It seems to have been ages since I’ve blogged here, these days have been tired to blog and my only posts are at the UGS blog.

Anyway, two weekends ago (yes, two!), Jasmine came back from Malacca for a study break and we met up with her. Oooh, really become mei nu already, even Tze Siew’s mother was teasing when at her house, who’s that mei nu, presumably referring to Jasmine.

For a large part of that Saturday afternoon, the focus of attention was however towards Jia Lin’s new puppy, Jolie. Named after the actress Angelina Jolie. That little puppy sure is very hyperactive and playful, running around the living room of Tze Siew’s house and trying to “play” with us. Aiks, to be honest, I’m quite scared of dogs. Haha.

Even eating was a bit of a challenge, having to put our food away from Jolie less she jumped up and tried to get it. Hehe.

Two “monkeys” caught in the act

Anyway, we talked while we could, but when Jolie started misbehaving and making a “mess”, it was time for her to be tied up and later sent home.

Thus, after that, our outing really started. First up, we went to Song Kheng Hai for some shaved ice desserts. All of us had the “cham cham”, except Siaw Fern who had Special. Here’s a photo of what I had, it looks kinda icky but don’t judge a dessert by how it looks, this really is the cheapest, nicest, icy treat you can get.

The "cham cham"

Jia Lin & Jasmine

Next, we went to Hock Lee Centre’s arcade. A place that I’ve never been to before despite passing by it many a time. So there we were, 5 of us noobs, trying out our hand at the racing game and me losing badly, very badly. Only played that once. Then, Jia Lin pulled me along to play some kind of sniper game. That was exhilarating. Thank goodness I only spent RM2 in total, actually those games aren’t really that worth it considering you can get almost the same feel playing it on game consoles.

After we got out from Hock Lee, it was raining very heavily and there was a traffic jam around Padungan area since Hotlink was having an outdoor concert somewhere there. So we were stretching the limits of our brains thinking of somewhere to go for dinner and ended up at Pinoy Ihaw-ihaw instead, the Phillipino place at Padungan Road. My verdict is: now I remember why I had doubts coming back here, and I don’t think I’m giving them another second chance.

The menu

Tze Siew gawking after looking at the menu prices? Hehe. Jasmine dreaming in the background.. Or watching tv?

Take a look at this dish, and guess what it is and what price…

Can you believe this one dish cost RM12? This is what it is called..

I kid you not, RM12 for this which is not even pure crab meat, it’s like spring roll filling inside, they mixed it with pork I think. Though it did taste good, the price is not really justifiable in my opinion.

Here’s what else we had. That’s BBQ Pork and Phillipino style fish head soup in the photo. It’s RM2 per stick and RM12 per bowl respectively. The rice costs RM1 per plate.

And this is the Ginisang Sitaw, fancy name for long beans fried with prawn, which cost RM8. Again, the price.. Gee.

And since three of us there were such big eaters, we had to order another dish, spaghetti. This one really is not halal, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten spaghetti quite like this..

Well, after the dinner, the waiter came with two pieces of paper, one the bill and one a message for somebody. Ahem ahem. Guess who, and guess what it was about. Haha. Then, it was time to leave and since it was getting a bit late and Jasmine had a flight to catch the next morning, we sent her home and bid farewell.

Well, it was good getting together with friends, lots of fun and I will miss them since they have now all gone for uni, except me. At least Siaw Fern and Jia Lin will be in Kuching.. Sigh. Again I’m the one behind.

I still have lots to blog about, including a tag by Valarie. Eek, will blog about it as soon as I can.

Saturday treats

Went out with Rose again some time ago, this time for a bit of shopping and lunch at Madam Tang’s.

Firstly, we met up at Sarawak Plaza, where the Lea Clearance Sales was going on, and it was insane. The shop was full of stuff, but nothing that caught my eye could fit me. It was either too small, or too big. Those people who have size 5 feet would have plenty more options though. But what is it with shoe shops always putting out the standard display shoe size as a 5? The last time I was a size 5 was in primary school I think, or in lower secondary. Haha.

Ah, another thing is this friend of mine often says she’s fat when she tries on or browses goods when shopping when she’s not. Don’t get too fanatical about dieting, you’re beautiful as you are, Rose.

