Takers With NuffNang.

Lord giveth and Lord taketh away.

Don't ask me why, but that phrase lingers in my head everytime I see this movie title.

Last night, for the first time ever [if I hadn't mistaken], I won a pair of free movie passes. Movie tickets that I don't pay for in dates are definitely not counted. So, yes, I was as excited as a country bumpkin going to town.

The very second I read the email received, I knew that I'd be a potato-head if I do not reply like, pronto.

[Show-off purposes, let's keep it small. Hah!]

Since then I have been so worried that maybe, just maybe, Nuffnang did not receive my confirmation email and revoke my invites. *sobz* At the same time, I continually and covertly bug Bii not to forget about our date on Monday. And specifically demanded that he not be late. I could even picture myself shopping in MidValley after work, waiting for the time to come that we collect those free passes. Hah!

Reasons for my being -

1. The tickets are free.

2. It's Nuffnang. 'Nuff said.

3. Hayden Christensen, babeh! *drools*oh, sexy butt?*LOL*

Ironically, we almost got there late because of yours truly, mua. With a very good excuse, at that - catching up with my first friends on job. Or how they prefer to call it the "corrupted family".

Oh, by late, I meant to say we are not the first 15 people in line. Haha! C'mon. First 15 people got free-gifts leh. Can't I be kiasu once awhile? *pfftt*

So sad to see many others getting the Nuffnang tee, of which I totally have no idea how they got it. Bummer.

Extra bummer when there were no special welcome for the country bumpkin, mua. Hehe.

Consolations. I got two pin badges. Haha. Oh, shush. What a sadist.

Thank you, Nuffnang. It was a nice movie anyway. I especially love the part when Jake a.k.a the Chris Brown was running away. The way he jumps about had left Jackie Chan behind to makan his dust. *spoiler alert*oh, too late?*no?* Hehe. If only the cameramen could be more efficient though.

For most of the exciting scenes, we were left frowning our eyebrows out trying to see the actions. Seriously, there's no need for that. Because no matter, noone can see anything. I'm not sure if this is to compensate on the lack of action [which I totally doubt so] . You know how it is, blur it all out so that noone see the flaw. Yada yada.

Naww. Whatta waste. But other than that. One and a half thumbs up! :) *cheers*

Photo-Loaded Sibu Travelogue. [Part 3]

Can't. Resist. It.

So here's the continuation.

Next destination - the seven-storey Pagoda! :)

Since it wasn't too far away from the Sibu Sentral Market, we traveled on foot. Thus having the opportunity to snap this.

All, or rather a BIG majority, of the road signs here in Sibu have at least two languages on it. Note: at least. I know I sound like a real country bumpkin here but I totally dig the idea of brushing up my Chinese through this method. [Hah!]

Okay, that probably was not 100% true but I really like the whole atmosphere that these signs create. [Hah!]

Whatever. Bumpkin or not, it was absolutely fresh to see different road-signs. Makes you feel outta town! [Hah!] Isk.

Anyway, some parts of Sibu really reminds me of Malacca.

Okay, to be fair, this part of town reminds me of good ol' Penang too. Somewhere along Beach Street. Matter-of-factly, it does look alike to many old towns in Malaysia. Teehee~ Scrap that about Malacca then. *pfftt*

Oh, on a side note, congratulations to Malacca to have been branded as a developed state in Malaysia. Hooray! Finally! :)

Back to Sibu, quoted from "Inside Sarawak", the pagoda is "claimed to be more beautiful than the same of its kind in South Each Asia and even Taiwan". I can't judge since I hadn't been to all countries in South East Asia. But I gotta agree that the pagoda is really very beautifully proportioned and the designs are superbly amazing. Adjacent to the pagoda is a Tua Pek Kong temple. For more detailed information of this distinguish landmark and some miracles related to the statue of Tua Pek Kong, click this.

Apparently there are carvings around the temple which tells the story of early Chinese settlers when they first step foot on Sibu land. Sadly enough, I did not pay too much attention on them. Gahhh! *pulls hair*

However, do not forget to hug on this okay. The dragon-head tortoise! May we all prosper in health and wealth! Bwahahaha~~

Also, you must, must, must enter the pagoda and climb up those stairs.

You definitely do not want to miss out on the panaromic view of the Rajang River, the longest river in Malaysia, and the scenic old town by the river.

[Getting nostalgic watching the river flows.]

