Durian Binge With Unker Ho

After we got back from the Cultural Village Unker Ho was kind enough to take us around town. He took us to eat kolo mee at Kenyalang and Unker Ho bought some dodgy DVD from the uncle ho there!

Later he took us to his house to meet his family. He has a beautiful family, his wife Frances is most hospitable and his daughter is as tall as him! We also got to meet Buddy the retriever he adopted but now wanted to give away because he's been a bad boy, digging up the garden!

Unker Ho knew I love eating durians and he had a few durians he pick up while kayaking down the rivers. I waited with great anticipation while he opened them. I haven't had a decent durian in 3 years!

First it must have that smell, that strong pungent aroma that only durians have. The one that will send some people scrambling, some say it smells like shit, some say it smells like garlic and some say it smells like gas but to me it smells HEAVENLY!

Next the taste test, it needs to have plenty of soft flesh but small seed inside. Has a bit of bitter aftertaste and texture has to be just right, mashy but not watery. Savour it in your mouth for that fantastic taste before swallowing!

Mmm.. Ahh.. Thats is perfection! The best tasting durians I've not had in 3 years! Good on you Unker Ho, lets enjoy the king of fruits, the fruits of the gods and I feel godly after eating these delicious durians!

After consuming all that delicious durians one can get a little 'heaty' so it is wise to drink some salted water, from the pod of the durian fruit of course! Just put a small amount of salt in the pod, pour in the water and stirr.

Drink it and you will not get too 'heated' tonight when you go to bed. Don't believe? Ask any durian lovers and they will all vouch for me. You must drink the salted water from a durian pod and not from a glass coz then it won't work!

Yum seng Unker Ho! You the man! Thanks for your great hospitality, too bad we didn't get to kayak together but there'll be other opportunity. Be sure to come visit me in Melbourne so I can return the favour!

Day 4: Sarawak Cultural Village

If you ever visit Kuching and don't have much time you should do what we did, visit the Sarawak Cultural Village. This place is a one stop shop to see all the different cultures that make up what is Sarawak today.

We paid RM40 for entrance but since the 1st of January and to take advantage of Visit Malaysia Year 2007, they've raised the fee to RM60! Here's a tip, if you're a Malaysian show your IC to get half price. You didn't hear this from me.

When we got there about 10.00 am it was pouring cats and dogs thus making it rather humid when we walk around the compound visiting the 7 different ethnic houses namely the Bidayuh house, Iban house, Penan house, Orang Ulu house, Melanau house, Malay house and Chinese house.

The village is situated on the foothill of Mount Santubong and the steamy heat from the nearby forest made me sticky all over. My shirt was permanently stuck to my body and the sensational of my sweaty and slippery ass cheeks rubbing against each other slippery slob while I walk is oh-so-uncomfortable!

Enough of my sweaty bums, here's the Bidayuh house where we watched a little demonstration inside. A guide was telling us story about what the Bidayuh people used to do and stuff like that which unfortunately has gone out my other ear!

We were also shown the art of all the different races like this lady here doing some weaving. I think they only do them when visitors come. When no one's around they'll stop. Its only for show mah!

One thing I noticed about the village is that they don't have enough guides around to show visitors around. We were basically left to wonder about ourselves and we just don't really know what we were looking at unless we ask whoever is in that particular house.

So yes, a guided tour would be nice but maybe they do have guided tours but we didn't know about it so we guided ourselves from house to house. I especially like this one with tall stilts. I think its the orang ulu house.

I like the melanau house also because of the tall stilts, gives a sense of security high up from the ground. I think thats what they were built for, defense against intruders in the olden days.

At the side of the melanau house we found some locals baking some sago biscuits I think. I had a taste of it but it didn't taste that great, a bit bland but I'm probably addicted to the sugary biscuits from Arnotts!

After we visited all the houses we went to watch the show in the theatre of the main building. It featured yes you guessed it, cultural dances from the different races like the Iban's Ngajat, Bidayuh's Langgi Julang and the Malay's Tarian Royong. I got them all on videos but I won't put them on coz your internet is still slow! Correct?

Day 3 In A Nutshell

We woke up after a good night sleep at Singgahsana and it was pouring monsoonal rain outside. Nevertheless we can't stay in the lodge all day so we decided to venture outside and experience Kuching in the wet.

Slowly and carefully we ducked from one shoplot to another waiting for the sky to clear while we enjoy what Kuching has to offer. Where we stayed is a very touristy place and everyone wanted to sell us something.

Lets see, I think we wondered into the old chinatown area, then Little India street which has been converted into a mall, even down to the wet market, the Kuching mosque and even the Sikh Temple where QV and his cousin KNB rescued us from the rain.

There's too many photos to show so I'll just show you a few interesting shots before you fall asleep. This picture of the Astana across the Sarawak River was taken from the wet market. Its a remnant of the old colonial times when Sarawak used to be an 'angmoh' colony.

QV and KNB took us to lunch at the famous but burnt down Sarawak Club where the restaurant still operates from the carpark! This picture was taken from the carpark, I can't remember the name of that building but its where Kenny Sia had his birthday bash.

