Life in Mono...

the Other...

My mom's other daughter. Mozart keeps her company when all her daughter's are away. She is half Toby's size and this is what she do all day. Sleep... I love watching her sleep.

Not my Village...

...but the Sarawak Cultural Village. You would not have visited Sarawak or Kuching if you have not visited the famous Sarawak Cultural Village. I took M there on Christmas Eve morning. We went there early to beat the traffic and the drive there were lots of people there when we arrived. All tour groups. I think there were at at least 20 tour buses outside at the car park.

 

The Cultural Village was a little bit runned down. They changed the entrance to the place. I was a little bit confused at first. But I manage to be the tour guide to M. He was excited to see all the different cultures there. When we reach the Iban House, I told him about the history of the people. It was cool to see the girls dressed up in the traditional Iban costume although its been modernised a little bit. (pictured on the bottom left)

 

The beautiful art painted on the wall on the top right photo is the art of the Kayan people. No the man with the huge guitar is not naked. He looks like he is but he is not. HAHA... he is wearing something underneath the guitar or the Sape. I love the art on the wall. Very tradional. To me it looks like the tree of life.

 

So after walking for an hour visiting all the traditional houses we went to the auditorium to watch the cultural shows. They were colourful and fantastic. They changed it a little bit though some were exactly the same 6 years ago.

We were there for 3 hours and drove back home after that. I can see that M was very tired so I told him we will be going back for Christmas Eve lunch and then he can take as much rest as he wants.

My Village Part II

After visiting my Uncle's house, we went striaght to my Aunt who lives down the street. There we were greeted warmly and again fruits were shoved down our throats. Pictured on the left is the famous Pepper berries. My Aunt use to be a pepper farmer and I think she is still doing it although its not as rewarding as before. You can smell the peppery smell from about a metre away. I remember when we were younger I use to see my Aunts and older cousin drying them on woven mats and I can still remember the smell of the dried pepper stored in huge sacks in a room waiting to be sold.
Before  lunch, my dad asked if we kids want to help him pick some fruit on his farm. We followed him. His farm didn't have a house but a small hut with knives clippers and tools to pick fruits stored in them. It was a little to hot for me so I tried not to be under the sun. Sometimes I think I have gone a little wussy as I grow older. When I was young all I wanted to do was play under the sun. Anyway, another story for another post. You can see Nana picking lime from the lime tree. She manage to pick a whole bag full of lime. Good on her for being brave, unlike her elder sister who just stood under the shade squeeling everytime an insect gets too close to her. 

 

It really was a beautiful day. People were happy that the sun was out becuase it was raining for days before we came. I manage to take a snap shot of the hills that was surrounding our little village. I think they say that if you manage to cross the hill you will be in Indonesia. I don't know how true is that but that is what I always remember my older cousins telling me.

Sick of picking limes, Nana and M moved on to picking Rambutan, also known as the hairy fruit. This is also one of my favourite fruit of all times. They sell these by the kilos and we just pick it from the tree.  HEHEHE... M really did enjoy his time at my father's farm.
My dad decided to stay a little longer so M, Nana and I walked back to my Aunt's house. I will never forget the way we walked back to the house, M, Nana and I under one umbrella under the hot sun. :*D.

 

 

Here is another picture of M with the Hills. Enjoy.

Tomorrow, the Cultural Village. Ooooo

My Village Part I...

Another picture of M during his trip to Meow City. This was taken the day my family brought him to see my village or KAMPUNG. M was a little bit tired from the day before. You can see how tired he was by the look on his face and his eyes. Poor boy. We started out at 7am from my house as we wanted to get to my Kampung as early as we can because we have another family function that very same night.

The name of this dish is the famous Sarawakian "Kolo Mee". You can only find the finest in Sarawak and this is one of my favourite dish in the whole wide world. It consist of special noodles and bbq pork. Yummy. The secret is not in the noodles or the pork but the sauce that they use. I'm hungry just posting about it. I will miss this dish.

We got to my Kampung at about 10am and our first stop was my uncle's house. This is a view from his house. All green. All Durian trees. All bearing fruits. All just waiting for them to drop. :*)

We got out stretch our legs and talked to my uncle and aunt. They were surprised to see me and M. M was really amaze to see the place. My aunt took out local fruits that was in season now and started shoving them down our throats. She also took out this thing that they burn to keep the mozzies at bay. I knew what was she burning but I was intrigued by the thing that she use to burn it.

Its made from an old tyre rim. One of my cousin's husband welded feet to it and wahlah...you have a contraption that holds discarded pepper bark to chase away the Mozzies. People can be creative sometimes no?

Ah... I think its enough for now. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow. :*) I hope you enjoy my journey so far.

 

Flying High...

My flight back to Perth was an incredible one. I flew from Kuching to Singapore via Silk Air, by the way they served this INCREDIBLE WALNUT AND BANANANA MUFFIN and I nearly died because I wanted more, the plane was empty so I had the whole row of seats to myself.

I had to transit in Singapore for 3 hours and I nearly died again because of all the things to see and do and BUY there. Everything looked so tempting. Have I told you that I LOVE CHANGI Airport? I LOVE IT. If you can make your way there for transit please do. You won't regret it.

Above is a picture I took from my seat. The sun was about to come out. Isn't it beautiful. The colours are so vivid the camera didn't do it any justice.

While I was roaming around Changi Airport, someone shouted my name. I was surprised to see Tash walking towards me. I ask Tash where was she heading and she said, PERTH. I was so excited and asked her what's her seat number. She said 35C. I was in SHOCK!! My seat is 35A!! We could not believe the coincidence.

When we got on the plane I was saying over and over again that 35B will not have a good night sleep with the both of us chattering away. Luck was on our side when I asked the Stwardess if anyone was sitting between us and she said NO. WOHOOO... We had the middle seat all to ourselves.

I hope to have trips like this everytime I fly. 

Happy New Year

Sorry for the lack of posting guys. I have been busy with things lately. Hopefully I will be back as normal after the 8th.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU GUYS!! PRAY I HAVE A SAFE TRIP HOME.

More food pictures

Today, my parents brought M, Nana and I to my village and to our fruit farm. It's still fruiting season so there were lots of local fruit to eat and taste. M loved every bit of it.

 

The Dragon Fruit. It taste like a cross between eating a strawberry and a watermelon at the same time. Its so sweet and the seeds taste a little like chocolate sprinkles.

Meet the king of fruit, the DURIAN. This is has an acquired taste and the smell, it may not be pleasent to some people. I love this fruit. M didn't like it not becuase of the smell or taste its because of the texture of the fruit inside. This fruit is heavenly. Yummy.

This is a local fruit called the Terap fruit. Don't ask me the name of it in English because I have no idea. Its taste like the Jackfruit. I did not like the taste of this fruit because of the smell. Its has a bitter smell. M loved it though. He kept on picking on it.

There are more pictures but I am running out of time. I will post it up tomorrow.

The Eagle has landed...

Look who is here to visit me? M arrived this morning and I am happy. He nearly could not come in due to Visa reasons. Apperently, those with the Green passport have more difficulties moving between states here in Malaysia. Its sad that now we are judge by the colour of our passport.

Anyway enough about that. I am glad that M is here. Already I have exposed him to the local food that we have here. I am glad that he is very willing to try almost anything that I shove down his throat. :*).

Tonight its the local seafood joint with juicy prawns, fish and shell fishes. Mmmmm

Food, food and more food.

 

This has got to be one of my favourite fruit. The Mangosteen. Its sweet and juicy. Its in season now and my mom bought this especially for me. She also bought bananas, seeing how we were deprived of it in Australia due to Cyclone Larry. Its so cheap. Less then a dollar.

Every morning dad will wake Nana and I up to go for breakkie. So far I had Kolo Mee (Noodles), Prata and buns for breakkie. Yummy. As for lunch you can have everything under the Malaysian sun. :*) I will take pictures of them when M gets here. We are using dial up at home so I can not blog too long or do it fast.

The other day Nana and I decided to get KFC for lunch. Look at how small the burger is!! I used my mobile phone as an indicator. Its even smaller then my mobile phone. It took me 3 bites to finish it. HAHAHA...

Other then eating I have also cut my hai, straighten it and had treatment done on it. All this only costs me AUD$56!! How cool is that. hehehe... OK enough rambling. Its time for Lunch! Its Chicken Rice today. Yummy.