A Rare Working Trip to Sibu

I was called to attend a course in Sibu. Well, well, well. That's something I had not done in many years, especially since the massive budget cut from the Education Ministry. The last time I attended such a course was probably back in 2004. Anyway, I was holed up at Kingwood Hotel for 3 days and 2 nights, and at one time, my brain felt like it was exploding with the amount of information that I had to absorb.

Kingwood Hotel. It's located by the Rejang River. It's the biggest hotel in Sibu, as it recently added a massive new wing to the original hotel building. However, apart from the fact that it's really huge, I don't think I have much good things to say about it. There is nothing luxurious-looking about this hotel. The interior is bare, not even a place to sit at the lobby.

Firstly, my room was located on the old wing. It was big enough to accommodate 2 queen beds, but the furniture looks shabby. Everything feels old and worn, so even though it's clean, it doesn't really give the impression that it is.

My room

There was a 21-inch box television. No remote control, but one could navigate using buttons at the bedside table. But I did not bother to watch television as the channels were very limited. There was only BBC, NHK, Lotus Macau, and the local channels. Picture quality was quite bad, in that they were grainy. Not much of entertainment there. My only consolation was the free wifi. At least I could go online!

Coffee and Tea Making Facilities Without the Coffee or the Tea
I found it quite amusing as we were provided with a jug kettle, cups and saucers and even plastic stirrers. It is just that I could not find the tea bags of coffee sachets anywhere. Lol.

We had our seminar at 3 different locations at the hotel. On the first day, it was held at a very small room. There were about 80 of us there and it was cramped. Thankfully, I found the sharing interesting and was able to forget about my discomfort for a moment. On the second day, we were at a ballroom at an annex building. I was glad that there was plenty of space this time. My only gripe was that the entire ballroom smelled stale. On the final day, all of us lost our way as there was a venue change and we were not informed. Hmn. It seemed as if the hotel took us for granted, shuffling us around as they pleased.

We had all our meals at the Riverfront Cafe at the Ground Floor. There isn't much that is impressive about the food. The breakfast buffet was ordinary, and for every lunch or dinner, we get white rice, a soup, 2 meats and a fish and 2 vegetables.

Because my flight was a 6 p.m., I asked for an extension of the check-out time to 2 p.m.. At first, I was told that I couldn't. Then when I asked again, I was told that I could check out at 1.30 p.m, or earlier. Grrrr. So inhospitable.

Anyway, the course was jammed packed. I learned a great deal from practitioners. Teachers who had done and were sharing how they went about doing stuff in school. However, there was a particular guy flown in from Johore, and all he did was bullshit for 3 hours. All of us grew restless during his session but no one dared to show disrecpect. He was after all the Chief Trainer.

"Some people just love to listen to their own voices," my colleague joked.

On the second night, the organisers were kind enough to let us off so we would get a chance to go around Sibu. My roomie was a Sibu local, so she brought me walkabout. Our destination was to Wisma Sanyan. She wanted to buy clothes there and I was happy to buy some too. Lol. We walked from the hotel along the esplanade, and passed the wet market, turned into a row of shops before reaching Wisma Sanyan. It took less than 15 minutes, but it was a hot evening and we were drenched in sweat by the time we reached there.

We spent a long time at the boutique of my roomie's choice. She tried pieces and pieces of tops and skirts and shorts and dresses. I tried my fair share too ;p. The lady who served us was elderly and she was very helpful and friendly, and I enjoyed chatting with her while waiting for my roomie.In the end, I bought a decent black skirt for work. Happy.

We then walked back to the hotel via the Pasar Malam.

The sign

Pasar Malam

The Sibu Pasar Malam is an attraction. There are plenty of wares to browse - clothes, bags, accesories, and of course, food. I could not resist buying some snacks.

Kompia
Often known as the Sibu or Foochow bagel, this bread is deep-fried, resulting in a fluffy texture akin to that of a doughnut.

Then the kompia is slit open and stuffed with spiced minced pork.

5 pieces sold for RM2.00 at the Pasar Malam. My roomie actually discouraged me from buying as she said it was not yum. However, how could I go home without eating kompia?? I would not be able to forgive myself!

Actually, I did find the kompia to be perfectly edible. The filling tasted savoury, with a hint of 5-spice powder and it complemented the bread quite well.

Steamed baby buns, RM2.00 for 5 pieces

Char siew filling

I liked the skin of the bun as it was fragrant, light and fluffy. The filling was pork in char siew sauce and bits of crunchy veg but it was not very impressive.

Just round the corner of the hotel were a number of coffee shops. My roomie actually wanted to bring me for a Kampua Mee dinner at her favourite stall, but unfortunately, it was not selling that night.

Hence, we walked down further and passed a shop called Sing Hin Corner and my roomie commented that it was operated by her school mate. And impulsively, I dragged her to the shop where we had "White" Kampua Noodles. White because it was not tossed in soy sauce or chilli sauce.

Kampua Mee, RM2.20

Well, the noodles were a bit soggy and not as fragrant as it could have been. It was a tad dry and I did not really like the pork slices. I prefer Char Siew. ;p

After dinner, we walked the short distance back to our hotel and retired for the night. Such a rare occasion for me to be in Sibu when I'm supposed to be slogging at school. ;p