We didn't know whats good here so QV and KNB ordered the lunch, we had kangkong which is my favourite veg, tofu, chicken and the famous butter prawns that had a lot of good reviews about. I want to thank KNB for paying for the lunch. Not only that but we had BBQ dinner at his house later in the evening too!

After lunch the 2 cousins took us on a tour around the museums. There's an aquarium next to the old museum where you don't have to pay an entrance fee to visit. Thats gotta be good for tourism!

This is the old museum and its still open to the public nowadays. There's still lots to see inside and its also free! Everything is free here, I have no complaint but lots of interesting stuff to look at.

Especially the skulls hanging inside a makeshift iban long house inside the museum. Those skulls' been there for as long I can remember. I wonder who the poor bugger is but at least can spend eternity as a tourist attraction!

Fast forward to the evening and the 2 cousins took us to KNB's house for a BBQ dinner. We got to meet their family especially C4STP who's been a constant commentor across the blogosphere. Everyone's a shrinking violet so I won't be posting their faces on the blog but I will post this picture of 'pork cake' which QV made! It tastes quite nice, like char siew pau!

After the BBQ we went to Chilax to meet up with the celebrity bloggers from Kuching namely Francis Ho from Kuching Kayaking, Robin Wong, Jeremy C, Kenneth Leong and another blogger who wished to remain totally anonymous! It was a real honour meeting all of you. We had a great night and adjourned to QV's hangout called Alex at some place I don't even know. That's Day 3 in a nutshell, want more?

Singgahsana

We arrived at Kuching International Airport just before 9.00 pm and it was quite a pleasant trip despite being a budget airline. I've heard bad comments about AirAsia and I was expecting crappy service and long delay which fortunately did not happen to us.

Despite what other people said, I flew a total of 4 AirAsia flights and only 1 was delayed by about half an hour so I guess that's not too bad considering the money I paid for some of the tickets; RM5 from KL to JB wor! (tax no count la)

Touching down at Kuching Airport I was totally unfamiliar with it though the last time I was here was only 3 years ago. Much had changed since then, they've given this place a complete make-over it actually look nice now!

Eventhough I was born and grew up in Sarawak, I still had to get my Australian passport stamped before they let me into the state. They only gave me 30 days before I'll have to get out!

When we cleared immigration, we searched the welcoming crowd for QuaVadis but we didn't know how he looks like! I said to Terese to just look for the biggest person in the crowd and boy, was I right! I will not be describing how he looks like nor post his picture on my blog since he wants to remain anonymous.

QuaVadis or QV drove us to our hotel which is the Singgahsana Lodge located in the heart of the city. This place is more like a backpacking lodge than a hotel and it attracts most guests from the western countries.

Though cheaper to stay in the bunk rooms we chose to stay in their 'honeymoon' room! What do you think? Lomantik onot? The whole place is decorated with native crafts and paintings and stuff which the 'angmohs' really find inviting.

You also have to take off your shoes to walk around the place so the place is always spotless. The only thing I didn't like about my stay there was that they don't clean our room, give us fresh towels and we had to eat the same breakfast everyday though they're free! Other than that, we're quite happy staying there.

They also have a rooftop entertainment area where you can chill out, have a drink at the bar, play pool, watch DVD or just hang out. Its very hippie and thats why its popular with a lot of shoe string travellers like us from around the world.

Day 2: The Driver From Hell

We arrived at lil' dot aka kiasuland aka Singapore around 11.10 pm local time but it was actually 2.10 am from where I came from so I was quite tired. From the moment we step out of the plane we felt like someone had thrown a bucket of warm water onto us coz the heat and the humidity took us quite by surprise. I've forgotten how sticky it can get over here.

After clearing immigration we had to wait a long time for the luggage because of some extra security precaution they had to take as was announced over the PA. They must've thought I was a terrorist or something coz I had to wait for my luggage long time. Finally we got our luggage and my brother who lives in Singapore was outside waiting patiently for us. He drove us home so we can crash the night at his place before our flight to Kuching the next day.

I had a sleepless night due to a different environment maybe but when daybreak came we decided to spend the day visiting a new shopping center at Harbourfront called Vivocity. Some say its the biggest shopping center in Singapore, I wouldn't know but I can see Sentosa Island from there and they have a water playground on the rooftop which I think its rather cool.

My flight to Kuching was scheduled to fly at 7.35 pm on Airasia from JB. People say when in Rome, do what Romans do and here if you want to fly to and from anywhere in Malaysia its cheaper to take a flight from JB which is just across the border in Malaysia. So thats what we did but problem is getting to JB from Singapore. My family have always used these "private hire cars" operating out of JB that ferry people between the 2 cities so I might as well use them too. I've used them before when I was here 3 years ago but once it nearly cost me my flight. I can't have bad luck twice now could I? I was so wrong.

