Learning about the wild men of Borneo ... in Chiang Mai

The old teak house and former home to The Borneo Company is now part of the 137 Pillars House boutique hotel. — Photos: DAVID BOWDEN

Fortuitously, in a matter of days, I visited the Rajah Brooke’s Museum in Kuching, Sarawak and then travelled to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. The museum provides a wonderful background on members of the Brooke Family, who ruled over Sarawak from 1841 to 1946 as the White Rajahs.

The family’s legacy forms the basis of a tour around the historic heart of Kuching. The tour takes in landmark colonial buildings such as Fort Margherita, which houses the Rajah Brooke’s Museum, the Astana (the governor’s residence), the Square Fort, and the Sarawak Museum.