Entry @ 01.08.2026

There was a flurry of activities this week. 

On Sunday, Mom and I went to Siang Siang Tabuan Jaya for breakfast. Mom had kolo mee and I ordered Stirfried Zaocai Beehoon ... 

Stirfried Zaocai Beehoon, only RM8

I ordered this from a new stall ... and when the plate was put before me, I caught a fragrant whiff of the red wine used to cook the dish. However, the taste of the entire dish lacked depth. I struggled to finish the noodles. Luckily, I had a container with me and brought half of the noodles back. I'd finish it for lunch. I'd not order this ever again ...  

On Monday, the school was quiet since the whole school (except the Fifth Formers who were sitting for their exam) went to the stadium for sports day. Us the Sixth Formers did not join the rest of the school. We had our own sports carnival for our own students which would be held later in the week. 

So on Monday, my colleagues decided to have a makan session ... 

Made myself a hot cuppa with this instant coffee ... given to me by Student E in his gift bag to me last he came to school ... heh ... Student E would be enrolling at IPG Teknik at Bandar Enstek Negeri Sembilan; I am happy for him and I think he should do well there! But I actually prefer him to go to the university instead of the IPG. There is still a chance since the UPU results have not been released as yet. 

And with my hot coffee ... I browsed the selection of food my colleagues had brought .... 

Mini croissants 

Bergedil 

Omelette 

Mixed Veges 

Pasta 

Pasta Sauce 

Pudding

Watermelon 

Baby mangoes

Brownies  

RM40, we ordered from a student's mom; last Friday when I tasted the brownies for the first time, I thought they were so yum .... but today's version was disappointing; It was cakey and tasted a bit artificial to me ... perhaps because of quality of the ingredients used? Not sure ...

Except for the bergedil and the brownies and the fruits of course, all the food was homecooked. I ate 1 mini croissant, 1 bergedil, 1 cup of pudding, 1 slice of brownie, 1 baby mango ... but my favourite had to be this bowl of beef noodle soup! 

My bowl of beef noodle soup ...

My colleague N cooked a whole pot of beef bones in her Noxxa ... she brought the whole pressure pot to school. Lol. We plugged in and warmed up the soup before eating it with beehoon. So yum! She even brought condiments like daun sup and sambal kicap. 

In the afternoon, I brought Mom to the General Hospital to collect her medication. Parking at GH was a nightmare. so I dropped her off and then drove to a row of new shoplots nearby. There was a single lot of parking space vacant, so I parked there and waited in the car. Mom would call me once she got her medication ... 

Shaobao to snack on while waiting in the car ... Second Aunt bought the Shaobao for me actually ... 

I had a snack, water and my ipad, so I was prepared to wait for mom for some time; however, she only took about 30 minutes to get her medicines. I picked her up immediately, and we went home. 

On Tuesday, again the school was quiet since almost the entire school was still at the stadium for the second day of sports, My colleague L brought tuna and egg sandwiches, and pasta aglio olio for us to eat .... 

I had a sandwich and a forkful of pasta to try out ... heh ... there was so much pasta that we could not finish them; so in the end, the teachers brought it to class, and the students quickly finished up the pasta! Lol ... 

Almond muffin, RM3

I bought this from the coffee shop opposite my school; it tasted ok - the texture was quite dense and it was not so sweet

I reached home and my Fourth Aunt was there ... she had walked to my house from the Eye Specialist Centre nearby. She had gone there to get her eyes checked and since her pupils were dilated, she could not see properly and hence could not drive. So I sent her home. Near her house was a supermarket ... 

Mala peanuts and broad beans

Fourth Aunt had given me a packet of Tong Garden's Mala peanuts and broad beans a couple of weeks ago. There was a buy 1 free 1 promotion at the supermarket near her house. She bought 2 packets, opened 1 packet and decided that she did not like the taste. So she gave me the other packet that she got. I, on the other hand, loved the mala taste! It was so distinctive and addictive. So, that day, since I was sending her home, I decided to visit that supermarket. Indeed these peanuts were still on offer - at RM3.30 per packet. So I bought 6 packets. Fourth Aunt thought I had gone crazy. Heh. Obviously, the mala flavour is an acquired taste ... love it or hate it. I love it. 

