On my way…

After my brief stay in Kuching, I headed on home by road and stopped by this little place…

…on my way. This small bazaar comprising those few blocks of shops, Sungai Tenggang, is actually located around 1-2 kilometres from the Kalimantan border. That would explain why, while I was there, I could hear some of the ethnic ladies by the pavement selling their agricultural and jungle produce speaking in a  language that sounded like Indonesian. It is in the Sri Aman Division, on the left before reaching Lachau and the junction of the road leading to Bandar Sri Aman, if you are heading from Kuching to Sibu.

Now if you are wondering why I would want to stop there, well, this was the reason – the lor ark (braised duck)…

…served with kolo mee…

A cousin of mine bought me some once a long long time ago and I remember how much I enjoyed it then. I don’t remember anybody else doing that since so that was perhaps the one and only time when I ever tasted the celebrated Sungai Tenggang duck kolo mee.

If I am not mistaken, for the regular individual servings, one would get the kolo mee in a bowl and some pieces of the duck on top but my special order…

…came in a big plate with the lor nui (stewed egg) by the side…

…and a bowl of kolo mee kosong (no meat)…

…to enjoy together with everything else and the nice chili dips provided…

Yum yummmmm!!!! I would say that I seemed to have enjoyed it a lot more before probably because by the time it got to me, the flavours of everything had gone into the noodles  but this was good too.

Now, if anyone is wondering which shop this was, well, here it is…

…somewhere in the middle. I did see some ducks hanging at a stall in the first shop on the extreme left but it was completely deserted so I did not go to that one to try and therefore, I would not know if that one was any good or not.

That handsome young man also sells chap fan (mixed rice)…

…and a lot of other things as well…

One thing that I noticed on every table as I entered the shop was this – a bowl of hard-boiled eggs…

This was something quite typical of the old-school coffee shops in the old days. If I am not mistaken, people in the old days would just eat one egg and that would be able to keep them from going hungry at least till lunchtime. In the past, when the express boats were plying between Sibu and Kapit (and beyond), stopping at Kanowit and Song, or from Sibu to Bintangor and Sarikei, at every stop, there would be people, young and old, jumping on board with their baskets of hardboiled eggs, kampua noodles, steamed paos and so on plus a few different kinds of packet or canned drinks and the passengers on board would buy something from them to eat, something that would tide them over until they reached their destination and those eggs were no doubt a popular choice, being cheap and besides, they were known to be able to sustain one for a long time.

I did not stop long at Sungai Tenggang but I certainly was glad I did as I got to enjoy the noodles and the duck and the egg and I did get to buy some bananas (real cheap compared to Sibu), mini-brinjals (These were very small, maybe two to three inches long only – the ladies said that because of the heat and the current dry spell, they could not grow till much longer)…

…and some terung Dayak (Dayak brinjals) to bring home…or did I buy those at Lachau where I did make a brief stop as well, I don’t quite remember now!

Next stop, Sarikei! Stick around, folks!!!