Entry 12.02.2026

 06 Feb 2026

This is the second CNY without dad. Time flies. Mom and I went to give our offerings on Friday, 06.02. We won't be in town during the festive season, so we went to visit dad earlier. 

07 Feb 2026

Laksa from VeryNice Restaurant at Rock Road. RM10, small bowl. The portion was not impressive at all. For RM10, I would expect somewhat more than what I got - a little more than half a bowl. I was disappointed. 

2 prawns accompanied the noodles. They were fresh and succulent. Other than that, there were beansprouts, chicken, egg  strips and fresh coriander. The broth, though well-flavoured and well-balanced, was not that distinctive or special. 

Plus, the bowl of laksa could be hotter! It barely burnt my tongue. I like my laksa to be piping hot to enhance the overall gastronomic experience. 

Would I go back? Nah ... 

11 Feb 2026

Found a very tasty kerepek bawang .... my colleague bought a pack at the Kenyalang CNY Bazaar. She brought some for us to try and we love the texture - crunchy but not hard, and packed with savoury onion flavour.

So I went to buy a packet for myself too today. RM25. A bit pricey, but totally enjoyable to snakc on. 

12 Feb 2026

Last laksa before CNY ... my fav, my go-to ... Mui Chin's. Best laksa ever! RM10, reasonably portioned, piping hot and old school broth. The laksa leaves me satisfied all the time. 

Entry 25.01.2026

16 January 2026

One of my go-to shops is 一家园, a corner coffee shop at Nanas Road. The 树籽菜炒米粉 is quite tasty. It has wok hei and the umami from dried shrimps. Best of all, it only costs RM5.00. Since the shop opens early daily, it's a great place to eat before work .

Today's lunch venue was at Jenny's Little Vietnam. The food was pretty enjoyable. With the buy 1 free 1 promo, it was definitely worth eating there. 

Grilled pork and spring rolls on vermicelli

Beef Noodle Soup

Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls

I also took away some pork skewers and fried chicken wings ... they were both so tasty too! The pork skewers had a smoky flavour, and fried chicken was well-marinated.  

24 January 2026

Had lunch with the extended fam ... the meal was courtesy of Fourth and Fifth Aunts. Lunch was at BBQ King Seafood. It was a nice place to eat since it was totally empty. This place always fills up at night for dinner .... but for lunch, it was a different story. We didn't mind as we liked having the whole venue to ourselves. 

My favourite dishes were the Coconut Prawns and the Guinness Stout Pork Ribs. 

Coconut Shrimp

This is a signature dish of the restaurant; the gravy was well-spiced and really yum as a dip for the deep-fried bread 

Guinness Stout Pork Ribs 

Sweet and savoury, I liked the taste. The meat may be a bit tough for some. 

BBQ Pork Satay

Another signature dish ... Mom liked this but I didn't quite like the marinade that they used ... 

The other dishes we tried were the bamboo squid, the yam basket, the charcoal tofu. These dishes were alright, I suppose. 

Yam basket with vegetables

Charcoal tofu

I also liked the fast service here. 

25 January 2026

Dinner and catch up with friends at Zhu Bistro. Parking is difficult at this area at Green Hill, so I carpooled with a friend. There are a couple of yummy items that I enjoyed ... like the spring rolls ... it has a bolognaise cheesy filling .... so it was really delicious. I also enjoyed the instant noodles, and the fried rice. We also had the grilled pork which was really yum. 

I look forward to coming back here for those items I like. 

Entry 08.01.2026

30 Dec 2025

Just reached home. I flew all the way from Harbin yesterday at noon. Harbin to Changsha, Hunan to KL to Kuching. The journey was so far. Dinner with the fam at Wang Lai Seafood 

The food is reasonably-priced here. Tasted ok too. 

06 Jan 2026 

The weather was wet and gloomy for days. Today, I went to Chicwan Cafe to catch up with some friends. Had the 糟菜粉干.

It was ok, reasonably portioned at RM10 ... sour but could be more fragrant. Certainly not the best I have had. 

07 Jan 2026

Went out for some errands with mom. Ate brunch at Morgan Pork Soup at Geylang Cafe, Sekama.

Business was brisk and I had to wait so long for my 猪肉分. A small bowl now sold for RM11. I added an egg, RM1 and liver, RM1. So in the end, RM13 for my bowl. I think the taste retained. It was still tasty, except that it was not hot enough ... that marred my overall satisfaction for the noodle soup. 

08 Jan 2026

I prefer the Fu Lok outlet at TT3 compared to RH Plaza. I think the noodles are cooked better there. I ordered the charsiu wanton mee, now RM11. I hadn't ordered it for so long ... previously, the noodles were sweet, due to the sweet charsiu sauce and I didn't like my noodles to be sweet. Now, however, it isn't so. They held back the sauce so now it's savourty. I prefer the version now ... It's a big bowl too!

