Good to be back…

It was good to be back in Sandakan again and to see my friends, Lily and Santhi…

and Param and Monica…

This is one of the perks that I derive from going here and there giving talks to teachers and students, paticipating in conferences, seminars, workshops and what have you. I get to meet all the very nice people throughout the whole country and we end up being such great friends. Param has retired but despite being from Malacca originally, he has settled in Sandakan permanently…and Santhi is from Kedah and it certainly looks like she’ll stay in Sandakan for good as well. Yes, Sabah IS a very nice place…

Well, after our drinks at the English Tea House, we went to this Pasir Putih place for seafood. They also brought me there when I was in Sandakan on one of my earlier visits. I did not want fish…and I did not fancy getting my hands all dirty eating crabs…so we had siput glasui…

and fresh oysters…

and prawns, of course…

Gosh! The prawns were so fresh you could actually savour the sweetness in them, unlike the bland crustaceans we pay through our noses for back here! We also had homemade seafood tofu…

and fried Sabah sayur manis…

That is something like the cangkuk manis in Sarawak…but the plants are smaller and while we eat the leaves, they only take the young shoots. For dessert, we had fruits and fried ice cream…

That was, in fact, ice cream wrapped in bread and deep-fried.

It was nice and definitely unique…or to me at least, as I had never had anything like that before. All in all, I found the dinner most delightful and satisfying. Thanks so much, Lily, Shanti, Monica and Param, for the treat! I certainly look forward to doing that with everybody again sometime. In Sibu perhaps? And it will be my treat this time! Meanwhile, take care and wishing you all nothing but the best in the days ahead!

Lazy Sunday afternoon…

My friends would come to take me out later in the evening so I was left to my own devices for what’s left of the Sunday afternoon. I had not had lunch (The nasi lemak treat at KK airport wasn’t exactly lunch…LOL!!!) so I decided to roam around the vicinity in search of some mam-mams. Well, it was past 2 on a Sunday afternoon so most of the eating places were closed including one that’s blatantly named “Klang Bak Kut Teh”…and those that were still open were not that appealling in my eyes. In the end, I decided to go for the set lunch at After 5.

I thought it was a western restaurant…but it appeared from the menu that they served Chinese food as well. I guess that explained what the mushroom soup tasted like…

It was neither rich nor creamy and if I had known, I would have opted for the sweet corn soup instead. Just look at the kopi-tiam toast that came with it! Fortunately they used butter instead of margarine! The main course was grilled lamb chop and it was fine except that the portion was so small… 

Even the plate was smaller than at other places. I could not help comparing that to what I would get for RM14++ at Garden in Sibu. Then there was ice cream and coffee. All in all, it was not too bad for RM18.00 but I could have found something better if I had scouted around long enough.

After the late lunch, I went back to the hotel and had a nap. Around 4 something, I was up and about again…and the moment I stepped out of the hotel this time, my sharp nose detected the fragrance of…satay!!!

I had not had beef satay for quite sometime owing to the problem with the supply of beef here…so despite the fact that I just had lunch not too long ago, I simply could not resist…

…indulging in a few sticks of satay and some ketupat to go with it. Incidentally, I noticed that there were mostly ladies in the area at that time of day. Probably the men were all sleeping off their hangovers after staying out late on Saturday night but there was a shop selling those bubble-tea drinks or whatever you call those…and it was packed with ladies only! I thought of taking a photograph but changed my mind in case the Amazons ladies would charge out and beat me to pulp, some 50 of them or so! LOL!!!

My friends came at 7 something and we headed to the English Tea House. It was too late for tea, and I had western for lunch and they say if you go to Sandakan, you must have seafood, so we just stopped for drinks there.

I got to meet Tim, a radio friend I made on the TraxxFm afternoon show…and in case anyone’s wondering, yes! I was that cikgu…before the show ended (and I never bother to tune in to the station anymore after that!). Tim’s the chef there…and since he was working, it was more of a hello, goodbye thing! Didn’t want him to land in hot soup with his bosses…and in the rush, I forgot to take his photograph! He’s very young, maybe in his mid-20s…

The place was very nice – perfect ambience, very classy…but we should have gone there during the day to enjoy the scenery and the bird’s eye view of Sandakan town. You can dine in one of the gazebos or in the open air…

…or in the main dining hall.

For one thing, I noticed that all the customers (except us) were mat sallehs and my friends said they were tourists, not locals. Gee! Coming all the way here for a not-very-authentic experience of what they could get back home! That certainly reminded me of Tintin in Perth and his craving for nasi lemak or jeremychee in Brisbane and his kuih chap!!!

After our drinks, Lily and the others (You’ll see their photos in the next post, so make sure you come back!) took me for a seafood dinner. Do stick around, everybody! One seafood dinner coming up…..