August 2004 Archives

Today, the 31st of August, 2004 is Malaysia's 47th Independence Day from the evil British Empire. ;)

This is the annual martial arts event which spans all the disciplines like karate, taekwondo, silat, wushu, and yes, even tai chi. It's held along a closed off street - I hear it's always Jalan Song Thien Cheok. I was caught in traffic congestion when they closed off the street in the afternoon and cordoned off the entire area.

The actual event is held at 8 pm but they were already setting up the stalls and preparing for the event way before the scheduled time.

There were lots of little kids...

...as well as some not-so-little kids.

I saw little kids being molested...nah, I'm just kidding, the instructor was trying to tie the belt on a funny kid who was trying to run away.

There was also an ambulance there, just in case someone...oh, I don't know, gets muscle cramps or breaks a fingernail. ;)

The event started with tai chi 18/4 (or something) which had instructors getting a long line of people involved, as well as the spectators. Watch the decidedly amusing clip here:

Download: Tai Chi 18 4 video [sixthseal.com]

I promptly decided I have better things to do on a Saturday night after this, so I wrapped up the event. ;)

The teams were on the sidewalk preparing for their on-stage performances.

The silat (Malay martial arts) group told me that performing is hungry work.

I watched the Wushu team prepare for stage:

Download: Wushu team practise video [sixthseal.com]

I got a black belt guy to pose for me...

...as well as the silat group

Lest anyone gets any ideas that sixthseal.com has changed its direction...

...rest assured, I got some girls to pose for me too.

My vote goes to far left. ;)

This is a box of 20 Bollero Kenner cigars. My friend got it from Indonesia but he didn't like the taste, and has been giving them away ever since.

The inside of the box is lined with individual plastic wrapped cigars, ready to be unwrapped and smoked.

The size of the cigar is about half of a full sized cigar - slightly shorter and with a lower ring gauge, oops, sorry...I meant thinner, than a Robusto. It's not in the cigarillo class, this one is bigger than those.

This is the band of the cigar - it says Kenner Flor Fina, with a red and gold motif.

This is the tip of the cigar - it's precut, so you can light it up immediately, which I promptly did.

Download: Kenner cigar review video [sixthseal.com]

You can see me play cigar aficionado in this movie. ;)

I didn't find any fault with the cigar - it tasted woody, with a smoky aftertaste. It's good, even though it wasn't stored in a humidor. I found it nice. The only problem was the uneven burn that it produced, but maybe that's my fault during lighting. It rectified itself after flame was applied on the uneven side.

I know you're not suppoed to do that...and you're not supposed to fully inhale a cigar too, but I like my tobacco products to give me a nicotine hit. Oh, and I did do that rolling the smoke in the mouth thing for the faux cigar aficionado taste test. ;)

I now pull in RM 2,500 with this permanent RM 300 monthly "transport allowance" that I just got. It's a token of appreciation for my work in securing proposals before the annual KPI salary increase, which I hope will push me into the RM 3k region. ;)

One can wish. Heh!

Oh, and I thought up the company new slogan too - Huygens means assurance. Simple, but I'm rather fond of it. It's going into our new batch of business cards.

I went out for dinner with a bunch of people from different age groups yesterday night at Jojo Cafe. I guess the best word for it is...networking, cliche as that may sound. It was enlightening; got to meet people from different fields e.g. management, design, publishing, education etc. and exchange business cards.

I'll like to give the person who first thought of the concept of business cards a big hearty slap on the back, coz I won't remember names and numbers the next day otherwise. ;) Anyway, back to the food, Jojo Cafe is located at 3rd Mile, Kuching and serves really good curry chicken (or so I hear).

This is their curry chicken - the meat was tender, and the curry was tasty. There's nothing wrong with it, except for one thing...it doesn't have the spicy curry oomph that I like. It's a good curry dish for people who don't take spicy food though.

Here's the kailan (a type of vegetable, stating the obvious ;)) cooked with salted fish. Now this dish is good, and hearing me say that a vegetable dish is good means it's really good, coz I'm not a big fan of vegetables at all. The veggies was fresh and crunchy, and still retains the original moisture and taste without any salted fish contamination (unless you eat that of course).

Next up is the mutton soup. It's cooked with a variety of spices, red dates, mushrooms, and all sorts of stuff. It's basically mutton soup, Chinese style.

I didn't find anything noteworthy about the mutton, but the soup was well broiled and tasted great!

This is tofu cooked with egg and vegetables, lying on top of a lettuce bed. I can't comment about tofu, coz long time readers would know that I don't like tofu. Well, I don't like the edible kind of tofu anyway, but the other kind of tofu... ;)

Now this is the main dish - mango fish! The fish was smothered with a delightful mixture of unripe mangos, peanuts, raw onions, shallots, and spring onions. It creates a wonderful fusion of colors, flavors and different textures, and the fish was fresh to boot. This is easily the best dish of them all - highly recommended!

After eating all that, should you feel the call of nature, management reminds you not to leave the left side of your ass behind (though how that is possible eludes me).

Ice Shop Asia is the once great empire that has seen its famous plastic cup and straw mammoth logo emblazoned all across town. Outlets after outlets were built, expanding like the rise of Rome, swathing a path of destruction over premium retail space like the Nazi blitzkrieg, and taking over the outlets like...er, the British Empire.

Alas, the glory days of Ice Shop Asia is now over, and like the rise and fall of civilizations, Ice Shop Asia now maintains a single battered looking outpost in the town of Kuching, the once proud metal cup dented and fighting off rust. The single lonely remaining outlet is the pioneering one, and there wasn't any electricity when we were there...

