Category: Land of the Hornbills – Sarawak

Bako; Semadang River; Damai

May 24, 2016May 24, 2016 sweet surrender 2 Comments

So… I was busy last weekend. I had a date with mother nature around Kuching. Posts will come soon.

Friday, visited Semenggoh Nature Reserve, a place I went back then in school. It’s been so long! More than two decades ago! I sure sounded old hahaha… Had a date with our precious orangutan again after so many years. After that, went to Kampung Bengoh for my virgin Semadang River kayaking and received love bites from the nature.

Saturday, went to Bako National Park, my virgin trip there too! WOW! Living in Kuching for so many years yet it’s my first time there. It was hot! Went into the jungle and humidity was high, I’ve not been doing this kind of thing for decades as well! *BLEK* Lucky this time no love bites. After Bako, we headed to Damai. I didn’t do much there except trying to rest. I skipped all the jungle activities hehehe… Spent a night at Damai Beach Resort in the hilltop room for the first time as well.

Sunday, I skipped the jungle activity but went to Sarawak Cultural Village and did a hair spa at the resort. Didn’t get to do a massage as there’s not much time left, we’re behind schedule. Even for Sarawak Cultural Village, I went there decades ago and this is my second time but it was my first time having lunch there. Lastly, went to Escobar for dinner and first time seeing a breathtaking view of the moon and Mount Santubong at night.

There’s a lot of first-time and second-time-after-few-decades last weekend eh? I was expecting soreness from the arm, shoulder, and the legs but none except love bites *LOL* What a surprise!

Here’s some photos from Instagram before I post them here in detailed. Another busy weekend on the way!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFoY8llmoEr/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFpjRi4GoHC/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFq7sW6GoEw/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFtHudTmoLK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFyTfqPmoKo/

Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak, Uniquely Kuching

Lundu-Bau Labour Day 2015 Day Trip

May 3, 2015May 3, 2015 sweet surrender No Comments

1/5/2015, the long awaited long weekend. For the first time, I didn’t fly anywhere during such holiday. Odd… I know… I’ve been getting lots of queries on why on earth I’m in Kuching at this time of the year *LOL* Boys and girls… I have no idea too… No idea where to go this time and flight ticket is just way too expensive, not worth it to spend like this. So… Just stay home and sleep in, sleep in, sleep in…

First stop was Lundu. Visited my relatives and then we had lunch at the market. As usual, the salt coated prawn is always what we will order whenever we’re here. Be prepared for the long wait especially on public holiday. City dwellers will usually flood this small town on public holidays. These three dishes cost about RM60+. A lot for 3 of us, can actually feed 4. The prawn was different, I guess there’s a bit too much cornstarch that’s why, not dry enough. There’s also cha kueh tiaw and vegetable soup. The former was a bit bland but it’s ok for me; the latter was normal.

After Lundu, we decided to pay a visit to Tasik Biru at Bau. My first time here *LOL*

If you would like to read more about it, just follow this link about the lake.

We spent a short time there only. Just to see the lake that’s all.

On the way home, we decided to stop by Siniawan for its weekend night market. First time here also. The night market only operate on every Fri – Sun, 6:30pm onwards.

It used to be a dead town, always passed by this place on Qing Ming (Chinese old souls day). Once a year we will stop here, just round the place in the car and left.

Recently, they started the night market on the weekend. Never got the chance to go there because it’s just too out of the way and not familiar with the road. The road is so dark at night.

Now that we have the chance, we reached there around 5.30pm. Still easy to find parking. So, best to reach there around this time because it’s hard to park or to move after 6.30pm onwards.

Food wise, there’s a lot of varieties. However, hmmm… Taste wise, just so-so, didn’t try any that made us gone WOW. However, environment was great. This is what matters the most. You can get all the food easily in Kuching too.

The fish ball and meat ball kolo mee here isquite popular. Finally get to try it, hmm… Well… Not my taste. I’m not a kole mee person anyway. However, the meat ball and fish ball were made from real fish and pork, not like the type with lots of flour.

Never miss… Sambal stingray and cuttlefish. Very spicy. It’s Ok.

Food here are priced the same as what you get in Kuching. So, considered it reasonable.

We left at around 7pm, people started to pour in and cars were parking at the roadside already.

That’s the end of my Labour Day day trip. At least I’ve been to all these places already hahaha…

Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak, Lundu/Bau

The Haunted Hotel â€“ Victim’s Perspective

February 26, 2015 sweet surrender 7 Comments

After so long, I’m finally in the mood to continue with the last part of the story. WOW! It happened way back in November 2013!

Ok… So now, I’ll tell you about those who were “selected”. Three of our travel mates, 3 young chaps were the “lucky” ones.

All three had scratches on their back and chest.

One was very hyper, kept performed Muay Thai (yet he didn’t know anything about martial art) when we met at the lobby to go for dinner. We didn’t suspect anything as we thought he was fooling around. Before that in their room, he kept saying that he wanted to open the window, he saw children fighting outside and he wanted to join. Friends had to pulled him back to avoid him from opening the window.

