Blessing in disguise…

Sometime ago, my daughter told me that they were asked to choose whether they would want to come back on the 11th or the 26th of November…and she chose the latter as she wanted to stay on a bit longer to enjoy New Zealand before returning here for good. Of course, I had no objection to that.

They were also informed that they would book the air tickets for everyone to fly back to their respective stations, not just to KLIA. In other words, my girl would get tickets to fly all the way from Wellington until she reached Sibu. Well, knowing how the people up there work, I did not get my hopes up too high…and told Melissa to just wait and see and I would see to things when the time came. True enough, in the end, they only booked the flight tickets for them up to KLIA only…and I was not in the least surprised.

Then, the itineraries arrived last week, trickling in one by one – a few for those leaving on the 11th and one got his – flying on the 24th night to Auckland…and after midnight, to KLIA arriving at 7.25 a.m. the next morning (25th). I assumed that my daughter would be on those same flights so I quickly booked my ticket to KL on the 24th to meet her on the morning of the 25th and fly home together that same evening, never mind that we would have to wait the whole day at the airport.

Later that day, my daughter told me that her itinerary had arrived so she forwarded me a copy and I duly downloaded and printed it. Trouble arose the next day when I was going through all the documents that I had printed out to highlight the dates, times, flight numbers and all for my flight to KL, our flights back to Sibu as well as Melissa’s flights from NZ to KL. To my horror, I found that she would actually be flying 25th night, arriving 26th morning – now how would we be able to fly back to Sibu on the night flight on the 25th when Melissa had not even left New Zealand yet at that point in time?

I contacted her and she checked and true enough, her dates were different from those who got their itineraries a day earlier…and she asked around and found that her friends’ were like hers too and they too never realised it…and some of those supposed to fly on the 11th found out that they would be leaving on the 12th instead.

I had no choice but to go to the MAS…

*recycled pic*

…office in Sibu to change the dates. One funny thing was when I made the booking online, everything went well – I received their confirmation notice…and when I checked my e-mail, I only got the insurance policy. The airline had not emailed my my itinerary. In the past, I would get both simultaneously and almost instantly.

At the office, there was a very nice Ms Wee (No, we’re not related!) who attended to me and she could not locate my booking at all in her system!!! She called KL…and they confirmed that everything had been charged and payment had been accepted but MY DAUGHTER’S AND MY NAME WERE ON THE WAITING LIST!!! I could hear that Ms Wee was quite annoyed with them and she reprimanded, “If their seats were not confirmed, then why did you accept payment and charge the passenger?” Then, she went on to request for the change in the dates of flying that I wanted – from the 25th to the 26th.

The people in KL took a long time to sort things out and eventually, they informed us that the KLIA-Sibu flight was full but they could put me and my daughter on a KLIA-Kuching flight, connecting another flight from Kuching to Sibu at no extra charge despite these flights being much more expensive. Other than that, we would arrive in Sibu around 5 something in the evening…and not at around 9.00 p.m. had we taken the direct flight – now operated by that airline named after an insect. MAS does not ply direct between KLIA and Sibu at the moment…PLUS I would not be charged for changing the dates – usually, passengers would have to pay RM50.00 for rescheduling or re-routing…and double that for cancellations.

So all’s well that ends well…and that indeed was a blessing in disguise. Imagine Melissa and I going to board the flight on the 25th and being told that our names were not on the confirmed list! Incidentally, the flights between here and KLIA are very heavily-booked and most of them are already full as it will be the holiday season then…and many people are flying over and beyond on their year-end vacations.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed right now in the hope that nothing else would crop up between now and then. There is just so much that this old heart can take… Tsk! Tsk!

A song I’d like to sing…

During my teenage years, I partied and danced…and I wrote letters to the radio stations requesting for songs to be played for my friends all over for the cheap thrill of hearing one’s name on the air and getting known by many. Though I knew virtually every popular song on the charts then, I never sang or played music at the time.