However, there was an aesthetically pleasing young female behind the counter, so we decided to get a drink despite the dim interior. ;) I ordered a passion fruit snow shake and a chocolate ice shake with pearls. A snow shake is ice blended and does not come with pearls while an ice shake is basically bubble tea made with ice cream instead of syrup with optional pearl balls.

The ice is shoveled into their standard plastic heat sealed cups...

...and added with ice cream for an ice shake

...or added with syrup/flavoring for a snow shake/bubble tea

Unfortunately, the device that does the ice crushing was not in operation due to the power failure and neither was their patented, really interesting heat sealing device (shown above). That thing automatically heat seals the top of your plastic cup with a poke able plastic cover, so you have to poke through it with a straw. I had so much fun with it last time. I didn't get the chance to do that though, coz the machine requires electricity to operate.

Thus, here's the naked (hey, didn't came with the heat sealed plastic cover) Ice Shop Asia drinks - the chocolate ice shake with pearl balls is on the left and the passion fruit snow shake is on the right.

The girl apologized for the unfortunate circumstances and I didn't mention anything about not being able to poke things through thin, flimsy other things. ;)

This post is so loaded with double entendres and innuendo...

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done;
On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our RM 50 note.

This was spotted on a construction site. It seems that some workers took the "Give us this day our daily bread" part a little too literally, for the poster was carefully cut along the palm of Jesus, and a small printed RM 50 note slipped into the lined edge.

I would like to shake hands with the construction worker who carved up this art masterpiece. ;)

Buntal is a fishing village about 35 minutes drive away from Kuching. Buntal Seafood Village is a very popular place for seafood, as it is located right on the beach and the produce is about as fresh as it gets - straight from the sea. Lim Hock Ann Seafood is the longest standing and most popular one in Buntal.

There's a lot of fresh seafood; fish, crabs, prawns, lobsters, oysters etc. Basically, if you can get it from the sea, they have it. Lim Hock Ann is also popular due to it's unique seating arrangements - they actually have a platform suspended over the sea, with waves lapping at the bottom while you eat!

Unfortunately, it was raining yesterday, so the platform was closed. I was surprised to find a mini entourage of people waiting for me when I came back from Sibu. I had called a friend to pick me up but when I exited the arrivals hall, I was accosted by my friends who came in several cars to whisk me off to Buntal. Jesus...

Anyway, this is what the suspended platform looks like from one of the photos in the popular Lim Hock Ann seafood center in Buntal:

This outlet has been here since forever, or so it seems. It still retains its old skool wood structures that I remember seeing when I was still young.

Anyway, here's what we ordered:

Baby kalian
It's a type of vegetable, very nice.

Butter prawns
It came out very crisp and tasted divine. The granules are caramelized butter, it's heavenly, I tell you.

O Chien
This is oyster pancake. I like Lim Hock Ann's implementation of this popular must-have seafood dish. It's moist and there are generous amounts of oysters scattered all around the pancake instead of just a couple in the middle.

Crabs cooked with egg and chilli

Here's a video tour of Lim Hock Ann in Buntal:

Download: Buntal Seafood [sixthseal.com]

I had a snapping good time, pardon the pun.

No sir, I'm not.
Oh yes, you are!
Am not!
Am to!

It turns out that they were illegal immigrants from Indonesia after all. The blue ones are police and the green ones are RELA (Vigilante Corps). They were led away by the whole entourage in handcuffs. I was walking by and saw this and stopped to listen and take photos. Things like this always draw a crowd in Sibu.

I guess that says a lot about how exciting my hometown is. ;)

This is Shirley, who has an interesting relationship to me. She is:

my good friend's cousin
the niece of one of my company's management
the daughter of one of our clients (which of course I'm not at liberty to name)

She's a nice girl and she has a really cute little sister who's about 2 or 3 years old and a younger brother which is probably 9 or 10. I was apprehensive about putting up her photo due to the complex nature of the relationship at first.

This is the full frame grab. We weren't ready coz the speedlight takes several seconds to go off.

This is the default attitude you see in Sibu while out and about.

I took a photo with her and she asked me to wait and she got her own camera and wanted to take a photo with me as well. I told her about the blog and asked her twice if she would mind me posting our picture up and she said she didn't mind at all. Thus, I have exercised due diligence in this matter. ;)

...and this is the last one which is a little blurry. The photos were all taken by her younger brother.

I think I'll file this under People instead of that other category. ;)

KFC Satay Burger is a newly launched product - the latest burger from the KFC fast food franchise, targeted at local market tastes. I like the satay fan image behind the logo, it represents the fan satay sellers use to manually fan the hot charcoal in the past, but they use auto fans for that nowadays...it's a trip down nostalgia lane.

I couldn't resist reviewing something like this of course, so I went for the KFC Satay burger combo meal. It comes with a free KFC tumbler and I had the red one. The KFC Satay combo meal comprises of:

1 KFC Satay Burger
1 Potato Wedges (4pcs)
1 Carbonated drink (R)
1 Cool Cup
(available in 4 cool colors)

Hey, don't look at me like that. I wasn't the one who wrote it. ;)

This is what the KFC Satay Combo Meal looks like. I should explain what satay sauce is at this point - it's a peanut based sauce, with predominantly sweet flavors and is used to complement satay, which is meat skewed on sticks. The satay burger from KFC only retains the satay sauce and cucumbers as the topping.

The Satay Burger comes in its own wrapping; the easy cone shaped wrapper that has become the de facto standard nowadays - eat without getting your hands dirty! You can think of satay sauce as chunky peanut butter with a less creamy texture and with a saltier aftertaste to it. It tastes better than it sounds.

