Sarawak+Brunei Road Trip (18-25/11/2013) – Part 8

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Sarawak+Brunei Road Trip (18-25/11/2013) – Part 8

To Brunei we went. None of us had been there before. All so excited.

Left: Going tru’ immigration.

Right: Welcome to Brunei! Not staying there, we were just passing by… Only spent few hours there before we headed to Limbang.

Views that greeted us while we try to locate the tourism office of Brunei.

Left: One of the mosques.

Right: Brunei International Airport. Looks grand.


Left: One of the government offices.

Right: Prime Minister’s Office. Very majestic! In case you’re wondering who is the prime minister there. It’s the Sultan, he’s the Sultan and also the prime minister.


Left: Special pass for us.

Right: Handing over of banners to the tourism office there as they are interested in collaborating to help promote Visit Sarawak Year 2014.


Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque located at the Brunei River. It’s known as the most beautiful mosque in Asia Pacific. The main dome is covered with gold. Was told that the inside of the mosque is very cold brrr… By the way, Brunei is hot! Just like Miri. Also, we noticed that all the indoors in Brunei are so cold! Shivering… Once got out of the buildings, the heat was really something.


Left: Temple somewhere in the city.

Right: The shopping mall that located opposite Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. Didn’t know it’s a mall, doesn’t look like one hahaha…



We had our dinner at Tarindak d’ Seni. The interior felt very grand. I thought we’re going to have buffet but instead we’re ordering from the menu. So many choices! Spoilt for choice!

These are the views from the restaurant as it’s located on the bank of Brunei River.

Kampong Ayer- the “village in the water”.


The view of the city.


The view of the Brunei River.


The Rangers and I. The sick sick me…

Let’s see what were the food we ordered. As I was rather not in the mood, I didn’t take note of what everyone was ordering.

This is one of the burgers ordered. The I love Brunei badge didn’t come with the dish, it’s what we got from the tourism office and one of our travel mates thought of this idea.


Left: Fried marinated chicken with condiments (BND6.50). Looks very appetizing.

Right: This should be soup ekor (BND5.50).


Left: I ordered Spaghetti Olio-Olio (BND6.50), that’s how it’s spelled in the menu, not aglio e olio. I don’t know what’s wrong with me *LOL* Went to Brunei and ate western food, crazy! I thought Olio-Olio should taste light. Since I wasn’t feeling well, that’s why I opted for it but a bit regretted it after that as it was quite flavourful, spicy too. The spaghetti was cooked just right though.

Right: Nasi Goreng Tarindak (BND6).


The sunset view that we’ve been waiting for. See some buildings with lots of light far far away? It’s the palace! The Istana Nurul Iman Palace. HUGE! What do you expect from the world’s largest palace? Massive car collection of the Sultan is right there in the palace which includes custom-made Ferraris and Bentleys as well as Rolls Royces.

After dinner, it was time to say goodbye to Brunei and we headed straight to Limbang.

Abode of Peace - Brunei, Food Porn, Going Places

Be Right Back

Posted on By sweet surrender 2 Comments on Be Right Back

Almost a week not updating this blog. I’m still alive! Don’t worry. As if anyone would care ;p

It’s a crazy week! Suddenly I got a part-time job offer without going tru’ interview, what’s more I have got no experience in it too. Thought it was a case of mistaken identity but good to know that it’s not. It’s better than what I asked for. Thank you for this opportunity and might be given the opportunity to travel to major towns in Sarawak for it. Due to this, I’ve been busy sourcing materials and also revising the whole thing to refresh my memory of what I had learned 10 years ago just for this weekend! As if going to sit for major exam. Not saying what’s the job nature is (don’t wanna jinxed it yet.) but let’s just say that it’s something I’ve been looking forward to do since I came back last year but after tonnes of resume submissions, no one contacted me even for an interview. I almost lost faith in it.

Then, yesterday, I got a call asking me to go for an interview. Supposed to be today but I told the person that I’m too occupied this week, can only do it next week. Will be going for the interview on Monday. Again, it’s a totally different industry. Don’t know what kind of job as I just submitted my resume to my friend and she passed it to her superior. There’s quite a number of positions available, we’ll see which one they will ask me to do. I’m pretty much open to anything as long that I am confident that I can handle it. There’s one problem though… It’s a full-time job. I will have to let go of many things (attend events and potential sponsored trips) and even the just accepted part-time job, I’m so afraid of working full-time for people. I’ve been self-employed for almost 10 years! It’s going to be hard. Sigh… Dilemma… If I want to learn something new, see more, get stable income, and to meet the potential other half(according to my ex-colleague *LOL*), I will have to take this step. I wonder will I be able to even hold a full-time job for 3 months. We’ll see how it goes next week.

In fact I had the urge to attend Emirates cabin crew open day which happened yesterday as I found out that I have an arm reach of more than 212cm even though I’m quite short. I have long arm ;p I submitted my application online and wasn’t shortlisted for the interview. However, I actually thought of going there to submit my application on the spot, who knows it might yield a different result but at the end I didn’t go hehehe… First, I chickened out. Second, my time was quite tight with this weekend job preparations. I would still go there to have a look if I got nothing to do as I’m quite curious with how the whole process is.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back next week 😉

Bulletin Board

Sarawak+Brunei Road Trip (18-25/11/2013) – Part 7

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Sarawak+Brunei Road Trip (18-25/11/2013) – Part 7

I’m sure you had enough of my big face that greeted you for the first few days of 2014 hahahaha… Let’s get back to business.

After Bintulu, we drove to Miri. It was about 2-3 hours drive. Not so bad but my nose and my head weren’t in very good shape already.

When we saw this, we were excited! Miri!! Finally! You no longer being greeted by teh-c-peng but blue sea, blue sky. The beach here is far better than the beach in Kuching. However, do bear in mind that Miri is very hot. You’ll easily get tanned or sunburned. Be sure to protect yourself from the notorious sun. I got so tanned few years back after going to Miri for 3 days 2 night. Well… It was also because I didn’t wear hat or use an umbrella and walked a lot.


You see these? You’re in Miri. The seahorse is Miri mascot. You can call it the seahorse city. As for the structure erected on a roundabout near Miri City Fan that looked like a type of hat from the native, I’m not sure what it’s called.


We stayed at Grand Palace Hotel. Was so “lucky”, being assigned to a smoking floor with smoking room! Wanted to request for room change but thought that it shouldn’t be a problem, don’t want to trouble anyone as everyone was very tired already. Guess what?!?! Suffered the whole night from stuffed nose and cough. Really cannot stay in smoking room. Two continuous nights in smoking room was enough to bring me down.


The hotel was good for a comfortable stay. It’s surrounded by many nightspots, eateries, and a hypermarket. However, I would prefer staying in the middle of the city such at Mega or Imperial rather than here, it’s a bit too far away from the city centre. Back then I stayed at Imperial Hotel, the location was quite good, I could walk to many places. What’s more, the awesome view of sunset and the sea. At Grand Palace, all we saw was buildings. A bit disappointing.


After check-in, we headed to Miri Resident Office for the flag off. Folks, don’t forget that it’s Visit Sarawak Year and Visit Malaysia Year this year.

Taken somewhere in the city. If you can locate an eatery called Yi Hah Hai Seafood (1st Floor, No. 892, Jalan Permaisuri, 98000, Miri, Sarawak), that’s where we took the photo.

Sunset mode.


Normal mode.


Love the sunset in Miri. We were in time to catch the sunset. Isn’t the colour amazing? If only we could go to the beach for it.


After taking photos of the sunset, we went to Tanjong Lobang for seafood. It’s the seafood place located on the beach. I think it’s called Taman Selera. The sea is just out there. You’ll get to enjoy the food and the sea breeze. It’s a good thing, it wasn’t raining. However, it sure got me very sticky at the end of the day. Will try my best to recall what were the food, didn’t take note and no idea of the price and which stall we ordered it from too. Was kind of sick to bother too actually. Stuffy and itchy nose coupled with headache and a bit of cough weren’t helping.


Left: Mutton satay, nice! Love it!! Despite being sick and not having good appetite, this sure woke my taste buds.

Right: Seriously, I have no idea what soup is this ;p


Left: Buttered prawn, not bad but didn’t eat much. Sigh… Being sick, resulted in the lack of appetite really couldn’t enjoy any food.

Right: Steamed fish.


Left: Calamari with sambal if not mistaken.

Right: Midin with belacan. Not impressed with it. Only tasted salty, maybe it was me being sick.


Left: Ok… Another unknown dish, I think it’s Nestum chicken. *shrug* Just simply guess, it was sweet though.

Right: Clam in soy sauce, didn’t eat much too.

Actually the food was overall all pretty good but due to me being a sick cat that time, I couldn’t enjoy it properly 🙁

After dinner, we called it a night and continued our journey to Brunei the next day.

Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak, Miri

Hello 2014!

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Hello 2014!

It’s the first day of 2014. Wishing all of you a very happy new year!

Haven’t post season greetings post like this for ages! Oh the vainpot! ;p

Resolutions? Only one. Every year the same, only came through in 2012 but it didn’t last long just like how I lost my kite. I made a kite in Busan, flew it with my wishes written on it. I wanted to bring it back to Adelaide but it broke and tore. I had to throw it away at Gimhae International Airport. Was told that if you flew it and the string snapped, your wish will come true. Mine didn’t snap but ended up in a rubbish bin, the same thing happen to that one single resolution of mine. Well… Well… Well… Life…

Hopefully there will be something interesting this year.

One month to Chinese New Year! Time sure flies!

