Sarawakiana

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2009-08-26T05:24:00.001+08:00

Greetings from Sarawak!

While this site is under construction please go to http://sarawakianaii.blogspot.com.

Thanks.

Mud on My Shoes

2009-06-17T14:13:00.004+08:00

This is the a LIFE magazine photo of a Chinese man wearing straw sandals. My grandfather and his father must have won this kind of straw sandals. In the Foochow Association Museum in Sibu one can see an exhibit of one such straw sandals.

A photo of a bamboo basket and straw sandals. These straw sandals were worn by the Foochow pioneers when they came to Sibu. It was many many years later that the Foochow men and women learned to wear leather shoes when rubber prices shot up and there was plenty of money for every one. I still remember my grandmother used to tell us that when many of the men started wearing leather shoes they made noises which went like this "bok bok bok" because they could not walk properly with the heavier shoes. They also suffered from blisters for the first time in their life!!

Jesus sandals modelled in Jerusalem.

I go walking quite a lot and so muddy shoes really do not both me or my friends.

One Sunday I went to Church with mud on my sandals after a short term mission trip. I had not checked if those comfortable sandals were clean or not. Furthermore they were a little aged but they were comfortable throughout my journey.

The church was full. Ladies were well dressed and the guys were wearing their Sunday best. A few were even wearing their suits!

When it was time to receive communion I went with the others and knelt down in front of the altar. Most of the ladies were wearing glistening high heels and most of the guys were wearing polished leather shoes. Because they were town people and were driving cars naturally they had clean shoes. But unknown to me my sandals had marks of mud. I did not have time to wash the sandals before the service. Actually they were not too muddy in my opinion.

Later a lady whispered "There's mud on your sandals."

I was surprised someone noticed. But I am sure many saw that my sandals were muddy and a little tattered and they did not give a second look. But as an afterthought I could also have won a pair of Japanese slippers and no one would really bother about what shoes we were all wearing in front of God!

For many days I reflected on mud on my shoes. As I meditated I realised that it really does not matter. I remember the man with the tattered coat who went to have a feast in the story of long ago and he was not allowed into the room.

But the feast of God is open to all - mud on the shoes or not!

Blind Masseurs in the Streets vs Foreign Reflexologists in 5 star establishments

2009-06-13T19:28:00.007+08:00

blind masseurs are found in the streets of Kota Kinabalu doing a good service to lots of customers in broad daylight and the charges are reasonable.

On the other hand beautiful girls from foreign countries are hidden on third floors doing a flourishing business (in the darkness of the night may be) and charging great fees.

Is this one of the unfair things in life?

Ear Biscuits today and yesteryears

2009-06-11T06:24:00.005+08:00

Hunting for the illusive hat or ear biscuit in KL is not easy unless we have local knowledge about local biscuits.

And to find this delectable biscuit in Sarawak isn't easy either.

This is to say either the biscuit is out of favour or no factory is making it now for the local market in Sarawak.

This was indeed a very popular biscuit a few decades ago in Sibu. Most mothers knew how to make them from scratch. And on top of that we could buy them in little packets in the sundry shops or even in the little stalls set up along the five foot way. They were often packed in small packets of five for the price of 10 cents. School children would bring them to school to munch and mess up their desks. Or if by accident they dropped the biscuits on the floor they would be scolded by their teacheres. These biscuits were very easy to carry and easy to eat. With very little choice then no one actually called them poor man's food.

They were crunchy and tasty as probably a lot of ajinomoto or Vitsin was used in its making. But nevertheless we loved to eat them. Perhaps they were the forerunners of today's crunchies and munchies which are not exactly healthy.

Sometimes we called them "bra biscuits" too.

A search on the net reaped two pictures.

(source : http://www.mytasteofasia.com

(source: http://unami.typepad.com)

I also discovered that some of my friends still remember them and still like them. According to one of my friends she still can buy from some shops in West Malaysia. But many Sarawakians have forgotten about this biscuit.

I am wondering if some shops in Pandungan Road in Kuching still make them.

Eating Crabs in Sibu

2009-06-10T06:50:00.004+08:00

Crabs have always been a favourite food of the people of the world!

Sibu people are no different! And in fact in the past it was quite easy to get one's own crabs from the banks of the Mighty Rajang in the evenings.

Crabs were always a dish for the table whenever there was something to celebrate especially in the 60's. It was common to stir fry crabs with just thick soy sauce and eggs.When Rajang Park was started many families would go to the two open air restaurants there to enjoy a Saturday night of open air eating. Crabs would always be one of the dishes ordered. The crabs shells would be strewn all over the place and dogs would come by to sniff at them. I sort of remember that whenver we went to the open air market in the morning the smell from the rubbish bins would be horrendous. Restaurant mess was absolutely challenging.

Later on as cooks became more versatile they started cooking crabs in fancy ways like with butter and milk and fermented soy beans for example. Today Sibu has probably as many styles of cooking crabs as there are restaurants. Tastes keep on changing actually.

I often think about what the world is doing regarding crabs. Will global warming remove the delectable crab from our table?

And as everyone is thinking of a Christmas wish list mine would be to have a book about crabs on the list. It is not that I love eating crabs. It is because crabs remain the most challenging food to cook well in my opinion. It is hard to get at the flesh and there is just so much work involved before we sit down to eat it.

I will always associate crabs with this story: a father went out to the Sibu market to buy crabs to win his children's hearts. It was very sad that at the table he was told that his children were allergic to crabs. And as he sat eating the crabs he realised that he had never been part of the family and he did not know his children. He had forgotten so much about his children! It could be too late for him to win over his children who watched him eat his solitary meal.

Here are some interesting points about crabs:

Singapore's Chili Crab - well known favourite

Baked Mud Crab - a Sarawakian favourite

May be the tastiest crab in the world

The biggest crab in the world in 2008

The Blue Crab - unique and pricey (ONLY FOR THE VERY PRIVILEGED)

According to the Encyclopedia Americana [1995 edition] there are approximately 4,500 different species of crabs living on Earth. They are distributed throughout the world. It is probably impossible to tell for sure who (much less where!) ate the first crabs. Food historians tell us crabs were known to ancient Greeks and Romans.

"Renaissance...Lobster, crayfish and crab were greatly enjoyed, though they seldom reach the inland eater. At formal meals they presented difficulties. 'Crab is a slut to carve and a wrawde wight [perverse creature]. By the the the carver in a noble household had finished picking the meat out of ever claw with a knife-point, had piled it all into the 'broadshell', and had added vinegar and mixed spices, the tepid crab had to be sent back again to the kitchen to be reheated before he could offer it to his lord. Crab and lobster were also boiled and eaten cold with vinegar, as were shrimps."---ibid (p. 43-4)

Who are eating the best crabs in the world? Those who hold political power and own vast financial empires.

Those lowly ones like ourselves might just enjoy a family day out and catch some crabs in Bekenu! The best crabs are shared crab meals.

Cheavin's Water Filter

2009-06-06T18:05:00.006+08:00

This photo of Cheavin's Saludor Water Filter is taken at the Methodist Archival Museum in Sibu. This is a ceramic water filter fitted with an amazing filtration system. Doctors and dentists have been known to use them very effectively in the early days of Sibu.

This water purifier from the early 20th century worked on the principle of passing water through a carbon or charcoal filter. It is like water filters in homes today.

The tall stoneware ceramic container has a lead free glaze. Its domed lid has an interior ridge to prevent it from slipping off. Near the base of the container is a hole leading inside the container. A small metal tap blocks the hole, allowing water to be drained out of the container when required. On the outside of the container are the words 'Cheavins Saludor Safe Water Filter. Drinking Water of Absolute Purity, British Made Throughout'.

The filter system was inside the container. The container would be filled with charcoal, and water poured into the top of the container. As the water passed through the charcoal it was cleansed. The clean water was drawn from the bottom of the container through the tap.

Charcoal is pure carbon, made from the partial burning of organic waste. It contains ions that help to kill germs, and it works on the principle of absorption. Large amounts of gases, including poisonous ones, and gases that create bad smells and tastes in water stick to the charcoal. It is porous, and has, therefore, large surface areas that absorb gas.

Dimensions: Height:43cm

In the 1950's my family lived in Pulau Kerto at the Ice Factory and our water supply came straight from the Rajang River with the help of a small pump which my father worked at once in a while. Some of the water we used for washing came directly to the doorstep when the flood water reached the bottom of the stairs.

In the kitchen was this Cheavin's Saludor Water Filter standing at a small counter . I would always remember it as pure tasty water would come out of a tap at the bottom and my mother told me that the water was "spring water" after it was filtered inside the huge cannister. I imagined that I was tapping the water from a series of rocks and the water came out miraculously as Moses' rod struck the rock wall! My mother loved this particular water filter as it was not only a social symbol of well being but a symbol of my father's love for good living and for the family.

Our water filter mysteriously "disappeared" when the family moved lock stock and barrel from the Ice Factory to the house on Kung Ping Road in Sibu. My mother never knew who took it away or why. And father was not a person who would find fault with the movers.

I am sure many families in Sibu continue to keep them as treasures in their homes. This water filter was popularly sold all over the world in 1890-1950's before chlorine treated water supply became the norm. I have read somewhere that the original company which sold Cheavin's Saludor Water Filter was established in Boston USA. However I still need to check this fact out.

