I alone…

On our first day in Kuching, my cousin came early in the morning to pick up Melissa and drop her off at another hotel in the vicinity where she had to attend some official business so I was left on my own, alone.

Seeing that there was quite a crowd eating there, I decided to walk across the road to this coffee shop nearby…

…for breakfast.

I was here many many years ago when Melissa was small and we went over to Kuching on holiday and stayed at the then-called Somerset Gateway and that was when I lost my first mobile phone. I remember getting it for free when I opened an account with a local bank on condition that I used it for two years. That morning, we came here for breakfast and after we had left the place, I discovered that it had gone missing – I did not know whether I had lost it here…or at the TOTO shop a few doors away…or whether I had left it in the hotel room.

Well, things happened and I had no choice but to report the loss…and as soon as I got back to Sibu, I went to the phone service provider to ask if I could get a new phone and continue using the same number and account. A lady there said that I could just terminate the line and get a new number anytime when I had purchased a new phone and that was exactly what I did!

The next day at work, I told my colleagues and they told me that I should not have done that – so I went back to the office to confirm that it was all right, This time around, it was another officer and she said that I should not have done that as the moment the account was terminated, I would be charged by the bank for the phone. The lady the previous day was there but she kept very quiet and refused to look in my direction. When the bank statement came the following month, there it was – I was charged RM2,200 for a phone that I had used faithfully for almost two years. Thankfully, this time around, nothing of the sort happened.

I ordered the kolo mee (RM3.00) from this stall…

…as it seemed very popular. Everybody else was having that…and besides, there was this newspaper feature on it displayed at the stall so I thought it would be really nice.

Well, it was, at best, just all right – definitely not the best in town…

As you can see, it is different from the kampua noodles in Sibu – they use what is more like real char siew and they add minced meat and vegetables as well PLUS the taste is very much different…

They also give pickled sliced chili in vinegar…

…instead of the chili sauce you would get with your kampua mee.

The good ones can be very very nice but this, unfortunately, is not one of them. That is why I always say that when you visit a place, you need to know the people there who can take you to enjoy the best in town and nothing less…or you will end up eating some disappointing stuff here and there and leave town with the impression that the food there isn’t all that nice after all.

I also had the popiah (RM2.50)…

…from a stall further inside. This too was not all that great either…

…but it was all right just that I know there are a few places in town selling really good popiah and in fact, I find the one here in Sibu much nicer in comparison.

I was not alone too long as at around past noon, Melissa called to let me know that she was done and would like to come back to the hotel where we were staying…so I gave her the directions to walk a short distance from the hotel where she was to the Hills Shopping Centre at the Pullman and I would walk over to meet her there.

She had some fried mihun and chicken wings for their tea break so she was not really hungry and I had some more things to eat other than what I had for breakfast above and I was feeling quite full as well at that point in time. Nevertheless, we dropped by here…

…to have something light to eat.

I must say that I love the old-time kopitiam furniture here…

Melissa had her favourite chicken hor fun (RM7.90)…

…but she could barely finish half of it. I guess she was also feeling kind of tired after a long morning of whatever official business that they had in store.

I ordered the curry puffs (RM4.90)…

…and goodness gracious me!!! At that price, they should at least make sure that they looked presentable…and not like somebody had nibbled away the edges. Tsk! Tsk!

Tastewise, it was pretty good – spicy, all potatoes (I could hardly taste any meat if there was any) and they had an egg inside…

…but I only managed to eat one as I was way too full as well.

After that, we headed back to our hotel and had a brief rest before we were whisked off somewhere else again when my cousin came to pick us up at 2.00 p.m. that afternoon.