Then, he insisted to drove us to dinner. A the restaurant, he “woke up”, saying he’s tired and didn’t know where he’s at even though he’s the one who drove us!

After dinner, after we were given with new room, 4 of the travel mates, 3 who were the “selected” ones decided to stay in our earlier room. The one who muay thai earlier suddenly begging the 4th travel mate to get him out of the room or else he would die.

They then all went back to their original room. Things were normal again. They all chit chat in the room and the door opened on its own, saw the door knob turned on its own. Cold breeze came in with ghostly sound. Dogs were howling outside as well.

They immediately check-out of hotel at 3am and slept at friend’s house leaving 4 of us at the hotel oblivious of what happening to them. That morning, we were told to pack our things to check-out as we would be changing hotel. We didn’t know why, just glad that we finally can leave the place. None of us was willing to stay for one more night there.

After we changed to another hotel, they told us what happened. That afternoon, we went to the resident office for a function. While we were there, we asked the local reporters whether is there any bad things that happened to the earlier hotel we stayed. We found out that a muay thai fighter committed suicide there before! No wonder!

So that’s the end of the story.

Bintulu, Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak

The Haunted Hotel – From My Roommate Perspective

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014 sweet surrender 7 Comments

Remember my encounter with the haunted hotel in Bintulu last year? This time, it’s from my roommate perspective. Not going to be a long one.

Apparently, my roommate could sense these “things”, it’s a part of her. She didn’t tell me anything while we were in Bintulu. She only shared with me after we’re in Miri. On that night, she just kept quiet, pretended nothing happened. In fact, she already sensed something not right once arrived.

At the lobby, while waiting for check-in, I told her I wanted to go the toilet and asked her to accompany me but she didn’t want to. So I just hold until we reached our room.

In the room, I was on my laptop, we were waiting for the rest to get ready for dinner. While I was on my computer minding my own business, she actually heard our window was banged really hard. I didn’t hear a thing yet I was sitting next to the window! She heard dog howl too and I didn’t hear anything too! She just sat quietly next to me and didn’t say a thing.

Then I suddenly told her that I won’t dare to be in the room myself, she agreed but didn’t say much. On the way to Miri, she told me that it was strange that I actually said such thing that night. Came to think of it, indeed I’m not the kind that would say this kind of thing.

So basically this is from her perspective. She just forced herself to sleep that night. I was in the bathroom for quite long as I have a lot of things to do hahaha… I didn’t sensed anything amiss and just minding my own business even after my friend hinted me in FB. She just tried to keep herself entertained with TV on high volume and chatting with her friends on her phone. Even though we had moved to a new room, we still switched on the TV and all the lights to sleep until the morning.

The next morning, our travel mates told us that we would be checking out to another hotel because they experienced something. Phew… What a relief! With all that happened to the other people in our group, there is no way we could stay for another night. It’s just too much!

Next up, I’ll be sharing the experiences of my other travel mates who encountered the “things” first hand!

That’s all for now. Been really busy, hence the slow update.

Bintulu, Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak

Gawai with a Difference

May 30, 2014 sweet surrender No Comments

Gawai is around the corner. It’s gonna be a long weekend for Sarawak starting 1st June. Sabah too as they are celebrating their Hari Kaamatan on 31st May. These two states situated in the Borneo Island are very different from West Malaysia. Not many people know about us even the Malaysians themselves.

I’m half Bidayuh. Gawai to me is no stranger. When I was young, my parents would go back to my mother’s kampung for celebrations. We never stayed overnight though. Basically the day would be spent visiting. Since my mother’s kampung is under Seventh Day Adventist, they don’t eat pork and they don’t make tuak. This is what makes it different from the non-SDA’s kampung. There’s a series of events during that period of time as part of the Gawai celebrations. I remember my mother ever asked me whether I’m interested in joining the kumang gawai contest ;p

Talking about Gawai, I’ll be experience Gawai the Lun Bawang way. Means I’m flying off this Saturday to celebrate Gawai at Ba’kelalan with the other media people. It will be my first time experiencing a very different celebration far away from Kuching. This is gonna be interesting.

Meanwhile, do check out Kaamatan&Gawai 2014 by Petronas. You will learn a lot especially about the Iban and Dusun community. I learnt a lot from these videos as those are the things I’ve never experience partly because my mother’s kampung is a more modern one and because they are under SDA. Also, Bidayuh doesn’t live in longhouse. Frankly, I don’t think I can survive in the environment shown in the video hehehe…

Do stay tuned to my coming Gawai post 😉

Update: This post was composed few days ago, my latest status is that I will be in Kuching for Gawai, no more trip to Ba’kelalan due to flight change and work commitment stopped me from going 🙁 Anyway, at least I get to attend an event on 1st of June which I was actually looking forward to and was torn between these two offers. At least I don’t have to make any decision now, the answer is already there, no decision to make anymore.

Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak