Friday, December 28
New year's just around the corner, and so is my flight back to Malacca which I'm NOT really looking forward to but on the contrary, I'm kinda looking forward to studying, which on the other hand means that I still have to go back.
So back to business. As you all know, I've been away from my hometown for like almost 8 months plus and you could only imagine how psyched I was to explore Kuching all over again. Here it is, me 101 with my first love, Kuching (as cheesy as it sounds). Expect a LONG post.
my first love
First thing's the FOOD, I mean deprived of real Kuching delicacies can really suck the joy out of your tongue receptors and detaches you with what truly is GOOD FOOD! Not that I'm saying malacca food aren't good, they're good but not THAT good relatively. Probably our different upbringing background sets how our taste buds react to food, just a wild theory.
As soon as I reached kuching, the first thing I had was my favourite cheesy wedges, I guess that's where all the cheesecake baking and the crave for food began. Feel so guilty now.
first thing I ate once I reached kuching, FATTENING!
we walked along the riverbank to and fro for a few times, helps with the digestion after dinner mostly.
so far
Not forgetting the landmark park built to commemorate the friendship between Malaysia and China, which in chinese is called "Ma Zhong Gong Yuan" situated at a 10 minutes drive from town.
On the other side of the lake lies the statue of Zheng He on a ship depicting Zheng He's arrival in Malacca symbolizing the diplomatic friendship among the two countries.
ship docked
now is he really that fat?
"fear not, we have arrived my friends..."
pronounced as "Zheng4" "He2"
love the chinese decor
It's also called Frienship Park, as corny as it sounds. One thing about the public toilet, I've never been so excited to be in a toilet before till I met this.
notice that there's no mirror in front of the sink? it's on the other side of the wall
Apart from the usual hang out at the 2 minutes walk across to the park after supper at Jalan Song, another infamous place is called Open Air ,
which is my usual rendezvous for meat porridge and other known delicacies.
opened till 3-4am in the morning. Also went for "sio bee" or west malaysians call them "siew mai" at the other side of "Open Air". I miss the "sio bee" a lot, but it only opens till midnight and closes earlier than the meat porridge.
sebiji 0.50, nak?
Another favourite late night supper hang out is at petanak, infamous for it's den for transvestites and hookers strutting their stuff, situated slightly further across the street. Now now, I'm sure almost each state in Malaysia has their fair share of infamous prostitution districts. Gosh I miss their steaks, I mean the food.
RM9.50 one plate, the lamb chops so big, worth or not?
So back to business. As you all know, I've been away from my hometown for like almost 8 months plus and you could only imagine how psyched I was to explore Kuching all over again. Here it is, me 101 with my first love, Kuching (as cheesy as it sounds). Expect a LONG post.
my first loveFirst thing's the FOOD, I mean deprived of real Kuching delicacies can really suck the joy out of your tongue receptors and detaches you with what truly is GOOD FOOD! Not that I'm saying malacca food aren't good, they're good but not THAT good relatively. Probably our different upbringing background sets how our taste buds react to food, just a wild theory.
As soon as I reached kuching, the first thing I had was my favourite cheesy wedges, I guess that's where all the cheesecake baking and the crave for food began. Feel so guilty now.
first thing I ate once I reached kuching, FATTENING!we walked along the riverbank to and fro for a few times, helps with the digestion after dinner mostly.
so far
Not forgetting the landmark park built to commemorate the friendship between Malaysia and China, which in chinese is called "Ma Zhong Gong Yuan" situated at a 10 minutes drive from town.
On the other side of the lake lies the statue of Zheng He on a ship depicting Zheng He's arrival in Malacca symbolizing the diplomatic friendship among the two countries.
ship docked
now is he really that fat?
"fear not, we have arrived my friends..."
pronounced as "Zheng4" "He2"
love the chinese decor It's also called Frienship Park, as corny as it sounds. One thing about the public toilet, I've never been so excited to be in a toilet before till I met this.
notice that there's no mirror in front of the sink? it's on the other side of the wallApart from the usual hang out at the 2 minutes walk across to the park after supper at Jalan Song, another infamous place is called Open Air ,
which is my usual rendezvous for meat porridge and other known delicacies.
opened till 3-4am in the morning. Also went for "sio bee" or west malaysians call them "siew mai" at the other side of "Open Air". I miss the "sio bee" a lot, but it only opens till midnight and closes earlier than the meat porridge.
sebiji 0.50, nak?Another favourite late night supper hang out is at petanak, infamous for it's den for transvestites and hookers strutting their stuff, situated slightly further across the street. Now now, I'm sure almost each state in Malaysia has their fair share of infamous prostitution districts. Gosh I miss their steaks, I mean the food.
RM9.50 one plate, the lamb chops so big, worth or not?Other than supper, brunch is equally important I must say. I go none other than her ruey's kueh chap stall opposite Upwell in town. I've gotta be honest about something, I'm really cautious and somewhat frightened whenever I visit her ruey's stall. Not because of the pig meat. No, not because of the hygiene, and definitely not because of her ruey himself. It's because her ruey never let's me pay!
mmm...
Other than kueh chap, BEHOLD! THIS IS WHAT WE CALL KOLO MEE! no salt (just flavours), no black soy sauces (just fried garlic oil) and certainly no vegetables or wantan's. The best member in the noodle history family tree. Hell, even the texture of the noodle here is different from the ones in west malaysia. Located along Jalan Ang Cheng Ho at a food store pronounced "Da4 Wan3 Gong1" in chinese. My favourite, Fried Chicken Kolo Mee.
now u see it,
now u don't *slurps*
I almost teared back then, literally. Another 5 mins walk, went to another food place called "kwang tong cha shi" which means "cantonese cafe" in direct translation I think. RM7 a plate, but worth the prawns and it tasted really good.
prawns!
