sarawak act III: meow meow monuments and night in spring

I need to find time to go out with friends…

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More random photos of around Kuching city:

This one actually taken at LCCT during breakfast. Someone is a little *ahem* desperate. Hee-hee.

Our first meal – lunch at Hong Kong Noodle House. My face looks so distorted ‘cause Suz asked me to keep my eyes open when she is taking photos. I tend to close my eyes a lot when taking pics.

The 1st cat monument.

Whilst walking around, noticed some interesting signs. Kapit Cafe – belongs to Wei Wei. Haha. Kilkenny is a sign I first saw on Kenny Sia’s blog – everyone wants to kill him, he blogs.

Kuching roundabouts are not only huge, but their names are also so long…two lines wei…hehe.

Kuching’s own Chinatown.

Wedding couple having their photos taken near the colonial-like government buildings.

After all the sightseeing, Lelia dropped us back at our apartment to freshen up and rest before taking us out for dinner at Jalan Song.

Walking towards the food stalls at Jln Song.

I wanted to try the ‘kolo mee’…this one is orange!

After dinner, we decided to do some window-shopping at #4:The Spring shopping mall.

I wondered why spring? And not summer or autumn or winter?

Me dressed very casually but my roommate BB dressed so nice. Haha.

BB dressed so nice that we asked her to pose as an automobile model, next to this stylish sports car we spotted at the parking lot.

“Hello my name is Suza---WTF? Dude, where’s your head?”

Posing for photos – the not ready pose actually looks better than the ready pose. Lol.

The 2nd cat monument, the one with really bad-looking whiskers.

The 3rd cat monument, the family of cats.

…end of Day One, to be continued…

sarawak act II: books, ghost knife fish and ethnology

I am all about Korean songs now. New ones I currently enjoy: “It’s You” by Super Junior, “Now” by Wonder Girls and “Fire” by female Big Bang, 2NE1

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More photos of the place we resided in Kuching:

Somerset Gateway Kuching.

Lelia brought us to the highest floor to see the swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna…

The swimming pool (that I did not have the chance to try T_T) and the amazing bird’s eye view from the top.

#2: SARAWAK NATIONAL LIBRARY

Our next stop is Kuching’s huge and picturesque library.

They even have a pond!

LOL. Thanks to Suz, we couldn’t resist doing this…squeezing the library…

Walking through its outer corridors leading to the entrance.

Group photo at the fountain at the entrance.

The “buddies” and MC who looked a little lost.

These steps are scarier than they looked…and beware girls who wear skirts!

The bookstore there had clearance sales so I bought two reads – One of “The Cat Who…” series and a biography of Jane Austen for RM10 each.

Got bangau outside okay? I thought it was just a garden ornament at first until it moved its leg. BTW, what is bangau in English already?

#3: AQUARIUM & MUSEUM

At a monument.

They say, “Imitation is the highest form of flattery”. How did we do?

At the aquarium en route to the museum.

At the entrance to the Museum of Ethnology. What is up with Suz’s face?

There were other museums within the precinct.

“Look is that superman flying by?” No. It is just my two poser roommates.

We are not allowed to take any photos inside the museum. But, still…I guess rules are really made to be broken. Exhibits included the famous bird of Sarawak, the hornbill and a prehistoric-like skeleton.

The exhibits downstairs are more about evolution of various species of animals whilst upstairs have more cultural-themed exhibits.

The blogger against some tribal masks.

Despite the camera restrictions, we did snapped some photos. However in our pursuit to avoid the glares and warnings of the guards, we had to take photos really fast. It truly brought out the “model” in us. Hahaha. Pose and then click click. The bad thing is, the photos all turned out to be too blurry to be used (Because did not press long enough for the lens to focus. I did not know until we left the museum).

One last photo before we leave.