Anyway, then later while walking around, Rose decided to get some chocolate for my little brother. I told her there wasn’t any need to, but she really insisted on doing so. Thanks so much yea, Rose, so kind and generous of you. My brother really liked the tube of Smarties-like chocolate, he ate a little bit a time and only finished it three days later I think.

Time was a bit tight that day, so we headed off to lunch at Madam Tang’s to have their really good Beef Noodles. After hearing all the raves about it, I finally find how why it’s garnerd such good reviews.

Would you just look at that bowl of noodles, I’m getting hungry looking at it. And it was perfect to have it during that rainy day.

And here’s the name card of the place, funny thing about the place is that it only serves three kinds of dishes, Nasi Lemak, Sarawak Laksa and Beef Noodles. The Beef Noodles I had was the normal variant and cost RM4.50. There’s a special kind that cost more. Same goes for the other two dishes, there is the normal and special variant. And from what I’ve heard, they are all really good.

And the back of the card shows directions to the place, and it’s opening hours. It opens for breakfast at 8 and is open till 3pm.

Well, thanks again to Rose for accompanying me for that day. So going to miss outings with my old friends when I go over to university. Sigh.. countdown.. 4 months.

Hair Cut/Pan's Labryinth/Tze Siew's bday/Causeway Bay Hong Kong Restaurant

On last Sunday, got a hair cut, it was an unplanned thing. Actually, I have not had a hair cut since December. Developed a bit of a hair-cutting phobia you see. Somehow my hair always ends up looking its worse right after a hair cut. Not right after I had walked out of the hair salon mind you, that’s when it looks its best. After all that hair cutting, thermal-killing of my hair, blowdrying till my hair is poker straight, it looks pretty good. But after I washed my hair this time after the hair cut, whew, I couldn’t believe the mess I was left with. Perhaps they layered my hair too much.

Anyway, a photo of how I looked right after the hair cut.

Then, that afternoon, I met up with some friends to watch Pan’s Labryinth and have dinner. It was also a kind of late celebration for Tze Siew’s birthday. First time I have watched a film with no idea what it was about. I thought.. Pan’s Labryinth.. “Labryinth”.. Like a kiddy, hide-and-seek kind of movie? Or something like Narnia? How wrong I was.

Don’t be fooled by the inclusion of fairies and mystical creatures in this movie. I wouldn’t recommend any kid to watch this. The gory, the violence, the horror… My goodness. The movie is set in the post world war one Spain, but in an area of Spain, Italian fascists were trying to maintain control. The captain of the soldiers is the main character’s step-father, Ophelia. She and her heavily pregnant mother are forced to move from the city to the countryside, where the Captain is stationed, so that Ophelia’s mother can give birth with the father by the side.

And from there, the story unfolds.. Ophelia discovers there is more than it seems in the forest, that a portal to a magical realm exists within a labryinth. And guided by a fairy, she ventures deep into the labryinth, where with the help of a fawn, she discovers who she really is and her destiny.

Ophelia has to complete three challenges. I’d say the scariest one is when she has to enter the lair of a monster that eats children. Before entering, she is strongly warned against eating any food there. And when she enters, she sees that the creature sits dormantly in front of a feast, grotesquely misfigured, pale as the moon is his skin, yet the tips of his fingers, toes and folds of his skin are bloody red. Add to that there is nothing on his face except two slits for nostrils and a mouth. It really is a scary sight.

After retrieving a key, Ophelia predictably goes against the rules and picks up a grape to eat. This stirs the monster and he picks up the two eyeballs on a plate in front of him, puts it into his palms, holds up the palms to his face and looks around. Aaaah!!!

Then he starts stumbling towards Ophelia, like an old man arisen from deep slumber. As for what happens next, you just have to watch it to find out. I’m not very good at describing scenes you see.

Anyway, after exiting the chilly movie theatre, we were feeling spooked out, and a bit grossed out by the gory scenes which I will not write out here.. After a long time of deciding where to go for dinner, we settled for Crowne Square. Where we tried out a new place called Causeway Bay Hong Kong Restaurant. Ordered 4 kinds of food to share..

Here’s the Cheese Baked Rice with Chicken Chop, costs RM9.90. Very rich, very cheesy, and if you were to finish the whole thing by yourself I think it will be overkill.

