Sarawak Day 4: Last Day in Kuching

Assalamualaikum. 안녕

Finally my Cuti-Cuti Malaysia Sarawak has come to its last entry. Phew, punya bercinta mau habiskan. Took me almost a year. What an achievement I've gained. 

Previous entry (here).

1 June 2015

Since today is our last day in Kuching, we woke up a bit late than the previous days. We're not going anywhere far from the city hence bersenang lenang mengendur urat atas katil we did.  

Yesterday, I informed the receptionist we're gonna take the hotel shuttle service to the airport. Check out is at 11am & based on my calculation we have more than enough time for a last minute shopping. That's for the 3 sisters. As for me & my cousin we decided to check the Waterfront esplanade. Shopping isn't our priority so eloklah berpecah. This time the 3 sisters agreed with my suggestion. Yalah last day kan, cuba hari² sebelum tu harus aku dapat jelingan tajam. Jangan pernah kau berani utter the magic word "berpecah". 

But before acara melabur duit, kenalah breakfast dulu. Permintaan perut adalah super penting as to avoid any grumpy mood arose tengah bershoppingan sakan. 

We drove to Kopi O Corner restaurant located at Bangunan Mara, Satok. 10 minutes (plus) away from Tune Hotel. On the way to the restaurant, we had a quick stopped for some picture moment with the Empat Sekawan Cats Statue. My friend; DJ named this statue Empat Sekawan because there are 4 cats at the tugu (obviously). It's not that difficult to spot this statue just that we need to be extra careful where to stop & park our car. Fyi, the statue is built on a small roundabout in the middle of a busy & narrow road. Bertabahlah; double park pastu berlari anak... clicked...and rushed back to the car. Demi sekeping gambar bersama si Kucings or also called pusak in Bahasa Melayu Sarawak.

#1 Yours Truly before the Empat Sekawan Cats Statue; but Bunda managed to captured only 2 cats 

#2 Si Tiba²-Debab before the restaurant

#3 Super love this restaurant. The ambiance, the layout, the choice of food...selesa gila. And the restroom pun bersih. Nora bagi 4 bintang

#4 Rambang mata kejap mau pilih what menu to order for breakfast

#5 More menu to choose from

#6 My cousin ordered this because she said the picture in the menu seduced her. Walhal makanan diet sangat.

#7 Roti kalu, mesti Aunty punya

#8 Angah & Bunda share this Mee Kolok

#9 My breakfast. Memang almost everyday balun Laksa Sarawak + Teh Ais masa di sana. 

Aku lupa harga makanan kami pagi tu. Jadinya memang tidak akan ada pembentangan budget for this trip. Next time update lah lepas 10 tahun kan Bie. Grr!

After breakfast, we drove back to the hotel. Wakil from the rental company datang kutip kereta & refund our deposit not long after. Settled urusan kereta, kami pun bawa haluan masing².

My cousin & I decided to explore the esplanade once more. Didn't get to view the Waterfront during the day, selalu pi melepak waktu malam jak. Lagipun shopping-mhopping isn't our thing (boring!).

#10 Cat Teacher with her Cat Students. Or Cat Leader with her Cat Comrades

#12 Artsy partsy work along the esplanade

#13 Dan² ingat kampong upon seeing this. Poyo lah kan!

#14 View of the New Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building from across the esplanade

Enough with the view across the Sarawak River, we turned to the road behind us. Cuci mata tengok bangunan lama pula. 

#15 Some of the budget accommodations near Waterfront Kuching. Kalau aku turun with other than the family, harus stay sini. Jimat cermat katanye

#16 Because it's pink. And it says planet Sambal. Too bad wrong timing else boleh compare with SS Indonesia.

Tengah siok jalan² cuci mata, suddenly dapat message from the 3 sisters. Due to time constraint (-lah sangat kan), they commanded me to head to the Bazaar. I forgot what they told me to buy but harapan ke laut bila si Err reply their message along with the picture below. Al-tutup Bazaar nye. Signboard says it is open at 9am, tapi suda half past 10am pun masih tiada tanda Bazaar ni akan buka. Tiada rezeki jadinya redha lah. Ntah ler apa dicari. 

#17 Next time insha Allah boleh singgah although sendiri pun ndak tau bila akan menjejak Kuching lagi

As I've said earlier, we booked the shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel. Cost us RM 10.60 per person. The service is FOC for children below 3 years old; while it is half the price for 4-12 years old. And sadly, none of us apply to both category. Semua bayar full fare. 

We arrived the airport few hours before our flight. Saja datang awal sebab mau ronda Kuching airport dulu. Mencari paste Laksa Sarawak lah bagai. Masa di city ndak lah sibuk kau mencari kan Bie. Mendapatlah bayar berganda masa beli di airport. Lagak orang kayo sangat.

#18 Always a proud Borneon I am.

#19 Kuching International Airport, I'll see u when I see u.

We had lunch at the airport. And journey back to Double K City was nothing but smooth journey. Syukur.

*clap* Alhamdulillah, accomplished my mission to finish this Kuching trip by this week. Biar lambat, asal siap. Pelan² kayuh kataku. Why the suddden semangat? Adalah tu, rahasia gitu.

eryantierdabdulkarim

Sarawak Day 3 - Mom's Laksa, Pasar Serikin & Mira Cake House, Kuching

Assalamualaikum. 

So I decided to go with the flow. Will keep updating this blog & continue from where I last left it. Pelan² kayuh. Allah's willing I'll be able to catch up soon.

Previous entry (here).

31 May 2015
Mom's Laksa Kopitiam, Petra Jaya

Happy Bornday Queen of my heart. My ultimate favourite 어머니+아버지 figure. May Allah grant u a healthy & bless life. Insha Allah, amin

We didn't celebrate Bunda's birthday; no cakes nor mini celebration as she requested us to only du'a for her. Gitu bersederhana. 

This morning, we'll be going somewhere out of Kuching city. It's a place located at the Indonesia-Sarawak border. Pasar Serikin as many visitors call it. Said to be a must-go place when visiting Sarawak. So kita ikutlah kata arus. Maka bertolak awal lah kami sebab the night before masa study map direction...boleh tahan jauh juga pasar ni. This pasar better be selling varieties of good things as it wasn't that near to reach. Siaplah kami sesat barat sebab Waze menjadi bengong halfway to the pasar. Data internet on off as we approached the Sarawak-Indonesia border. 

Before aktiviti drive berjam², haruslah dulukan tuntutan perut. As suggested by a good friend of mine, we drove to Mom's Laksa Kopitiam somewhere at Ave Astana. Approximately 20 minutes driving from our hotel. Please google the direction ya because we solely depends on Waze to move around throughout our trip in Kuching. 

Had laksa sarawak for breakfast (their signature dish). And it had me at my first taste of its broth. Nora bagi berbintang². Memang ndak rugi datang bertandang. Their iced teh tarik also did not disappoint me. Alhamdulillah the 3 sisters & my cousin love the food as well. Maka tiadalah kejadian mendengar rungutan kufur nikmat makan. Ngeh

#1 The only picture of the kedai left in my phone

#2 My Laksa Sarawak + Iced Teh = Perfect Meal Combination

By now, everyone should know that

Accidentally deleted picture + Miss BibiErr = Berpisah Tiada umpama Best Friend Sign Mati

Tabahlah hati sang Pendelete.

Pasar Serikin, Bau

We arrived our destination after driving for 2 hours (or more sebab katanye sesat). Disambut dengan hujan nan lebat. And traffic congestion. Tu belum campur stress cari parking. Potholes here and there. Walau drive kereta sewa but that cannot be the excuse for us to not care for the car. Orang cari makan with that car, kalau penyewa main hentam jak guna kesian lah sama owner kan. 

Syukur akhirnya dapat parking. Ndak lama pun queue untuk parking sebenarnya. The heavy pour might be the reason we became restless I reckoned. Risau ndak dapat menikmati aktiviti shopping till u drop. Duh sangat perangai masing². Tapi memang betul tekaan sang Makcik² ku. They didn't really enjoyed their time in Serikin. Not because of the rain but because of the wet walkway.

Bila hujan tiba² lebat, jadi katak kejap berlompatan from 1 shop to another. Ahjumma tukang jual pun stress semacam juga. Mau ndak mau layan customer. Bila tanya harga, mostly pandang kau head to toe. Jawab pun acuh ndak acuh. Marah bila kita buka plastik untuk tengok jualan, sebab nanti basah. So how to choose & buy? Pastu note suara tinggi senada bila minta diskaun. Huk aloh Ahjumma pung, bakpo seteghes sangat? Tapi logik jugalah diorang stress. Customer ndak dapat pilih barang, barang jualan diorang pun boleh rosak (or basah) terkena hujan. And seribu alasan lain. 

#3 Berpayung, berbaju hujan. Tapi ada juga yang gamble hati kayu redah hujan macam tu (tunjuk diri sendiri sebab perasan macho)

#4 Nangis tengok seluar al-basah kalau jalan atas ni

#8 Alhamdulillah despite meeting few Ahjumma yang ''berangin", we encountered lots yang friendly & murah hati juga. Rezeki Allah for them kind hearted Ahjumma, makcik² ku sempat buat investment at few gerai-s. 

Apart from baju bajan; ada gerai jual kitchen appliances, home decorations, food etc. Macam² ada. But we didn't buy any deco items nor appliances sebab memikirkan kejadian mengangkut pi airport bagai. Leceh. 

Aunty sempat beli few jubah & T-shirts. I bought Bunda a denim skirt because I saw her eyeing it few times. Kejap² return pi the same gerai & belek the same skirt. She was so happy upon seeing the skirt inside the plastic bag I gave her. Repeatedly thanking me. Sehelai skirt cuma, harga pun bukan mahal mana tapi dia punya happy tu habis meter.

Ndak lama pun di Serikin. We had lunch at one of the restaurant there before returning back to Kuching. I had mee kolok & its sup daging is to die for. Sampai sekarang masih ingat lagi sedap dia. Eh gambar sudah ke laut, jangan ditanya. Ulangan statement.