Now, we come to the meat of the matter (excuse the pun). The Satay burger is basically a Zinger with satay sauce and cucumbers on it. Honestly, I heard the KFC supervisor on duty say that. :) The cucumber slices are nice and crisp and I like how the satay sauce tastes like, although it seems to confuse itself with sambal sometimes.

It looks kinda messy, but it tastes great.

...and you get a free KFC water tumbler to boot. Mine is red. What's yours? ;)

I arrived in Sibu late yesterday night, the flight was delayed (again) due to an engine problem. I woke up early this morning and was on site at 7:30 am. I'm on a break now and I went to Central Market to get a sugarcane drink. It's a hot day, and I reckon one of these would go down well.

It seems that the coconut + sugarcane or cham cham as they call it in Hokkien has hit Sibu. IIANM, the pioneer of this 1/2 sugarcane, 1/2 coconut juice with coconut flesh is the SKH food centre in Kuching. It seem to have propagated to Sibu now, with even the central market doing it.

I got one to go. I like this stall coz they actually skin the sugarcane plant before grinding it in that grinder you see on the bottom left. The majority of stalls just shove the whole sugarcane in, but this one manually and painstakingly removes the outer skin from the sugarcane before processing it, ensuring a smoother drink.

This is the reserve sugarcane bunches they have on the side.

I have managed to get my photo in SIX newspapers! =D There was a press release yesterday afternoon organized by MBKS (South Kuching Council) for the CCTV system we installed for them. Our company actually specializes in remote surveillance solutions, but we can and do provide conventional security solutions as well, and this one has an option to upgrade to off-site monitoring and recording.

Sin Chew Daily

This paper gave us (meaning me ;)) the best photo coverage. Although it's not front page, it more than makes up for it with the multiple color photos. It's on page five of today's paper and I took great pains to stand as close to the mayor as physically possible to increase the probability of my photo appearing in the papers. ;)

Here's a close look at the first photo. It probably helped that I gave out my business card to every press photographer and turned on my charms on the predominantly Chinese female photographers. ;)

This is the second photo. I can't read Chinese, but my coworkers told me that my name is also mentioned in there along with my position (System Engineer). I was asked for my Chinese name, which I can't write, but a helpful reporter managed to get it right for me. :) I can recognize the characters, I just can't write it.

The Borneo Post

I got into the second page of The Borneo Post, which had a black and white photo, but it was a good one nevertheless. It's the largest English daily over here too.

International Times

This one gave us front page coverage. woot! Color photo, and the caption has my name and position too.

Utusan Sarawak

The largest BM paper put us on page 3, with a B&W photo. I'm "Jurutera Sistem Encik Poh Huai Bin". ;) The caption reads: Pilot project...The mayor of MBKS Mr Chan Seng Khai (middle) listening to the explanation of the functions of the CCTV system that was installed in the MBKS building grounds from System Engineer Huygens Asia Sdn. Bhd. (Huygens) Mr Poh Huai Bin (left). Also seen is the Marketing Manager Mr. Ainsey Lai KC (right) in Kuching, yesterday.

See Hua Daily News

This one gave us a large front page splash and a large column. It's good. :)

United Daily News

This is the paper that scooped all the others yesterday. It gave us front page again, with a color photo. This is the sixth paper that has a photo of me. There were other papers covering the press release, but those were only text only or didn't have photos. I managed to get into every single photo that has the mayor in it. :)

I'm flying off to Sibu again tonight to coordinate and oversee another deployment. It's a short notice trip, I only knew yesterday and the company gave me the tickets today. I'm going off tonight, my apologies for not having time to reply the comments and post more, I've got a lot of work to do. Jasmine, please email me again, coz there's a huge amount of mail to sort through and I can't find yours.

Update: Kuching's most exciting police chase just passed by and I missed it!!! It's the photographer's worse nightmare, five police patrol cars with sirens and lights flashing, chasing two people on a motorbike. The police were armed, and pointing at the fleeing culprits (from what I don't know) but they didn't shoot. I ran down, digicam in hand, just in time to catch two patrol cars with a police leaning out with a firearm in the first and the suspects in front, and pressed the shutter release...and it told me "Card not present". I left my CF card in the card reader upstairs.

Bombastic Cafe is the...er, bombastically named cafe where one of my coworker's girlfriend works. It turns out that one of my friends has also worked there before. I went there for dinner with a couple of friends to check it out, coz I heard they have really interesting drinks.

The interior of the cafe is nicely decorated, with very trippy visuals adorning the walls. It got me wondering whether the mushrooms in the rice I ate for lunch were the magical kind. ;) The proprietor is a nice guy too, talked to him and introduced myself, for no particular reason, just coz I felt like doing it.

This is what I ordered - Rome Holiday. It's a yam based drink with pearl balls (is that what you call those? Taro.) which is ice blended. Very nice. My friends had the other interestingly named drinks like Gone With the Wind and Winter Sonata.

I had two main courses - I wanted to try both of their flagship mains. This is The Bomba Spaghetti. I like the dusting of parsley on the side, it makes it look nice. The sauce was meaty and tastes great, and one of my friends who ate some from mine concurred. She had a mixed plate of some sort, which I forgot the name of, but it was nice too.

This is the second main I had - The Bomba Chicken. It doesn't look like chicken, it looks a little like lamb, but it tasted like chicken. It was breaded and deep fried and complemented with a great sauce, fries, coleslaw and other veggies. I found it delicious. I finished both plates and then some, but that's normal for me, I usually eat double portions.