At the present moment Singapore History Museum at Riverside Point has one unit for exhibition. I do hope that the unit in our Methodist Archival Museum will continue to help educate our younger generation.

How I wish I still have one now.

My Aunt's Marriage Bed

2009-06-02T13:24:00.003+08:00

My aunt (mum's oldest sister) was a nurse trained in China and she met this tall and good looking doctor (Dr. Hsiung) while working in a hospital. It is interesting to note that my Tui Yee only wore cheong same until she was very very old when she took to wearing a blouse and a pair of long trousers. She was a very pleasant and understanding kind of aunt. As a mother she was strict and did not spare the rod. Uncle was equally stern and he was not from the Ming Ching group of Foochows. He was Ming Nan and so it was a little difficult to understand him.

When all the brothers-in-law got together in the 50's they had plenty to talk about. It was perhaps fate that my mother's sisters were all married to very educated man. So apparently when they visited my grandmother down river they found their table topics very interesting. My father and first uncle were both China-educated whereas the two younger brothers-in-law were locally but English educated. However all four were very good in Chinese due to their secondary Chinese education.

In the Japanese Occupational years they were married and lived a simple life in Sibu. However after the war the young couple moved to Kuching and started a dispensary cum maternity clinic in Padungan.

They went on to raise a family of successful sons and a daughter.

Their shop house at Padungan was a haven for many new mothers and my uncle helped a large number of people to regain their health. He must have saved a few lives but he was very taciturn and calm about everything. Today the children still keep his chest of drawers and a dresser.

However apart from success stories and very motivating tales I particularly remember my aunt's bed.

It was a spring bed with brass rods and frames. And she had this very interesting mosquito net hanging from the four posters.

I used to peep into the dark upstairs room and check on the bed to see if it was still there. I love to remember how my aunt would place her books and Bible by the side of the bed on a small table. There would also be a small flask and a small glass mug.

The upstairs of my aunt's shop house is still there in Kuching. But the downstairs have seen lots of change of hands in business ever since my aunt and uncle passed away several years ago.

A brass bed will always remain a family treasure.

Chinese Poetry on a Grave

2009-05-30T06:32:00.005+08:00

My grandmother Chong Ching Soon (JS Chong) passed away at a very young age of 38 from hemorrhaging while giving birth. In those days the infant mortality rate was high and so was the mortality rate for mothers who gave birth unattended by any qualified nurses or doctors. Times were really bad too at that time and nothing could be done to save her life during the early days of the Foochow Settlement.

While my grandfather was already prospering from his businesses the young family of 9children (we Foochows had termed it "children like the steps on a staircase") were bereft from the loss of a wonderful mother who came from Singapore to marry my grandfather . The young children grieved for a long long time. My father was a very taciturn man but the little I heard from him made me feel how much pain he suffered for having lost a mother at a young age.

The match was made by Rev. James Hoover according to family history. Together with her came Mr. and Mrs. JB Chong. My grandmother's brother was Mr. JB Chong who taught English in the Methodist Boys' School.

My grandfather's greatest friend in Sibu was the very educated and academic Rev Yao Siew King. The two of them were in many committees serving under Rev. James Hoover.
Rev Yao and my grandfather were selected to open up Bintangor in 1912 by Rev. James Hoover and the rest is Bintangor's history.

The untimely death of my grandmother was a great blow to my grandfather as she was a good helper in many ways. She was literate in English and had helped grandfather fit machinery by reading the manual for him I was told. Being a very cautious and strict lady she had also brought up her children in a very systematic and proper ways.

This Chinese poem was written by Rev Yao to summarise her character. Our family is indeed honoured by his poetry which now is looked upon as a plague in her honour. My grandmother passed away more than half a century before my grandfather left this world.

One of these days I will get Wong Meng Lei to translate these beautiful words properly for me.

Today her simple and solitary American style grave is still standing on top of a hill in the oldest Methodist Cemetery in Sibu. While the belian gate remains strong and sturdy the hinges have been changed several times due to rust.

I often sigh because I never got to see her or know her as a person. Our grand uncles and aunties from the Chong family are still around in Sarawak and we remain in touch with some of them as they continue to contribute richly to the state.

Ozzie - Sarawak Lunch

2009-05-28T18:19:00.004+08:00

I will let you have a key hole peep into my social life in Miri.

Two friends have been sharing my Miri life since I moved over towards the end of the 80's when I bundled four children into a four wheel with a truck load of personal effects for the biggest move I ever made in my life. It was like out of the comfort zone to an unknown world. It could have been the Sahara Desert!

Well so many years have gone "under the bridge" ! Now two girls have found their life partners I have two to take care of.

Since my retirement I have also learned to visit friends at their homes and perhaps have a dinner or two out with old friends in one of the nice restaurants in Miri. It is indeed a different kind of lifestyle.

Here my Ozzie Connection brings you a few photos of the lovely lunch I had not long ago. Good conversation and lots of laughter and of course good food and good wine made the afternoon such a wonderful occasion. Without moral support from such good friends the years living in Miri might not have been so amazing and enriching!

This is an Australian Egg curry which is served on special occasions in Australia. Not as spicy as Malaysian curry you can get this dish in many Australian restaurants.

A good Sunday lunch with an Australian family often includes a nicely roasted chicken which is fragrant and tender.

White rice is well loved by my Australian hostess.

Olives is part of a good lunch and a special treat for a good friend.

My friend makes a superb salad with a great dressing. Her herbs are from her own garden. I can even feel that Jamie Oliver is out there cutting her beautiful herbs for the meal!

My friend's husband does a good Iban/Bidayuh BBQ babi (tunu babi). Excellent and juicy. Definitely one piece is not enough.

As we sat down and enjoyed the tropical heat(an occasional natural breeze) with such a wonderful spread we wonder where all the years have gone. Our children are away from our nests and here we were talking warmly about the past and even small hopes of the future.

But laughter is definitely a greater part of our life now as we journey into the early twilight years of our life....Here's cheers to good friends!

Old St. Elizabeth Convent - School Rivalry

2009-05-27T07:05:00.005+08:00

In the 1960's and 70's St. Elizabeth Convent school was a "rival" school of the Methodist School. The girls wore a special maroon skirt and pink blouse. So they were called Red Ants.

Most of the girls were prettier and daintier (generalisation) than the girls of Methodist School I remember from the gossips. On sports days we would meet in the padang and glare at each other for no reason at all - just because we were wearing different school uniforms or just the different badges I supppose.

But then I had cousins studying in St. Elizabeth and that toned down the rivalry in my family. My aunt Carrie studied in that school too. So in this way as a family we did not have such an intense feeling against the School.

We cousins and aunts get together we talked about general things and not what school we went to. We might have compared principals and what we learned but we would not strangle each other over differences.

My boy cousins who went to Sacred Heart often told us how they amused themselves by waiting for the girls to come out of the school giggling and shaking their luscious hair. Sitting on their bicycles wearing their all white school uniform these boys were really conspicuous. And of course they loved whistling at them. It was just the boy thing then. But the girls felt good about themselves. Perhaps in a co-ed school like ours the boys and girls did not really notice each other in that way. Life was just so normal we often forgot our gender differences.

Later many of us studied Romeo and Juliet and related the situation to our school rivalries. The Capulets and Montagues fought hard but ended up losers.

And soon many of the girls from St. Elizabeth came over to Methodist School's Sixth Form Arts(1967-1987). This helped to dilute any fierce fighting amongst the youngsters of Sibu.( I was later a sixth form teacher to many of the brilliant St. Elizabeth girls who came over to the Methodist School for Sixth Form Science.)

My sixth form life went on to be one of the happiest parts of my life. We all did well in life thanks to the great teachers we had. The friendship formed during those years lasted until today. And I am sure many school mates (and those from St. Elizabeth and Sacred Heart) would agree that friendship formed in the school is the best kind of friendship we will ever have in life.

Today I do not think such fierce school rivalries exist any more. If it does it could be just a passing phase to strength certain competitions or feed the pyschological needs of certain teachers and school heads. School rivalry remains a very amusing part of my life.

Basketball Players

2009-05-26T07:05:00.005+08:00

This very valuable photo is from the collection of my friend S.Teo "The Old Guy" (http://limbang152.blogspot.com)

Mention basketball and most people would think Yao Ming.

But to me basketball has a lot of meaningful memories.

Firstly I have always wondered if this statement is a sweeping statement : "Basketball players always have a place in any Sibu girls' heart."

Growing up in Sibu good basketball players were heroes to us. We knew their names and we knew their scores. And most importantly most of them were Foochows so that made most of us very proud being Foochows!!

Sibu players used to be selected to play for Sarawak : Kong Kiong Ming and the Wong brothers of Hin Yu Park who came from the Methodist Secondary School. I never had the opportunity of obtaining and keeping any Sibu basketball team photo. The photo shows the Limbang team (1950's)for which my friend played. He is of the same Clan (Zhang) .

Later in the 80's basketball seemed to just fade away for a while . Today basketball playing is still fairly significant but it no longer dominates the conversation in coffeeshops any more. And furthermore if you do not read Chinese newspapers you may not have any news about Sibu basketball at all. But luckily for me I continue to watch NBA on TV/Astro. What happiness I had when watching the recent Olympics basketball!