Me, myself and I, Public Events

Sarawak+Brunei Road Trip (18-25/11/2013) – Part 6

Posted on By sweet surrender 4 Comments on Sarawak+Brunei Road Trip (18-25/11/2013) – Part 6

Last day of of 2013. I figured I should update something. Better continue with the road trip post. The longer it is, the more details I forget.


It’s already evening when we arrived Bintulu. It is 650 kilometers from Kuching and the fourth largest town in Sarawak. You can fly or drive here.

Since no hotel was booked in advance, we later found out that all the hotels with star rating were fully booked! We ended up at a very old 3-star hotel, the only hotel with still many rooms available. I won’t tell you where, it was a rather scary experience to some of us even before we check-in into the room. I had deleted all the photos related to this hotel and I didn’t even dare to view the actual size of the photos. My roommate and I had to request for change of room some more. We’re the lucky one to get the “jackpot” room. The story will come some other day. One very unforgettable experience indeed.


After check-in, we went to had dinner. I have no idea of the shop’s name, totally don’t remember. However, it’s located in one of the commercial area where Tune Hotel is located. First time I heard of kambing penyet (left). Our friend recommended it, so I ordered it. Not bad really but too bad didn’t have a very good appetite. While another travel mate of mine ordered ayam penyet (right). Was really tired that night, didn’t really bother much, all we wanted was to get our rest as soon as we could. Love the sambal belacan (the condiment that came with the dish)! It’s good and very spicy! Well… Bintulu is known for its belacan, it should be good!

The next morning, we packed our stuff to prepare to move to a new hotel. No choice, had to check-out by hook or by crook due to various things happened that night to some of our travel mates. While waiting for the rest to tell us where to move, we went to the town center for a walk.

You definitely will not miss this Tua Pek Kong Temple in the middle of the town.



The market at Bintulu Esplanade. You can find many local handicrafts there.


The fish and vegetable market (Pasar Utama Bintulu) is just around the corner.


We went up to the food court for brunch. While looking out to the river, we saw eagle! First time! I’ve never seen one in Malaysia.


TADA! The umai from Mukah. Brought it all the way to Bintulu. Was too tired to eat last night. My second time eating this. Now… Looking at it just makes me salivate. It’s raw fish meat and it’s “cooked” using lots of salt and lime juice. Means, you’re not eating raw fish. This whole thing cost RM12 if I’m not mistaken.

After that, we decided to go to Tanjong Batu.

Left: This is another landmark of Bintulu called the Council Negeri Monument. Bintulu is where the first Sarawak Legislative Council took place on 8th September 1867.

Right: New World Suites where you can stay when you are here but it was fully booked when we were there. Else we would be staying here rather than the haunted one hahaha… The shopping centre is there too. If only we stayed here…


This is the view we all looked forward to.


We went to Pantai Temasya Bintulu.


Bintulu is a major industrial centre. Faraway out in the distant, that’s one of the LNG plants.

After that, it was time for us to check-in our new hotel. We stayed at Parkcity Everly Hotel. Way better than the hotel we stayed on the first night!


I love the shower gel. So sweet, the smell of raspberry. Love the packaging of the toiletries too. Too bad, because of fully booked hotels in Bintulu and this hotel was packed too, we ended up in smoking room. This is when my nightmare began, not because of the supernatural thing but because of thirdhand smoke.


After check-in, we headed to Bintulu Resident Office for the flag off of Cats Rangers and to create awareness of Visit Sarawak Year 2014.


Done with the event, we went back to our hotel and strolled the Bintulu Waterfront Promenade (the convergence of Kemena River and the South China Sea) just behind the Parkcity Everly Hotel waiting for sunset. This hotel isn’t bad just too bad no place to easily get food or do some shopping.


Since Bintulu is an industrial centre, there’s a lot of vessels going through the area. You’ll meet many expats there too. Lots of Koreans and I was surprised to hear Bahasa Malaysia spoken by Koreans to their Malaysian friends. I’m impressed!


A very relaxing place to be but we didn’t bother to wait for the sunset anymore. Too tired, started to feel weak also.

For your information, SuperStar Aquarius is now stopping in Bintulu. Bintulu is one of the three stops for Star Cruises’ first ever 4D/3N cruise off the western coastline of Borneo.

The rest of the evening, my room mate and I just spent it in the room. No appetite to eat. Wasted our final night in Bintulu just like that…

Check-out the next morning and went for breakfast before going to Miri. Sorry again… I’m such a bad travel blogger hahaha… Was feeling so unwell and didn’t bother where we went for breakfast. I ordered mee jawa(right), it tasted like sweet mee curry -.-” Don’t remember the price anymore. Brain was too weak to remember anything. One of my travel mates ordered nasi goreng pattaya (left).

Goodbye to Bintulu… Off to Miri…

Happy 2014!

Bintulu, Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Hornbills - Sarawak