I would heartily recommend their flagship dishes, it's really good.

Bombastic. Simply fantastic. ;)

I graced the pages of the United Daily News today. Unfortunately, it was just a back shot of me. The article spans a whole page and the photo of me is here:

I'm the one in the purple shirt. The one in the blue shirt is my coworker and the only one with the visible face is my CTO, Alex.

Here's a closer look at the photo. I think the paper wanted to scoop all the others by one day since the official press conference was held today. Look for photos of me in the papers tomorrow, coz being the publicity whore I am, I stood as close to the mayor of MBKS as possible, thus increasing the probability of my photo appearing in the papers. ;)

My apologies for not posting much and not being able to reply the comments today, I'm swamped with work and I'll have to fly to Sibu tomorrow again to oversee another installation. It's part of the work I do, even though I mostly develop systems and do R&D, I also propose solutions and supervise the deployment of it.

Chong Chon Biscuit Maker is nestled right in the middle of old Kuching town and has been producing quality pastries for quite a while. There is generally no one at the front of the shop in the morning, and you have to shout a bit to get the proprietors from the back.

These are the common offerings that they have - pastries of Chinese origin of all sorts, they're famous for their sio pau (the ones with flaky pastry). One little known delicacy they offer is Century Pie. This is not normally available, you have to order it in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon.

The afternoon is when the shop goes into full industry mode. Here's a shot of the proprietor posing for the camera while in the midst of making pies. I picked up the two century pies I ordered in the morning and also had an egg tart while I was at it. There's no seating in here, it's a bakery, but coffee shops are abundant nearby where you can sit and consume the pastries.

This is the Chong Chon version of an egg tart. It's slightly baked and the best way I can describe it is as a cross between a regular egg tart and a Portuguese egg tart.

They're very generous with the egg filling too, as you can see above.

Now, this is the real gem the shop produces - an acquired taste, the century pie is made with century egg. It's wrapped in paper, old skool and they don't advertise this product much. Century eggs are those eggs that are glossy black, with a murky black egg yolk. The eggs are made by packing it with all sorts of dirt and earth and fermenting it, so to speak, for a while.

This is what the inside of the century pie looks like. It has meat, veggies, gravy and other stuff in addition to the century egg.

Here's a closer look at the best part of the century pie - the century egg! :)

The haze in Kuching is getting a little (a bit of an understatement) noticeable. I wouldn't know what the visibility level for todayis like, last I saw (no pun intended), the papers quoted something like 100 meters.

This is taken from the top of the DBKU building, overlooking Kuching. This shows the hazy conditions towards the residential areas, the first photo shows the town area. If you squint a little, you might notice two distinct fires going, from the smoke plumes going up.

No doubt caused by open burning on our side and not just our friends down under.

I don't mind though...haze makes everything look more misty and romantic, sorta. ;)

I saw a really pretty girl peeling onions while going to a discussion session today. She was just standing there, skinning the small purple bulbs, and smiled at me when I walked past. I asked her if she would mind me taking her photo, and she kindly obliged. I'm sure most guys would agree that this is one of the better entries in the double X chromosome entries. ;)

Adem Finest Cuisine is the latest Vietnamese restaurant to hit Sibu and I've heard nothing but good things about them. I went there for lunch today to check them out.

The seating arrangements are divided into two areas - the inside (shown above) which offers a pub like ambience and the al fresco area outside (shown below).

I chose the latter coz it was a bright and cheery sunny day and also because I found the water lilies they had growing in the trough lining the al fresco area intriguing and very peaceful.

I saw that the umbrella covers were all showing Trung Nguyen Coffee, and the waitress confirmed that it's their specialty Vietnamese coffee so I had that.

It came in the form of some metal contraption on top of a cup and saucer.

Noticing the befuddled look on my face, the waitress kindly explained the system...basically, it's a coffee filter, and you open the lid when the water has seeped through and put it upside down on the table.

The other two contraptions is then lifted and put on top of the said upside down lid "to avoid the coffee from spilling" or something.

The resulting coffee was fragrant, with a nice robust aroma. It was strong and good, just the way I like it.

There's coffee service in the form of milk, ice cubes and sugar, but I espoused that in favour of the dark, rich coffee.

It also comes with complementary garlic bread toast, and man...I can't describe the feeling of chewing on a bit of garlic toast and taking a sip of hot coffee to chase it down. It's divine!

As for the food, I ordered "Vietnamese Omelette" to start things off...

...it was just egg and sausages, nothing to write home about.

I also ordered their famous Vietnamese beef noodles, shown here in all its glory - hot, steaming pho!

The pho came with three condiments - lime, chilli sauce, and sea salt.

The pho was absolutely fabulous...it's the understated but rich type, with nearly clear stock, but it was well made and the natural flavours of the ingredients fused together to provide a superlatively wonderful meal. ;)

Seriously though, their pho is good...go and try it!

Strange snacks always seem to be around every time I come home. This one is apparently a Korean candy of some sort, featuring several cute characters.

I was expecting it to taste bad but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was delicious!

It all contains a round ball of something I can't identify, but it has sorbet like properties in the middle and chewy gum (edible) covering it. I can't describe the taste with anything except - excellent!

This is a decidedly gay looking jelly. I don't know who bought it, but no one ate it, so I did. It's jelly, no surprises here.

There is also a snack dubbed Fruit Vehicle Marsh Mallow and it comes in a shape of a car, the package that is. I had wondered what the unholy fusion of fruit and marshmallows would taste like...

...and the answer is good.

This one features tantalizingly suggestive chocolate covered (magic?) mushrooms.

