I’m going home…

After two nights in Kuching, all too soon, it was time for Philip and I to head back home.

We stopped by the Open Air Market with the intention of having breakfast there but the guy had just started steaming the stuff so in the end, Philip just bought the sio bee and the char siew pao that he wanted. still frozen, plus a big pao for me to try and we left to head across river to get his kek lapis and fruit cake. Having done that, we went to this shop…

…along Green Road for breakfast. This is one of the most famous in Kuching for its kolo mee…

…so I felt it was a good place to go to for that. Gosh!!! It was so crowded with tables laid out all over in front of the shop and even the one next door. Luckily, despite that, we were able to grab a table and our orders came very fast.

Philip had the regular (RM3.50)…

…while I had the special (RM5.00)…

…but they looked almost identical to me. It seemed that there was more meat in the special, that was about all…but I really thought the noodles were really very very nice. It had a stronger flavour than those elsewhere and I could sense the strong garlic fragrance that I liked a lot.

A cousin of mine, the one who took me out for lunch on the day I arrived, dropped by to pass me some stuff but I will blog about that in another post at a later date. As soon as we were done, we left the place and were on our way. Initially, we went on the four-lane highway…

…out of Kuching and past Serian but that did not mean that it was an easier and smoother ride. There were a lot of cars with some very unpredictable drivers at times. Later, the road became narrower with only two lanes…

…the rest of the way – one going and one coming, that was all but there were not many cars and even though there were some slow coaches going at a snail’s pace, there were quite a few overtaking lanes along the way. There were parts where the road could get quite hilly and were rather winding but at least, it was smooth with none of those uneven and bumpy patches that I would encounter on my way from Sibu to Selangau when sending my daughter to her jungle school and coming back. Other than that, there seemed to be comparatively a lot fewer vehicles on the road so that certainly made the drive a whole lot nicer.

On the way, we made a pit-stop at this little bazaar…

…that had only two rows of shops, one longer one…

…and a shorter one at the far end. No, no…the spelling is correct – they did not forget an n or anything. Hehehehehehe!!!

There was a shop selling these very nice ethnic handicrafts…

…where I was particularly attracted to these beautiful scabbards…

…made of beads for the parang (the ethnic version of the sword).

All along the front of the shops were stalls selling all kinds of jungle produce, fruits and so on. There were quite a few like this man selling durians…

…and other types of fruits like these buah terap, for instance…

I bought these dabai (black olives)…

…for only RM10 a kilo, around half the price they’re charging in Sibu and when we ate them at home, I was delighted that they were really very very nice.

I also got these bua’ alung…

…which were only RM2 for a basketful to dry the skin to use for cooking – they are very sour like asam keping (dried tamarind slices).

These terung Dayak are also sour…

…and I got a basketful for RM5.00 – there were 6 big ones altogether. I hear they are selling these in Kuching for around RM10 a kilo.

Actually, we stopped by here as all the time, I had the understanding that this was the place famous for its very delicious kolo mee with braised duck but when we asked around, it turned out that one would have to go to Sg Tenggang for that, not here. I had seen that place earlier – we had already gone past it and there was no way we would want to turn back. I wanted to go on our way but Philip insisted that we might as well stop awhile at this coffee shop…

…and try their kolo mee…

…since we were already there. I thought it was nice, anytime a whole lot nicer than those pale imitations that we have in Sibu.

Soon after that, we were back on the road again…