There are many artifacts on almost each floor of the pagoda. But I was afraid and cautious not to touch anything for fear that I would break them. Definitely not want to mess up in a holy temple. But we can't resist on the bell!

Hahaha. Kids just wanna have fun. Amitabha! *serious face*

Bii and I met up with Sam in the late afternoon. The moment we hopped in to his 4-wheel drive, he told us that he'll show us Sibu. The whole of Sibu! In less than a quarter of a day?! Are you kidding me?

Well, obviously he was not. He was practically driving from end to end of Sibu. Drove us to Pulau Li Hua, the man-made island in Sibu with crazily-huge mansions built on it. Not one picture I took could ever fit the view of the whole residence. Exaggerative? Not.

I'm not sure if I'd ever want to live on a sinking man-made island, but the scenery and environment around the area is really superb. Quiet and serene.

Scrap serenity. I just remembered of the night activities in cars parked along the roads that Sam told us about. Hrmph.

From where we were, we could see the bridge which links both banks of Rajang River. And as I was saying, Sam was driving from end to end of Sibu. That was the exact reason why Bii and I were frantically telling Sam not to cross the bridge. L-O-L.

Of course Sam wasn't planning to, instead he took a U-turn under the bridge.

If you look carefully on the photo above, the trees from both sides of the road are actually growing towards one another forming what seems like an arch. It felt so autumn-y the moment we moved in under the 'arch'. Escaped alive from the 40++°C weather outside of this. Exaggerative? Again, no.

This landscape reminds me of the one in Taiping. Unique behavior of the nature. Where the trees from the opposite of the road had its branches grown towards the lake. Smartly enough, it grew overhead the road, allowing cars to pass under it. It looks exactly like as if the trees are reaching out its hand to get feed on some water. Even the trees are drying up from the heat of the sun.

The driving tour ended at this park on the riverbank of Rajang River. From here, one could get the scenic view of sunset overlooking the Rajang River. Perfect place to spend a wonderful evening with your family. I shall continue about this in the next post. We came here twice in two days.

Too. Many. Photos.

So this can't end yet! Next up. The preparation and the wedding!

Photo-Loaded Sibu Travelogue. [Part 2]

Wokays. Time to continue on to day 2, unless God forbids so. =)

First destination of the day -- Pasar Sentral Sibu. The place is packed with at least over a thousand mini-stalls. Don't blame me for totally believing it when I was told that this is the largest marketplace in South East Asia. I can't seem to find any proof to it but I won't say it's not possible. At least, it is the largest marketplace I have ever seen!

Standing on the fourth storey of the carpark building, I was already [literally!] jumping up and down in excitement looking at what's before my eyes. Thing was, it's not even half quarter of what the whole place is!!

[First view at Sibu Central Market]

[Wet area of the market.]

The sight that really amuses me is definitely the poultry - being sold alive!! What's uncommon here [in the west] is definitely nothing more than just the usual there [in the east]! Funny yet saddening. What more can they do besides waiting patiently for someone to purchase them, bring them on their last journey and get slaughtered? *sobz*

The cruelty of life. I'd rather have them placed in front of my eyes without those feathers and clucking, or quacking. At least then, cooking would be easier. So is eating.

The selfishness in me. =(

Anyway, deal with it. On the bright side, I get to see that the black chicken does not have black feathers. In fact, they don't look the same dead and alive. And I met a shy duck. And I saw a mother hen pooping out an egg. Well, not the process of so but enough to know who laid the egg. Oh, the heart of a mother. *sobz*

*bzzzt* Let's look at something...not alive. Trust me, you could find almost anything in this marketplace. The stuffs being sold are superbly cheap too, needless to compare. But many of which I would never ever put into my mouth. For example, these paku-pakis. Cheap but...nyahhhh.

And also this!

[The head looks like lychee seed, isn't it?]

Okay fine, so it is alive. You should have seen it wriggle! Teehee~ You should have seen us wriggle too!

Though we may look disgusted, we actually enjoy the little fellas. Not the taste of it but the look of it. Spent what seemed like an eternity aah-ing and eww-ing at one stall, walk about for probably a minute or less, come back to the same stall eee-ing and urgh-ing for another eternity.

Yes, we're the little 'mountain tortoises' from the Peninsular. Deal with it.

One stall owner was nice enough to offer us one of whatever-you-named-that-thing. Of course nobody dared to eat it up! So again the 'mountain tortoises' continued our little routine. Hah!