I had high expectations for this one (no pun intended). I opened one pack with anticipation.

I was let down by the taste (it tasted stale, to be honest) but the presentation was wonderful. There's an articulate piece of chocolate in the shape of a mushroom cap, with the details, attached to a biscuit stem.

Strange snacks indeed...

Eden Inn promises 7 virgins upon check in as part of their hospitality service. This inn of milk and honey claims to be the first in the industry to provide this kind of service.

I'm kidding of course, they do nothing of that sort. I just noticed that a new inn has sprouted in the building beside the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic church and asked if they're affiliated with the church. It turns out that it was owned and operated by the church at first but now it's outsourced and the church only holds a 3% share in the inn, the receptionist told me.

I was surprised when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Lawrence, my girlfriend's younger brother. He was there with his friend, who is staying at Eden Inn. I was introduced to his friend, but I didn't get the name. Benzo memory.

This is me and his friend. All I remember is that she's from Miri and working in the F&B sector there. She happens to be staying at the inn, talk about a coincidence. I had to run coz of work though, so I couldn't stay to chat.

I did not follow them up to see if the rooms of the inn do indeed provide the said 7 virgins.

Kafe Up2U has such an attention-grabbing name that I had to check it out.

There were not much people around even during lunchtime.

I went for kampua mee since it's up to me to decide what to eat.

It's blasphemy to leave Sibu without eating kampua mee. This one isn't quite authentic though, it has meat slices instead of char siew, but at least they use pork fat, which is the orthodox way of making kampua mee. Vegetable oil is heresy.

Kafe Up 2 U. Nice ring to it, eh?

I woke up bright and early this morning to visit the good doctor. He opens very early, and I dropped in before I was due for my appointment. As always, the good doctor doesn't disappoint. ;) I told him I am working in Kuching now and asked for a bottle (500 tablets) of 2 mg Rivotril (clonazepam).

He said its fine, since I don't come in often (his words). That's largely because I'm based in Kuching. Heh! Anyway, the shocking bit was when the doctor asked the nurse (whom I suspect is his wife) how much they charge for Rivotril:

Doctor: How much did we charge for Rivotril 2 mg?
Nurse: It's RM 1.50 per tablet.
Doctor: RM 1.50? (puzzled tone)
Me: (thinking) You're ripping me off...that's double the usual price, but what can I do? :)
Doctor: It's RM 1.50.
Me: Okay, can I have 500 tablets? Just the whole bottle of Rivotril 2 mg coz I'm working in Kuching.
Doctor: Sure, you don't come in often anyway, and you're working in Kuching, so that's fine.
Me: Thanks!

Hmph...that nurse...you price raising person, you...I had to pay RM 750 for the bottle. I also had to sign on a book with different Rx scripts under Rivotril due to the amount I was acquiring. Strange, never had to do that before, but the nurse said it's necessary due to bulk. Oh well, it's just a signature anyway. It's cool though, I don't mind, that bottle is going to sort me out for a while. Sedating Sibu... :)

My flight to Sibu was delayed from 8:25 pm to 10:00 pm and then to 10:20 pm, just missing being a red eye flight by 1 hour and 41 minutes. I guess that makes it a pink eye flight. It's not so bad though, my friend who brought me to the airport took me back to town for dinner and I went back to the airport again at about 9 pm, hoping that it might depart at 9:30 pm.

Alas, it was not meant to be, and we learnt that it was further delayed by another 20 minutes. I was given a free Temporary Refreshment Voucher to offset the inconvenience by the continuous delays. I took them up on the offer even though I already ate, and went to the admittedly horrendous airport canteen for their terrible food.

This is what the free dinner voucher provided - fried noodles and a side dish of your choice. I was torn between soggy mixed vegetables and a few lonely pieces of chicken swimming in curry that time forgot. I chose the latter and had 100 Plus for the free drink. The flight arrived in Sibu in about 35 minutes and it was midnight when I got home. Long day tomorrow, time to hit the sack. Night folks...

I'll be flying to Sibu tonight. It's for work - the company is paying for the flight to oversee several installations in Sibu and I'll be flying back to Kuching on Sunday. I've been busy today, and I'll be busy tomorrow, but posting frequency will be as usual anyway. The timing is just right, as my clonazepam supply needs replenishing, and my good doctor in Sibu, who doesn't mind scripting hundreds of 2 mg tablets, is just the man to do that. ;)

bing! is billed as a coffee company, similar to the likes of Starbucks and Coffee Bean, except it's not a franchise (unlike what I mentioned in the video tour, my mistake). The front of the establishment is designed with lots of see through windows to provide natural ambient lighting and probably to allow the patrons to be seen, I presume.

This is the real entrance...the door is not on the front of the bing, but to the alley at the side of the coffee place. It's a newly opened venue, located along Jalan Padungan, Kuching, near the SOHO and Grappa area.

This is the counter of the bing, they offer a variety of coffees as well as fruit juices and tea.

There's a good crew to customer ratio and the service was good.

the bing also offers a variety of pastries, cakes and bottled drinks from the counter.

Here's a shot of the interior, the view facing outwards (towards the front). The seating arrangements varies from comfortable soft couches to intricate rattan chairs, like this one below.

This is a photo from another angle:

The shot is facing inwards, showing the minimalist decor on the walls, and the second compartment towards the back where al fresco seating arrangements are available.

This is the drink I ordered - a caramel doused ice blended mocha (hey, it was a hot day :p).

Here's a shot of their cappuccino - it comes with a slice of almond biscuit on the side, a very nice touch.

There's some interesting decors on the tables, a recurrent motif is green bananas. These are not edible, if you're wondering...

Here's a video tour of the bing:

Download: bing tour [sixthseal.com]

It's a great place to relax and have a couple of drinks with friends...though I can't shake the association of the venue's name with a certain club in The Sopranos.

Chillipeppers is a popular dining establishment here in Kuching. It serves a variety of food - from local to other fare, and their menu has a special section dedicated to "Chillipeppers Specialties", which I assume are the dishes they specialize in.

I ordered Baked Sambal Sotong with Rice, one of the options in the Chillipeppers Specialties menu. It was pretty good, done in the baked-in-a-foil style. It also has a chicken option, which one of my friends ordered...and I declare that better than the sotong. It both tastes good though.

The dish is pretty spicy, they don't hold the chilli, pardon the pun. That's what makes it good though, and the spiciness is tempered somewhat by the lady fingers that often come with this culinary dish.

I had ABC something or Ice Kacang something, and for the life of me, I can't remember what that something was. Ah Girl ordered it and it looked good so I switched my iced lemon tea for it and then I was told that it's actually ABC or Ice Kacang something, so I switched again to that one. It was good nevertheless - hot day.

Here's a group photo of us. L-R: Huai Bin, Hui Ming (camera shy), Ah Lung, Miriam, Chen Yian (Girl).

Just holding hands...
It feels good.
The warm presence of you as I squeeze your hand
The way you turn sideways and smile at me
I love your smile
It makes everything seem so perfect

"It's the MDMA"
I repeated the phrase like a mantra
I've been there before...
Never like this though...

The comforting softness as I hug you to take a photo
The serene silence as we sit beside the lake
It's just like the two of us, even though others were there.

I knew it was the MDMA
The problem is, I already liked you before dropping the pill
Just sitting beside you, feeling you close to me...
A shared smile...the simple things...

I said I'll call you again today
I will

Love is just chemicals isn't it?

The path diverges into two
The first is the well trodden one, the one I know, the comfortable one
The second is the one with you

I'm afraid I'm too old to be as impulsive as I once were

It's so complicated when you already like someone before the emphathogenic qualities of MDMA comes into the equation.

It's not black and white anymore
I can't say "It's just chemical love" when I know I felt that way before
I need a Pantone chart to sort out all these shades of gray

I feel like I've lost something...
...as I walk down the first path

The sadness is almost overwhelming

I'll always think back to this time...
...and dream about what it would be like
What it would be like, if I walked down the second path
The path that leads into your arms...

for cy

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction.

It's all white lines to me...
Oh, but things are getting clearer
I can almost read the writing in the mirror...

Related: Pill report - Pink JK [castitas.com]

This is Atlantis in Kuching. Atlantis is located below Junkyard. It's billed as a "music cafe" but it's more like the homogenized pub/disco/lounge/club with a pool table and TV set unholy conglomerations that have proliferated in this part of the country.

We were there on Saturday night, drinking Chivas and beer - it's someone's birthday, but it seems like there's one every weekend so I don't know whose it is. ;) Here's another shot...

...and a video clip.

Download: Atlantis, Kuching [sixthseal.com]

Serotonin depletion...but it's worth it. More on that later.

The Ice Sculpture Exhibition is dubbed "The Coolest August Festival" and they mean it literally - the temperature inside is -8 degrees Celcius. That's minus eight degrees below zero to prevent the ice sculptures made by the ice carvers from Harbin, China from melting.

The ice festival feature amazing works carved out of gigantic blocks of ice and is housed inside a temperature controlled room. I managed to get a half priced ticket (RM 10) by using my old uni student ID card. ;) The normal admission price for adults is RM 20.

That's inclusive of a free sweater, and an unlimited time inside. The coats are handed out before you enter the freezing enclosure.

The first thing that greets you (besides the blast of freezing air) is this huge cat made completely out of ice. I was amazed by the size and finesse that must have gone into this piece of work. It's based on the Kuching cat, one paw raised in greeting.

This is a nativity scene showing the birth of Jesus Christ (bananas). Look at the intricate design of the hay in the manger interpretation. The cot itself has a lot of carved patterns on it. It's amazing!

The Eiffel Tower of Paris is also featured in the ice sculpture exhibition. The scale of it is amazing, it towers above people.

Here's another massive ice sculpture to show you the scale of the interior. This is me standing in front of the Beijing Ceremonial Arch. The entire interior is made out of ice!

This is another design I like - it's a piece of work called Phoenix Facing The Sun.

Turtle: OMG, the world has frozen around me and I can't get up!

Here's a mini tour of the ice sculpture exhibition, a longer video will be available at the end of the post:

Download: Ice Exhibition Interior [sixthseal.com]

This is another marvelous piece of art - the An Pergola. I give this Best of Show. The design is impeccable.

Lest we get tired, there is ice chairs located inside for people to rest their weary legs. The entire bench is made out of huge blocks of ice.

The side of the interior is decorated with barren winter trees and small piles of ice. It really contributes to the ambience of the ice sculpture fest.

This is a long display of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. I have a movie featuring the ice sculpted animals here:

Download: Ice 12 Chineze Zodiac [sixthseal.com]

I was born in 1981, so that makes me a Rooster.

There is also an ice maze made out of blocks of ice in the middle of the exhibition. It's wonderful, the variety of interactive sculptures available inside.

Speaking of interactive sculptures, this is the ice palace, with steps leading up to a balcony which overlooks the entire exhibition...

...and an ice slide down to the bottom! :)

I went down the ice slide twice - they charge a nominal fee of RM 1 per slide, and you get a mat so your pants won't get wet and make your underwear all soggy and all that.

There is also an intricate ice sculpture of a longhouse - possibly the most complicated sculpture inside.

Look at the detail the ice carvers put into this one - it has a proper structure, with rooms!

It's very detailed - steps going up into the longhouse and windows on each room.

Here's another complicated ice sculpture - A Slideway Russian Style Building.

It also features a mini ice slide, this one is free, but the slide is too short for most adults. I would recommend giving the long curving slide a go instead.

This is the Liuhe Pagoda - a massive structure that competes with the Eiffel Tower in size. I liked this one more, the lighting is better.

Here's a video tour of the ice sculpture festival:

Download: Ice Sculpture Exhibition Tour [sixthseal.com]

I would highly (no pun intended) recommend a visit to the Ice Sculpture Exhibition if you're in Kuching. It ends on the 15th of August and it's located at the MBKS grounds. I'll rate it as a must visit - you won't be disappointed, it's beautiful in there!

Oriental Noodle House is located in Jalan Satok. The name is quite confusing because it's staffed by non-Chinese and it seems to attract a similar clientele. Despite our puzzlement, we decided to patronize the outlet and check out their menu offerings.

It appears to be a self-service establishment from the interior, but we were handed menus and had our order taken. I had two noodle dishes (it's called Oriental Noodle House after all) and went for a drink called Nestomalt (RM 2.50).

L-R: Huai Bin (me), Daniel, Johnny
This is a photo of the three of us - Daniel is my high school friend who dropped by Kuching for a short visit and Johnny is also from my high school and he's working here.

Here's a photo of the standard sauce the establishment provides. The left side contains chilli oil, the kind which comprises of an oil layer with chilli pieces on the bottom, and sliced chilli in vinegar on the left. It goes very well with both the noodles I had. Unlike the emasculated sliced chilli most establishments serve, this one still has its balls (well, seeds anyway) intact and retains the spiciness.

This is Chicken and Mushroom Noodles (RM 4.50). It was served piping hot with a delicious flavor base with chicken and mushroom flavors. The noodles tossed well with the sauce and it was soft and pliable enough to slurp, just like the way God meant noodles to be eaten. ;) This dish has a nice home cook essence to it and is served with a generous portion of chicken and vegetables. Not much mushrooms to be seen though. Perhaps they're on strike.

The second dish I had was the Roast Chicken Noodles (RM 4.50). This one is drier than the previous dish, and it tasted quite different, but in a good way. The roast chicken portion was generous and came from a cut I like - the thigh. The noodles had a basic flavor, but it went well with the strong tasting roasted chicken. It also came with some vegetables and great grinded meat, and the final presentation was dusted with fried onions and fresh spring onions. Delicious...

Nestomalt, which I strongly suspect came from a 3 in 1 sachet (just add boiling water), is the Styrofoam cup you see on the table.

This is Ting Noodle House which is purportedly Taiwanese owned and operated. It's supposed to have a chef from Taiwan and their menu has a green star for authentic Taiwanese cuisine and a red star indicating the spiciness of the dish.

We ordered the only green star beverage on the menu - Jasmine Green Tea (RM 2.00), an unholy fusion of Jasmine tea and green tea, which started out frothy but settled into a translucent liquid. It was good.

This is what we had for the starter. It's Taiwanese Dumplings (RM 3.50). We chose the pan-fried version, and it comes in a set of six. The dumplings are in a boat shaped receptacle with a ginger, chilli and soy sauce dip bowl built into it.

Here's a close up of the dumplings - the insides are filled with meat and some other unidentifiable ingredients. It's good, the skin is crisp and the filling is very substantial for its size. Goes well with the sauce too.

This is Stewed Beef Noodles in Soup (RM 4.00), recommended by the proprietor and the flagship of this establishment. It's has a spicy soup base, thick hand pulled noodles, generous chunks of beef and a smattering of vegetables to garnish the bowl. It tasted great.

The portions could do with a bit of work though...too small.

I was brought to this strange place, which I was told had very unique tasting, but small burgers.

It's located right in front of a bookshop, and the blinds has their Black Pepper Burger and Chicken Gravy Hotdog ads printed on it, so I imagine they have some sort of agreement with the bookshop.

There are no seating arrangements per se, due to the unusual location of their stall, but there's a coffee shop a little down from here where you can have a drink while eating the burgers (or hot dogs).

I ordered one chicken gravy hotdog, one black pepper beef and one black pepper chicken, to sample all their offerings. They do a brisk business from what I can see - customers keep on turning up and the burger turnover is pretty fast.

Black Pepper Chicken Burger @ RM 1.40

It's very cheap burgers, but rather small in size. The chicken patty has a respectable smattering of visible black pepper on it, and that gives this burger a surprisingly unique tang, unlike any other I've had before.

Chicken Gravy Hotdog @ RM 1.50

"Jesus Fucking Christ," was my initial reaction, excuse the blasphemy (and profanity). The gravy was plentiful in this open top style hotdog and the gravy was RIGHTEOUS. I don't know what they put in the gravy, but it had a very agreeable flavor that imparted itself onto the palette. It was sweet and sticky and mushy. It was divine.

Black Pepper Beef Burger @ RM 1.40

This is the famed black pepper beef burger in Kuching. Now, this one really had a lot of black pepper pieces infused into the patty as opposed to the chicken variety. It tasted completely different - there was a pleasant fusion of flavors and textures in my mouth when I ate this one. Highly recommended!