On Wednesday, we had sports and games at school. I went to watch the boys playing 3x3 basketball and entertained myself superbly. Boys being boys were rough in their play ... but in the end, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I did not watch the girls play netball ... and they were equally rough. One girl got her back sprained and had to be sent to the hospital. In the afternoon, I had a lengthy online meeting for an upcoming competition and expo .... yawn ... boring ... 

On Thursday, we went to the bowling alley in town to play bowling. The bowling alley only opened at 10.00 am ... so I met my colleagues for brunch and gossip at Mee Kwong Cafe. This is a Foochow specialty cafe, quite established and popular in Kuching. 

Kopi O

Kampua

Fried rice cake

Fried cook noodles

I had the strifried rice cake - the rice was really very soft, so I think it was made purely from ground rice ... I preferred it to be a bit bouncy. I also liked the red wine soup in the fried cook noodles ... the noodles itself I did not like so much since it was also soft ... heh ... 

Our bowling game was held at Riverside Superbowl at the Riverside Shopping Complex. The shopping complex was practically dead. There were no shops inside aside from an Islamic cafe and Mr DIY at the basement. 

At the bowling alley, we killed time by sitting around and chatting whilst the students enjoyed themselves playing bowling. The teachers' games only started at 12.45 pm ... so late! 

I did not know how to play bowling properly, although I had played before a long time ago. But I had to play that day because each sports house needed 4 teacher representatives ... and there were not enough teachers in my sports house. So heh .... I though I'd just pick the lightest ball and throw. In the end I scored 69. I thought I was pretty bad. But my colleagues weren't that skilled either. Anyway, it was all for good fun. I did enjoy myself a lot. 

Friday was Mom's birthday ... On my way home from work, I bought her 五味汤 Laici Kang. I knew she liked the one from Song Thian Cheok. I went there but couldn't get a parking, so I left to go to Jubilee Ground Hawker Centre. I bought from Ah Yeo, stall no. 2.

Laici Kang, RM6 per bag

I waited for so long ... not sure why though since there weren't many customers at all; and when I went home and ate it, I thought this had to be the worst Laici Kang ever; even the colours did not look appetising! There was no peach gum, no red dates, no dried persimmons ... they only had barley, white fungus, dried winter melon, half a piece of piece of very hard honey date, longan, and jelly - it had more than 5 ingredients but the laici syrup made everything tasted artificial .... I hated it. I'd not come back to this stall. 

Mom and I went out for dinner ... she was raving about the Nanru Pork at IPH Roasted; so we ordered that, and fish fillet with yam in claypot, and a midin. We also ordered a belacan fried chicken which I had forgotten to take a photo of .... 

Only RM116 for 2 bowls of rice and 2 cups of Kokokam .... obviously we ordered way more than we could finish. Lol. I had brought some glass containers and we took away the two-thirds of the pork and the chicken and the fish slices home. Mom did not need to cook meat dishes for at least 3 meals! 

After dinner, I brought Mom for a drive around town .... the Kuching Food Festival was pretty vibrant, and there were so many cars parking along the road. The city centre itself was very beautifully lit up at night.

This morning, I was woken up by Mom. Hurry up, she said. Send Second Aunt to the petrol station. Second Aunt was going to the Batang Lupar bridge with her mates - it was a one-day tour similar to the one that I had gone to. Someone was supposed to pick her up, but that person did not know the way to our house. So I climbed out of bed and got changed and quickly send her to the petrol station ... indeed her friend was already there at the petrol station, waiting.

I drove home to freshen up before going out again. Mom and I went to buy some fresh veges and fruits and to buy breakfast. Mom wanted the RM3 kolo mee from Stall No. 14; strangely I had never bought from this stall before. Mom tried it 2 weeks ago, after the recommendation from my Third Aunt. She quite liked it. So today, she bought 2 packets of mee pok for only RM6. 

Mee Pok

For RM3, the serving was quite substantial .... I ate half a packet and could even keep the other half for lunch; the taste was pretty authentic, in fact, it tasted much better than many of the kolo mee sold around town .... I'd continue buying from this stall .... 

Currently fond of eating Baxianguo 八仙果 .... 

I bought my first packet from Sarikei the other day .... the ones in black were from Sarikei ... these golden coloured ones I just bought reecently from Shopee - Long Chance Sdn Bhd ... and it was pretty yummy ... so citrusy and minty at the same time ... 

