#HindukBeganjuh2024 - Trip 4

So, we went again... 2 - 3 March 2024, to Mukah this time.  As usual, I don't have much time to write, I'll just post a bit for now.

4 of us again.  I'll be sad when Noel won't be around to join us.

Our Budget and Planning vs Real Expenditure

Building a Fortress

Have you ever feel like you always have to walk cautiously? Like... when things are well and rosy, you think that you need to be careful, because you don't know when the next thing will happen, because in your head, the next thing WILL be bad.

Well, sometimes I feel like that.  I feel like when a relationship / friendship is going on so well, that we spend a lot of time together, that I'm just waiting for it to fail, for it to crumble, for my friends not to like me anymore that they exclude me from every thing.  I'm afraid of that, afraid of being hurt, being left.  Sometimes I ask if I'm genuinely liked, if my "friends" talk about me behind my back. 

And thus, I build a fortress.

#HindukBeganjuh2024 - Trip 3

Note 8/2/24:  I'm pressed for time today, so I'm just noting briefly.  When I have more time, I'll write more.

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So.... during our last trip to Lachau / Sri Aman, we had immediately planned for another #hindukbeganjuhtrip.  Because Mike and Marilyn had never gone to Kapit, we decided to go there, to tick off our Sarawak list slowly.  And I was really glad that Noel is back and can join us.  Here we go on Trip #3!

This was our tentative itinerary and budget.  For this trip, we opened up a tabung, each putting in RM200.

We were behind schedule by 10 minutes when we left on Day 1.  But as the day progresses, we fell about an hour behind.  First stop was Lachau eventhough we did not plan to stop.  That's because our driver; Noel was already hungry.  And that gave us chance to buy telur ikan buntal for Marilyn's parents.

2nd stop - We had planned to makan Mee Among since the last time.  So we stopped at Sri Aman, about 30 minutes away from Lachau.  The "noodle king" shop was closed so we googled which shop that was famous for the mee satay.

This was Mee Satay at Golden Cafe Sri Aman.  I thought that Mee Satay meant noodles in peanut sauce.  Apparently not.  It was cooked in the marinate of the satay meat (if you can imagine what I mean).  Nope, didn't work for me.

After the disappointing Mee Satay, we went off to Sarikei.

We missed this shop in the earlier trip because it was closed (half day on Sunday).  But this time we were confident it was still open (google says till 6pm).  When we arrived the shutters were half closed!  They were going to close earlier due to personal event.  Thank God they still accepted orders; ours being the last.

Then, off the Kanowit we went. 

And then to Song.  Where we were caught in heavy rain.

And then, it was KAPIT! WOOTS.

Took this pix to send to my mom.

No proper lunch, so we were famished by the time we got to Kapit.  We immediately sat for dinner at 66 Cafe before checking in at the Loft Pals Urbanstay.  Good place to stay.

And at night, we went for a drive around, and walked at the Lily Pond, had drinks at the bistro there.

Next morning was Roti Canai Goreng.  

Before we went to the market.  Lots of loootttttssss!  Fun market.

And a walkabout

The famous empurau!

And then we checked out, had lunch and took photo at this iconic bridge.  "family" photo using noel's camera.

All through the journey we took 0.5 photos.  Did you know that meant NOT selfie, but back camera?  No, I didn't know.  

Off home!

And this was our total spent.

Here's our latest HindukBerganjuh list!

#HindukBeganjuh2024 - Trip 2

During Trip #1, there was an overflow of durian, but because it was a long journey to Sibu and when we returned, it was already very late in the evening and there wasn't anymore durian by the road side, we planned to go again, but only to Lachau to get some durian.  The week after! Haha.  So on 21 Jan 2024, at 10am, we took off for a day of durian hunting!

With no proper planning this time, more of a free and easy trip because it was only up to Lachau, we started the journey at 10am.  We did however discussed that we'd want to go to Mount Hosanna, if it was still early as Sri Aman is not that far.  So we dubbed this the "holy trip" especially because it was on a Sunday.

9.30am - picked Mike.  10 am picked Marilyn.  And off we went.  We stopped at the first stop we say that had many durian after Serian.  I found out later that the name of the place is Rasau (Serian) area.  We then packed the durian into container as I feasted.  I was the only one feasting because I wasn't planning on drinking (alcohol) and the other two were.  After about an hour or so, we left to Lachau.  We arrived Lachau at about 12.15 and of course we had to have our mee goreng and its accompaniments. 