Lelia took us to food stalls to quench our thirst with “ais kacang”, the first of many more to come in the following days. We also had some dumplings and “rojak sotong”.

to be continued…

sarawak act I: meow meow museum

DAY ONE - 12th MAY 2009

I leave KL for Kuching – home of bloggers Kenny Sia and Jian Akiraceo, as well hometowns to my coursemates – Janice, Stephanie, Lie Jin.

Early morning, the 6 of us, including my coursemate Mei Chieng took taxis to LCCT. Mei Chieng was taking a later flight to Sibu so we bade goodbye to her at the airport.

And I don’t know why, it is a first for me…we got so distracted eating breakfast at McD’s that we were late to board our plane. Suzane told me she heard the speakers calling out our names. So of course, I ran as fast as possible. When I reached the plane at the terminal, they started pulling away the stairs leading to the back entrance. Because I was the only one without any hand luggage, I boarded the plane first and saw many UKM students in the front rows. Lol. At one glance, I saw the Forensic and Optometry 2nd-years.

As luck would have it, I had to sit between 2 middle-aged men due to the new rule disallowing free seating among passengers. It was really boring, stuck there for one and a half hours. I wanted to sleep but wasn’t sleepy. Damn, must be that McD’s coffee. So I read every single article in the Air Asia magazine – Threesixty, yes, even the advertisements! Very wuliao right? That was how bored I was.

But one of the men sitting next to me did chat a little with me, asking me my purpose of visiting Kuching, etc. I don’t really remember the conversation anymore, it was basically to kill time.

As we landed in Kuching airport, we saw more UKM students. Haha. First we saw Sim Siew Ling and Hui Ling from Optometry and then outside, we saw Owen Lim from Biomed.

This is myself, BB and Suz’s first time to Kuching so that will explain our enthusiasm in taking pics more than Mei Chen and Ngiik Ling.

So we waited for Lelia, Suz’s little buddy, Biomed 1st year, to come and pick us up. Her mom was really nice to come although it was her lunch hour.

The thing is, Suz told me that Lelia will arrange for our accommodation in Kuching but Suz did not really know where. I guess we all assumed maybe we will be staying at Lelia’s house. But when we reached Somerset Gateway Kuching (next to Segi College), we all start to realize we are NOT staying at Lelia’s house.

I was dumbfounded when I walked through the apartment Lelia got for us. It was really like a hotel room. Despite my excitement, I was worried I won’t have enough money to cover the apartment expenses for 3 nights! Even Suz also felt the same way, telling me that her accommodation budget is only RM200! Hahaha.

But as it turns out, we got to stay there for FREE! Because it belongs to Lelia’s cousin or someone in her family. Yay!

A glimpse of the master bedroom that my roommates and I sleep in, NL and MC’s bedroom, tall closets, bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room! Best part is, got washing machine! And dryer! So I did not have to worry about lack of clothes!

#1: Cat Museum

The first tourist spot we went to is Cat Museum, which is inside Kuching North City Hall. I heard about this place from one of Kenny Sia’s blog posts.

Outside the city hall is a garden – snapshot of BB, myself, NL, Suz and MC =)

At the gargantuan cat’s mouth entrance.

The Kuching Cat Museum. In Malay, it is Muzium Kucing Kuching. Hahaha. I totally made that up.

To enter, you must first transformed yourself into cats. Hahaha. We looked ridiculous here.

Snapshots of the 3 roommates with various exhibitions. Psst…don’t Suz looked just like the cat behind her?

Lots and lots of displays on the wall. Who knew cats are so popular all around the world?

Group photo of the travellers, taken by our tour guide Lelia.

One of my favourite quotes that I saw - “Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’re holding on to”. The pic is not clear due to my camera’s flash.

Beng Beng hidden among the cats.

The colourful displays on the wall took my attention.

I like this sculpture, but no, BB and I are not a couple. LOL.

Revisiting my inner child: Big fat lazy GARFIELD and adorable mouth-less HELLO KITTY.

So obvious their pose is fake right? Esp Suz. Last pic with the cats before we leave.

More photos taken: *Click to enlarge*

to be continued…