At this time when I'm writing up my entry, Second Aunt isn't home from her day trip yet .... 

Batang Lupar Trip

I joined my 2 aunts to go on a local tour to the newly-opened Batang Lupar Bridge. I asked Mom to come along but she did not want to go with us, preferring to stay at home. So I let her be. Perhaps she wanted some quiet time for herself, without me around. Heh. 

It was Sarawak Day, a public holiday. I got out of bed at 4.45 am and got myself ready. At 5.20 am, I went to the market near my house and bought some kuihs for my aunts and for myself. Then I went to my Fifth Aunt's house to pick her up. I purposely went a bit earlier to give myself a bit of allowance of time, in case I got lost. Indeed I got a bit confused finding my way to her house, since I was not accustomed to going there in the dark. Heh. Still, I picked her up successfully and drove to my Fourth Aunt's house.

I parked my car there and we walked to the commercial area near her house to wait for the tour bus. It came right on time at 6.30 am. Since I boarded it early, I could choose my seat. I settled for one near the back of the bus, near the emergency seat so I had more leg space. Hence, I was comfortable throughout the journey. The downside was that it was difficult to get in and out of the bus, since the bus had only one door that was right in the front. Coupled with a lot of elderly passengers seated ahead of me, I often had to wait for a while before I could get out of the bus. 

This one-day tour was a full house with 44 pax - mostly middle-aged and old folks. Heh. It was organised by someone called Annie ... a retired tour agent. I think she lived near my Fourth Aunt's neighbourhood and she often organised trips for them. They had been to many places, but I had never joined them before .... so I thought I'd just tag along for the fun of it. 

While waiting for everyone to arrive, Annie distributed butter buns - one for each person. I nibbled on as soon as the bus departed. It was yum with my hot black coffee that I brought along in my thermos. 

The first stop was Asajaya ... this small town was still the same as how I remembered it to be - there did not seem to be any development at all.  This was our breakfast stop ... so we walked around the small town in search of something to eat. In the end, we settled for roti ....

RM1.00 only! 

Kopi O was RM1.60 ... heh ... I spent RM2.60 for my breakfast ... 

We bought some fresh produce here at Asajaya ... I bought a container of jackfruit for RM5, and 6 pieces of wax apples, also for RM5. My aunts and their friends bought fresh veges and local oranges at the tamu or the local market. 

After an hour and a half at Asajaya, we got back into the bus and headed to Sebuyau. Sebuyau was another small town, and at least there was a bit of development here from the last time I came. After we got off the bus, we went in search of the toilet and also for local produce to buy. Heh .... at this stop, I did not buy anything. We walked around and my aunts were looking for dried prawns to buy. There were none. We also headed to the tamu ... 

Tamu Sebuyau

This tamu was new, it did not exist when I came here last time .... from Sebuyau, it was only a short ride to the Batang Lupar bridge.

The longest river-crossing bridge in Malaysia

We got down the bus and took some photos .... individual photos, group photos, with the Sarawak flag, without the Sarawak flag ... heh .... lots of photos taken here. After that, we drove across the bridge and it was a long ride to Sri Aman .... 

The road was bumpy and I was lulled to sleep for a bit .... we only reached Sri Aman at 2.10 pm ... the bus stopped at the Tamu ... but it was practically deserted. Since it was a public holiday and it was already in the afternoon, it was understandable. 

We walked around the corner to a food court and had our late lunch there ... not knowing what to eat, I ordered chicken rice ... 

Chicken rice, RM7, at Dore Food Court ... 

After lunch, we headed to the Sri Aman waterfront ... this was the location for the annual Tidal Bore festival held every year.

A huge crocodile statue by the banks of Batang Lupar at the Sri Aman Waterfront ..

Well, Batang Lupar always reminded me of the story of Bujang Senang. Bujang Senang was a 20-foot long saltwater crocodile with a distinctive white strip on its back. Word has it that this fierce beast terrorised the Batang Lupar for years. By the river bank was also Fort Alice which I wanted to visit ... but that would have to be another trip. 

Half an hour's drive away was Mount Hosanna Chapel. It was already closed by the time we reached there so I could not climb up the steps to visit the chapel. Sigh, Our timing was pretty bad. 

