Little adventure in charming Marudi ...

When life hands you an opportunity for an adventure, pack your bag and go with an open mind and a ready spirit. Even if you're actually there for official tasks, that is. Killing two birds with one stone what. So here I am this Sunday morning, in charming small town Marudi, encrypting my short journey via an unstable network, while it's still fresh in my mind, before my flight back to Kuching this evening.

Marudi is a quiet homely town, about 2 hours plus drive from Miri via logging roads, or about 15 minutes flight from Miri Airport via Twin Otter , or about 2 hours plus via Express Boats from Miri to Kuala Baram. Marudi used to be tourists gateway to Gunung Mulu previously, and it still is until today for those who crave more adventure.

 

 Bound for Marudi...

Every time I board the Twin Otter, my adventure senses go on overdrive. Imagine that. And it was my shortest flight ever because I remembered I was just about to warm up the seat when the pilot announced "We will be landing shortly..." Since the plane flew low the whole time, I thought he was kidding until we actually touched down. Sweet short ride!

  

Clear low view...

 

Was it scary? Well only if you think about it. Sometimes when it rains or during thunderstorms, I'd like to say it's still relatively safe. Which is why you should never leave home without praying first. =) But the view from up there is really breathtaking man! You'd be too busy snapping photos and admiring the greenery to even feel scared. The Baram river looks tiny from above and you can see the stretch from end to end.

 

 Up the Baram river...

Here's a bit first-hand info on the rural town: Marudi is located along the Baram river up north of Sarawak, and is mostly comprised of highland tribes folk, collectively called the Orang Ulu. They even speak Bahasa Malaysia a little differently, more pronounced and with a soft lilt. Same like folks in other parts of the State like Limbang, Lawas, Bekenu etc. where you can hear the uniqueness in their accent if you really listen.

I have been to other small towns in Sarawak and I can safely say Marudi is smaller than Lawas but bigger than Julau, slightly the same size as Lubok Antu. Perhaps as big as Bekenu maybe?

 Marudi airport...

Standard facilities are available, except for well ... fast food outlets such as (even) Sugarbun. But why look for fast food when there are other available awesome stuffs here? Thanks to friends hailing from Marudi who told me all about the famous Marudi Char Kue Tiaw upon noticing my FB status ... and all this while who knew such delicious fare actually exist? They also recommended the Marudi steamed bread (or was it freshly baked home-made bread? I can't be sure...) but I didn't have enough time to actually look for one.

 Managed to take a pic with the indulgent proprietors...

Anyway, I googled where we could have the best Marudi fried kue tiaw and found this small kopitiam called Lai Lai Coffee Shop, right next to Mount Mulu Hotel (along Lorong Empat, if next time you want to try it out lah). The unique thing about this dish is the noodle (kue tiaw) is home made and therefore home-cut, so the result is unlike your normal flat and white kuetiaw, but rather fat and thick and cut not accordingly (some short some long some thicker than others). I had the feeling of eating fried carrot cake + kue tiaw all in once. Goes well with a hot cup of coffee (with milk).

Arguing ... No... Savoring life's little treasure...

However, if you must know, mostly Chinese coffee shops sell this fare. I have yet to find a Halal version (we even asked around) but probably there is, we just didn't have time to explore. Perhaps next time? Or perhaps if you do find one, do let me know.

Oh by the way, if you're taking the Twin Otter from Marudi, make sure you check in an hour or so earlier than your scheduled flight back to Miri. Business is brisk and sometimes really slow over the weekend in Marudi little airport, but they're efficient as ever. So they know you by name here. =)

Hey, this just reminds me of all other visits to other small sweet rural towns of Sarawak. Hopefully I'll find the time to write about those soon. Till the NEXT adventure!

 

Note: No bird was harmed before, during or after this post.

Lawas Adventure: That precious native appeal ...

Yo!

So a month back I revisited Lawas on an official visit, after a two year hiatus from the place. If you don't already know where the place is, hey do a quick Google.

My sum on the place: Lawas is this small quiet border town in Limbang Division of Sarawak. A whole day and a half journey by road crossing via Brunei, or 45 minutes flight on a Twin Otter transiting via Miri. Or you could also fly to Kota Kinabalu and then take a 3-hour road trip via Sipitang to get here.

 Lawas Airport...

For a small town -- the folks consisting of majority native Lunbawangs -- Lawas is quite lovely and the community are hospitable to bits. I've been here like 5 or 6 times in the past and the native charms never fail to amaze me.