It was only when I started teaching in Kanowit in the late 70s that a colleague of mine encouraged me to sing. He could play the guitar very well but he was the shy type and would not sing – so he got me started, me singing and him playing the guitar and singing second voice. I remember the song was the Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back”. I really had to learn from scratch at that point in time and every time he joined in, singing the backing, I would go out of tune. It took me sometime to get used to it before I was able to sing it at a school function without making a fool of myself.

Eventually, I started to learn how to play the guitar myself and that was when I bought this songbook…

I cannot remember the exact year but it was around that same time and I think I paid RM10.00 for that thick collection of all kinds of songs.

I could not play the guitar well – just the simpler basic chords like G, C, D7 and Am…and any chords that would require me to press more than one guitar string, I would not be able to manage – F, for instance.

Thus, there were many songs that I could not play but I could manage this one…

…or this very popular one that guitarists at the time loved to play along with songs like “Hotel California”…

But on the whole, I was never good at it – just good enough to pass the time and entertain myself strumming some of the songs I’d like to sing. LOL!!!

Eventually, karaoke took the world by storm. If I’m not mistaken, the word karaoke in Japanese means empty music…so there would only be the music minus the vocal tracks. Thus, the so-called minus-one cassette tapes came into the scene…

…and I bought quite a lot of those not just for me but for my students to sing at school concerts. Honestly, I do not see any point struggling with a guitar (which in the first place, I cannot play well) when I can sing to the music performed by a whole orchestra – exactly like in the original songs.

Eventually, the laser disc took over…and after that, the vcd (video compact disc) and now, the dvd (digital video disc) and with the lyrics appearing on the screen, there isn’t any need for anyone to learn/memorise the lyrics of songs anymore…and songbooks like the one I have and minus-one cassette tapes have now become a thing of the past.

Just for one day…

My friends from Bintulu, Jimmy and Mohan, came to Sibu on a day trip last Saturday. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t even for one day for by the time their bus arrived, it was already 10.15 a.m. and they took the 4.00 p.m. bus back.

I took them for dim sum here but by the time we got there, most of the things were finished and we had no choice but to eat only the char siew pao (steamed barbecued meat buns), the butter/salted egg buns and these…

Actually, these are baked bread/buns and the char siew filling is the same as what they have in the steamed ones…

I would say they were pretty good – not bad at all and something different for a change.

We also had the steamed pork ribs…

…and that was it.

After that, we dropped by my parents’ place as Jimmy wanted to stop by and say hello to my mum and then we went to buy the yummy tee piang with the meat filling but the stall was not open. Then I drove to the bakery to buy the chicken pies that are now the favourite of many but there were only two left – one for each of them. We did stop by the “emporium” that sells a lot of imported stuff as well and I spotted this advertisement outside…

…and was a bit tickled by it. LOL!!!

After browsing around one of the new mega-malls in town, we went for lunch. Yes, I took them to this place – my third visit in four days, believe it or not and we had this very nice herbal venison dish…

The meat was very tender and the fragrance of the herbs used was just right – not too strong or overpowering.

We also tried their fresh young baby corn fried with century egg…

Prior to this, I had never heard of it, much less eaten it but Jimmy said they had that in Bintulu and he was of the opinion that they did it very well here.

They loved the braised pork belly so much…

– the one where the fat would just melt in your mouth…served with mantao (steamed buns). I guess everyone knows that I love that a lot too but I’m trying not to have it too often for obvious reasons.

I also ordered the KL-style Hokkien mee that I enjoyed a lot on my previous visit and they too agreed that it was very nice despite the fact that they did not use the usual thick noodles that one would get when eating that in KL. All in all, the bill for that delightful meal came up to only RM43.60 for 3 persons, inclusive of drinks.

After a brief stop at another shopping mall, I dropped them off to browse around at the 100-yen shop before they caught their bus back to Bintulu.

Thanks to the two of you, Jimmy and Mohan, for dropping by and do come again anytime but please do stay longer next time.