We booked the car to pick us up at 3.00 pm so we would have plenty of time to get to the airport in JB. They said they could only arrive at 3.30 pm which was fine but when it was 3.30 pm they rang and said they'll be a little late, estimated to be around 4. Thats still fine until 4 came and still no car! We rang them up and was told they're on the way and to sit tight. 4.15 pm and still no sign of the car and I'm beginning to get nervous.From then on until 5 we rang them several times chasing for a car that never came but was always "on the way". Turned out the driver was new and from JB so he didn't know the roads well and was circling round and round the blocks looking for the place! Eventually he showed up at 5.00 pm, wanna know how he found the place? He paid a local taxi to take him there. So crappy can die!

It was already 5.00 pm on a Friday afternoon. Are we going to get to the airport on time? Rich Singaporeans go across to JB on Friday nights to "Happy" so the causeway is going to be jam-packed. Chances are I might miss my flight. The driver suggested taking the tollway via Jurong though its a longer distance, there's less traffic. Problem is there's tolls and he wanted more money. I didn't want to miss my flight so I reluctantly agreed. So off we went to JB via Jurong.

After we left Singapore and gone through immigrations Mr. Tang the driver really put the pedal to the metal and flew down the highway like a bat outta hell! He was going around 130/140 km/h! My heart nearly fell out of my throat. Never again will I use these "private hire car" service ever again! Twice I had to rush like a headless chook putting our lives in danger in a speeding car just because of their incompetency.

Eventually we arrived at Senai Airport at 6.00 pm. Just in time to check in to go to Kuching in Sarawak where we'll be staying for the weekend, herald the new year and meet a few bloggers. QuaVadis will be picking us up at the airport but I've never met him before and didn't know how he looks like either! Wanna know how my stay in Kuching turned out?

Lets Start With Day 1

I supposed I should start posting on the holiday I just came back from but I just don't know where to start. Maybe I'll start with Day 1 and continue from there but if you find it too boring then stop me already!

OK, so Day 1 and all the bags are packed just in the nick of time. Was thinking of travelling light but found out that we need more than we think we need to survive! Most important for me are clean underwears and my camera gears so I have my backpack for those.

Arrived at the airport rather early thinking we could beat the queue at check-in..most people think like us too. So join the queue we must but not minding a bit coz the holiday's just begun!

After checking in we decided to just wait out inside the boarding lounge where we bought some duty free products like my 2 gb Sony memory stick which I regretted later when I saw the prices in Malaysia!

This is the plane that will be flying us to Singapore, its a Boeing 777 and they're still getting it ready for take off. Just don't forget my luggages before you fly off!

There was still plenty of time and we were getting restless and all the flight schedule could tell me is to 'relax' coz it ain't time yet! KNNCCB

Finally we boarded the plane and by then we were starving. Here's a tip; starve yourself before flying so the airline foods will taste terrific! Terese had the beef with vegetables.

I had the chicken salad. We're on our way to Singapore, another 7 and a half hours later we'll be there. Are you bored yet? Wanna see me touch down in Singapore onot?

This Is What I Came Back To.

Well I'm back in Melbourne after nearly 3 weeks visiting Malaysia and Singapore. I thought I would get a huge relief from the heat and humidity once I reach Melbourne but I was so wrong!

It was 40C when we arrived and there were bushfires again, infact the bushfires burnt down our power supplies so much of Melbourne was in a black-out. No electricity in the middle of a 40C day!

Moreover with stage 3 water restriction in force meaning watering of gardens can only be done in early mornings or late evenings 2 days of the week, all my plants suffered and some are dead!

The forecast for today was for another hot day but I'm glad they got it wrong when it only reached 34C early morning and then quickly the cool change came through and cooled everything down.

I think I'll have to give up gardening and find a different hobby that won't require water. Its disheartening to see all my plants dried up and died like that. *sigh*

Well at least the fish did OK, they're still alive and kicking. The house is a mess and lots need to be done and I'm going back to work tomorrow. I'll do them slowly, one thing at a time..

Quick Update #3

Dear All

I'll be on a plane heading back to Melbourne in less than 12 hours and this will be my last quick update till I get back to Melbourne. This trip has been quite productive in term of meeting bloggers so I want to thank all of you for your warm hospitality when I was here. You'll always be my kawan now! So when you get a chance to come down to Melbourne you know what to do lah!

Good bye from Singapore!

Quick Update # 2

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2 JAMES BOND (2007) everybody!!!

Just found a cybercafe so decided to do a quick update on my trip so far. Sorry I didn't update when I was in Kuching but I was having too much fun to go looking for a cybercafe! lol I met up with lots of bloggers and readers and had lots of fun & foods with everyone.

I like to thank QV for picking us up at the airport, took us around town and his cousin KNB for chia-ing us lunch @ sarawak club & BBQ dinner @ his house later! come to melbourne see me lah!

Also like to thank Unker Ho & his family for their warm hospitality when he took us into his home and served us the best durians I ever had in a long time! Unker ur the best!

And to all the bloggers I met @ Chilax, ur my friends for life liao!

Anyway, I gotta go now. Will update again soon. Have a great year!

Wuching blogging from Sibu

Anyway, this is my number in Malaysia, so for sexciting fun call 0167791073 & let me give u a time of ur life! HAHAHAHAHAHA