While lunching it was pouring rain, cats and dogs really, I was thankful that we were in the safety of the shop.  But we had then wanted to go to the market and we only had one umbrella.  So I went umbrella hunting and got a rainbow one (which I like) for RM19.  Then we went to the market, got salted fish, dabai etc, etc. Spent rather a lot.  I think about RM50 each!

Then we went off to Simanggang!  I think I've been to the Waterfront before, but it wasn't made up nicely then yet.   We walked around in the hot sun and then dropped by for froyo at Waterfront Ice Cream shop just opposite.

Then, we started leaving Sri Aman, but not without first shopping at Watsons 😂  The things we do.  Again, after "helping the economy of Sri Aman", we left for Mount Hosanna.  These 2 were behaving as they didn't drink the beer that I packed because we had wanted to first go to the church.  

We arrived the church at 4.45.  The opening hours states till 5pm, but understandably, the "gates of heaven" were already closed by then.  Alas.  This calls for another trip no? 😉

So we left the church after quick photos, and right after those two started drinking.  They made a dent of 13 cans in 2 hours (I packed 18 cans).  We got to Marilyn's house at around 7pm, her mom asked us to drop by for dinner and then we left at about 8.30pm, with me reaching home about 9.30pm after dropping Mike off.

On the way home, at about 6.30pm while driving in the car, we came up with itinerary for our next trip.  And where shall we go next?  Well, there's a whole lot more places in Sarawak to cover, that's for sure!

#HindukBeganjuh2024 - Trip 1

Hello 2024!  It's been AGES!!  I don't really know how to pick up from my last post, but I guess I will just start fresh new stories... I'm putting these here, because I don't want to put it on my insta.  Just for own record and for the fun of it.

So, last year, Noel got into UMS, and me and a couple of my colleagues said we should do a roadtrip from Kuching up to KK.  We then plotted the journey to take in March, when Noel starts his 2nd semester.

On the first weekend of January, I had lunch with some friends from the church's tadika at Kingwood Kuching, one trail of thought led to another and I was thinking I should ask my colleagues if they want to go to Sibu (Kingwood).  Hilarious, I know. But that's part of the fun in life isn't it?  The spontaneous things.  It was the birthday of one of them too, so I thought it would be fun.  Unfortunately, one of them had family dinner so we didn't proceed with the plan.

Then, when we came back to the office on Monday, the two of them were like - this weekend??? Haha... so we proceeded to plan the trip, booked the room and prepared to go.  We did not invited more colleagues to join because there were one or two close ones, who would want to go, but who has some bit of toxicity in them and we didn't want to have to deal with that.

13 January 2024 (I just copy paste from our whatsapp group because I'm lazy like that). 

8.30am - pick Mike

9am - leave marilyn house

10.45 - reach lachau

1 hour makai

12 - leave lachau

2.30 reach Glory Cafe sarikei

1 hour makai

3.30 leave Sarikei

4.30 reach Sibu

We were 100% on time, about 30 minutes earlier than schedule).  Along the way, we saw sooooo many durian selling by the road side.  But since we still had a long way to go, we didn't get any.  Here is the journey, in photos!

"Bekalan" for our journey.  24 cans of be-ar.

1st stop.  Lachau.  Of course the mee goreng!  We walked around at the market and got ourselves RM20 dabai and a container of durian.  We finished the durian, the other two didn't makan much because they wanted to drink (beer).

2nd stop.  Of course Glory Cafe Tom Yum noodles.  I'm not a fan of this, but of course we had to try it for the sake of the first timers.  Mike and I didn't like it because of the bitter aftertaste from the lime.

And of course, idamanku selalu... my chao chai hu ngang.  Thoroughly enjoyed this, mostly aku makan sorang jer.

When we confirmed the trip, I called Glory Cafe to book these.  Coconut pudding.  So nice and refreshing on a hot, hot day!  Last time, when I go to Glory, it would be jammed pack, hard to get any seat kind of situation.  But this time, it was just 3 lonely tables.  Perhaps we arrived after peak hours.