And here’s the Yang Chow Fried Rice, RM7.90. Nothing really special.

The Steamed Venison Rice with Black Pepper Sauce, RM7.90. Interesting bowl it comes in. The top is only a layer of venison while the rest beneath it is a lot of rice.

And what I think was the best, Sizzling Noodles with Sliced Beef. The noodles are really full of flavour, the beef tender. But I think all the food there really has a lot of flavouring.

Hmm.. the place overall isn’t that bad. Although I remembered it being more crowded during the Sunday afternoon that I went last time. And note that the dim sum is only served till 4pm daily. When we went, it was too late to sample the dim sum.

Finally, here’s a photo of the birthday girl, Tze Siew..

And a photo of the two other beauties who went out with us, Jia Lin and Siaw Fern.

Oh yea, after Siaw Fern went back, the three of us girls even went to China Friendship Park and tried to take photos. I think the better photos would be on Jia Lin’s T50. Surprisingly, there were quite a lot of other people there too, taking photos, pak toh-ing. Heh.

Exploring Kuching from a new point of view

So here I am, writing up a post I should have written some time ago. So, now this is going to be a really long entry, I think I will break this up into two posts for easier reading…

First up, two weeks ago on Saturday, Roselyn and I decided to do something different from a change. Instead of jalan-jalan cari makan (walk around in search of food), or the usual window shopping, we decided to explore Kuching as a tourist would do. Believe it or not, it was actually quite fun! And we sure walked a lot.

We started off parking the car at Carpenter Street at about 11am, the moment we got down from the car, it started drizzling. Oh well, it did not dampen our spirits, we carried on walking down Carpenter Street until we reached the Textile Museum, which my friend had never visited so we went there. It was eerily devoid of people upstairs, as the staff were mainly downstairs. And the mannequins that were depicting scenes of making textiles were quite spooky in that quiet and secluded place. Hehe. Then we were walking when Roselyn said something about ghosts when one of the doors suddenly opened. Really scared us, turns out it was just a staff who was using the toilets upstairs.

Anyway, next destination after that was the nearby India Street. It was still drizzling when we walked over. But no matter since along the street, we could walk along the sheltered five-foot way. Along the street, there were many shops, many selling clothes and cheap they were. All the way, I was holding tightly onto my bag, for fear of snatch thiefs or pickpockets, I was carrying my beloved camera afterall. Needless to say, I didn’t even dare to take out my camera there to snap photos. Perhaps next time, when I come with my bodyguards. Haha.

The rain did not seem to stop, in fact it got heavier as lunch time approached, and we just kept continuing to walk. Walked and walked, till we reached Main Bazaar. Where there are more shops, many of them tourist souvenirs shops this time. Sure did have a blast discovering the many shops along the way. Eventually, we realised that many of the shops carried similar items. Nevertheless, there were some interesting items. And the handicraft bags were really beautiful and not that expensive. In fact, when I went to Malacca at West Malaysia, one of the shopkeepers said that the bags they sold in the souvenir shop there is actually from Kuching.

When we had finished walking the entire length of Main Bazaar, it was already about 3pm and we had not even eaten lunch. So, a short drive away and we were at McD. The rain eventually stopped after we finished lunch. The sun was out again, and we decided to walk along the Waterfront from McD. We walked along the whole length, took photos too. Like this photo…

Taken in front of the James Brooke Restaurant where there is this interesting cat art piece.

Then, we walked further along and realised that the Fish and Pets Expo was on around the area at the Square Tower. I have blogged about it at the Undergroundsquare Blog if you want to read more. One thing I remembered clearly, the cats exhibition causing my respiratory system to be polluted by cat hair.

After a quick round around the expo, we crossed the road to the Old Courthouse. Where the Tourist Information Centre now is. More photo taking session ensued. Here’s a photo of me… Yea, bad hair day, the rest of my photos looked worse.

After all that, we finally walked back to where we had parked our car near McD. Somehow, the walk back seemed longer than when we had made our way here. Heh. I’m not sure how many kilometres I walked that day. But it sure was a fun experience. Nevermind the aches my legs were in after that.

The view from the Waterfront..

Mosaic patterned floor at the Waterfront. Nice, right?