i went to kuching again!

it was on the same day last week at stampark hall, i attended the line dance workshop by simon ward, an aussie choregrapher! it was a full day event, where by a dinner & dance themed swingin' 70's was held at night.

pic courtesy of lee chiang hong

and as you know, when we talked about theme parties, i likeeeee... i got my auntie to sew my dress again!

maybe i shall blog more about the trip soon... as i arrived kuching two days ealier to have some time on my own. this blog post was meant to be a quick one anyway. i am out shortly for a bloggers' event i missed for quite some time...

i will leave you all with a performance video at the dinner and dance, performed by my jakarta line dancing friends. enjoy!

nama berita? and selamat lemai!

[translation for the title: hi... and good evening!]

i am now blogging from the coffee bean & tea leaf, kuching international airport outlet, waiting for my flight back to kl in about an hour time. it was such a great pleasure to be here, although it was for a short stay only. what with the great hospitality by Pretty Mommies and her other half. thank you so much to both of you from the bottom of our heart mwahhh...

i would also like to take this opportunity to thank the staff and management of singgahsana lodge for their nice and grateful service for us. they are sooooo friendly i tell you. i would definitely recommend the place to everyone i know. besides that, i would be back there also insya allah if happened that i will have another trip to kuching in the future.

we didn't waste our time at all while we were still there. after checking out before 9.30 am, we walked about to the row of souvenir shops for some last minute shopping while waiting for Pretty Mommies to pick us up. we waited for her at one of the shops along the main road. she brought us to the cat museum (right pic) then followed by the other three sarawak museums (below pics) i.e. art museum, ethiology museum and dewan tun abdul razak; there after we had our lunch in a malay restaurant.

we then stopped-by at a pottery shops. i did buy a ceramic vase though, to be given to a SKDK teacher as a wedding present on mid december if i am not mistaken.

alright then people, i guess that's all the time that i have now in kuching.

mupuk aku. aku lelenggau ka nuan sarawak...
[translation: good bye. i miss you sarawak...]

p/s i hope that i got the local language right ;)

of our third day in kuching—

our day at sarawak cultural village (SCV) that we explored in half a day was full of fun fun fun! we booked a round trip shuttle service last night for this morning. we left here about 10.15 am. the journey there was about 45 minutes drive. the charges were RM50 in total (RM10/way for adult and RM5/way for children).

we had a very well welcomed by the SCV staff at the entrance. the fees were RM60 for adult and RM30 for children. there are giving special discounts for students no matter where you are from around the globe provided you show them your student id card. we were given a passport each for us to stamp at all the houses that we visited—

	bidayuh longhouse
	iban longhouse
	penan hut
	orang ulu long house
	melanau tall house
	malay house
	chinese farmhouse

we watched their cultural show at 11.30 am first, before we visited all the sarawak type houses there. their second show for the day is at 4.30 pm.

if you people have been to mini malaysia in malacca, ya i could say that its similar to that. but i think SCV is better in terms that they have some people waiting in the respective houses wearing their appropriate clothes welcoming their guest. at the same time, their jobs are to entertain their guest' questionnaires and such. they were all very friendly and helpful. well i find that sarawakians are very nice. in fact a cleaner who was sweeping the floor i bumped into the other day also smiled at us. how lovely!

we had our lunch of nasi campur at restoran budaya, located in the SCV itself. then we walked to damai puri resort & spa which is not far from SCV, before we waited for the evening shuttle service back to the city at about 3.15 pm. the place looks wonderful, what with the lobby facing the beach wahhh... SPEECHLESS man! i have just checked out the rate— min RM620 for deluxe rainforest view *phew* the rates are higher for sea view rooms fuhhh... but to those who do not bother about the $ and wanna some quiet moment, i really recommend that place. i really wished that i could go there someday myself weee...

Pretty Mommies and her hubby fetch us around 6.45 pm. we had dinner at the other side of sarawak river, via a bridge. i tried sarawak' mee kolok for the first time! its good i tell you.

so maybe i will blog more tomorrow for the last time from here, before we leave kuching for kl in the evening. ciao!

kuE' note:
go here to view more great pics of us at sarawak culrural village :)

our second day in kuching

Pretty Mommies was busy, so i managed my day with kiddos with our utmost simple way ourselves. i think we walked like 100s of kilometers today! *phew* anyway it was really fun you know.

we started our day by having a simple breakfast of great toast with coffee/tea and orange juice, plus watermelon courtesy of singgahsana lodge, located at its rooftop called "the sadau". sadau is an iban word for attic. i dunno that it also has a bar there, very nice place and ambiance to lepak. and as usual, they have a very nice deco of sarawak's culture. pool and foosball tables are also available there.

so basically we spent most of our times by walking around the sarawak river waterfront area, especially when a row of shops selling sarawak souveniers are just located around the corner. we walked from one shops to another, admiring sarawak's arts and culture. we were lucky to find out that artrageously, the art gallery by ramsay ong is actually a well known local artist. in fact he has also opened a new gallery in kl as well, at changkat bukit bintang. you people should drop by there someday, as ramsay ong's artworks were truly amazing indeed i tell you.

holiday trips ain't that good if we don't think of our loved ones back home. correct me if i am wrong. so i bought about five sarawak batik fabs for mama, grandmother and three very closed aunties; while for father and my lil' bro, i got them a batik shirt from sarawak each. i also bought a sarawak batik shirt for rizal. and guess what people? i put it to mail right away via pos ekspress' cardboard box (RM7.00) during our walks. i was lucky to find out that they do have such box. what i needed to do was just to unflatten the box. great! that i didn't have to wrap the shirt with brown paper first like i usually did for me to mail a package by poslaju. now rizal should get it by tomorrow. i just hoped that he will like it! :)

so for me, i bought two sarawak batik fabs too plus a set of orang ulu's patterned silk fabs. i ought that it should make a very nice set of baju kurung. i will definitely post some pics of it when its ready hehee...

we dropped by textile museum and chinese history museum, but we missed the sarawak state museum. i guess probably that time kids including myself were already hungry like crazy. we had our lunch at little lebanon, located at sarawak tourism complex. this restaurant offers a selection of intercontinental cuisines from arab to western and locals. i will make a special blog post on this as my f&b reviews.

we continued our walks back this time through the river waterfront. they have a ferry cruise and bot penambang service, but we do not intend to try it at all. as the evening past, kiddos were so excited to see mcD somewhere. we had some mcflurry and tapau-ed burgers for our dinner.

so i guess that's about it, our second day' kuching trip. as for tomorrow, i have booked a roundtrip shuttle service for us to damai/sarawak cultural village. we are so excited now, can't wait to go there. till then... mwahh!!! from me in cat city :D

selamat datai!...

view larger map

kamek is now in kuching! hi hie... ada orang sarawak sik sitok? saja ja mo tanya... hahaa... kamek is staying at singgahsana lodge.
[translation: i am now in kuching! hi hie... are there any sarawakian here? i juz wanna know... hahaa... i am staying at singgahsana lodge.]

although we were not recommended by the locals at all, but i feel that singgahsana lodge is a great place to stay. i especially lurve their simple sarawakian decos, i like... i wished i could bring them all back :) besides that, just imagine... we are not even staying a night here, yet we have been treated as families! no wonder 'mat salleh' prefer this place, especially to those whose on a budget holiday. the prices are very affordable plus with their staff' 5-star' class services i.e. smiles!!! that's very important when you are in the hospitality industry ya... anyhow not all the rooms here are with attached bathroom. and the guest are all welcomed to lepak at the lobby area for reading (there are lotsa books on the book racks) and/(or) online. there's also a huge 'pangkin' (day bed) fulled of sarawak style cushions. i envy those cushions ler... wonder of where i can get them :)

we arrived here in the cat city safely this morning, around 10.19 am via MH2054. the flight was +/- 15 minutes delayed as the engineers were still having a thorough last minute checked on the tyres! thank god that everything is ok...

we have been greeted by Pretty Mommies upon our arrival. since we were way too early from the check-in time, we just drop-off our luggage at the hostel and went out to have our lunch. i was not sure of where exactly the place. according to Pretty Mommies, the demand there are rather good. i had buttered rice with chicken if i am not mistaken hmm... not bad!

we went out again with Pretty Mommies in the evening. this time her hubby joined us as well. we have been told that most of the places i.e. souvenirs shops, closed on sundays. so they brought us to the spring, the newest and largest shopping mall in sarawak. right as said, its even have charles & keith boutique!

we then headed to tun jugah shopping complex for our dinner at its food court on fourth floor. and wow... i had my first laksa sarawak, here in kuching itself on our very first night hmm... yummy!!!...

o yes... i am so grateful to find out that i have an assignment (here) waiting for me from PPP even though i am on my vacation... yes! kachinggg!!!... luckily i checked my emails ya... and looks like i have to ensure to read my emails as often as possible :)

well that's it for now, have a lovely week ahead people, cuz i know i will...

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