I don't know where exactly this place is as my coworker brought me there, but the address is on the wrapper. It's definately something different. The black pepper beef burger and the chicken gravy hotdog is, to use a cliche, to die for. Avoid the chicken though, pales in comparison with the beef one. The hotdog is also not to be missed - it's sloppy food for sloppy people. ;)

Kuching Fest 2004 is the annual Kuching city festival which starts on 1st August 2004. I was there last night with a couple of my friends and this is the coverage of the event on the first day. The main focus is on the food fest - that seems to be the most popular one every time. There are also two videos for download - one with the fireworks display and the other with two girls singing on the stage.

This is the video of the fireworks display to start of Kuching Festival 2004:

Download: Kuching Fest 2004 fireworks [sixthseal.com]

This is a video of the fireworks display of Kuching Fest 2004 on the first day. It was good - lasted for about 15 minutes or so and some of the fireworks were impressive.

The ground of Kuching Fest 2004 is largely taken up by a massive open air food court. There were numerous stalls offering everything from Iban Bamboo Cooked Chicken to Taiwan Sausages (with spicy, regular and sweet options) lining the sides and tables and chairs in the middle. There is also an indoor and outdoor area for exhibitors but I did not find that noteworthy, so this will mainly cover the food fest - the one which everyone goes to Kuching Fest for! :)

The stalls offer a staggering amount of food options and we were spoilt for choice...so we had a bit of everything. I remember eating crab claws, yam prawn, blueberry yoghurt, ice cream, nasi kandar, Taiwan sausages, sour duck, lok lok, roti susu, and something called "love noodles". It was a feast!

L-R: Double Dragon Taiwan Sausage stall, Tenggiri + Pork Sio Bee/Mua Chee stall (delicious), Iban Food stall with tuak (native rice wine at RM 6), and chicken cooked in bamboo, amongst other things.

Here's another stall selling Taiwan sausages at RM 2 each. Very, very nice. It's much better than the first one. I think there's at least 4 different stalls selling Taiwan sausages there.

Briyani Cafe offering different rotis, murtabaks and briyani dishes.

Lok lok!

Ching Chen and their Cinta Noodles.

Mukah Seafood Center was there too. They have umai, a local raw fish dish.

Sausages galore! This is the regular ones though.

Asian BBQ Seafood stall beside a hawker stall selling cha kueh, fried kueh tiaw and other staples.

Richmond Place offering New Zealand Fish and Chips. There are also other franchises like Sugarbun and KFC there.

There is a stall offering Natural Home Made Yoghurt. I was a bit dubious about this, due to the odd color of the yoghurt. It looked more like agar agar than yoghurt to me. However, I got one and was pleasantly surprised.

The blueberry yoghurt is surprisingly good. It tastes like what proper yoghurt should be and the blueberry adds to the texture of the yoghurt.

Emperor Dragon Whisker Sweet. It's those little balls of rolled confectionary.

Batu Kawa's 1st Sour Duck.

Banana Leaf - offering dishes served on...well, a banana leaf.

Proletarians like us can only dream about seating in this cordoned off area. ;) The tables are filled with the various stalls offerings and are for invited "guests of honor" also known as the "I paid RM 100,000 for this Datuk title" club.

The proles had their own eating competition though.

Crab claw with minced chicken and yam prawns. The former didn't have much crab in it and but the latter was good - prawns fried with a yam batter.

This stall offers a novel twist to the standard sweet corn snack - it's barbecued. The stall beside is Emperor Grill Chicken.

This is an ice cream cone with two scoops of chocolate and corn flavored ice cream. It's topped with a wafer, a single cherry and nuts. Divine.

There are all sorts of culinary delights at the fest - this one is Indon Asam Kari Mee. There's a stall selling paus beside it.

Here's another kind of feast - one for your eyes:

Download: Kuching Fest 2004 Stage [sixthseal.com]

This video shows two girls singing the Sha La La song with choreographed movements on the stage in Kuching Fest 2004.

The festival ground was packed - people, people, everywhere. Each one of them jostling to walk past the mass of humanity that was present. It seems that Kuching denizens came out in full force for the first day, don't expect to park anywhere near the location since the roads were lined with double parked cars.

It was worth it though - Kuching Fest 2004 lasts for a month, and you won't be disappointed if you drop by.

Hock Huat Chinese Pasty is an odd name for this establishment. They have a couple of token pastries of Chinese origin but what the stall really sells is chiffon cakes. It's the flagship item.

Now, I'm not a big fan of chiffon cakes, coz I used to eat a lot of mediocre ones when I was younger. However, I decided to try one of these, since a cheddar cheese chiffon cake does sound rather intriguing.

The proprietor told me they specialize in two kind of chiffon cakes - cheddar cheese and prune ones. It's sold in halves for RM 5. That's half a cake, enough to fill most people, it went down just nicely for me.

This is the owner of the place. I think he might very well be Hock Huat, but I didn't think to ask. Instead, I asked to go into his baking space and take photos.

He showed me this large steel bowl which had a lot of oil (or melted butter) and a tiny sprinkling of flour inside. There's an automatic beater preparing this one, which I was told is the first step.

Here's the important second step - the one that really matters. I know, coz he told me three times. I think it had something to do with the indirect heating (double boiling) method. He was very enthusiastic about stirring the chiffon cake mixture too. This one is the prune chiffon.

I bought half of a Kraft cheddar cheese chiffon cake for RM 5. It made me instantly discard my long simmering prejudice against chiffon cakes. It's delicious! The chiffon cake is very soft, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The cheese flavors came through just nicely. I was amazed at how soft the chiffon cake is, it practically disintegrated when I put it into my mouth. Highly recommended!