Nothing’s gonna stop us now…

I reached Kuching from Lundu at 6 something in the evening and was caught in a massive traffic jam in the Matang area. When I looked into some of the shops, I saw that they were using candles so I concluded that there must have been a blackout. Then Bongkersz, who was having dinner at 7th Mile, sent me an sms saying that there was no electricity there and he heard that it was the same in Sibu, Sarikei and other places. I reached the hotel and checked in. Luckily they had their own generator so I could go to my room and freshen up and then rush to the restaurant.

I had a dinner date with my aunties and cousins at Li Garden, Hock Lee Centre – a family get-together kind of thing. I was running late so I told them to start off without me and I would join them later. Apparently, for some reason, they did not…so we only started around 8. The electricity had not been restored, so we had dinner by candlelight…

We had the specialty of the house – Peking Duck. Actually, we ordered TWO Peking Ducks and this was what it looked like in bright light…

We also had the homemade tofu…

…and before anyone complains that he can’t really see what it really looks like, here’s another photograph of the dish…

There was also this bitter gourd with salted eggs dish which was totally different from what I used to have at Ruby Restaurant in Sibu. The vegetable was cut into strips and deep-fried, coated with batter. The salted eggs were probably in the mix…and it was actually very delicious! Somehow it made me think of the Japanese tempura vegetables. Then, the meat of the ducks came…fried with ginger and XO sauce and I liked that a lot too…

You may be able to see what was left of the bitter gourd in the background! LOL!!! Thumbs up for the fish lips soup that we had as well and after all that, out came the cake…

Two of my cousins celebrated their birthdays earlier in the week so we had this 6-inch thick rich white chocolate macadamian cake from Secret Recipe for dessert. Ooo…all thoughts of my escalating calories went out the window and I just could not resist a second helping! LOL!!!

Just when we had asked for the bill and were heckling for a discount for dining in the dark, minus the airconditioning, the lights came on! So, no discount! Hahahahaha!!!…..All in all, the dinner was great – the food was delicious and unlike some other restaurants, I did not have that strong lingering taste of msg at all. I would have hated it as I would be thirsty all night long and end up drinking lots of water and making endless trips to the toilet. And it should be quite obvious by now that in thunder, lightning and in rain, in darkness or in light, nothing’s gonna stop us when it comes to…food! LOL!!!

P.S.  Thanks to Gundot and FIQ for the photographs.

Give a little bit…

So there I was, giving a talk to the Form 5 students from SMK Lundu and SMK Sematan at this seminar held on Saturday…

This is the third time I am doing it for the company concerned, the first at the Kuching Hilton for the students from a few schools in Kuching and the second time at a rural school somewhere between Miri and Bintulu. I just can’t recall the name off hand. After that, we proceeded to Bintulu and there, I talked to the students from the various schools at the Parkcity Everly Hotel.

Hopefully, the tips given may help them do better in the coming SPM Examination. I walked around the school and saw this…

Wow, I thought! The gratitude of the students to the teachers is engraved in stone! Isn’t that just great? LOL!!! I met two of my friends who are teaching in that school – Lily and Colin. See! Didn’t I tell you all that I’ve got friends everywhere? Hahahahaha!!! And I also saw the students practising their cultural dances…

They were the dancers from the Anak Dalam Gading (SMK Lundu) dance troupe that won the competition at national level recently in Perak. Before I went, I was googling for photographs of Lundu when I chanced upon some snapshots of them and also Fred, their trainer and choreographer…

So I made another new friend that day. It certainly was my pleasure to make the acquaintance, Fred. As a matter of fact, I made several friends, not just one, including those officers from the company. I also met a teacher from Gundot’s school, a Mr Tan or something, who was there on a separate arrangement to talk to students on Principles of Accounts.

Tea and lunch were provided but I was a bit too full from breakfast so I only had a bit of the beef curry…

and the ayam masak merah (red-cooked chicken)…

and the ikan terubok masin (Salted terubok fish)…

There were some other dishes but everybody must be puzzled as to why I was taking photographs of everything so I just stopped there.

The whole thing ended at around 5…and I was chauffeured back to Kuching in this…

As for what transpired in Kuching, you will have to wait till the next post. Do drop by again, ya!