3 towering candles symbolising the Holy Trinity

100 steps brought you up to the entrance, representing the stairway to heaven 

The last stop for the day was a Lachau ... 

We shopped for local produce here ... I bought 1 kg of langsat duku, RM8.00, From Lachau to Kuching was 2 hours. I sent my Fifth Aunt to Le Saigon and then reached home at 8.20 pm. What a long day ... 

Entry @ 25.07.2026

On Sunday, Fourth Aunt asked me to bring her to Vivacity Megamall. She bought a dress from Parkson a few days earlier, and when she got home, she realised that the cashier did not remove the anti-theft magnetic tag attached to her dress. Lol. So she asked me bring her there to have it removed. So I brought there around noon, and removing the tag merely took a minute. Not satisfied, Fourth Aunt lingered and gave the cashier a piece of her mind. Lol. 

After that, we just walked around the mall a bit, looking around. I did not have anything in mind to buy - other than Auntie Anne's - but I happened to see a skirt I like at Muji and bought it anyway. The cashier there was really rude though. Young lady, who gave me a look, and did not bother to fold the skirt nicely when I paid for it, and did not even print out the receipt for me. 'Do you need the receipt?" she blurted out when I stood there for a while, taken aback by her attitude.  'Of course!' I shot back at her. Duh. What if I wanted an exchange later on? Without a receipt, how would I look for them if I ran into problems with the product? I snatched the receipt out of her hands, turned to my aunt and said loudly, 'That girl is so rude!' I contemplated lodging a complaint against her ... too bad I did not see her name on the receipt nor her staff tag. What a disgrace to the Muji brand. 

Determined not to let her spoil my mood, I headed to Auntie Anne's ... this outlet just opened a few days ago and there was a long queue to buy the pretzels. I did not want to queue, but Fourth Aunt was sure it would not take long because the line was moving, albeit slowly ... so we both queued up for about 10 minutes before it was our turn ... 

Pretzels 

Parmensan Cheese Pretzel 

I bought 5 pieces of pretzels to share and to bring home - almond and caramel, parmesan cheese and garlic. RM39 spent; the best of them all would be the parmesan cheese one. The garlic one was not recommended for they only coated the pretzel with garlic powder. Fourth Aunt tried a bit of each flavour, but decided that she still preferred the ones sold by our local delicatessen, Aloha. Heh .... 

6-piece spicy wingettes and drummets, and french fries from 4Fingers Crispy Chicken... 

Fourth Aunt and I also shared some fried chicken and fries while at the mall; before I left, I took away some egg tarts from Oriental Kopitiam since Mom liked them. Fourth Aunt wanted to try the chocolate ones ... so I bought her some too. 2 pieces of Oriental egg tarts cost RM10.80 whilst 2 pieces of Belgian Royal Chocolate egg tarts cost RM12.80. I also had to pay RM1.42 for tax. Heh ....

On Monday. I got up at 3 am to turn on the TV for the World Cup final ... Mom too woke up to watch it. However, before the match ended, I had to leave for work already. Since the game stretched into extra time. it was still not over by the time I sat down for my noodles and coffee at my favourite breakfast spot at Mui Chin. 

Breakfast with World Cup Finals on my screen ... 

Halfway through breakfast, the game ended. I was actually glad that Spain won the match. It's a victory that was well-deserved. This Argentinian team was pretty nasty, and I do not really like their aggression and their nastiness. Now, I don't usually watch football, but I like reading about the controversies. This season, Mom and I watched some games from the round of 16 onwards ... and I found the Norwegian team really endearing. Now that World Cup is over, there are even more controversies to read about,  especially involving Fifa and some of the teams like Argentina. Heh. 

As soon as I got to school, my colleague, the school counselor came with a surprise gift ... 

Handmade scrunchies by our mutual friend, BL ...

Owwh ... it's so nice of her to make us some scrunchies. I quickly texted BL to thank her for her thoughtful gift ... 

On Tuesday, I had a meeting so I did not go to school. 

On Wednesday, I joined my aunts for an outing since it was Sarawak Day. I will write about the trip later. 