Ill wind…

There is an English proverb that says, “It’s an ill wind that never blows anybody any good.”

First, I had some problems with my PC so I sent it to the guy to check. I don’t really understand what the problem was but the hard disk had to be replaced and that cost me over RM300.00.

Then, trouble arose with my broadband connection. “USIM/SIM card is not available or does not exist,” it said. I was on the phone with the people in KL for at least half an hour and eventually, the conclusion was that my external modem was faulty and could not detect the SIM card.

I went to their office in Sibu and they checked for me…and their diagnosis was that my SIM card was faulty. Unfortunately, the account was in my daughter’s name and I was advised to forge a letter of authorisation and produce a photostated copy of my daughter’s identity card. I promptly went home to get that done and rushed back in the hope that I could get everything resolved quickly but when I got there, I was told that their system was down and I had to go back again in an hour or so.

I had not had lunch and it was around 2.00 p.m. by then so in the meantime, I went to this place (where they sell the very nice nasi kerabu on Saturdays) and had their seafood fried rice (RM4.00)…

…as most of the things were already sold out. Either my mood had been spoilt by all that had transpired or I was too tired from all the running around or it did not taste that great to me…

I wished they had added ikan bilis (dried anchovies) or udang kering (dried prawns) – the nasi lemak sambal certainly did not seem to help that much.

Then having had my lunch, I went back to the broadband provider’s office. The system was still down and they asked me to go to a shop in the town centre where I could get a new SIM card or a new external modem. I went there – they checked and said that my SIM card was ok…and they tried a new modem that I could buy but it could not detect the SIM card either so they concluded that it was faulty but to get a new one I would have to wait till several days later.

In the end, I simply gave up in frustration and decided to open my own account so here I am back online…FINALLY! As for my daughter’s one, the one I was using previously, I think I will have to wait for her to come home in a few weeks’ time and terminate it…for good!

And then there was a problem with my daughter’s air tickets but I think this is more than enough for one day and I will leave that till another post…

Everyday I love you…

Well, you can guess that I really love the place if you see me going there EVERYDAY, right? LOL!!!

Well, actually it was not intentional, not at all. I went there with my old friends who came to town and the very next day, my sister-in-law invited us out to dinner and my missus suggested going to this restaurant. That was why I was there two days in a row.

This time around, we had the butter prawns…

…which were superb.

The lemon chicken…

…was o.k. but I think I know one place that does it with roast chicken, probably leftovers for the day but never mind! It is very nice and I think I like that one better.

We also had the Sabah vegetables – I think it is called Sabah yeu chai or something like that…

…and yes, they were very nicely-done, fried with garlic.

Now, going out for dinner with my in-laws, we simply must have this…

They’re die-hard lovers of sweet and sour fish fillet…and the ones here are very good – certainly worth having.

Along with all those, we had the sea cucumber soup…

…which was good. At least, we could actually see bits of sea cucumber inside – unlike at some places that I’ve been to…and the day before, I had the Foochow-style fried noodles so this time around, I ordered the KL-style Hokkien mee…

…as I wanted to give it a try. Ooooo…it was nice – just as nice or even nicer than what I had here. The only minus point was the fact that they did not use those big noodles that we usually get when having Hokkien mee in KL.

All in all, 6 dishes for 6 people and the bill came up to RM80.60 which is so very cheap – so much cheaper than what we had here! Hmmmm….if they keep on charging such prices and considering the fact that the food is really good and there are so many options to choose from, rest assured that I will be going back there again and again…though not everyday! LOL!!!

Something old, something new…

This is new at my regular Bandong stall in the morning…

One of the girls there called it “nasi lemak cute”. Wrapped in plastic instead of the usual brown paper, it is nicely-rounded and shaped like a burger.

Inside, there are thin strips of omelette slices, some kacang (groundnuts) and a salted fish besides the rice and the sambal.

There are no ikan bilis (dried anchovies) though but I guess the salted fish is supposed to be the replacement. This is also priced at RM1.50 like the rest and I would say that it tastes more or less the same.