What do young men and young women learn from basketball ?
1. Rules - must be kept to play an honest game. Dishonesty is a shame.Play fair always. Never scratch.
2. Discipline - be obedient to the coach. Respect fellow players. And you just might even practise your Christian principle : Love Your Enemies. Stick to the game plan. The whistle is a clear instrument of discipline. The whistle controls and disciplines. It is an instrument that has formidable powers. It can paralyse and it can rejuvenate. How I miss the whistle blowing of Miss Jackie Fries (one of the greatest basketball coaches of the Methodist Girls'team )as I write this.
3. Skills - develop your own skills with the help of team mates and coach. Best players are well remembered.Practise Practise Practise...I remember my cousin Wong Yuk Hee practise shooting baskets for two hours every morning during the holidays. This annoyed the Matron of the Girls' Hostel a lot. One must always remember to pass on one's skills to younger players.
4. Physical Growth - basketball helps players to grow tall...much taller and stronger than others who don't play basketball.
5. Attraction of the opposite sexes....most boys who play good basketball have star quality and girls fall in love with them easily. So if you are the jealous type do not get basketball players as boy friends. You will be in trouble.
6. Time - you need plenty of time to play basketball...and if your mum needs you at home you have to sacrifice play time and play a lousy game due to lack of practice to the irritation of coach and fellow players. It is very painful to be dropped from the team.
7. Friendship - some of the best friends you ever get in life are those you find on the court.
8. Cooperation - scores and good play can only be achieved if you cooperate with each other and remember the game plan.
9. Training - believe in training. Listen to the coach who gives good instruction.Believe in the game plan and execute it.
10. Health - every child should learn to play a ball game...and the cheapest is basket ball. Most people develop good health by playing basketball every day. You can play basketball using a lousy ball and wearing cheap made in China basketball shoes.

I think Sibu should promote basketball again for below 12 age groups.

And one of the best scenes I love in life : a group of happy young basketball players going towards a court with a ball. Few things in the world can beat that. And definitely one of the best sounds in life? A ball being dribbled on a good wooden floor.

Finally I would to say that everyone should be allowed to play basketball regardless of race and religion!

Ubi Belayar

2009-05-25T06:55:00.004+08:00

I uploaded these two photos some time ago. It is amazing what one can find and buy in the Native Market every where in SArawak. There is this special Kedayan Market in Miri which is found in the new Centre Point. Most of the hawkers are Kedayans or Ibans who have come down from as far as Niah and Bekenu. It is a marvellous educational cum shopping day for the whole family.

This is Ubi Belayar - a not so common tapioca/yam found in Limbang and Brunei and sometimes in Miri.

The Kedayans love this tapioca/yam which is tasty as a fried snack or cooked in porridge with rice and coconut milk. It can be fried with ikan bilis anc chilies. Another way of eating it is boiling it with milk and sugar and then add some sago pearls.

Because not many people plant it this tapioca is not often sold in the market. When it is available most housewives would buy only about half a kilo or less. It is also more prcey than the normal types.

My information here is only based on what the lady hawker told me. Any further information would necessarily come from my learned friends who teach in the University in Brunei or working in the Ministries.

I did not buy a lot. That evening I added some small cubes of it to my fried rice (Penang style) which has sweet corn +chicken+ green peas+ pineapple+ small dried prawns + salted fish and lots of pepper)

The ubi belayar in this photo is roughly four kg.

A Scenic Spot along Miri River - Rarely Seen by Many

2009-05-24T17:41:00.004+08:00

I love riverine life. And I often reach out to friends who have a boat to take me up the Miri River. One boat had cost me RM180 for a two hour ride once and a tragic accident caused my friend and I to drop our cameras into the water filled boat.

Then there was another occasion when another friend hired a boat for half a day and it rained so heavily that we just lost our deposit and the kindly fisherman went home while we sat at a nearby coffee shop to nurse our emptied pockets and sick hearts.

That put an end to my ideas of travelling up the Miri River for a while.

A few weekends ago a dear friend of mine took me to her relatives' home and I got these three shots...We spent a lot of time cooking nasi lemak and socialising and soon the sun set and that was it...a golden opportunity was gone too quickly.

Perhaps some other time.

NEAR.... NEARER....... NEAREST......

The Road before the Sungei Merah Bridge

2009-05-22T03:50:00.005+08:00

One of the bridges of Sarawak I know best is the Sungei Merah Bridge.And the first time I saw the bridge was when I was about six.

At that time the most important shop to me must be the one selling cakes which was situated next to the Seduan River at the end of the wooden bridge. Below the bridge would be berthed wooden fishing boats unlike the colourful ones today.

Young men would sit on the railings of the wooden bridge and watched the few vehicles passing by. More bicycles passed through the bridge than cars or small lorries then. I also remember watching people fish from the bridge in the evenings and their catch was fairly good as they had big aluminium pails with them.

It was a real thrill and a treat to be brought by my father to the bridge and watch the red but very clear water passing below in the evenings as there were very few places my father could bring the family for "makan angin" or siak hoong (a short trip).

This bridge has been very important to the people of Sibu from the time of James Hoover until the 1980's when a second road to the old Airport was built to facilitate Government activities.

The Sungei Merah bridge before 1980's was the most important link to the Chinese cemeteries on the eastern bank of Sungei Merah/Sediuan. And also the only route to the Old Sibu Airport. This bridge was also very significant to the Henghuas who developed Sungei Teku and the surround areas of Ulu Seduan etc. I also remember that the Ibans from Sungei Aup found the bridge a very convenient link to Sibu otherwise they have to row their longboats all the way along the Igan to Sibu which could even take up to one whole day!!

The area below the bridge continues to be "harbour" to many fishing boats which fish in the Igan River and then out to the South China Sea.

Thus our Foochow pioneers must have felt rather at home in this part of the world as they would have found similarities between the Min River of their homeland and Sungei Merah of Sarawak.

Today the bridge is much improved under the circumstances. However because it is still a small bridge trailers are warned not to cross it. But any feelings of nostalgia seem to have disappeared.

Perhaps the name of the road before the bridge would evoke some nostalgia - but only to people who recognise the name : Wong Ting Hock - to the other younger people Sungei Merah is just another suburb of Sibu with some historical but newly constructed memorials. Lots of modern lines have come up and industrial shophouses continue to dot the concretised landscape.

This point should always be remembered by the Foochows as the landing place of the First Foochow Pioneers in 1901 and where the Rev James Hoover and the struggling pioneers managed the first hard years of their lives in Sibu.

Bridge Over Mukah River

2009-05-20T21:27:00.004+08:00

This is one of the most important bridges in Sarawak for without it road travellers cannot reach Sibu and Kuching from Bintulu and Miri. I wonder how many people realise that. I would say that this is like one of the valves in our heart.

Besides that fact the first bridge which was a Bailey Bridge built in the early 60's made the Mukah and Balingian SLDB Oil Palm Schemes accessible from Sibu. A friend who graduated from Australia Julius Linggod brought his young Aussie wife Leslie to this newly developed and pristine equatorial rainforest. Leslie was well exposed to outback life and took everything in her stride : the shortage of water - the wooden huts- the lack of utilities - the lack of good conversation- and the mosquitoes.

When their first baby was about to be born he brought the heavily pregnant Leslie in his tattered old jeep all the way from the Mukah scheme to Sibu and left her to wait for her time. He went back to work immediately being very conscientious and loyal to the corporation. That drive would have taken them more than 8 hours one way. In the several years they were there they must have "eaten" lots of dust driving back and forth the long and bumpy Oya Road. According to Leslie to be in Sibu was like coming to civilisation for clean water and nice bed sheets and air conditioning. But Leslie over the years have become a great Sarawak Old Hand. Cheers to Leslie who has shown me what a gutsy woman should be like!

Julius and his family had a very good stint of work in this area before they moved to Peninjau in Miri several years later. Their stories are full of early development and the struggles of early oil palm schemes - some are heroic while many are touchingly nostalgic. A few are bittersweet. But as they move on...these memories become more endearing than ever.

Today when many of us (like Leslie and I) look at this bridge we often think of how many years of our lives have been sacrificed for rural Sarawak to make it better for our people.

Iban Barefoot Doctor's Antidote for High Cholesterol

2009-05-19T19:26:00.004+08:00

This is a very interesting jungle product called Palah. According to most local Ibans it is a good antidote for people suffering from high cholesterol. Apparently this bitter shoot (cooked in boiling water with some added ikan bilis ,onions and garlic) can help reduce some cholesterol. But of course the cynics would think otherwise.

Mind you I did try a few times but it is terribly bitter. However after a few more attempts I grow to like the bitter soup. It is like eating bitter gourd when one was young but as we grow older the bitterness in the vegetable becomes a welcoming taste.

This lady prepares the inner stems or shoots for the consumers.Each morning she would go to the jungle and bring back a large bag of the shoots or stems still in their raw state and then cut them up while waiting for the buyers to come. She has to do this in the tamu because the soft stems may decolourise/oxidise too much after a few hours. The stems must be cooked on the same day if possible to keep the freshness. Her daughter helps her out by attracting buyers while she cuts the shoots into small size.

According to her it is good selling her jungle product outside under the hot sun where she can catch either people coming into the tamu or buyers going home. (But there must be other reasons why she is not selling within the Bekenu Tamu and is placed in this particular corner.)