Then we went to "see the river" opposite Glory.  They had some park with exercise equipment, so we goofed around for a bit.

A cute little church in Sarikei.  So ang-mo.

Drove around town to take photos of the lovely churches.

After that we drove straight to Sibu, and checked in to our chosen hotel - Starlink Hotel.  This is quite new, opened in 2022.   When I go for trips alone or with Noel, I would stay in Kingwood, but this time when I searched for hotel room for 3, this came up and decided to give it a try.  It's a bit far from town, but with a car, not really an issue.

We were greatly impressed with the hotel tho!  All the things were individually wrapped, which we happily song-lap away when we left.  The room costs us RM130.00 for 3.

We stayed in the room and rested for a bit before venturing out for a walk.  Had hoped to catch the sunset at the iconic swan, but it rained.

When we went out from the hotel, there was a cute shop selling China goodies, keropok, snacks etc.  We walked around and say this "slimming" mirror.
Introducing Marilyn and Mike.
Hehe.  I have no idea how they came into my life at work, so perhaps another story for another day.

We went for dinner at Lot 10 Cafe, not far from McD Sibu, opposite Wisma Sanyan.  Ayam penyet.  The sambal, the soup, the veg is to die for.  I've missed this.  Thank God it's still nice.  That's the bad part about introducing people to the food we like isnt' it?  That it might no longer be nice.

The place had satay too.  From my many visits, the satay has always been popular, but since I was always alone, I never ordered.  So tonight, we ordered 10 sticks of chicken and 10 of beef.  The sticks were HUGE.  and yummy and juicy.  The peanut sauce was great too.  We only managed to eat 4, and tapau-ed the rest.

Then in the rain, we walked to the ever popular Sibu Pasar Malam and spent more on food.  Somehow we did not take any photo of being at the pasar.

After that, at about 9pm, we went back to the hotel, I slept at 10 and those 2 buggers drank their beers, ate their supper, watched TV, tested out "breathe well nasal strip" and slept at 2.30am.

Day 2.  Sunday.  I woke up at 6.30am and went to Wesley Methodist Church whilst those 2 slept in.  Because they start at 7.30am and is only an hour, I felt that I should go.  And so I did.

7.30 church DL only

9am ALL go bfast kampua

Go buy kompia

Go swan

Pasar sentral

Go back hotel

12 check out

12.30 chicken rice

1.30 leave sibu

2.30 bintangor

sarikei Roti Kawin Aik Seng

3pm leave bintangor

5pm lachau

7pm kuching

At 9am, I picked the 2 up and we went for breakfast.  Of course at my fav kampua place.  Get the drift?  it's all about MY favorite place. Haha.

After breakfast we went to buy our kompia, at Sheng Kee and Fatt Bakery.  I devoured at least 5 of the freshly baked plain buns.

Then we went to Pasar Besar (Central Market) Sibu,   It was Dabai overflowing season and there were sooooo many.  Oversupplied.  We bought some and got a basket for Choo, another colleague who is our makan and drink buddy.

Then we went back to the hotel to check out, went back to the China shop to get some junks and snacks as souvenirs.

And finally, we got out photos at The Swan!  Yeay!

And then lunch!  The day before I gave them the option of what they wanted to eat for dinner.  It was too late when they decided to have chicken rice coz when I called New Capitol, they ran out.  So I booked for lunch the day after.  The taukeinio actually forgot to book, but the servers were kind and took some out for us.  The mango pamelo sago is to die.  We shared this between the 3 of us.

And so it's time to leave Sibu.  We went to Bintangor for the Limau Bintangor Orange Juice.  Just a quick tapau pit stop.  We wanted to go to Sarikei for the Roti Kawin, but when we called, they said they only opened till 12 on a Sunday.  So we drove straight to Jakar Shumai to tapau frozen Shu Mai and to refuel.

And that's it for this trip.  From Jakar, we drove straight to Kuching, with a toilet break in Lachau and dinner at some random (but nice) place in Siburan.  We were 30 mins behind the schedule for our return trip, I got home at about 10.30pm.  And this was our expenditure.

It was a good trip overall, we had already planned to go to Lachau the week after just for durian hunting as this trip we came back late and no more roadside durian by then. I'm thankful for collegue turned friends and look forward to more trips to come!