On the way to Kuching, semua melabuh tirai. Except Bunda & I the driver. Semua pakat bangun when we're approaching the city. Pastu remind aku banyak kali untuk singgah kedai kuih lapis. So ke Mira Cake House lah kami. Thanks DJ for ur entry of this place. Aku sebenarnya malas mau buat research pasal kek lapis bagai ni, therefore blog si DJ jadi main reference. Bukan kek lapis jak, all the eateries I went are the places she mentioned in her blog. Senang kerja si Err, copy past sajo.

Walau copy paste, tetaplah sesat kejap. Sebab si Err bijak melantun (as usual) mau derhaka with the direction given. Sebenarnya mau menyinggah pi Fort Margherita before shopping kek lapis. Tapi ntah ler Waze masih bingai it brought us to some places yang ala hutan. Panik lah the 3 sisters. Kami semua wanita jelita so takutlah if anything terpelanting happened. Ciskek kan, haritu sungguh² semua bangga mengaku owner black belt Taekwondo. 

Mira Cake House is located opposite the Waterfront Kuching. Terpisah by the Sarawak River. One can get here by riding the sampan (or known as Tambang among the locals) from the Waterfront and walk a bit to this cake house. Or drive; like us. Alang² dari Serikin berkereta kan. 

#9 Production & packaging happening in this one place.

Aku macam biasa; more interested watching the staffs do their job rather than choosing which kuih lapis to bring home. And sibuk jadi photographer tidak berupah for them Makcik as well. 

#10 Always love seeing people running a successful business like this. Mesti ada pahit behind its success but for me, itulah motivator paling mantap for a business to prosper. 

Segala nama retis, spouse retis, and drama top jadi nama kuih lapis. Ntah ler siapa tumpang glamour siapa kan. Yang pasti, drama Mr Arrogant tu memang bukti kukuh bahawasanya entry ni sudah kepam berabad lama. 

#14 Kakak cashier super laju buat kerja, super pantas packing kek juga. 

Dalam berkira² berat luggage, masing² keluar kedai with box in hand. I immediately gave my cousin that signal look. Telling her to be prepared. Those boxes are gonna be the things we'll have to carry at the airport.  Pasrah maknae-s.

After Mira Cake House, we went straight to Swee Kang Ais Kacang. An ABC haven for Kuchingites. Perlu basahkan tekak lepas seharian memandang aliran duit keluar. Apart from having the signature ABC, we had the super yummy sotong kangkung & banana fritters. And again, cuma mampu bercerita. Semua gambar sudah ke laut. None of the ahli jemaahs had pictures taken with their camera. All pictures are 100% taken with mine. Double triple pasrah lah masing². Confident semua yang aku bakal share dalam group. 

#15 Seen here is the Ahjussi; expert mixologist. He has been mixing the ABC for more than a decade already

#16 Yummylicious ABC. Forgot to let the waitress know that I don't want jagung in my ABC. Makanya before I indulge, kerja keras keluarkan segala biji jagung.

Sudah basah tekak, we went back to the hotel. Time to refresh & rejuvenate. Rimas lah sudah seharian berjalan mengukur tanah Kuching. Dari hujan then bertukar panas lit². 

Later that night we had dinner at this one restaurant that serves Sarawak local dishes; My Village Barok in Kampung Gersik. This time, instead of driving we decided to ride the Tambang to cross over the Sarawak River. Angah jak tinggal sebab alkisah dia takut tenggelam dalam sungai (sebab Tambang bocor) & jadi makanan buaya. Banyak tengok drama kan, tulah imaginations melangit tinggi. Tambang fare is RM 0.30 pp one way. 

Tujuan sebenar pi Barok ni sebab manuk pansuh (manuk = ayam). But was told the dish is sold out. Gila awal! Walhal kami sampai ngam² waktu dinner. Only an hour after they opened. Then waiter tu bagitau ada 2 tourist bus came before us. And sapu licin all the manuk they serve. Nangis dalam senyum jaklah. Awal or lambat datang ain't the problem, memang sudah tertulis bukan rezeki kami. So we settled with what they have in the kitchen. Sayur midin kechentaan aku pun habis. Sobs lagi. Forgot what dishes we ordered tapi memang sedap. No one complained the food upon exiting the restaurant so I assumed semua tekak puas hati. 

We didn't spend much time there as Angah was waiting for us across the river. Kami punyalah risau dia sorang², turned out joli habis dia bershopping sendiri. Ntah apa jak dia beli from the vendors along the esplanade. We worried for nothing obviously. Malam tu tidur awal sebab esok pagi kena keluar awal. Misi 3 sisters untuk jejak pasar whilst me & the cousin; misi mengukur Waterfront. By noon kena ada di airport sebab flight petang tu. 

And cerita last day aku update next entry. Berjela², ber-paragraph² pula entry kali ni. Terover masuk hormon Rajin ka apa kau ni Bie oii.

eryantierdabdulkarim

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