Sarawak Day 1 & Day 2 - Arrival, Chong Choon Cafe & Cat Museum

Assalamualaikum. 안녕

Dan kembali bersiaran *sambil vakum rumah, buang sawang*. Entah berapa lama semangat ni akan bertahan. Entah apa yang buat busy tahap melangit. Perasan-busy sebenarnya, memang jauh dari busy sebenar. Pasrahlah. 

Anyway, ni cerita 2 tahun lepas. Gigih mau update hokey!! Sebagai bukti, Si Err ni menjejak Malaysia juga. Instead of kejadian lupa diri almost all the time; kan mengaku kampong nun di Seoul sana. *kuis pasir*

As usual, bila kejadian sudah bertahun lama haruslah penyakit lupa munculkan diri. Gambar pun banyak yang hilang sebab haritu gigih update handphone; clear sana clear sini. Ntah apa aku TERdelete. Ndak habis penyakit bingai. Jadinya continue jaklah dengan apa yang ada. Jangan jak ni jadi pencetus alasan penyakit Malas datang lagi. Ngek.

Update as of 12 Aug 2018: Alhamdulillah managed to get back all my Sarawak pictures. Thanks to Dropbox. Like seriously I totally forgot about its existence.

I bought the flight ticket few months before the trip. Kuching has always been in my places-to-go-list since forever. Sebelah jak Sabah & Sarawak kan, pun belum si Err menjejak. So, harus si Err excited bila dapat tiket murah.

And sebabkan beli tiket promo jadinya landed Kuching adalah di tengah malam. Nothing much we can do so we headed straight to the hotel from the airport. I didn't go solo for this trip. Bunda + her two elder sisters & a not so little cousin tagged along.

#1 Upon arrival. Selca-back satu for Miss Err

It took us less than 20 minutes to reach our hotel; by airport taxi. I've made a booking at Tune Hotel Waterfront Kuching prior the trip. Checked in adalah easy peasy although we arrived way too late. Terima kasih receptionist Tune Hotel Kuching for the excellent service. Booked 2 double rooms, and I was in the same room with the cousin throughout our stay. Biarlah yang tiga beradik tu stay bilik sama. Bolehlah isi masa bergosip bersama. Bunda's room was quite far from my room so memang selamatlah jantung dari gegaran pagi. Aunty is a very very early morning kinda person hence it was a blessing not having them next door.

#2 Walau sudah tengah malam, receptionist masih senyum manis. Thanks TH Kuching!

#3 Shared the room with my cousin. Only us two, double yeay!

#4 Add on air conditioner & toiletteries (in that black bag) so kenalah bayar extra

#4 Typical TH bathroom. Bersih, water heater tiada problem, air pun laju...so we have no complain.

Right, intro macam biasa memang melalut ke laut. Lama ndak men-scribbled so please; pardon me. Melepas gians while roh rajin merasuk diri.

30 May 2015
Kuching, Sarawak

We started our journey a bit late on our second day in Kuching. Company tempat aku booked kereta sewa buat lawak spastic seawal pagi. They were supposed to send the car I rented by 8am but around 830am baru bagitau they've cancelled my booking. Reason being? Tiada kereta yang sesuai for us 5. Mampu? Sudahlah plan lepas lunch mau pi Sarawak Cultural Village nun di ceruk Kuching. Memang mengundang sumpahan berbakul. Tapi itulah, marah sampai bernanah mulut pun tiada guna. Buat penat jak. Instead of layan marah, I decided to find solution. Not letting anyone nor anything kacau mood Cuti Cuti Malaysia gue. At first, aku mau booking jaklah sama Tune Hotel (they do provide this kinda service; inclusive of driver lagi) tapi rate hotel haruslah kebabom mahal. Google punya goole, alhamdulillah Allah permudahkan. Dapat respond cepat, and kereta pun sampai on time. Jangan tanya contact number etc etc sebab aku lupa. Haritu ada jot down details tapi ntah mana aku simpan.

Settled urusan kereta sewa, masa untuk cari breakfast. Sebelum semua bertukar jadi Hijau Hulk. I asked Bunda to drive while I navigated the Waze. Aku masih belum tau fungsi Waze masa tu (sekian terima kasih). Install app pun pagi sebelum keluar bilik hotel. Pastu kalut minta ajar cara guna benda alah tu dari cousin aku nun di Kolumpor. So yeah, I used Waze for the first time in my life in this trip. Pasal tu aku ndak berani drive sambil ber-Waze. Kang ndak pasal-pasal kereta tu terbang.