There are many small wonders to this place. I don't even know how to keep writing this entry without sounding any less delighted or if I could recapture that brief Oh-Wow moment when I discovered what I had been subconsciously looking for. Eh I found them quite by chance, in Lawas.

Did I ever tell you that I have quite an extensive collection of trinkets, lockets, bangles, earpieces? My favorites are the natives'. Do I wear them? Not usually. Not all the time anyway, depending on the occasion. I just like to collect them. I supposed you could say I'm a normal girl in that aspect.

Adding to my collection is this beautiful awesome piece: a ceramic bead necklace embedded with a native 'bunga terung' motifs. Bunga terung or eggplant flower motif is a popular Iban tattoo design, the most basic tattoo art usually inked on a coming-of-age Iban male to mark his err manhood. (So help me Wiki...).

Hello baby... you're mine at last! 

This lady, Ms Mirit Tai, a small-time craft entrepreneur manning the booth, explained that she herself is a Lunbawang of Lawas origin, but she uses this design a lot on her crafts because like she put it and I quote: "It sells. People signifies it with Sarawak, and its popular with the tourists and natives alike. What better way to associate yourself with the homeland you love the most?" I couldn't agree more. I mean, I'm a Bidayuh and I find this knowledge a unifying force of Sarawak, the land of rich tribes and cultures.

The Lunbawang tribe (or also known as Orang Ulu in a more generic sense) are famous for their beadworks, and their creative skills with ceramics beads are legendary. According to Ms Mirit, they produce the ceramic beads themselves. It's a few days job producing the perfect clay beads. The village where she comes from, Long Tuma, is quite known among the locals for craft products. The Lunbawang designs are normally painted in yellow and black on the beads, but she gets to experiment with other bright colours as well, just for variety.

Well hello. I love it when I keep discovering secrets about my own backyard.

I lurvvvee my native ceramic pendant necklace...

That lovely piece is priced at RM10 each. Cheap weh ... considering I could easily get that for between RM20 - RM40 here in Kuching. I bought three other designs from her. Why not, right? By the time she ships them to Kuching or other places to market, it won't cost the same anymore.

The soft spoken Ms Mirit rolled up twisted and pulled a few tricks on this sturdy string made up of err (man I forgot to ask!) and expertly assembled three other native necklaces using the designs I just picked.

 Ms Mirit Tai stringing up a new necklace piece...

And tada! They're awesome to wear with a dinner dress, or to match a working attire. Or simply with a casual wear. Don't mind me. In fact, some native boys were known to fancy these too. And sometimes I kinda think they look sexy on a guy too, of course, providing they pick one that suitable for a guy.

Ceramic bead necklace, like native charm medallions...

Ms Mirit also sells these lovely earrings made up ceramic beads. Imagine that dangling sensation. I don't really normally go for these but they would make perfect souvenirs. 

Fancy native earrings...

And native bracelets! A girl must at least own one of these in all her life. They're normally tied together using an elasticized band so don't worry if your wrists are a little chubby, like mine. These too would be nice as souvenirs (for those people who hound you about giving them something from that place every time you go somewhere). Neat what. They're mostly unisex.

Ceramic bead bracelets in many designs

I have a lot of these in my treasure box too. Haha. They're like friendship bands except they lasts much longer than that. :-)

String bead bracelets

I actually wrote this entry with the lady in mind. Wasnt planning on it but sometimes I believe some good things must be shared, and besides, although I made no promise, I was hoping I could help her expand her business. Didn't I read somewhere that there's a special place in Heaven for women who helped other women? Amen.

 

 Ms Mirit Tai (right) with the hardly-photographed Coffee Girl ...

Ms Mirit takes up personal orders, group orders, corporate orders, special orders or any custom orders for her beadworks or other handcrafts. She promises fair and reasonable prices for orders made directly to herself. And so help me God because I am writing this with no charge.

For enquiries, you may contact:
Ms Mirit Tai
Handmade Ceramic Beads
Long Tuma
PO Box 319
98850 Lawas
Sarawak
Email: mirit816@yahoo.com
Mobile: (I haven't gotten her permission to publish, but wait ah... let me find her business card first)

Home at last!

Oh hello lovelies. I'm back!

Lapsed a month, didn't I?

I barely know where to begin, or how.

I have so many incredible stories to write, including the ones I owe a few people.

About the places I've been to (no matter that they are my own backyard), the people I've met, the adventures (and misadventures) I've had, the FOOD I ate (oh trust me, there are many new ones to be discovered everyday), and all the little stuffs that make the journey bearable.

After weeks on end being away on tour of duty ... right now, I'm just happy to be home. JUST RIGHT WHEN THE PARLIAMENT IS FINALLY DISSOLVED! Talk about!

Ok I shall get right back to writing after I post this entry.

I shall leave you with this remnants of memory in Lawas, a small quiet hospitable town in Limbang Division. This little food is called Ambuyat (in some parts of Sarawak) or Linut (in another part of Sarawak) or you may just call it Boiled Sago for what it actually is. One of the most addictive food I've ever eaten.

 

These folks in Lawas eat this with spicy watery sweet prawn paste (sambal belacan cair manis). However I grew up eating this with fermented durian soup (sup tempoyak). Both ways are acceptable, and both ways are pretty potent, if I say so myself.

Ok bye! Be right back!

Out and about ... in Mukah ... Part 2

It's Easter Monday! Most schools in Sarawak are closed today to observe the Easter celebration. No wonder the traffic was slightly smooth today. Anyway, I am back in the office at last, and back to reality.

So...

I had myself a little adventure last 8 days ago to Mukah via Sibu and then stopped over in Sibu for a few days for extended work before flying back home. After been cooped up in the office for a long while, a change of scenery is much much welcomed.

Read the first Mukah adventure? If you have not, just follow the link. Anyway to recap, I was staying at Kingwood Resort Mukah, about 13 minutes from Mukah town itself. The place is barely alive during the weekdays since people prefer to stay in town itself. But the seaside and the sea breeze, wow... is there a better explanation? Although there wasn't any beach to flaunt my round bikini bod, ehem, there were enough waves and salty sea air to bring back fond memories of why I love seaside in the first place.

Oh I was told that the hotel is kind of haunted -- oh well, I have Angels all around me -- and I usually sleep with half the lights on if I travel alone, or total blackout if I'm with company... and so one night I accidentally left the lights on in the balcony. At 1am... I heard someone/something knocked on the glass door leading to the balcony. I woke up with a start. And pretended it was the wind. And then I heard a few more hard knocks, each time louder than the other, like something hitting forcefully against the glass. Dang... I sat in bed and told myself "It's the birds... It's the birds..." Because I heard my boss said keep the door closed at night to avoid birds or bats flying into the room. But the sound kept coming, like tiny little nails knocking playing around. Not scared really, just curious and doing my best not to get up and investigate. After a while it stopped... or maybe I slept with the pillows covering my head and my ears plugged on with loud music till morning....

You know what those creatures were that came visiting me at night begging to be let in? I found their lifeless corpses carcasses by morning on my lit balcony ... like 5 or 6 of them... 2 or 3 flew away barely alive from exhaustion after hitting the glass a few knocks. Sheesh ... I told my boss the next day and he said "Nasib kau sik bukak pintu..." As if I would.

 i dont even know what they're called, but notice the green neckline..

Enough about horror stories. The Dana Scully in me almost manifested last night, but I was too exhausted to give in to her.

The second best part about being outstation is the fooooooooood! Wohoo! Any kinds of food lah, asalkan makan. Mukah is well-known for its umai (like raw and sourish seafood salad) and fat sago worm (deep fried usually), and some other delicacies which I didn't get to try.

There's this little well-known restaurant by the wide riverside called Riverside Restaurant serving all kinds of seafood. So feast your eyes on these!

Tiger prawn in tomato sauce ...

Umai campur (mixed umai) consisted of fish and prawn

steamed red fish thai style ... can la....

Seafood soup in asam pedas (hot and sour?)

And mixed vege Mukah style ... paku midin campur ...

And the pretty looking nasi pataya... what I had for lunch somewhere else...

And for wrapping up ....

But back in Sibu ... Rafie Cafe serves the best ice lemon tea I could find.

and it's even prettily served too... (only one of that is mine)

And that's it! Enjoy the rest of the week people! xoxo!

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Out and about ... in Mukah...

Hey ya bunch of lovelies and laddies! Don't you just love the sound of big waves hitting forcefully against rock and concretes and feeling the breeze blowing humid air into your bare face? I love my life...

Yours truly had just rented a network cable for RM5 from the reception counter downstairs, and now I'm blogging via a ridiculously fast and free broadband connection from the comfort of my huge kingsized super-deluxe seaview room with open balcony at Kingwood Resort Mukah. I figured a lot of people here at this moment (and they're not many at a time and mostly here for functions) do not want to fork out a meager RM5 to get connected (they normally argue they should instead get complimentary internet facility for being paying guests, which I do sometimes too) and so the traffic is very very clear, and they're MINE! ALL MINE!

Shhh... don't tell anyone, but I just downloaded a whole movie in less than 45 minutes! I'm such a douche bag. Ha ha ha.

Nearer to the foyer ...

Anyway, hey! My room is just splendid. Well actually, there are better looking or lovelier rooms than this and I've been in one, but I supposed it's probably because I love the seaside and the really strong breeze so much that it just kind of made up for the things they don't put in my room, like a missing mini-fridge or a hot tub or a loofah or a bathing robe. But... what's not to love? We're here to work, not holidaying. While you're at it, embrace what you can along the way. Wheeeee.

The overall view of the room ... it's actually bigger than it looks...

Oh by the way, don't believe everything you hear about this place. And  me and my two guys are staying here because the one in town is fully booked and this is the closest to luxury we can get as of now, even though it's 15 minutes from town. Wohoo!

The awesome view from my room...

Last I was in Mukah was August last year during the Kembara Merdeka. It's a medium-size Division in the State and probably one of our exotic places to visit in Sarawak. The majority of the population is Melanau and the rest are Malays, Ibans, Chinese, and some other minor groups. The people are really friendly too, and the food is awesome. I haven't had any opportunity to try the umai yet this time around.

Second last I was there was in 2009 when the road to Mukah via Sibu was simply awful where what takes 1 hour 45 minutes now then took 3 hours minimum with the muddy and gravelly and hole-filled tracks. Thanks to err... elections and the currently developing Tanjung Manis and the Halal Hub nearby, this place is now kira dekat la wei.

I'm not really doing a good job promoting this place am I? Haha... Never mind. Some tourist guide I am. But I will return with pictures of food! Wohooo!!

To be continued....

Hart of Dixie ...

So.

I've been quite free since January, to be honest. Actually I've been quite free since months before that, but was only really free in the real sense of the word since the year began. I've been so free I don't quite know what to do with myself in my free time. Mostly in the evenings, that is, when the day concludes and me being the elusive loner, well... solitude is always welcome, although not always needed. Not an anti-social, just not that social. My spiritual life is improving a lot these days. I found myself talking to God every moment I feel I need someone to talk to.

Anyway.

I've been so free I have downloaded a whole Season 1 of a new drama series called the Hart of Dixie. Set in a Southern background with all its Southern charms and various country soundtracks (wohooo!), it's a lovely little story about a young lady doctor aka surgeon who moved all the way from New York City to a small town named Bluebell. You can read about the little synopsis here.

What I love about the series is the heroin, Dr Zoe Hart, played by Rachel Bilson. She's a feisty and stubborn little thing, strong headed, a little modern for the southern folks who seemed stuck in their little cowboyish era.When the whole town is set on hating her (hey I thought small town folks are usually so hospitable and friendly, but maybe not to Zoe), she up and faced them all in her quirky, assertive and I-hate-you-back little self. The belle of the ball, Ms Lemon Breeland, her antagonist, is her biggest enemy. I dont know why she hates the doctor so much when she would benefit so much more if they were friends. That's ok Zoe, I don't trust anybody named after a fruit either.

And there are the eye candies in the story... a good looking bad boy next door, a handsome attorney aka golden boy aka Lemon's fiance, the gorgeous soft spoken vet, and the young mayor of the town.

Stitching up Wade Kinsella

Legal advice from George Tucker

Street-smart 101 from the mayor Lavon Hayes

They're all a colourful bunch, not at all your typical teen aka gossip girl drama. I just love Rachel Bilson in this setup, she's such a small thing and how she walked in that 6inch heels in the clinic and while doing house calls, is beyond me. Remember her in 'Jumper'?

But sigh... Season 1 is up to 22 Episodes in all. I'm only down to 16 and I've watched them all! 17 will only premiered on 9th April in the US, which means I can start downloading them after the 10th. Which means... I need to download other new movies ... which means, I STILL HAVE A LOT OF FREE TIME!

Geography sucks.