That same road…

Yes, it was that time of the year again when my friend, Philip, would be home from the US and we would drive somewhere like what we did in the past few years when we went here, here and here…and this year, we went down that same road…

…to Kanowit again.

That bypass via the Farley side of town to the Durin Bridge…

…has been newly resurfaced and it was very nice and not bumpy at all unlike when we used it before. I noticed from a sign that I saw along the way that the bridge is actually called Jambatan Btg Rejang or Rejang River Bridge but since time immemorial, even during the years and years that they took to construct it, we have always called it the Durin Bridge after a little town close by, right beside it.

Of course, upon arrival, we HAD to go for the very special, very nice kampua noodles…

…that have a tint of red colour and that is why I always call it “red kampua“. Philip said that when he was living in Kanowit, they had these noodles already…and like when I went there in 1978 and stayed till 1982, they used to push their stall from the house (opposite the public library at the time and the Dewan Masyarakat, the community hall in the town) and park it beside a coffee shop in the bazaar. Gosh!!! That would mean that they were around even way back in the 60’s…and they are still going strong…

Of course, the old ones have passed on and these days, the younger descendants are running the show. Thankfully, they have  been able to maintain that same standard – the same taste and quality that make their kampua noodles a head above the rest.

Some individuals have asked me where exactly in the town can they go and eat these noodles…or what the locals call Ah Tong kampua after the man behind the whole thing. Well, right now, it is here…

…at a coffee shop somewhere in the middle of the block of shops right behind the Chinese temple. The thing is it has no name…and the sign there…

*Archive photo*

…is actually for the shop that used to be there that time when I was still teaching and staying in the town.

It used to be here…

…and at two other places during the years I was there when they were still cooking and serving from their mobile stall. The fried noodles and stuff at the stall in this particular coffee shop are also very nice. I used to eat there but at that time, they were at another location – at the end of the block opposite. There was this one as well then…

…where I had my lunch and dinner every day for RM60.00 a month. It was just about the only restaurant in town and any wedding or whatever function, we would be having it here. The son and his wife are running the place now and according to him, they do not cook for such big functions anymore as now that the road is so good, most people would prefer to host their dinners at some big restaurant in Sibu instead.

Anyway, while we were having the noodles that morning, Philip also ordered this bowl of piansip soup to share…

…and I spotted this old coffee grinding machine at the back…

Wow!!! They still boil the water and brew the coffee and tea the old-fashioned way, over some hot burning charcoal…

…it seems! I know many in Sibu would just use an electric kettle or a gas cooker these days. I wonder if they toast their bread on the stove too – that would make it so very nice, so much nicer than any of the modern ways that people do it at the shops and cafes now.

After that delightful breakfast, we walked around the town and I did bump into some familiar faces and some ex-students of mine and I did stop and chat with them for a while. It sure is nice to be remembered. This used to be the clinic…

…right across the road from the room, above the corner shop, that I rented and stayed during my first two years in Kanowit.

We dropped by the market and I bought some dabai (local black olives) from this lady…

…and they turned out to be so very good! In fact, I have not had such top quality dabai for a long long time and even at RM20 a kilo, it was really value for money.

I saw these and asked her what they were…

…and she told me they were engkabang or illepenut. All that I knew was they use the gum in the making of chewing gum and if I’m not wrong, for sealing the gaps in the making of sampans (traditional wooden boats) as well but the lady told me that if you add it to very very hot rice and mix and eat, it is very very delicious. I decided not to buy and try in the end but later, I heard from a friend that it is indeed very very nice eating it with rice like that – a lot nicer than adding butter or ghee as the fragrant oil would melt and give the rice that exclusive taste that many enjoy. Hmmmmm!!!! Ah well, another time perhaps!

On our way back to Sibu, we stopped by this fruit stall right beside the Durin Bridge…

…where they were selling durians, rambutans and this wild variety of the latter…

We got to sample this oval-shaped hybrid of the durian…

…and it was custard-like, so very milky rich and so very very nice! They were selling these two for RM15 but Philip wanted the bigger ones and bought four back for RM40.00, RM10 each. Hmmmm….personally, even though these were very nice, I don’t think I would be able to eat more than just a few seeds – I think I still prefer the old school, wild durians that are sweeter and mushier, milky white or slightly yellow with a tint of grey or green and a hint of bitterness. Sadly, it turned out that the four that Philip bought, unlike the ones we tried there and then,  for some reason or other, were not good at all and he had to throw them all away.

Well, after this pit-stop, we went our way back to Sibu…