lot to see.  Admittedly some of the exhibits look like they could do with a bit of a spruce up and an update, but perhaps that is part of the charm of the place.  There is also, of course, the obligatory cat themed gift shop at the end and yes I did get a little something as a memento.

I don't imagine I'd ever visit again if I were to find myself in Kuching but as a little quirky extra it was a fun and slightly random way to spend a morning!