I am worried that this jungle product may soon disappear from our natural forests which are diminishing due to rapid deforestation and constant rapid modern agricultural development. According to the lady if only people collect the food for personal consumption this vine would never be in shortage. Bulldozers and rapidly burning projects kill the vines within days.

And soon another human food (which may have medicinal value) is gone forever from the surface of the earth.

Lovely Kedayan Ladies at Bekenu Tamu

2009-05-18T07:50:00.002+08:00

My two friends from Bekenu Tamu.

This is a nice savoury glutinous rice cake wrapped in leaves.

This kuih cerolot wrapped up in the kelupis leaves (yellow screwpine)

This is a sweet rice and sago flour cake wrapped in banana leaves.

These two ladies are good friends who have been selling kuihs (local Kedayan cakes) at the Bekenu tamu for many years. Having made friends with them I have visited them often but this was the first time I suggested photographing them and they happily agreed. Please remember that not many local people like to be photographed without permission and even if you ask them they will decline especially some very suspicious and superstitious ones. So please take note of that. WE need to be sensitive about their intellectual property too.

They both sell almost the same products although one has more fried kuih than the other.

These three types are kuihs are wrapped up in three different types of leaves. Traditionally the Kedayans use leaves to wrap up their kuih and food to assure hygienic practices!! They are resourceful and environmentally friendly. In fact this really needs to be highlighted by everyone .

I find food taste better when wrapped up in leaves like this.

Baby Shark for Sale

2009-05-17T06:29:00.004+08:00

I have always wondered how people could eat baby sharks or a puppies.
I have always wondered how people could eat unhatched chicks.
I have always wondered at the dried up cockroaches found in some Chinese medicine prescriptions. (To get rid of wind in the body)

And I often wonder how many baby rats we Foochows have eaten many many years ago in Sibu.

Saffron (fan hong hua)

2009-05-14T05:52:00.003+08:00

I used to be amazed by my grandmother making red eggs for birthdays especially for the first month celebration of a baby boy.

And in the earlier days of Sibu (50's) real saffron was used. And my aunts' and cousins' fingers would be red for many days. Nope rubber gloves were not invented yet then.

I went to town in search of saffron. And lo and behold I found some in Kwong Choon Tong which is located next to Judson Klinik. (Photos will be shown in Sarawakiana@2 later). I bought some saffron to prepare a nice little Saffron Chicken Rice. Instead of using tumeric I used a few strands of saffron ( at RM 5 you can allow the saffron threads to stretch a bit).

Diabetic Recipe
2 cups (480 ml) no-salt-added chicken broth
few threads of saffron
1 cup (180 g) raw Thai fragrant rice
2 tablespoons (21 g) golden raisins
3 scallions, white part only, thinly sliced
1/2 tablespoon (7.5 ml) grated orange zest
2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh orange juice

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth and saffron to a rapid boil. Add rice, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook rice, undisturbed, for 15 to 20 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Remove from stove and add raisins, scallions, orange zest, and orange juice. Do not stir. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.
Uncover and fluff rice with a fork, mixing thoroughly. Serve at once.

Extra Notes:

Saffron is known as the most expensive herb in the world, due to amount of time and energy it takes to harvest. The term saffron actually refers to the dried stigmas and top of the saffron crocus.

In China, saffron grows predominantly in the Henan, Hebei, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. The stigmas are picked by hand and dried. It takes approximately 75,000 saffron flowers to produce one pound of saffron stigma. In many cultures, saffron is used as a spice and for culinary purposes; however, it has many medicinal uses as well.
In traditional Chinese medicine, saffron has a sweet taste and cold properties, and is associated with the Heart and Liver meridians. Its main functions are to invigorate the blood, remove stagnation, clear the meridians and release toxins. It is typically used to treat conditions such as high fevers and related conditions that may be caused by pathogenic heat, and to help break up blood clots. There is also anecdotal evidence that saffron can inhibit the growth of some types of cancer cells. Small amounts of saffron can increase the incidence of contractions in pregnant women.

Dried saffron can be found at Indian sundry shops or Chinese Medicine shops especially the more reputable older ones. Always use only a few threads in your cooking.

There are many recipes which request saffron but because it is expensive not many people actually want to cook with it. But using it will definitely enhance one's cooking. Today we Foochows seldom make red eggs with saffron. Instead we use artificial colouring.

Safety Note : Because saffron can stimulate contraction of the uterus, it should not be taken by pregnant women. Extremely high doses can be toxic; symptoms of saffron poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, and dizziness. In addition, because saffron helps break up blood clots, it should not be taken by people who are on blood-thinning medications or who have heavy menstruation. As always, make sure to consult with a licensed health care provider before taking saffron or any other herbal remedy or dietary supplement.

(Sources: Wikipedia/Mr.Kuok - owner of Kwong Choon Tong)

A Foochow Table

2009-05-13T06:20:00.002+08:00

This is what I call a Foochow Table with legs which could be folded and a top that could be taken off when not in use.

Another table top which can be larger for twelve people can be placed on top. With a table cloth no one would know any difference.

Most restaurants in the past like Hock Cheu Lou and Yen Ching had these kinds of t ables. The fold able legs were ubiquitous. And when banqueting staff started to roll out the table tops to the five foot ways bystanders would know that definitely there would be a huge banquet that day.

The Banqueting staff long ago would be strong men and their attire was simple - Pagoda or Chili brand singlets.

There were many occasions when one single banquet staff could carry a wooden tray with five dishes for five different tables. I used to be amazed how a man could carry five bowls of sharks' fin soup on a single wooden tray on his head!! And then like an acrobat he would bring the tray down to one of the tables and place the bowl nicely at the centre of the table.

There wasn't any food presentation at the beginning of the feast like today. And music which usually comes with the food presentation like Star Wars Theme was entirely different.

It could be "Today I am not coming home" playing at full volume when the first dish came out!!

(I had this table personally made for me recently as my own retirement gift for myself...for old time's sake...It is a disappearing style. According to the craftsman he is too old and no one can make this style any more. The younger generation prefers imported tables from China or West Malaysia.)

Planting a Church in 1927 in Sg. Maaw

2009-05-12T03:37:00.001+08:00

(Photo of Hook Ming Tong from the Centenary Celebration Methodist SCAC Souvenir Magazine)

This Methodist Church was built on two acres of land donated by my maternal grandfather Lau Kah Jui in 1927. Though my grandfather was not an extremely rich man by any standard he was a God fearing man who felt the need for a church to be built for the Foochows of Tiing Nang Chong or Middle South Village as his settlement area was called by Rev James Hoover. He had come with his brother Lau Kah Tii who became the second Foochow Kang Chu. My grandfather was dependent on his older brother for many years until he later went "independent" and built his own house on the opposite of Ensurai. He was a good tailor by profession and self training.

The land he donated was enough for a church building and a primary school with a hostel for teachers and some students. The first Headmaster was Lau Kiing Juo. From the first three families of Christians the number increased to 56 families after three years of hardwork carried out by the pastor and his co-workers. Several well known pastors served in this church : Rev Wong Lee Huo and Rev Lau Ngoh Kee in the very early years. The latter served the longest and was well loved and respected by the local riverine settlers.

One amazing feature of this early Foochow church was the outreach made by the pastor. He would bring along several church sisters who had already completed their rubber tapping chores in the afternoon and walked from one house to another. This church served mainly rubber tapping and farming families residing in Sg. Maaw and the primary school.

I remember once when Rev Lau came to my grandmother's house which was a good two hours' walk from the church along the old mud rubber garden road: he was hot and sweaty. But he was able to sing enthusiastically with his booming voice " This is My Father's World" in Foochow!

I will never forget that because in my mind were the English lyrics (I had been taught to sing in English at the Sunday School conducted by Mrs. Coole in Sibu) and there he was singing in Foochow! Most of the ladies were not able to sing...they were half a note behind a little toneless and tuneless. This was one of the incidents which made me want to study hard and break out of the illiterate world of my Foochow women relatives.

Today my maternal grandfather's descendants are all over - Mainland China and mainly Malaysia. There are a few in England. And there is another family in Australia. Yet another family in New Zealand!

This is the normal kind of Foochow migrant story. Every generation sees an outward migration for a better life. And I hope that the values we have adopted from Methodism and the strong foundation laid down by the Foochow pioneers will help us survive in our challenging world for always.

As we continue to sail the seven seas we must not forget that Grandfather Lau had the opportunity to help plant a church way back in 1927. And we should also remember that more than 44 churches were built in the Rejang Basin between 1901 and 1935. Such was the faith of our forefathers!

Girl with Paper Umbrella (My Third Aunt Pearl)

2009-05-11T05:03:00.006+08:00

My grandfather Tiong Kung Ping named all his 13 daughters Sieng (fairies) and rightly they were beautiful beings. My Third Aunt was Pearl Fairy (Chuo Sieng) and she has been a very beautiful aunty and is now getting into her 9th decade of life.

When she was young she had great expectations and great aspirations being good at maths and her studies. She often tells me stories about her school days under the supervision of Mrs. James Hoover who was a very good mentor and teacher. She later became one of the earliest ladies to work in an office to the admiration of many. She and my uncle (eldest son of the Lau Kah Tii the second Kang Chu of Sibu after Wong Nai Siong) brought up a big family of professionals of lawyers and accountants now serving both locally and overseas.

This is one of the earliest studio photos kept by our family. It is a very representative of the era : before the Japanese Occupation when life was at its best for the Foochows in Sibu. To me every girl must have a studio photo taken when she becomes a teenager and this photo would be kept as a treasure to be taken out every now and then to be looked at. A very beautiful and sentimental moment in the life of a young girl. I remember many Sibu photo studio owners who were very pleasant and enterprising in the 60's especially and they too believed in capturing significant moments of one's life. A still life art picture!! A treasured memento of a different lifestyle and a special era.

Not long after this pretty photo was taken she was married to Uncle Lau Pang Kwong and she was "protected" from the Japanese scourge. My Great Grandfather Tiong King Kee was greatly in favour of this arranged marriage and indeed the whole community came out to celebrate it first at the Masland Church and then at the large house in Ensurai.

Kampong Bakam Mother Supplementing Family Income

2009-05-10T17:23:00.003+08:00

Not too long ago my friend and I dropped by this Kedai Kopi Kita at Bakam to try out the lady's coffee (in a glass mug with lots of condensed milk).

In our conversation which I really liked because we were her only customers she told us about her children and how she and her husband were so prepared to work hard to support them at tertiary education level. She has a son doing master's degree and that's important for her.

She used to fry noodles at Tamu Muhibbah Miri and after the squatters have moved away from Canada Hill she could not really make ends meet. In those days she was quite comfortable and was able to help educate all her children reasonably well. Life was comfortable too. But today life is a little tougher too because people are no longer spending as much as before.

She moved around and then finally came back to Bakam her own kampong to start this simple travellers' stop - a small wooden roadside coffee stall.

So many mothers today are working hard so that their children can fulfill their aspirations.

Today I would like to wish all mothers especially the working mothers a Happy Mother's Day.

Ikan Baong

2009-05-09T05:08:00.004+08:00

These are called Ikan Baong. Being top feeders they are avoided by the Malays in particular. Many others do not eat them for other reasons perhaps. However these fish are tasty if you know how to cook them and in the past they have helped many poorer families as a source of good and even free protein.

further afield the Baong is a valued fish from the natural habitats of the Kalimantan rivers. The Indonesians like the fish smoked (salai) or BBQed (pangang) besides they like to cook this fish with terong asam (or the Iban Terong of Sarawak) in soup. Tumeric is often used to cook the baong in Java. Some folks like to eat curried baong. So the recipes can be really varied and it is only your imagination that can bring this fish to a great level of gourmet cooking.

As a kid I enjoyed eating this fish cooked as a soup Foochow style - the way my Third Uncle cooked it. Today many of my friends would just call it "sup terjun". Uncle Pang Sing would catch quite a number of Ikan Baong in the Rajang River and come home whistling in the happy manner he always did.

My third aunt (Nguk Ling) would start the wood fire and chop the ginger. Grandmother Lian Tie would take out the red wine. The water would come to the boil and the ingredients would be added. By then uncle would have gutted the fish and sliced them into pieces ready for the pot.

We would either have the fish as supper( siaw yeh) or part of the big evening dinner with rice depending on what time my uncle caught the fish.

Gone are the days when a happy man could throw a jala into the river and come home with a pailful of fish and/or prawns. The Rajang was teeming with fish and it was truly a Mother River - a great provider.

Today the river is dying - dying - dying. We have to do something before it is too late.

55555

2009-05-08T06:06:00.002+08:00

This morning my reader counter clocked in 55555 !! It is a landmark day.

I am glad I have taken this journey
to blog all that I know
All that I feel
All that I want to share with my children
With my friends and new found readers

I am glad that this blogging journey
Has also helped me make friends
With other kindred spirits
All over the world.

But what is most significant :
I can use this free publshing method to
record a lifestyle and lots of stories
of the second half of the 20th century in particular of Sibu
and that of the new 21st century....

Thank you dear readers for your comments and for reading.

The writing has brought a lot of pleasure to me.

Chickens in the Central Market of Sibu

2009-05-08T05:33:00.005+08:00

What thoughts do you have when you come face to face with a chicken all tied up ready for you to carry home or carry to a relative's home?

We Foochows continue to give chickens as gifts to honour and respect our elders. "I caught a chicken for you to eat." could be a nice greeting as you enter the door of your grandmother's house. And my grandmother Tiong Lien Tie would often insturct her third daughter in law to catch a chicken for the pastor Rev. Lau Ngo Kee and his family. Sometimes she would send a chicken or two to her sons-in-lau in Sibu. This was the way an elder express her love. I have always thought that it was a very nice practice of giving a love gift..

And of course in the olden days we would send a chicken or two as gifts for mothers with new born babies when they "sit the month of confinement out". Home raised and free range chickens were really premium chickens. In Foochow it is usually said "100 times better."

This is a red faced white chicken (Rhode Island Red)

I used to be horrified when the older generation chicken sellers would test the hens to see if they have laid eggs by poking their bottoms. This act or proof of age of hens continue to horrify me. But that is still part of their sales talk. (I am wondering if my friend Prof. H who might be reading this could construe this as anthropological or biological.)

Here's the proprietor or chicken stall owner of live chickens in Sibu. Wrapping up chickens in newspapers like this reminds me of how my mother and I bundled my less than month old babies in small little made in China towels so that they could be warm and feel as if they were still in the womb. The babies wrapped up in this way did not cry as much. According to our elders such babies were not frightened easily. After being wrapped up very well the babies were slowly oriented to life in the normal world and were ready to leave their mother's womb environment. Quite scientific really.

She wraps the chickens up nicely and tie them with raffia strings. Somehow these chickens remain very docile and cute...patiently waiting for buyers to come along.

Chickens remain a very important part of my family life and I found out how signficant it was ever since I was a constant visitor to my grandfather's house in Sungei Merah in the 50's and 60's besides visiting my mother's mother downriver.

I was constantly brought to visit my grandfather by my father as he was often "ordered" to see him besides the weekly visits I remember. Grandpa and he had a lot to talk about. My father was also very likeable and I think my Grandmother Siew was especially kind towards him because my father was the first born of the family and very respectful towards her. She even called him "Tui Koh" out of great respect.

Whenever my father was sick my Grandmother Siew would also bring a special chicken reared by herself from Sungei Merah to visit my father (We lived in Kung Ping Road which was later named Brooke Drive). Mum would always be very grateful and respectful towards Grandmother Siew.

Most Foochows at that time would bring a "ming nen" or a "chien mien li" which was actually a gift for meeting or visiting. This gift would be usually a chicken for good health of the "visited". It was in the form of a spring chicken (female before laying of eggs) or a big rooster if it was for a birthday or a festival. Personally I would not find any difference myself. Meat is meat. But I suppose our elders would find a great deal of difference in the meat and the taste.

The greatest mystery in our family was a strange gift my mother received after her very serious operation. My mum received a phone call to collect a basket of chickens from an upriver motor launch. My Third Uncle was asked to collect it. It was a basket full of free range or kampong chickens about 8 of them!! He asked around who sent the chickens to my mother. WE waited for weeks for a phone call to ask us to pay for the chickens. But that phone call never came. That was 40 years ago!!

Till today we have no idea who sent her the lovely chickens. She regained her health and was very grateful. It was no doubt the best mystery gift any one could ever get. I would like to thank the giver here from the bottom of my heart.

I have strangely grown allergic to chickens for sometime and develop a bad cough whenever I eat chicken.

But the sight of chickens in any market would make me think of that special person who sent my newly widowed mother a wonderful basket of chickens from upriver!!

We thanked God for years for the nourishment sent mysteriously. Praise God for his Providence.
Perhaps the giver was a real Christian.

Chuong Wang or Serati (muscovy duck)

2009-05-07T05:37:00.010+08:00

A Serati in Miri Poultry Market. Very well constructed cage...He is a real "jailbird".

This is a great dish for special occasions( photo from http://www.cuisine.nz.co). You can get a good Muscovy(chuong wang or serati with the red face) in the market and have it dressed properly for a few extra ringgit. Take home and do a simple Pak Lo (Teochiew style). The secret is in the lam keong (galangal). If you want a bigger bird you buy the male/drake as in the photo below.

You need a duck to make a Loo Ark? Soy Sauce braised duck? You need a duck for soup with kiam chye?

Then you need a red faced Serati or Chuong Wang Hiing. A male Muscovy which will weigh in at about 4 kg. That should be around 50 ringgit after dessing. Muscovy ducks are good as meat birds and they are rather tasty to our taste buds.
According to Dr. Dennis P. Smith )www.countryhatchery.net ) "During the more than 40 years that we have been in business, I must confess that we have bred and hatched some pretty interesting fowls. However, absolutely none can compare with the uniqueness, the adaptability, the pure pleasure, and the usefulness of the Muscovy duck."

Native to South America, their original name was "Musco duck" because they ate so many mosquitos. The Russian Muscovites were one of the first to import them to their country. Being very hardy, Muscovies are still roaming wild in the South American jungles today. Even here in North America, several states, such as Florida and Georgia, have wild Muscovies. These "wild" Muscovies are responsible for eating literally millions of pests every year. Were it not for them, these states would undoubtedly have more millions of "pests" that like to dine on people.

Mature drakes (males) will weigh anywhere from 12 to 15 pounds, while the females (ducks) actually weigh from 8 to 10 pounds. The females are much smaller than the males. Both sexes have what is known as a "caruncle" on their head.

