Kuching, Competition and Trip - by Aina

Kuching, Sarawak

In May 2011, I went to Kuching, Sarawak for a Malaysia international competition, Imagine Cup. It’s a Microsoft's premier student technology competition that bringing together student innovators from all around the world. This competition is fully sponsored by Microsoft Malaysia from flight tickets, transportations, hotel rooms and even food. So, my team and I just went there brought our clothes, some pocket money to buy souvenirs and most importantly our presentation materials. We went there for 3 days and 2 nights. Our journey was accompanied by our supervisors and another 2 teams from our university.

At KLIA

We gathered early at 6.30am at our university and took a bus that provided by our university to go to KLIA. The journey from KLIA to Kuching Airport only took about 1 hour 45 minutes by flight. We took flight from KLIA at 10.05am and arrived at Kuching at 11.50am. We received a warm welcome from Imagine Cup's crews. We felt like we walked on red carpet that surrounded by guards, photographers and cameramen. Not only our team that just arrived but there were another teams from different universities. 

Upper view of Sarawak

From the airport, we took bus that provided by the crews to go to Pullman Hotel. At first, we thought that the bus will sent us to our staying hotel but our thought was wrong. The hotel was not for our staying but it was where the competition took place. We needed to prepare our booth by finishing it on the day of our arrival. Luckily, we sent a representative from our team to check in the hotel rooms at Grand Margherita Hotel. Our luggage was dropped by the crews at the hotel lobby of our staying. At 5.00pm, there was a briefing about the competition. We finished our booth preparation around 6.15pm. It is too tired because we had to rush finished our booth on that day. We had to finish it early because we got opening ceremony and BBQ dinner later at 7.30pm.

Room at Grand Margherita Hotel

Back view from our hotel room

We walked back to our staying hotel, Grand Margherita Hotel. The road distance from Pullman Hotel to our staying hotel took about 10 minutes walking. Our staying hotel is nice and beautiful hotel. The hotel room is comfortable and clean, and the service is great. After a short rest, we were ready for the dinner.

A la carte dinner at opening ceremony

Opening ceremony

Imagine Cup Malaysia 2011

On the second day, we took breakfast at Grand Margherita Hotel at 6.00am. Then, we walked to Pullman Hotel where the competition was held. We completed our presentation on the real competition's day. Besides that, we visited other booths of teams, gained new knowledge and met new friends. The competition's event was finished around 5.30pm. After the hectic day, we went back to our hotel to get ready for closing ceremony at Pullman Hotel at 7.30pm. Winners of the competition were announced at the closing ceremony. Congratulations to all the winners! 

My team and our booth

Closing ceremony

UPM's team

On our last day at Kuching, we had to check out from the hotel at 8.00am. After check out, we departed to Sarawak Cultural Village. The village is like a living museum that displays Sarawak's heritage, ethnicity and handicraft. After the visiting, we rushed back to Kuching Airport for our scheduled flight at 5.50pm. Although it is a short trip, we were very happy and excited for this journey. It is a new and great experience.

At Sarawak Cultural Village

Sarawak's cultural performance

With new friends