First stop was Chong Choon Cafe, Jalan Abell. Had my VERY first Laksa Sarawak here. Sumpah sedap. Baru masuk kedai, tercium bau laksa...lantas jatuh chenta. Masa sampai tu memang sudah masuk peak hour tapi syukur lagi sebab cepat jak dapat seats. We waited for less than 5 minutes. Parking pun main senang dapat (walhal Bunda main berani mati jak parked depan kedai).

#5 Rupa biasa jak from the inside

#6 Consists of few gerai-s in one shop

#7 Ordered my first Laksa Sarawak from this Ahjussi

#8 Angah's choice of breakfast; rojak

#9 Mine! 내 것

#10 Our drinks & Bunda's carrot cake.

Lepas makan, semua jadi waras kembali. Semua dapat berfikir dengan tenang. Barulah best teruskan perjalanan. Sebelum pi Sarawak Cultural Village; we decided to visit The Cat Museum first. And sebelum sampai, berlakulah kejadian sesat. Puaslah cari dalam Waze but it led us to some buildings. Panik sementara. Sudahlah Kuching ni kaya sama roundabouts. Sekali terlepas junction, pasrah kena drive sampai jumpa another roundabout. Tiada u-turn sesuka jiwa mu.

Cat Museum, Kuching

Luckily sesat ndak lama, sebab si Err telah bijak bestari pi tanya one of her Sarawakien bestie. Turned out the museum is located on the ground of the Kuching City North City Hall (Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara) building. This is the first museum in the world; devoted to all things feline. Semua excited mau masuk kecuali Aunty sebab dia ni less of a kucing lover. 

#11 This sign is placed betul-betul tepi roundabout. No wonder terlepas pandang

#12 Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara

#13 Semua pasrah dengar arahan si Err posing dengan photo op ni

Admission Fee is FREE but RM3 is charged for camera & RM5 for video camera. Open from 9am to 5pm & it is close on Public Holiday.

#14 Greeted by this giant cat
Terus rindu budak-budak di rumah. Sobs

#15 Meow-Bartender P to the Yo

#16 Secomel

#17 Cats have their own postcards sent among them as well

#18 In his Iban's traditional costume
Kerlas ko jo!

#19 Among the famous cat-couples at the museum

Spent nearly half an hour in the museum. I took quite loads of pictures actually tapi semua tinggal kenangan jak lah. *Thanking my brilliance at this moment* Too many cats thingy in the museum, hati sangat happy. Except section cat graveyard & cat funeral. Mengundang sebak.

Kami ndak lama sangat for we still have place to go that evening. Sudahlah jauh nun di ceruk bandar, kenalah gerak awal. Sebab perjalanan a bit far, sorang demi sorang tumbang ke alam mimpi. Except Bunda & I. Kesian we'olls anak beranak terbulikan. 

Before jalan jauh, perut perlu dijamu. We stopped at Bemmers Cafe located not far from the museum. Thanks DJ to her JJCM Kuching Itinerary I got to know about this eatery. It's a food court style cafe; meaning banyak gerai in one place hence varieties of food to choose. I tried the Mee Belacan just because I saw my favourite telur hitam on the bowl. And turned it is sooo good. Been searching for the recipe since then but to no avail. Insha Allah mesti terjumpa juga. Yang lain order rojak, mee kolok etc. No one complain about the food they ate so aku assume semua kena di jiw lah kan.

So where we're to next? Sarawak Cultural Village it is. And macam biasalah, akan ku sambung next entry. Semoga roh rajin masih dalam diri. Will try my best to keep updating this blog. It has been nearly a year. Sikit lagi anniversary untuk latest entry aku published. Nov 2016. 

Before I end this entry, cuci mata kejap gambar aku ambil selaku co-driver. Koh!

# 10 Gunung Santubong from afar
Automatic nyanyi lagu Puteri Santubong. And Cik Driver pun paksa-rela dengar suara aku menyumbang. 

# 11 Beautiful skies & lots of clouds accompany us throughout our journey to SCV. 

And by saying lots of clouds I mean super duper panas terik mengigit kulit it was. AC dalam keta pun ndak mampu lawan bahang di luar. Tabahlah demi menjejak.

Till next entry. Wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim