Sarawak Trip

Finally, I successfully landed myself on the land of bumi kenyalang, Sarawak!! Since secondary school, I truly hoped for a chance to visit Borneo island which is full of surprises and adventure. Even though it is considered a budget vacation, the foods definitely satisfy my taste buds and the places are beyond my expectations.
7 days left 7 great memories>>>>>>>
(A) Kampua vs. Kolok Mee
Both these servings really confused me all the time whenever I had a opportunity to taste them. Only Sarawakians can clearly differentiate the noodles used to prepare them. That's a weird one. To anyone who lives in West Malaysia, what I would like to comment is that it looks like wantan mee and taste like wantan mee. It's just that no wantan are added into them. In Kuching, my friend first introduced me with kolok mee with separate sauces, red and white, at a coffee shop nearby town area. Later in Sibu, kampua played it's role. My friends explained for several times but I still didn't get it right. What I did realise is the thickness of the mees. After all, they are specialties available in Sarawak and let's enjoy them.

(B) SOTB aka Sex on the Beach
Don't get outraged and uneasy with the phrase. I don't mean it that way. It's just a name given for a cocktail drink listed on the menu. It happened to be embarrassing yet hilarious when all my Sarawakian friends ordered the drink in a night bistro around Kuching. I didn't feel unfamiliar with cocktails because I had it before once during a farewell celebration last year. I'm impressed with any cocktails, especially the way they are prepared and names given to them. When one of my pals first saw the name, he was keen to have the drink without knowing what the ingredients are but afraid of ordering it in front of the waitress. The curiousity went high and finally, one of the girls stood up and called for it. While the waitress served the drink, we couldn't cease from laughing and a catchy sentence suddenly popped out. It sounded like this: Yen Mei LIKES IT BEST =D; Wei Hung WANTS IT; Jien Lee THINKS IT IS GOOD FOR HIS SORE THROAT...

(C) Monopoly & Pictureka
Cards games have become our past time quencher anywhere in Sarawak. Although I didn't play that often, I could sense the intense feelings whilst indulging into the games. They are basically not played with normal, serious way. The games are consistently filled with screams, laughters, debates and funny gestures. Monopoly Deal is made up with instant strategies. Only then, you could win the game. No one will know who is going to monopolise the properties and get over it. As for pictureka, it is a simple yet amazing game I have ever experienced. With odd pictures and ordinary descriptions, players need to match them accurately to win the turn. But at the same time, you have to defend your own cards because other players did the same thing as well. Sometimes, my friends and I were quite harsh while playing the games but we still understood each other and nothing bad happened. Before I end this, I don't really like cards games that require a lot of thinking to be done, especially Monopoly...hehe

(D) Love phone call
It's not a prank call. It's a call where loser had to do it. The loser here is the one who lost at the pictureka game played late at night. Miss YM was the lucky one. Basically, she is currently unavailable. All we wanted her to do was to call her boyfriend and tell him "I love you!" For a typical asian, it takes a great courage to do that in front of all the crowd. We had reminded her for a few times to complete the task but she refused it. With various excuses, we in fact accepted them. To me, I would totally remember the unfinished call and one day in future, she might be forced to do that once again.

(E) Ice-cream Mess
The whole gang was in a Avanza vehicle and stuck in an unexpected heavy traffic congestion outside a shopping mall. The clock striked 10pm and it's time for everyone to head home. With limited parking areas and entrances, we had to wait for an hour to get out of the jam. The main reason why we were there was due to the korean ice-cream. No one could imagine the lovely ice-cream turned out to be a mess. The ice-cream was melting and dripping. All of us were horrified that the ice-cream had actually landed on the seat, which was quite difficult to get rid off when it dries. At that moment, the Avanza was still lining up the traffic. By demanding for more tissues and tissues, we finished the ice-cream with sticky hands and dirty seats. Emptying the tissue box was not the serious issue but cleaning up caught everybody's attention. We poured water, dried up with higher speed cool air and fortunately, the stain went away and relief engulfed us. Anyway, it was considered an unlucky day for all of us as we missed the orang utan close observation and famous koay chiap in Kuching.

(F) Pathlab
This was the significant one. Most of my friends, including me, are from West Malaysia, having a perspective where Sarawakians are layback and left behind for ages. But to my shock, this wonderful trip altered my perception entirely. Among all the shoplots we identified, Pathlab was the one who caught our attention to it. We saw it everywhere not only in Kuching, but Sibu as well. Everytime when the cars passed by the Pathlab, we sure mentioned it. Besides the usual fast food restaurants, some fashion boutique stores in Kuching have definitely proved us wrong and I believed one day, Kuching will become one of the busiest and most developed city in M'sia.

(G) Kucing Landmarks
Cats symbolise Kuching city and in Malay, cats are kucing. When you arrive at kuching, you wont notice much cats hanging around but you would certainly spot on kucing landmarks. Well, there was no big deal for tourists to take a few shots with big still cats. My Sarawakian friends however felt uncomfortable and turned down to take photos with us and the big cats. One of them was willing to stay in the car rather than joining us. She told us that she used to tease the tourists while taking the photos. But still, all of us went to several landmarks and most of them are located right in the middle of the junctions or roundabouts. I could personally aware of motorists looking at us directly but to me, as a visitor, there was nothing wrong to do this at all. In fact, I was quite impressed with some decorations put on the cats, for example christmas costumes and chinese new year samfu. They look cute and sure lift up the festivals' atmosphere in Kuching.

Awesome trip I deeply remark. Wonderful experiences and amazing explorations. It broadens my mind and I would not hesitate to share the memories I had to everyone. It would be great if I had the chance to adventure the whole Sarawak with my close friends again soon.