Kuching! - Day 2/4

Woke up at 7ish today, someone supposed to come pick us up for the longhouse..we quickly washed up, checked out and went to the kopitiam round the corner for breakfast..

Being in Kuching obviously meant we need to try to the kolo mee..so we did..i ordered ayam kolo mee and when it came, i must say it didn't really look like the one we get back in sg..it looked more like maggi mee with chicken toppings..

With breakfast out of the way, we went to the prearranged pickup point and after a bit of waiting, the car came and we hopped on, where 2 ang mohs from Italy were waiting(more about this couple later)

It was about 1.5 hours drive to the longhouse..upon arrival, we were shown where we're going to spend the nite..which was this little house which looks suspicously like someone's livein house..complete with photos in the living room, toothbrushes in the bathroom and softtoys in the bedroom..

Put down our bags and went to the host, Edward..we were giving 2 options - Waterfall trek or hotspring. I'm not a fan of hotspring and wei din exactly bring the appropriate attire too, so it's the waterfall(which i indicated when i first made the booking anyway)

Our guide Rambo appeared and off we went..the trek was quite alright..the terrain was rather similar to bt timah, but with a lot more river crossings on those shaky make-shift bamboo bridges..

It took us nearly 2.5 hours to reach the waterfall and our guide started preparing our lunch, chopping bamboo, plucking leaves, starting fire..n both of us happily just nuah around the waterfall...and wei started singing..

哪里有彩虹告诉我 能不能把我的愿望还给我
为什么天这么安静 所有的云都跑到我这里
有没有口罩一个给我 释说了太多就成真不了
也许时间是一种解药 也是我现在正服下的毒药

看不见你的笑我要怎么睡得着 你的身影那么近我却抱不到
没有地球太阳还是会绕 没有理由我也能自己走
你要离开我知道很简单 你说依赖是我们的阻碍
就算放开能不能别没收我的爱 当作我最后才明白

This was once 'the' song for me..and now, it's 'the' song once again..

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Soon lunch was ready and boy, was the bamboo chicken good! While Wei and i stuffed ourselves to the neck, our guide didn't look as excited as us..well, i guess if u have the same lunch everyday for N years, u wouldn't be as excited too..

When we finally made it back to the longhouse, we're greeted by the topless angmoh guy wrapped in a bath towel..oh well, angmohs..

After washing up, we joined the rest of the guests for a tour around the longhouse..and after tat we just hung around the common area and joined the other 2 families for a bit of UNO while waiting for dinner..

Dinner was a simple but tasty affair of curry chicken and veg..of cos pineapples were served..too bad i'm not a fan..maybe i never will be one..

A 'cultural show' was up after dinner and the other group of angmohs volunteered for it(wei and i were invited too but of cos we politely declined)..and so they got all dressed up as the local tribe and put up a dance led by the 'genuine' tribe people..

Best of all..while we're just nuahing, Wei turned to me and said 'i'm hungry leh'..'oh, so am i!' and so, i cajoled her to ask Edward if we can have some supper, his answer? 'just help yourself to watever is in the kitchen' Tat's what i'm paying RM400 for..good hospitality..and so, we tucked in to a second round of curry chicken..at 1020pm..watever calories burnt during the trek are happily welcomed back to our waistlines..

Just as we're getting ready for bed, someone knocked on our house door..wei went to answer it - it was the 2 young girls from the other families..apparently they were looking for the italian guy..so wei went to pass the message and from my room, i saw him walking out to the door in his briefs..only his briefs..all angmohs are the same..anyway, wei & i concluded that the 2 girls had a crush on him..well, i must say they're really 'bold' as the guy is obviously attached to his female travelling companion..in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if they were on honeymoon..sigh..angmohs..

Oh darn..

Darn for Wei beating me to it..blogging about the the trip that is..

And darn for totally failing my diet plans over the long weekend..while frens politely claimed they were not hungry, only thirsty..i happily wolfed down ngoh niang, complete with beehoon and again a mee soto later at nite..i'm forming the habit of having dinner twice now! *.*

Well, wei's is the condensed version(oh but she has video of the bamboo chicken!)..while mine is the cheong hei(& incomplete version), so check out her post @ http://grouseland.blogspot.com/

Review of Diet

Mon - Dinner at 6.45pm AND dinner again at 10pm
Tues - Teochew muay for dinner (still, there's the gulou meat ordered for someone)
Wed - Dinner at 6pm AND supper at 920pm AND durians at 1030pm
Thur - Dinner at 7pm AND beer at 9.30pm AND chicken wings(in a carpark) at 1030pm
Fri - Prata Pizza(!) for dinner AND cookie & cream cake for supper

Grade: F

Kuching! - Day 1/4

830am - Was woken up by a string of smses..including one tat read 'wat time is the flight ah?' This set the tone for our super relak, super nuah, super clueless(N.B. applicable to only ONE pax) 4D3N trip..

845am - Our second proper preparation for the trip was a hurried 5 mins converation while wei was rushing to work 'i have a conference call at 9am'..at least we got some items settled..we confirmed the flight time, agreed that we'll each get our own travel insurance and decided that wei will bring along a duffel bag as checkin luggage..

130pm - On the train to airport..Wei called: i'm packing now and i can't find the duffel bag leh..what bag u using? can we check in yours instead? ZXL: I'm using a backpack which can't be locked..AND i'm already halfway to airport.. Wei: OH..ok, how about we just check in my whole bag lah? ZXL: i guess so..

155pm - A sms came in 'Wahaha..i reached the ariport faster than u'

Upon arrival in Kuching, we took a cab downtown and arrived at this budget hotels area. With no prior bookings, we basically went into a few hotels(more like motels) and asked to look at their rooms - Wei commented 'i feel like we're shopping'

Settled upon a decent looking room, struggled a bit with the reception who spoke as limited english, as we did malay..and we're ready to explore the area. The receptionist vaguely pointed out a direction to us and off we went.

Came to this shopping mall..where we went around the dept store no less than 3 times, just trying to figure our way to another level. Managed to locate an exit and went out into the streets. We were hoping to find some authentic local cuisine..With not much clue(all we had was this map torn off from a magazine), our stomachs dictated we spend no more than 15mins searching and we ending up at a safe but nondescript jap restaurant.

We had no particular plans for the evening..'maybe we can catch a movie..IF we find a cinema'..so we continued wandering around the area..And just across the street from our dinner place, we spotted this happening makan place and we turned to each other 'how did we miss this place just now' Nevertheless we went to take a look but found no way in/out other than through the carpark..'building design is not their forte' is a phrase that we found ourselves repeating N times during the trip..

We made our way back to the first mall where we found out that they do have a cinema afterall..Of course, we spent another 15 mins just trying to get out of the dept store, discovered a lift, took it and voila, the cinema is right in front of us. Harry Potter at 830pm, timecheck: 830pm, perfect! Bot the tics & we made our way into the cinema in the dark..all the while trying to find the seat number on the ticketstub..until we randomly asked someone where to see the seat number? 'Free seating lah' ohhhh...

Never the HP fan..i din quite understand the movie(nor the previous 5 installments)..but well, it was 2 hours' entertainment for RM9..no complaints :)

When the lights came on, we only had one question. No, it wasn't 'So who was the half blood prince?' but rather 'how do we get out of this place?!' Taking the lift did not seem viable as it would only lead us to the confusing dept store with no exits(and we doubt it was still be opened at 11pm)..so we did the next best thing, we followed the crowd to this staircase which led to the carpark(again!). With no better idea, we decided we would just walk our way out through the carpark..for the 2nd time in a nite..does nobody here take public transport at all??

Building design is definitely not their forte..

Love it or hate it..

Facebook that is..

Was just talking about it over dinner with the JMs and BF..FB can be great for finding long-lost friends..but annoying when every-other-person-whom-u-had-vaguely-said-hi-to starts adding you..NZ JM goes as far as to untag her names from photos posted by friends..

Finally, i had a moment when i was rather grateful for FB..at first i was still sceptical when a certain 'Marcy' added me some 3 days ago..a quick look at her friends list revealed no common links..plus the fact she's from an overseas network doesn't help much..

Today i received an email from this 'Marcy' : 'Remember Thorpe Park in 2005?' Oh my!! It's her!

People who had followed my blog religiously(tat will be you, wei and probably only you..haha) would know i had a working stint in this amusement park in UK couple of years back..and Marcy was one of my best friends in the park(only she wasn't 'Marcy' then, think it was her middle name)

If she's back in her home country of Jamaica(if i remember correctly)..i have a new holiday destination :)

Pre-trip

Feeling a bit guilty about last nite dinner calories yet again..but just a bit since my fave item(pizza) was not available - '1 less pizza to burn' as 'someone' helpfully pointed out..but still there's the $50 wine which hurts my pocket somewhat more than my waistline..i should start spending less..given that i'm not exactly the highest earner in this part of the world..

ANYWAY...

Forgot exactly when and why we started talking about going for a trip..was it cos of BF? Anyway, so wei & i just sort of, anyhow, decided we wanted to go for a trip together..somewhere..sometime..

A random search on airlines threw up some possibilities(read as: those with $0 airfares), and we agreed on Kuching(wat's there - the most common qn asked before and after the trip; till now my answer is 'nothing much but it's doesn't really matter')

So wei & i met up one fine day..with the intention of settling some details, such as air tic, etc..But with not much research done by either of us, we didn't go too far into planning the 'wat-to-do's..and ended up pretty much just talking and chatting about everything other than the trip..

And as i was sending Wei home, we realised tat's all we did..confirm dates of the flights(not even booking the air tics due to unstable connection)..we didn't even discuss about accomodation..hmm..not too fruitful for a 3 hours meetup..

A chance article in some random magazine mentioned about a certain longhouse stay in Kuching - seems like a great idea for people who're not too much into planning - a booking for 2 was made.

And this sums up our pre-trip preparation..

Oh wait, we did discuss about our check-in bags too..while i was on the way to the airport..a fact that wei realised when she heard the mrt announcement over the phone 'i can tell you're already on your way hor'..

Diet & ZXL

Came into my blog..with the intention of blogging about the trip..then i saw the word 'Diet'..so i decided to off-track a bit..

Yes, i need to diet..a weigh-in at the gym yesterday revealed that i gained a teeny weeny bit of weight..i'm usually ok with some, but not too much, weight gain..but this time i'm convinced that my weight gain is due to excessive eating(as opposed to muscle gain)

Before i even worked off those Kuching calories, i went for a $52 buffet on Tues..where seafood and desserts were like the main courses..darn..felt so guilty, walked home after tat..'someone' commented i was crazy..

And later today, i'm going to wine & dine again..after which i will 'whine & diet'..

'Someone' help me ok?