Revisiting Miri

I went back to Miri for the first time in 7 years and 10 months. 

Miri Waterfront

I left Miri in 2014, and years have passed in a blink of an eye. The last two years have been difficult with the threat of Covid-19 pandemic. My travels have been halted and like everyone else, I've just been cooped up at home ... 

Now, travels have just resumed ... and I am gingerly braving myself to start traveling again. I managed to get a RM26 return flight to Miri last December. It was so cheap that I thought that if I did not dare to go, it was still fine to forfeit the tickets. 

Even when the date neared, I was still undecided about whether to travel. I only decided to go 24 hours prior to the departure ....

It was my first flight in more than 2 years. The flight was rather full, and unlike last time, I feared being in close proximity to strangers. The least I could do was to make sure that I keep my mask on all the time and to ensure that my hands were sanitised when I remembered. 

The trip was just 2 days ... and I stayed at 2 hotels in Miri; the stay felt a little uncomfortable, mainly because I was paranoid about the rooms being quarantine hotels and all. 

I had only 1 full day in Miri, and could not visit all people and places. So I had to be selective. I went back to my old school and was really happy to meet the clerks there - since it was school holiday, there were no teachers around. The school looked the same though many of the older staff was transferred already. It was nice to catch up.

Some parts of Miri had changed since I left ... particularly the Marina area, and the Miri Times Square area and the Miri Waterfront area. I did take the opportunity to visit my friend W there at her office at Times Square. Of course, the Marina area - where the Oil Barrel and the Seahorse statue were. I hanged out at Tanjong Lobang beach and Canada Hill for a short while. I did drive around the whole city for a bit, familiarising myself with my favourite spots around. 

Bintang Megamall was rather depressing, I found ... outwardly I thought it needed a fresh coat of paint ... the condition inside was really rundown. The basement parking was dark and dusty ... like it never finished construction. Besides belacan at the tamu and my favourite pastries at Krokop .., there wasn't much to buy home.

Food wise, I enjoyed dim sum breakfast and orang ulu cuisine and seafood. And of course, how I missed nasi lalapan at Muara Restaurant. It was a short whirlwind trip ... too short indeed. I wished I had stayed longer. 

I've Escaped The Dinosaurs!

I'm starting work at my new workplace. Well, technically I have started work here for a month already - only that classes have been conducted online. I still work from home, but I work for another school now. School G. 

School G is 3km away from my former school. Very near, isn't it? People are perplexed as to why I would get myself moved from one school to another when both schools are in close proximity. Of course, it's not the location; I have been searching for a better working environment. 

Is this school a greener pasture? I don't know. And even if it isn't, I'm staying put until I retire. This has been my second move in my entire career thus far. The first move, I remembered being very excited and very happy to come home to Kuching. This second move, well, in fact  I've been really stressed over the last 9 months - that's how long the process took and it cost me many sleepless nights. I[m just glad it's all over now. 

Mom was shocked when I told her I got a transfer. My aunts too, when I told them. How come? Well, I did put in an application, I told them. But of course it was no ordinary transfer. I was offered this opportunity and I took it up. Otherwise, which Education Department would heed my application given that I did not even fulfil the basic requirement of 10 years' service for a transfer between town schools. 

But I am definitely blessed to have another chance to start anew. I plan to grow into a dinosaur at this new workplace. Things have been so far so good! 

A colleague, D teased me when I met her the other day, "You secretly moved to School G ...." 

"Well, I'd been plotting to move since 2019," I replied.

"Good for you," she said. "Where work is concerned, go where it's best for you." 

I loved that. I hope this new school will be the best place for me to be. 

That Feeling

My knowledge of Mandarin is rather basic. I can converse and people seem to understand what I say. Sometimes I forget a word or two and I substitute the word in English, Malay or even Hokkien. Sometimes, I will code switch to English, especially when I have to talk about more complicated things. 

One day, I was speaking to Z. Normally, when we speak to each other, we use a mix of English and Mandarin. During the course of a conversation, it seems natural for us to code switch from one language to another. 

Z is a scary person at my workplace. She never minces her words and doesn't stop herself from giving you a piece of her mind if she thinks you deserve it. Because of that, many teachers avoid Z at all costs. But Z is also my friend, and Z sometimes share with me her personal problems and of course, matters related to work. 

So we were talking about our grievances at work, and I said I felt very '委屈' at this school. Wow. I was amazed that I used such a profound word. Wasn't I basic in my Mandarin capabilities? Lol.

Z blinked a few times. But the word struck a chord with her.  She felt the same way. That was the exact word to describe what we were feeling at the school.