Now, this is something new as well – the muruku…

…but do not bother buying as it is bland and hard. I bought one packet at RM1.00 to try and after a bite of two, I threw the rest away.

Moving on from that, the bakwan that I blogged about not too long ago now comes with a little plastic bag of very nice sambal…

I don’t know what they use to make it but I could sense a little bit of rojak paste and I thought it was very nice.

The Malay food stall at Bandong around lunchtime is certainly getting very popular as I would see lots of people there whenever I drop by. There has not been anything new there though – you may see them alternating between the usual fare that  they sell like this very nice sambal petai, for instance…

Well, if you’ve never sampled any of the things they sell, do drop by and give it a try. I assure you that you would find most of what they have to be very nice and satisfying…

Simon says…

It was my first day in school – Primary One in St. Mary’s (co-ed) here in Sibu so that would be January, 1958, I think, when I had just turned 5 in December the year before. People our time did not go to kindergarten – straight to Primary One…and I was feeling lost and alone. Nope! I did not cry…and he and another boy with him were the first to strike up a conversation with me and that certainly helped to cheer me up. Suddenly, I had friends…and I wasn’t lonely anymore.

We were in the same class right up to Form Five and then we parted ways though we did bump into each other a few times over the years. Well, the other day, he told me via Facebook that he was coming to town so we met for lunch on Wednesday, me and my old buddy, Simon…

…and his wife, Helen. Helen’s a long-time friend of mine too – back in the early 70’s and our party days and Jubilee Hall and all…even before she met Simon and married him. Boy, where did the good times go?

Anyway, I took them out to lunch at this restaurant as I wanted to have this special dish – pork cooked with stout…

We had that when my NZ friend came to town but the photograph came out blur and I did not bother to include it in my post at the time. Now, doesn’t that make you drool? Yum! Yum!

We also had their sweet and sour fish fillet…

…and the fried asparagus with prawn balls…

…as well as their Foochow-style tofu soup. Perhaps the chef spilt the black vinegar that day and the soup came out tasting more like sea cucumber soup instead. Well, at least, it tasted good so it did not really matter.

Now, anyone who comes to Sibu must eat something that’s authentically Sibu and Simon and Helen were no exception. I ordered this plate of Foochow fried noodles for them…

…and though theirs may not be the best in town, the two of them enjoyed it a lot.

The lunch for three inclusive of two rice (they shared) and drinks came up to only RM50.60. Cheap, don’t you think?

It certainly is nice to meet old friends again and renew ties that may have loosened over the years and I certainly look forward to seeing them or any of our long-lost friends again sometime, anytime…

Last time…

I guess this would be the very last time that I would be invited to the end-of-year dinner for the staff of the tuition centre here that I was attached to. It was held last Sunday at this restaurant that I had just gone to a few weeks ago…and I was delighted that this time around, they had flowers on the table…

Never mind that they were not fresh, natural flowers – at least, they were nice and tastefully arranged, unlike the horrible plastic ones that they had here. I also loved the ethnic handwoven basket that they used to hold the flowers…

…for that special local touch. Nice, very nice indeed!

Of course, we had the must-have, the specialty of the house – their lokan…

…that we also had on my previous visit and once again, we had the Melanau delicacy, the umai…

…and this time around, I made sure that I took a really nice photo of this dish that I liked a lot – the fried paku (jungle fern) in santan (coconut milk)…

The other day, the photograph came out blur so I was not able to share it in my post. If I’m not mistaken, it is actually paku fried with very nice sambal hay bee (dried prawns) and they added just a little bit of santan…so it is not as diluted as masak lemak. Perhaps we can safely say that it is a drier version of it and a nicer one at that.

We also had the salad prawns…

…which were, to me, nothing to shout about. After all, I don’t see anything great about boiled prawns served with some fruits and salad dressing/mayo and I can think of many more impressive ways to cook and serve the prawns.