On Thursday, my colleague SH brought a box of nangka or jackfruit to school ... she grew lots of fruit trees in a vacant land behind her house! Honestly, she had so many types of edible plants grown there - bananas, jackfruit, rollinia, chillies, calamansi, ginger flower, and so much more! So on Thursday, our staffroom had that potent jackfruit odour as our air freshener. Lol. 

We were saying that it was really difficult to peel the jackfruit because of the sticky latex and compact fibres that held the fruits together. It compelled my colleague A to tell us a folklore associated with the jackfruit. Cerita rakyat, she said. I was surprised that I did not know of this folklore. I mean I knew the legend of Mahsuri and Si Tanggang. So I suppose this story was lesser known. 

An admiral's wife, Dang Anum, was heavily pregnant and craving for jackfruit. So when a palace servant who was carrying a jackfruit for the king passed by her, she asked for 1 pod of fruit, saying that it was for the baby. The palace servant, although reluctant, cut a hole in the jackfruit and gave her 1 pod of fruit. When the less-than-whole jackfruit was presented to the king, he was furious and ordered Dang Anum to be killed. When her belly was slit, the baby was found to be clutching a piece of jackfruit. And that was why it was difficult to cut and peel jackfruits. Lol. 

Some jackfruit from my colleague. SH's garden

Very fresh and crisp ... I took some home to chill in the fridge since it was best to eat them cold ... 

Friday came and went by so fast! I was pretty busy on that day, and was looking forward to the weekend. But as soon as I reached home on Friday, I realised that I had no Internet! Urgh! I hated not having access to the Internet. I called the TM Hotline and keyed in my service number, and was informed that there was an outage in my area due to cable cuts ... Darn ... the worst thing was finding out later on that my boss wanted to call for an online meeting at 8.30 pm that night. Urgh. Of all days, he had to call for a meeting on the day I did not have Internet. Not having a choice, I resorted to using the mobile data from my phone to attend the meeting. I only got my Internet line back this morning, Saturday morning. 

There was a newly-opened butcher shop in town, and Mom was so excited to buy pork at a 20% discount. So I brought her there early at 6.30 am ... she managed to get what she wanted, and we even got 10 pieces of eggs for free since we about RM100 worth of meat. She seemed pretty happy with her purchase. We sent the meats back home to chill in the refrigerator before going out again for breakfast.

Mom said she wanted to eat laksa, so I brought her to Yeow Kee. I had not come here since May, ever since I found that the quality of the signature prawn dumplings here was slightly compromised. Today, Mom ordered laksa, now sold at RM10. It was RM9 for a long time. 

Laksa, RM10

I suppose the laksa tasted alright; Mom did not really like it, though. I could understand that since I too personally did not really think that the laksa here was all that good. 

Yeow Kee had a good selection of kuih

Mom preferred the kuihs I bought ... the serimuka was very good - soft and very rich, and not too sweet; the glutinous rice ball was very savoury, and even the triangular deep-fried radish cake was yum ,,, 

This morning, I really enjoyed the beef noodles though. My friend M was the first person to recommend me these beef noodles. The first time I ate, I hated it. At that time, this stall had just moved to Yeow Kee from another food court in town. Everyone seemed to anticipate its move, and the orders piled up. So much so that the seller could not keep up. She cooked the noodles in big batches and served several bowls at the same time. When I got my order, the noodles were already soggy. That was 2.5 years ago already, and ever since then, I had never ordered the beef noodles again. 

Today, I walked from one stall to another, now knowing what to order for breakfast .... I definitely did not like the kolo mee at this cafe, and the prawn dumplings disappointed me the last time I ordered it, and I did not like feel like eating the stir-fried noodles, or fishball noodles or kampua noodles or ding bian hu .... so in the end, I decided to eat beef noodles. 

There was a young girl working there whom I had not seen before - so it seemed that the seller had finally hired some help. This young girl was the one who took all the orders and did all the serving. So the seller only focused on the cooking. There were plenty of orders and I had to wait for a while ... but today, the beef noodles were to my liking - springy noodles coated in fragrant garlic oil and a thick beef gravy, lots of toppings and a piping hot bowl of beef soup and beansprouts. Only RM10. Each mouthful made me feel happy. Heh. It was a big bowl, and I portioned out my noodles and took some home for lunch. 

 

The next destination was to the hypermarket .... Mom and I need to stock up on groceries for the week!