委屈 /wei qu/ 

There is no single word to describe this feeling in English. You feel slightly hurt. You feel aggrieved. Your morale is at a low, like you are reluctant to give your best. There is a sense of injustice, like you are being shortchanged. You sort of feel sidelined, like you are not part of the school. 

Yesterday, during an online meeting ... one of the dinosaurs presented a video that my friend G produced for the committee. But when the dinosaur thanked the members of the committee, it conveniently did not mention G's name. Instead, it thanked C profusedly. Why so, we wondered? What did C do, we asked? Nothing. And yet, C was praised for his non-effort. G was hurt. Of course G could not voice out her disappointment. G could only confide in us. Poor G. 

Similar incidents happen repeatedly in many other situations. We should have been used to it. But the fact is that we aren't. How can anyone get used to this unfair treatment? Why are we discriminated against? Are we seen to be rebels? Are we difficult people? Or perhaps are we more critical of them? Because we are more critical, are they trying to make life more difficult for us? Sometimes, we jokingly call ourselves the opposition party. 

Jokes aside, however, what we are feeling is very real. When I first arrived at this school 7.5 years ago, I found it strange that everyone seemed to be talking about their retirement. Indeed there were many veteran teachers at that time, and it was their favourite topic for conversation. And I was really happy to get to know many of them well. 'I have 3 years to go, very fast,' W told me. W is now enjoying his life as a retiree. My current group of friends too are counting the years until they can leave the school for good ... 2 years, 4 years, less than 10 years and so on. They are so looking forward to it. 

Me? I have more than 10 years to slog. Can I survive that long at this place which seem to have everything against me? Chances are that I won't make it till my retirement at this rate that I'm going. I'd probably die of the stress first. I really do not enjoy my work here at all.

Of course, we are not asking the dinosaurs for adulation or to worship on the grounds that we walk on. We just demand a little bit of appreciation for our contributions. But in our hearts, we know that will happen when cows fly. 

Trying Too Hard

In my school, T-Rex is the one in charge of students' movements in and out of the school. Any change in the movement, and the first thing that T-Rex should do is to inform the committee handling data - specifically, the students' exit needs to be recorded in the official APDM system and now that attendance for online classes is keyed in online as well, the teacher managing the sPDPR system needs to be informed as well. 

At least, that is what I will do if I am in T-Rex's position. It will be my job to notify so that my enrolment is up-to-date. 

T-Rex, however, does not bother to inform the data people. Or perhaps T-Rex thinks that this job is too lowly for it. Instead, T-Rex instructs us teachers to do it. 

I had students who left school for other institutions. And so, I had to text the APDM manager and the sPDPR manager to remove these students from the system. The APDM manager acknowledged my text message and proceeded to do the removal.

The sPDPR manager also acknowledged my text message, removed the students, and took a photo of the newly-updated system and sent the photo back to me as evidence that it had been done. 

It felt a bit funny. The sPDPR manager did not have to prove himself to me. Who was I anyway? I was a mere minion, an underling. Who was I to accuse him of not doing his job? Even if he did not do his job, who was I to care? I was not his superior, anyway.

It would be different if it was T-Rex who had instructed him to get it done in the first place. If it was T-Rex who had asked, then yes, the sPDPR manager would have to send T-Rex that photo to say that he had done the job promptly. Because that photo would have sent the message to T-Rex that it had a prompt and efficient worker there. 

Such is the environment of my workplace. People are motivated by fear. People fear that the dinosaurs do not know that they are doing their work. Hence, they have to try very hard to prove themselves to those dinosaurs. Many of the times, people are not interested in many of the work. But they do it because it is forced upon them. They are not in the position to turn down the dinosaurs. Otherwise, they will be accused of being a rebel or being difficult or being lazy. They do it not because they want to, but because they fear the all-powerful dinosaurs. 

Stegosaurus in particular has a very negative way of insinuating this idea, that if one wants to be promoted, one has better do his or her job well. Recently, Stegosaurus wanted some of us to volunteer to become judges for the state-wide co-academic competitions. So Stegosaurus wrote a message to 'those who are due for promotion in 2022 and are in desperate need of something to write as a contribution to their jobs'. 

I got upset reading it. I was due for my time-based promotion next year. But if I did not volunteer for this task, did it mean that I was not good enough for promotion? Did I have to do it just to please Stegosaurus, because it had a say in whether or not I would receive my promotion next year? And what if I was not due for promotion, did it mean that I need not volunteer myself? What logic was Stegosaurus thinking? Was it even professional to suggest that people volunteer because they needed it for their promotions? 

With the likes of T-Rex and Stegosaurus, my joy for my work had slowly but surely diminished. But thankfully, that is all over now. I have escaped their claws.