They could not get hold of any udang galah (giant freshwater prawns) or what we call in Hokkien, tua thow hay (big headed prawns) that day for the special assam prawns that I had on my last visit so we had the claypot seafood instead…

…and I must say that I really enjoyed it a lot! With all the seafood in it, the soup was so very sweet and absolutely delightful.

But the highlight of the evening was their roast lamb…

Very nicely done – very tender, not drowned by all kinds of stuff…and hardly any lamb smell. Hmmmm…I wonder if they do takeaways – maybe I can order from there for my Christmas dinner this year as it certainly would be a lot cheaper than ordering from the classier hotels and a lot less trouble than having to do it myself.

There was another dish of green vegetables…and a fruit platter and all in all, I would say that the dinner was really good. It was not as heavy as those 8-course banquets at some Chinese restaurant and I would not feel so bloated like I was about to burst at the seams and there was no danger of an overdose of msg as well…and since everything was served almost simultaneously, it did not drag on and on to the extent of becoming boring. The best part, of course, was the fact that it was free… LOL!!!

I’m back again…

Well, I was back again at this restaurant last Saturday night as my sister-in-law came to town and we took her out for dinner.

Of course, we had the must-haves – the butter scotch prawns…

…and the sea cucumber soup…

…and the fried cangkuk manis with egg.

We also had their sweet and sour fish fillet…

…that my in-laws like a lot and they love this dish of mixed beans fried with lots of belacan (dried prawn paste) and pork belly…

It had been a while since the last time I had their braised pork belly…

…and it seemed a shade darker than before – it used to be pinkish red. Tastewise, it was good before…and now I would say that it was just as good or perhaps a bit better. Unfortunately, they did not serve it with mantao (steamed buns) like they used to – I  love stuffing the buns with the meat and eating them. Yummmmmm!!!!

All in all, the bill came up to RM98.00 for six persons and considering that we had prawns and sea cucumber, that would be quite reasonable as a whole.

P.S.:
A thousand apologies for the blurry pics – lighting at the place was not exactly great and it did not help one bit that I had to snap the photographs in a hurry…

The key…

I got these postcards from Yoong…

…who’s actually living in Perth, Australia but she went to Sydney on a trip recently. Isn’t it so very sweet of her to think of me while on holiday?

Another friend of mine who is just as sweet is one-time blogger, Clare. She went to the Gold Coast, also in Australia, and she bought me this very nice key chain…

…and she also took the trouble to bring home the hotel key card so that she could give it to me. As a matter of fact, Clare has given me quite a number of hotel key cards from here, there and everywhere – it certainly is so very thoughtful of her to take the trouble every time she travels to do that.

Yes, I do collect key cards. I have a lot from those days when I used to go on working trips so very often – several times in a year, in fact but now that I’ve retired, I do not go around so much…so I no longer get to stay in hotels and add their key cards to my collection. Of course, some hotels would insist that you return the cards to them in which case I would do so obediently as I do not see any point keeping anything that people do not want you to have. Tsk! Tsk! So if any of you has been around and has any hotel key card to spare, do post them to me. I certainly would appreciate that…a lot! Thank you so very much in anticipation…

And last Saturday, my cousin in Kota Kinabalu sent me these beautiful mangoes…

…through a friend. He grows them himself at his house in Kuala Penyu.

So yesterday, I decided to make some mango-pulut (sticky/glutinous rice) dessert…

This, of course, is originally a Thai dish…and they also have something similar with durian as well. Oooo….that’s so heavenly, I tell you! We do have this in Sibu at a couple of places but I seldom go to those so I do not  get to eat it here. The first and last time I tried it at one of them, they did not have any coconut cream so it was such a disappointment.

Whenever I was in Penang, I would order this at the Thai food stall at The Red Garden, Penang Road to enjoy…but thanks to my cousin, I would not have to wait till the next time I go to Penang to eat this again. Yummmmmm!!!!

Thanks so much to everybody for  all the aforementioned. Cheers!