Muscovy eggs are delicious and are used in many dishes prepared by individuals or by famous cooks. Their taste is rich and they are considered a delicacy. And Muscovy meat is one of the healthiest meats on the market today, being 98% or greater fat free. Many people say that the breast meat of a Muscovy is hard to tell from a Sirloin steak. Famous chefs know this and use Muscovy meat in a number of ways. They have become experienced at cutting and preparing the meat for various delicacies. It is even ground up and used as hamburger in a variety of dishes.

Muscovies love to eat flies, maggots, mosquitos, mosquito larva, slugs, bugs of all sorts, black widow spiders, the brown fiddleback spider and any thing else that creeps and crawls. As a matter of fact, they will search in, under, around and through places to find these tasty morsels. They will even eat ants and destroy ant dens. The Heifer Project Exchange of Africa quotes a development worker in Togo reporting that the local people were not bothered by flies because their Muscovy ducks killed them all. They even slaughtered some ducks, opened the crops, and found that the Muscovies had their crops filled with dead flies. The organization ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) has reported the same findings. In addition, a Canadian study of fly controls with dairy goats found that Muscovies caught 30 times more houseflies than commercial flytraps, baits or flypaper. The ducks also ate spilled feed and the flies that were in the feed, along with any maggots that happened to be there. In addition, Muscovies love roaches and eat them like candy.

The best "incubator," however, is a Muscovy duck hen. She will lay anywhere from 8-15 eggs and set. (Sometimes more.) Many times, she will hatch every egg. And, she will do this three or four times a year, depending on your climate. In addition, she is one of the best mothers of all.

Many people like to have the Muscovies on their lake or pond. The Muscovies will eat a lot of the algae and weeds. What about their dropping? While it is true that the Muscovy duck, just like other creatures, will "go" when the pain hit, their droppings are a natural part of the ecosystem and are easily biodegrade.

Muscovies like to breed with other muscovies. However, if you have a single muscovy male or female, he or she will breed with whatever duck is available. These ducklings are called "mules" because they are sterile and cannot produce offspring. Many people will deliberately cross Muscovies with a Mallard duck and get a Moulard. They use this duck for meat.(buang wang)

Source : www.countryhatchery.net

Pinang Pinang Come Buy My Pinang!!

2009-05-06T06:31:00.003+08:00

I saw this lady selling a huge bunch of pinang at the front of a shop in Selangau.

She has come down from Ulu Mukah to make a few ringgit and has gone into the bumiputra version of trading - sitting by a small space at a five foot way and selling whatever she has.

Today her selling item is pinang which is an addictive nut many people chew with sireh (leaves) and some kapur.

I have been told that chewing pinang gives one a long life. It is an age old cultural custom too.

Salted Fish in Sibu Central Market

2009-05-05T06:34:00.006+08:00

When I first went to University in Kuala Lumpur one of the food items I missed most was salted fish. I was definitely not used to the new cuisine of curried meat and fish and vegetables not fried in Foochow style. I had never left home for more than a week at a stretch before then. Mee sua was unheard of in the KL coffee shops then so we had to settle for the rather unfamiliar Wan Tan Mien. And many of us were not at all used to beef balls noodles with a lot of lengkuas (which is not easy on Foochow tongue).It was almost as cultural shock for my fellow Sibuans and I.

In my second year most of my friends and I had our mothers deep fry and bottle salted fish fingers. Our mothers would meet and buy salt fish from the Sibu Central Market and share stories about how their children were doing in MU (Universiti Malaya).

A conversation would go like this:

"Hey..how's your daughter doing?"
"Oh that stupid girl...just so so lah"
"My boy also. Ai yo...study hard every day . Sometimes forget to eat. So I have to send him this salt fish."
"Yeah...my stupid daughter also...very frugal. Never want to spend money. Just eat one dollar worth of kuay tiau with one fried egg in the evening."
"My son? He just drinks cold tea . Sometimes three days old tea also drink. Rice and salt fish enough for him. Very frugal...God is kind sending me such a son...Don't know what to do with him!"

We had several "kawans" in the salt fish market: the late Tang Tiong Kuok's father who was my mother's first cousin's husband and my cousin's father in law (Mr. Lee). We would always "teh yu" or buy our salted fish from my mother's Tiong cousin (from my grandmother Tiong Lian's side of the family). He was a haunched and white haired uncle whose children are prosperous titled business people today. In those days every one knew every one. And we even knew where they lived! Most of these salt fishmongers lived in "Ka Koh Chuo" a very famous dwelling place in Bukit Assek. From this house alone we have several Datuks actually.

I like the communal spirit amongst the salt fishmongers - their advice and their wisdom -- telling my mother which was a better buy for example. There was no such thing as best buy or special offer items. Everything was best buy at a price negotiated between the buyer and seller. I learned from the side carrying my mother's shopping basket. Years later as I read Hillary Clinton's book "It takes a Village to raise a child" I agree with her fully. She could have described life in Sibu!!

Today I remember with a smile the friendly men(UNCLES) who sold the salt fish and the others who sold the bean curd and bean sprouts and their sense of humour too. (WE ate a lot of bean sprouts because it was the cheapest we could get for 50 cents - great value).

Here I would like to say "thank you" to all those salt fishmongers (uncles and aunties) of yesteryears...they made our lives better because of their sincere kindness and sympathies.

I learned about Pa Tieh Poh (Ikan Kurau)- Muang Ngii ( Eel)- loong ma ka (wet salted mackerel) sai ngii (shark) hoong mui ngii (sting ray).

My memorable biology lessons in real life from these kindly old men. When they passed away life changed for me as well as for those around them. An era has gone by.

This is salted shark.

This is salted sting ray.

This is salted Ikan Kurau or pa tieh poh (one of the most expensive salt fish in the world) Equivalent to salmon.

This is salted eel or muang ngii - a Foochow favourite. I love it especially if it is not too salty.

As I left the salt fish monger's stall a strange nostalgia overwhelmed me. My eyes misted and I saw shadows of people of the past in front of me. Gone all of them.

It is still the aroma of that salty sea air and the identifiable smells of salt fish that bring us home to Sibu.

And finally who can remember who was the first salt fish monger of Sibu?

Anchovies from Bakam

2009-05-04T09:47:00.002+08:00

(Still on the move but lingering at Sarawakiana)

Little did I know that a little morning trip up to the Bakam would give more pleasure than expected. And that is the essence of an adventure!

Not expecting much from a short half an hour's drive along the coast I did not bring a cooler box. Lo and behold the fishing boats had come in and I met this fantastic fisher woman who wanted to sell two lovely piles of anchovies (bilis) for peanuts! And I knew then that my evening's TV dinner was already prepared as I dug out my ringgits from my purse!

I had the heads cut off because I did not fancy eating the heads. Although I do know that most connoisseurs would keep the heads but clean out the stomachs. The scales were left on because they do give such a crunchiness and tastiness to the small fish.
My friend David said that when he was young these anchovies and other smaller fish were fried very crispy tail and heads and stomachs and all. He ate everything! So I hope he would see this page and have another eyeful of our local bilis/anchovies.

Here's my TV dinner - fried anchovies on a nest of thinly sliced cucumber with lots of lemon squeezed on them. The basil is from my own garden box. A little mashed potatoes at the side and a nice glass of white wine to wash down the feast!!

Postscript:

The anchovies can be grilled too but I was not in the mood for grilling - too much work for just one person. This is a photo of californian anchovies which are bluer and slimmer.

While bilis or anchovies remain poor man's food I hope the recession would not drive the price up. Let us all enjoy some great deep fried cheap fish from the sea.

A simple gift of the sea! Keep our water clean!

Moving on to Sarawakiana@2

2009-05-02T18:40:00.003+08:00

To all my friends I have to move into another blog lot because the upload capacity allowable has reached its maximum.

Hope you will continue to give me your valued support as I journey on.

See you!!

The new address is http://sarawakianaii.blogspot.com

Sibu Photographic Society News Update

2009-05-02T09:44:00.003+08:00

Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Update from Steve Ling Leh Tiong of Sibu (http://stevelinglt.blogspot.com) or email : SteveLingLT@gmail.com

詩巫攝影學會今年將舉辦多項攝影講座,以期提高本地民眾和攝影愛好者對這項高尚興趣的參與和推展.
許多本外地攝影名家,經年在海內外跑動和獵影,拍攝了不計其數的各地風光,名勝和人文作品.在特意安排下,將讓那些未曾涉足各地的攝影愛好者和民眾,除了得有機會觀賞高水準攝影創作外,也藉機獲取寶貴的各地旅遊資訊,尤其是名山勝水的遊歷.
當然,攝影界人士千辛萬苦的創作精神,也可以讓許多不知情者眼界大開,拋棄對這項藝術的錯誤見解和偏見.
一項與今日數碼攝影有關的Adobe Photoshop簡易使用課程也將在適當時候舉辦,公開給會員和有興趣的攝影界朋友參與.這項須付費課程,將邀請外地相關人士前來主持.
The Photographic Society of Sibu is holding various activities for the year.

these activities are either outing for members and photographic enthusiasts, or taking part in the festivals within Sarawak.
all those interested in the events listed below, are advised to check with the club or email Steve Ling (My addition).
頒發最高攝影榮譽