Now at carpenter street, they sell this delicious dish only god knows what it's called in english, which I absolutely love, and u'll normally have to be in queue for a long time before u get a seat. It's like parts of the internal organs of a pig being boiled and flavoured and served with kolo mee. The term here is "zheng" in hokkien which I don't really know what it means. My friends only says "eh, ki jiak zheng", and it's universally understood.
We also had Sarawak Laksa, my all time favourite dish that I MISSED A LOT.
*holding back tears of joy*
Tried beef noodles at this restaurant at chonglin park and I guarantee siew'll drool over when she sees this.
Not forgetting my first attempt baking a cheesecake.
Apart from all the eating, I did went into this karaoke place called PopWave which I was forced to go against my own will through deceitful measures, grrr.
took me a good 30 mins to finish the drink, 3 hours and 30 minutes more to go
owh yea, and I'm sure if u've read the previous post, I went to the beach.
I also went bowling, which I hated.
Not forgetting the most gruesome experience ever, I visited a crocodile farm. Since chee khoon from KL was here, so we drove up 11th mile to Jong's crocodile farm.
Tell me this doesn't freak you out, there's more from where those came from.
*stinky*
Owh yea, and I went to the movies, A LOT. I dare say almost all the movies showing during the span of me in Kuching had all been watched. I really love movies, and let's leave that for another entry next time.
I also made a personal journey and visited my secondary school, where all the miracles and not-so-miracles happened, which I owe a lot to what I am and who I am today. I did snap a few photos inside the compound of the school, but I promise you this that I'll blog about my secondary school, with photos of course.
And I was in town for christmas,
and spent christmas eve with my buddies at a local restaurant called Tom's place and had the most amazing passion fruit cheesecake. I wonder if I can make one as delicious as this, it's refrigerated and not baked if I'm not mistaken.
Somehow this year I wasn't that fond of christmas,
in front of Hilton
mmm...Other than kueh chap, BEHOLD! THIS IS WHAT WE CALL KOLO MEE! no salt (just flavours), no black soy sauces (just fried garlic oil) and certainly no vegetables or wantan's. The best member in the noodle history family tree. Hell, even the texture of the noodle here is different from the ones in west malaysia. Located along Jalan Ang Cheng Ho at a food store pronounced "Da4 Wan3 Gong1" in chinese. My favourite, Fried Chicken Kolo Mee.
now u see it,
now u don't *slurps*I almost teared back then, literally. Another 5 mins walk, went to another food place called "kwang tong cha shi" which means "cantonese cafe" in direct translation I think. RM7 a plate, but worth the prawns and it tasted really good.
prawns!Now at carpenter street, they sell this delicious dish only god knows what it's called in english, which I absolutely love, and u'll normally have to be in queue for a long time before u get a seat. It's like parts of the internal organs of a pig being boiled and flavoured and served with kolo mee. The term here is "zheng" in hokkien which I don't really know what it means. My friends only says "eh, ki jiak zheng", and it's universally understood.
We also had Sarawak Laksa, my all time favourite dish that I MISSED A LOT.
*holding back tears of joy*
Not forgetting my first attempt baking a cheesecake.
Apart from all the eating, I did went into this karaoke place called PopWave which I was forced to go against my own will through deceitful measures, grrr.
took me a good 30 mins to finish the drink, 3 hours and 30 minutes more to goowh yea, and I'm sure if u've read the previous post, I went to the beach.
I also went bowling, which I hated.
Not forgetting the most gruesome experience ever, I visited a crocodile farm. Since chee khoon from KL was here, so we drove up 11th mile to Jong's crocodile farm.
Tell me this doesn't freak you out, there's more from where those came from.
*stinky*Owh yea, and I went to the movies, A LOT. I dare say almost all the movies showing during the span of me in Kuching had all been watched. I really love movies, and let's leave that for another entry next time.
I also made a personal journey and visited my secondary school, where all the miracles and not-so-miracles happened, which I owe a lot to what I am and who I am today. I did snap a few photos inside the compound of the school, but I promise you this that I'll blog about my secondary school, with photos of course.
And I was in town for christmas,
and spent christmas eve with my buddies at a local restaurant called Tom's place and had the most amazing passion fruit cheesecake. I wonder if I can make one as delicious as this, it's refrigerated and not baked if I'm not mistaken.
Somehow this year I wasn't that fond of christmas,
in front of HiltonAll the caroling and the ideas that comes with christmas isn't really my cup of tea. I did manage to snap a shot of the caroling along padungan street, the china town of kuching, behind where I'm currently staying.
2 more days and counting from now before I wave good bye to Kuching in mid air and detach myself from what matters to me the most. Ironically, the first day of new years 2008 also happens to be the day of my flight, 1st Jan.
I guess that's pretty much what I did throughout the whole period in Kuching.
Check back tomorrow for retrospective 2007. Till then, happy becoming new year ;)
2 more days and counting from now before I wave good bye to Kuching in mid air and detach myself from what matters to me the most. Ironically, the first day of new years 2008 also happens to be the day of my flight, 1st Jan.
I guess that's pretty much what I did throughout the whole period in Kuching.
Check back tomorrow for retrospective 2007. Till then, happy becoming new year ;)
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