I had to drive my girl back to her school on Thursday as the function she was involved in all day Wednesday dragged on till almost 8.00 p.m. and it was too dark by then and raining as well so I told her not to go back with her colleague and I would send her in the morning.
The thing was supposed to end at 5.00 p.m. but it went on and on and dinner was not provided, just a simple buffet lunch and a light tea of sandwiches and some cakes so one can imagine how hungry everybody must be by then. If I were there, I sure would have made a scene and walked out. They really should look into the organisation of such affairs and have a chairperson to time the presenters and stop them when they get carried away and go on for far too long…and if it has to go past the stipulated time, they should get everyone’s agreement to continue…and arrange for dinner to be provided. Imagine those driving back in the dark on our narrow single-lane pan-Sarawak/Sabah trunk road and in the rain and getting to their remote schools at around 10.00 p.m.
Anyway, once we got there in the morning, my girl went to her classes to conduct her lessons for the day and my missus and I just stayed at her quarters to wait for her to finish so we could all drive back to start off the long weekend. I walked around the place and spotted this bunga raya (hibiscus)…
I had never seen one this big, the size of a dinner plate, but personally, I prefer the small ones…
…and I am not particularly fond of the yellow ones…
…either. We left the school at around 2.00 p.m. and it was way past 3, almost 4.00 p.m. when we stopped for a very very late lunch. We’ve been here twice before, once for lunch and another time for dinner and we did like what we had on both occasions.
I ordered this…
…only to be informed that they had run out of bread. Tsk! Tsk! In the end, I had the seafood kolo mee (RM7.30)…
…which was nice but no, it was not like the real thing. For one thing, this being a halal place, it did not have any lard in it. I was thinking at the time that my Penang blogger-friend, Ken, would love it – no lard! Well, I must say that the price was rather steep despite the fact that there were two prawns and bits of fried fish (that were too salty for my liking)…so although it was all right as far as the taste went, I would not think I would want to have it again.
My missus liked the Szechuan chicken noodles (RM9.00)…
…that she had even though it looked a lot nicer in the menu. I tried a bit but no, it did not get me jumping with delight and yes, it sure did not come cheap either.
My girl wanted the tomato bihun (RM8.15)…
…which sure did not look good at all with everything drowned in the watery sauce. Never mind that it tasted quite o.k. but the fact that she barely finished half of it would be indicative of how much she “loved” it, plus just like the rest, it wasn’t cheap too.
Thankfully, she enjoyed the scallops (RM7.00)…
…that she also ordered. I guess everyone would be familiar with what those taste like – we would buy a pack or two from the supermarket once in a while and fry our own to eat at home.
The bill came up to RM41.05…
…inclusive of GST but with a 5% discount as my missus has a member card from the departmental store in the mega mall opposite so in the end, I only had to fork out 16 sen extra above the actual total.
All in all, what we had that afternoon was at best, just all right…and not anything we would want to have again. We’d rather try something else on their menu next time.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Eh but that Ken’s pic, everything also extra lard, extra lard wan.
I totally agree with you on the time management part. That is why we must always have a moderator to keep track of time. 3 hours is a long, long time and is worse when everyone is hungry 😦
Indeed. The top brass in the district was present – in fact, they were the ones running the whole show while the teachers appointed from the various schools were the ones doing the presenting. They should be more sensitive to and considerate regarding the human aspect instead of just desperately wanting to get the job done. People would respect you all the more for that.
Oh? Ken, the celebrity blogger? He comes by talking about lard like it’s poison…and he would not touch it with a 10-foot pole! Jaga badan, I guess…young man wants to look nice and slim.
Excuse me… EXTRA LARD? mata ada masalah kah?
Muahahahahahahaha!!!!! This is so hilarious!!! 😀 😀 😀 Oops!!! There goes your tourist guide the next time you hop over to Penang, Merryn. Never mind, come to Sibu better – I’ll be your guide. 😉
Poor thing, dragged until 8pm and no dinner provided.. They said finished by 5pm, but dragged til 8pm, so troublesome especially to those who need to travel back on the same day, or to those who already made appointments, etc.
I would have made a lot of noise and refuse to go to work the next day – according to the general order, one is entitled to a “travelling day” and when evryone had to drive all the way back in the dark to the remote schools, they should be given a day off to make up for it.
Beautiful photos!!! 🙂
Nice, eh? Our country’s national flower.
Wow that’s really poor of them, at least they should provide coffee/tea and some light snacks if it’s gonna drag on like that.
Indeed. Lucky thing they do not have grumpy old men like me around – all seemed quite ok with it.
i’ve never seen a yellow hibiscus … here i thought they were only one colour! ok, learned something new today, thank you 😀
Me too. I think I’ve seen a white one before though, first time seeing yellow blooms.
Long winded meetings and seminars, presentations, etc are the worst aspects of working life. So glad to be retired.
Yes, I am so glad to be out of all that madness too. 😀
Perhaps the soils are good that’s why the flowers blooming bigger. My mother used to have so many colours of hibiscus before. They are peach, yellow, white, orange and purple!
I wouldn’t know, no green fingers. I am sure if I try planting, they will all die. 😦
Seafood kolo mee looks good but the tomato bihun, too watery. They should have organise the function on Thursday, next day is a public holiday, no need to rush back. White & yellow hibsicus are nice too, I like.
There were two groups, the bigger schools in the district on Wednesday…and the smaller ones on Thursday. Unfortunately, my girl’s school was on the first day. If it had been on the 2nd day, they could go on as long as they wished. We would not mind one bit!
Seeing your kolo mee reminds me of Johor.. my girl loves it as much as she loves kampua! She told me one of her Sibu uni mates brought back a few packets for her and her friends.. she was so happy!
Ya…time to make a trip here again! We have kolo mee here too, other than kampua. Lots of not-so-nice imitations but I do know of a few places with really good ones – as nice as the good ones in Kuching, I dare say!
I don’t take lard, no thank you to lard…
Oh? So many things in Singapore…and over at the other side, cooked with freshly-melted lard served with the pork crusts and you do not eat all those. You went to eat at that QQ Noodle Place, I’m sure they use lard too. Otherwise, where got the same? If you don’t want lard, you will have to go to the halal places here for the kampua or kolo mee…like this one.
Usually i put the lard in one side…
That’s the pork crusts, all dried up…the lard or oil is in the dish already. Hehehehehe!!!!
I hate it too when events over run. I hope that you had a good long weekend. It went by so fast. Sigh…
Yes, over already. It was great…but tiring. Had people dropping by – blogposts start tomorrow.