Padungan is Kuching's most characterful neighbourhood — the area southeast of the historic centre where the most interesting coffee shops, newer restaurants, and bars have congregated. It retains the shophouse architecture of the colonial era but with an active street life that the more tourist-oriented Main Bazaar no longer has. The Padungan road and its side streets are the place to find Sarawak laksa (a complex spiced noodle broth that locals consider the definitive Kuching dish), kolo mee at basic coffee shops, and the cat sculptures that have become Kuching's informal mascots.
Walking Padungan in the morning — following the coffee smell from one shophouse to the next — is one of the better ways to spend time in Kuching without it feeling like tourism. The Sunday morning market at Satok, a short distance away, draws a mostly local crowd and sells jungle produce, dried fish, live animals, and household goods alongside the usual food stalls.