詩巫攝影學會今年最大的突破,將是設立和頒發本身的最高攝影榮譽,例如A.PSS,F.PSS.它將頒給對本會有貢獻的會員和本、外地攝影界人士.
此外,常年會員攝影比賽,也將頒發最高獎給予一年間參與本、外地攝影比賽而獲取優良成績的會員.會員須展示和證明本身在一年間所參與和獲取的獎項.相關細則將在較後時公佈.
下列為今年將要推動和參與的攝影活動:
1. 24--26/4(星期5--星期日): 沐膠祭海節攝影活動(籌備負責人:林禮長)
Mukan KAUL festival
2. 2--3/5(星期6--星期日): 海口漁村---布拉威攝影團(籌備負責人:Abang Khalif)
Belawai fishing village trip
3. 13--17/5(星期3--星期日): 姆祿國家公園攝影團(籌備負責人:許保德)
Mt. Mulu photography trip
4. 23--24/5(星期6--星期日): 世界豐收節慶典攝影團---古晉,砂拉越文化村(籌備負責人:林以善)
World Harvesting Festival in Kuching
5. 14/6(星期日): 美女模特兒攝影活動---石山銀禧公園(籌備負責人:許証荏)
models photography
6. 3--11/7: 婆羅洲文化節,及全國華人文化節攝影活動---詩巫城市廣場(籌備負責人:林良輝,謝必益)
Borneo Cultural Festival cum National Chinese Cultural Festival
7. 2--3/10(星期5--星期6): 中秋節慶祝攝影活動---詩巫城市廣場(籌備負責人:周日成)
Chinese moon cake festival
8. 10--11/10(星期6--星期日): 拉讓江賽船盛會攝影活動---詩巫快艇碼頭(籌備負責人:梁慶嶸)
Rajang Regatta
9. 26/10(星期1): 玉龍山天恩寺文化節攝影活動---烏也路16哩(籌備負責人:許保德)
Tien An temple celebration photography
有興趣參與各項活動的會員和攝影愛好者,請注意各項活動的節目時間表,並與相關負責人接洽和安排行程事宜.進一步詳情將在各項活動推動時加以公佈.

Those of you are are around Sibu you might find it very worthwhile to join these nice guys (and ladies) for a great outing!!

Cheers.

Water Duck or Chai Ark for a Post Fever Treatment

2009-05-02T07:06:00.006+08:00

These brown khaki campbell ducks or Chai Ark are nicely wrapped for the customers to cash and carry. You can recognise the chai ark very easily because it is all brown from head to toe.

Lovely Chai Ark for selection- you need to choose between male and female for your needs.

The Foochows love these special ducks which are seasonal. In Sibu there are more families rearing them as the market for them is better. In Miri however these ducks are rarely available as only a few families rear them. The taste is excellent and the soup very therapeutically sweet. However in terms of meat this kind of duck is rather bony and thin. Many people do not like the taste of duck any way. As a Foochow I often yearn for a taste of this duck soup . Today the Chai Ark has been placed on a higher level of exotic meat in many respects.

More pricey than the Serati or Muscovy or Chuong Wang (the red faced duck) this type of duck is actually medicinal to the more traditional Foochows. Naturally the modern Foochows might have forgotten all about this very special duck.

In the past a mother's love was often shown when she steamed a whole chai ark for just a bowl of condensed duck soup for her beloved son. Often when a husband came home very tired from a week's work in the timber camp or construction site the wife would quickly slaughter a chai ark to make that special soup as a welcoming act!!( A good wife would always have a few chai ark or other ducks and chickens in her backyard then.)

Daughters would then watch the father drink the soup and later enjoy the duck meat at the table when called upon to eat. This was quite the norm when I was a teenager and I often heard my friends talking about how good their mothers were to their fathers!! Perhaps it was this way that daughters were inculcated with such social values of loving their husbands to bits. (:) ) Brothers were of course gold in the family.

But I know of many of my aunts who would even bottle the Ark Loo (Condensed Duck Soup) and send these bottles of goodness through relatives to as far as Miri or even KK. Many of my relatives were really very considerate in bringing things for other relatives. This was one of the ways Foochow mothers expressed their love for their children especially sons.

However the most important value of this Chai Ark is the soup derived from it for the post treatment of measles. After a bout of measles a child is usually very weak and having a great deal of kidney fire (Traditional Chinese Medicine way of expression). The antidote is soup from the female duck. (Must be female) Usually when a child had measles the mother would go and reserve one or two female duck. I remember the poultry hawker would with lots of understanding and sympathethies ask if the chai ark booking was for a child who was having measles. Then he would go on to exclaim the goodness of the chai ark for good measure.

When the fever was gone the mother would take great pains to prepare the soup for the child. I wonder how many of my friends remember how much care and love their mother had for them especially when they were suffering from measles which was quite a killer disease in those days.

This is a traditional treatment and I am wondering how many of us Foochows practice this today? We are lucky we have so many modern vaccines which can save lives today.

And my admission today : Far away in Miri I did not give any Chai Ark Moh Soup to my children after they had measles!!

Mother's Day coming up. How much have we thought about our mothers and their sacrifices?

I wish to send my mother a wonderful Chai Ark Tong....

Bali Cafe

2009-05-01T06:59:00.003+08:00

I haven't toured the Sibu alleys for a long time having very little time each trip back to do the less important but no less interesting things I used to do when I was younger. This trip I managed to walk from the Central Market to the High Street through one small alley by accident as I took a wrong turn towards the Kompia shop.

The alley was fairly quiet without the shouting of the hawkers and the haggling of prices! The morning shopping crowd has always been a happy and loud group to me. Shouts of surprises and screams of recognition of a friend with a "long time no see"! and of course a great brotherly slap on the back! No inhibitions and no reservations! There might even be a few pulling here and there as invitations to a cup of kopi-o at a nearby shop come forth.

But this particular morning I was in for a certainly a delight to discover tucked at the back of one shop which fronts the Channel Road a small back street cafe called Bali Cafe with some inkling of Balinese and Indonesian art.

I did not eat my breakfast here alhtough it would have been very tempting. Some early risers were already reading newspapers and having a good conversation going. Life seemed to be similar to the old days but efforts have been made to make this little place very pleasant and more "cosmospolitan"!!

This I suppose is the frontage with two blue plastic stools displaying some Balinese art decor.

Side of the cafe.

A view from another angle.

As I walked away I wonder what signature dishes they would serve! Perhaps the young people (I presume) would have their specialties to tantazlise their customers be they old or young (first time customers or long term customers).

A Tai Chi Moment in Rajang Esplanade!

2009-04-30T06:08:00.004+08:00

It was early in the morning in Sibu and my friends and I decided to walk to the Central Market to do some shopping before going back to Miri.

The Esplanade was magnificent in the cool morning breeze and three men were already at the end of their morning Tai Chi exercise. How graceful they looked!!

As we approached a group of ladies who had already finished their Tai Chi I caught sight of a fair complexioned and tall lady exuding charm and dignified grace . She turned around and that sudden moment made me feel that Sibu is just too small....In a town of 250000 people I could meet up with my father's seventh sister! Without appointment. It was a magical and wonderful moment of reunion.

This is what we call "heaven's arrangement". It can perhaps only happen in Sibu when you strongly feel for your relatives and wishing hard to meet up with them. I had already spent 4 nights in Kapit travelling into the ULU. Six degrees of separation?

And this was that photographic moment too...when she turned she recognized the photographer! The eldest daughter of eldest brother. Family ties. Tears in the eyes.

Buying Rice in Sibu Central Market

2009-04-30T05:41:00.004+08:00

A group of my friends buying rice in the Sibu Central Market where prices are very reasonable. In many places all over the world rice price can skyrocket at the whims and fancies of the suppliers and government. Some rice have to be even bought at black market prices. We are indeed blessed by Sibu suppliers who have been able to maintain a good price.

Rice is fresh and nicely displayed in this age old style. You can tell that rice is fresh from the shiny look and good solid colours without any speck of dust and smell of mustiness.

This is the ancient metal scoop for scooping an amount of rice into a plastic bag for good measurement on a scale. We used the daching a long time ago but today that is no longer permissible by regulation. So a normal international metric scale which is easier for most people.

The Foochows would used the term "leurn mi" meaning to measure some rice. Many decades ago in Sibu when the farmers did not have ready cash for their purchaes they would have to say "chok mi" meaning "borrow some rice" and the shop keepers would know that they would get first and pay later. Immediately the shop keeper would take out the account book and write down the rice bought against the name of the farmer.

I still remember a very very old story of a relative who had many children who ran out of rice. His wife did not have the "face" to borrow some more rice from the shopkeeper. Finally when the son came home from school at about six in the evening he was asked to borrow the rice . He took his father's bicycle which was way too big for him and pedalled the three miles to Sibu from their rubber garden. He was very embarrassed but he knew that his sickly father could not tap rubber fast enough to feed the family. Each push of the pedal must have been excruciating for him. After the incident he decided that he must tap more rubber by getting up even earlier before he went to school. At a young age of 15 he was already more than the "father" to his siblings. He is one of our most filial sons of Sibu.

He developed great humility from his daily errands. Today he is a multimillionaire and is always very helpful to poor people. He continues to be very frugal and simple.

Looking at rice always make me think of katis and tahils for old time sake. But very few people can remember that any more. However in most places in China this measurement is still being used.