Anyone up for food now? :)

For breakfast, we headed to the marketplace's food court. So many stalls, which to choose? While on the search, I couldn't help but notice this.

First time ever seeing fishes being displayed in this manner!

Kampua, kampua! The search ends at this one stall, supposedly the best in the food court - I think [anyway, I forgot the name, no photos either]. After much hassle making us understand who's territory is this and that, we were finally seated and orders taken. Pity the customers la! *hrmph*

What more Foochow dialect was the primary spoken language in Sibu! Imagine the question marks we had bouncing on top of our heads! Luckily enough we had one translator with us. And lucky for me, a menu board with romanized words!

I just realised I never took a photo of the kampua mee I ate. Guess I was too hungry then. Wait...was it kampua that I ate?? Hehe. Anyway, for your eyes' feasting only.

Sarawak laksa. I didn't eat this particular one but I ate it nonetheless and it tastes just like a bowl of plain curry mee, without lemak santan. Is that what it's supposed to taste like?

Sibu Foochow's probably most favourite food. Red wine chicken mee sua noodles in soup. This particular one is not exactly my favourite.

I don't know what this is, but it looks tempting for breakfast.

Fried kuey teow, I believe?

The blurry effect of the photo could be because that I'm already eating my own food when this arrived. Haha!

Bii's favourite kong piang. I was told that this version is very different from the one they have in Lumut, Perak. I'm still waiting to try that. But this one here, it tastes like bread with ham in the middle and soaked in a plate of dark saucy-soup thingy. Nothing over-the-head special but I like it. :)

And finally...a cuppa 3-layered-tea.

...with full disappointment! Do not ask me why it's green. I don't care either. It's tasteless! *sulks*

Oh well, just remember not to leave the marketplace - and Sibu, without buying any of these. *cheers*

Photo-Loaded Sibu Travelogue. [Part 1]

Ah, I'd better write this down before I forget any splendid detail of the trip. *winks*

Last week, packed with a superbly good reason and a faithful luggage bag, I took my first step onto our country's other continent. All-expense-paid. *evil chuckles*

[The good reason.]

If it hadn't been for this chance, God knows when this first trip would be. So, yeap, there we were. In Sibu, Sarawak!

[Proof of stepping on Sibu land.]

Excitedly on Friday evening, all fourteen of us boarded the plane. Teehee~ I never knew the elder generation could be as bising as us youngsters do [besides gossiping]. But that's exactly where the fun really starts.

[At the Senai International Airport, before departure.]

The journey on the flight to [and fro, actually] Sibu, contradictorily, is really torturing. Trapped in a plane with noisy kids are superbly annoying. *sighs*

We decided to try the plane food since Bii said the nasi lemak on board is highly recommended. Sadly though, the "highly recommended" food is only available for orders online. So we opt for the consolation prize. Haha. Yeap, also nasi lemak! Not with curry chicken but with sotong! Yum yum~

Cost us RM10! Super expensive! Super small portion! *sobz*

Yet no complains because we kinda expected that. And knowingly that we're gonna attack "kampua mee" right after settling down. Funny how we joked about eating "kampua mee" and drink "san se nai cha" (3-layered tea). Sure enough, that's what we did right after settling this many luggages *points below* into the nice, comfy hotel.

[Arriving at Sibu Airport.]

[Unload, gather, check in, move.]

[Ahhhh! Super cheap rates!!! 'Nuff said.]

Thank God for the nasi lemak on board. Else, we'd definitely have fainted before reaching to our food, especially after moving that many luggages!! And thank God we lived near the Sibu central bus station, so the eatery is open 24 hours.

FYI, Sibu people goes to bed even earlier than Malaccans (I'm talking to Shad here). Hoho~! Shops are closed by 10pm and roads are cleared by 11pm! :)

Anyway! Here's my first "kampua mee" with added ingredients. Oh, yummy!

Here's the normal version of "kampua mee" [from the same stall]. I'm sure we never came all the way here to only eat anything as plain and normal right? So, why not try both. Teehee~ I love both anyway.

And of course not forgetting my 3-layered tea. Available only in Sarawak. Correct me if I'm wrong. *winks*

Okay, tata. That's all for Part 1. I don't like that my blogposts too long, so I'm gonna put the travelogue in few parts. Furthermore, I don't wanna post this up too late. Judging from the speed that I'm writing, that tends to happen. :)

So wait up for Part 2. Bear with me. TQVM.