Thoughts of Sibu : Bukit Lima Park Sibu

2009-04-29T06:19:00.009+08:00

(Bukit Lima Park Plank Walk - Source : Rajang Basin - http://mengleiwong.blogspot.com)

A good plank walk for running in very cool environment (Source : Rejang Basin)

Map of Bukit Lima Park Sibu (Source Rajang Basin)

As Earth Day and Love Your Park Campaigns become catch phrases all over the world (especially these few days of unusually high temperature @34 degrees and above ) even the very busy Sibu folks talk about the neccessities of cooling down the earth and making the environment more live able in the coffee shops and in the market places. The awareness for a better environment is catching on very positively and I hope speedily ASAP.

A good nature park would be one of the answers to the global warming conditions in Sibu. Thus the Bukit Lima Park should be truly made full use of. More nature friendly programmes must be incorporated into Park Education for the locals and tourists in order to make the park more cost effective and lively and attractive. Children need to learn more about loving the earth . they are our hope. A day out there is a spiritual and physical family trip. One way of getting gratefully nearer our Creator! And a sweet down memory lane journey for those who would like to remember their pioneering ancestors who brought them to Sibu.

As we drove back from Sibu to Miri we noticed how the roadsides were cleaned up of all the plastic bottles and paper wrapping thrown out from cars!! A young lady wearing a uniform jacket drove along and picked up all the rubbish from her motor bike using a long wrought iron tong! ( A "hui keeng"!!) She put all the rubbish in a big black pastic bag tied to her motor bike. As the Oya Road is fairly a long road her work must be too tedious for her to walk all the way and then back. Her mode of transport is light enough for her to "work from her bike". ( I did not take a photo because of the long line of traffic line behind me and I would not want in any way jeopardise her work prospects. My apologies to her for writing this comment) Furthermore it might be dangerous for her to be working and walking alone in this long stretch of road especially when the traffic becomes light or non existent at all.

We did not have the time to visit the Bukit Lima Park although we were in the vicinity. A pity. Next time we must make an effort to spend a day in the park.

We left our hometown with a sigh - we need to go elsewhere to "cari makan" and thus missing all the goings-on and lifestyle of Sibu.

The Hakka's Lui Char (Vegetarian Rice with Herbal Soup)

2009-04-29T05:54:00.003+08:00

(Source : http://sloppychic.com)

Han Suyin wrote one of the best descriptions in the English Language about the origin and spread of the Hakkas in her book "The Crippled Tree" and I never forget her words. I read her book as a recommendated text for my sixth form history and was very inspired by her as a writer.

When I moved to Miri some twenty years ago I lived amongst the Hakkas and developed greater insights about their life and espcially their cuisine. Lui Char is a signature dish and delicacy of the Hakka people usually served on the first day of their Chinese New Year to visitors for CNY open house and other religious obervation days. But it is a must for Hakkas and their family members to eat 7 kinds of vegetables on the 7th day of the Chinese New Year.

The Buddhist/Tua Pek Kong vegetarian-inclined Hakkas relish this dish. Some very strict Buddhists would have only this dish on the first and fifteenth of the Lunar month regularly. But I think different Hakkas in different regions of Asia would have a different approach to the serving of this dish at home.

Now that Lui Char has become a commercial item like KFC and Pizza some stalls only serve Lui Char as a flourishing business wherever there is a strong community of Hakkas. So it is quite recognisable that there is a big pupulation of Hakkas around when you notice a Lui Char stall. You can be assured that information of the Hakka people in that particular area if you start with a bowl of Lui Char.

This is a bowl of rice topped with the selected vegetables. You can call for your choice of vegetables or choose all (for the price of RM3.50 only)

This are three of the vegetables you can get besides roasted peanuts and fried salted radish - stir fried curly vegetables stir fried long beans and stir fried ok choy.

This is Koo Lay Sim a Chinese herbal plant which forms part of the soup for Lui Char

This is peppermint of Po Hor.

And this is Ngiah (which can get rid of wind in your body)

Blend all the three herbs you get a greenish paste which is boiled into a herbal soup which is cooling and nourishing. Besides it dispels of lot of toxin in your body.

The Hakkas and generally most Chinese who love the Lui Char believe that eating this lui char for lunch especially two or three times a week is a great de-tox dietary choice.

This New Cafe in Miri which serves Lui Char has been around for more than 20 years and it is a group of lovely ladies who prepare and cook and serve all the food. A remarkable lovely Iban lady who has grown "old" with them speaks Hakka serves the drinks with great cheerfulness and understanding. She has excellent eye contact and a fast way of assessing the cutomers' needs and in fact sizing up the whole afternoon's meal needs in a few seconds. The whole New Cafe outfit usually makes my afternoon sojourn in the shop very worthwhile in a very family way. Sometimes the very interesting social interaction there becomes remarkably therapeutic even before the meal is completed as you watch how the diners feel good and greet the serving ladies and the towkay neo and exchange well wishes and commonalities. Hakka bantering can be the most amusing of conversation.

You do not need to use a social survey form to find out how popular this cafe is.

My family and I have adopted this dish very positively. I have a liking for it and will try if I have the time and opportunity to eat it at least twice a week. The more one eats it the more one loves it.

Formal Sibu Foochow Welcome at Airport @ 1958

2009-04-24T04:24:00.004+08:00

Not many people can remember that photos were printed in special dimensions in the 1950's - 3.5" x 3.5" or a slightly bigger sized called "postcard" size (6"x 4") Do correct me here. the two well established studios at that time were Anna Studio and Heng Kwong all along Blacksmith Road and Island Road. Interestingly the photo labs were upstairs. It was quite a tight squeeze for a bridal group to go right up the narrow wooden staircases.

This photo from my family album shows my three married aunts coming home to Sibu for a rare visit. They had married Singaporean men and were all working in Singapore. Aunt Phyllis (my second aunt ) brought back her son Michael. I was standing fourth from the left in the front row of "grandchildren". Notice the little handbag I was carrying. And very significantly we were either wearing Bata leather shoes. My aunt Laura standing next to me turned up wearing pretty socks and shoes. Our frocks usually had "smocking" fronts made by Aunt Pick. Yes indeed we did wear "smocking" dresses then!!

The whole extended family were all formally attired in their Sunday Best. Young girls were in frocks and the older married women in fashionable western frocks and eastern Cheongsams. My grandmother Siew as usual wore her nice samfoo. All the men wore their best tie. My grandfather Tiong Kung Ping stood in the centre looking every inch a commanding patriarch and social leader.

Our family was very tight knit and gave a great deal of moral support to Grandfather especially. And we loved "returning relatives". Thus the whole extended family came to the airport to give our aunts Lily; Phyllis and Ngiin Sieng a rousing welcome. This was followed by a few welcoming and memorable dinners - very Sibu and Foochow style. As a child I always looked forward to going to the airport to welcome or send off relatives. It was a big deal then. Grandfather had adopted a very American attitude towards proper dressing or "wearing Sunday Best" perhaps a heritage of the influence of Rev. James Hoover and the China born missionaries.

When did wearing our Sunday Best disappear? As the twentieth century ended we became less formal in our dressing. We used to remind each other that we were entering the house of God and we had to be "proper and decent". But today t-shirts seem to a kind of social uniform.

With travels becoming easier these days and new forms of communication developing family get together become less significant moments and less formal. The nuclear family has also become more prominent and the extended family is weakened to a very great extent.

But whenever I see three generations of a family getting together for a wedding or just a birthday I just become so nostalgic for the old slow days. I am glad some family traditions are still maintained by many people all over the world.

In comparison our Malay brethrens seem to continue with the social habit of wearing their best for their communal events. The returning of the Hajis/Hajjahs for example nessitate a blessing and kenduri today. The forward journey of the pilgrims at one time in Sibu caused the whole kampong to come out in full force for a grand send off. I remember fairly well those were signficant days for many of my mates.

Old photos capture so much of our social norms of the past. A "revisit" conjures up lots of fond memories.

No wonder we used to write at the back of photos which we give to our relatives or friends "Keep this photo for remembrance of our good time together. Fond memories." We used a fine fountain pen and the best of our cursive writing! We usually ended with the date and some xxxx. Perhaps inadvertently we were documenting our own historical development!

A Green Backyard

2009-04-23T01:14:00.004+08:00

I really love going to my Christian Sister's house. Food is always forthcoming and the green vegetables are always served very nicely and in large portions!! For years my Ah Chia (Sister) has been tending a little plot at her backyard and her green fingers are fantastic. She is never short of vegetables. Sometimes she even has enough to salt them!!

She has been growing vegetables since she was a young girl in Sarikei. When she married her then teacher husband (salary $180) she needed to supplement their small income. Finally after a few years of rubber tapping and vegetable growing she and her husband decided to start a mee stall in Sarikei. From there they raised a family of pharmacists teachers and doctors. Now some of their grandchildren are doctors!

And if and when I drop by (without prior notice) I would always have a place at her table be it lunch or dinner. Just like in the old days whenever we walked long distances in the rubber tapping village we would be warmly welcomed by a fellow Foochow for a simple meal. Even if it was just a soup and rice. But my grandmother bless her heart would always ask my uncle to "go catch a chicken" and cook mee sua for a weary traveller!!That was Christian neighbourliness in its true sense in the past in the Rejang Basin.

Whenever I share food with Ah Chia or any other Christians we would signal to each other 5 fishes and 2 loaves to show how much we appreciate this kind of sustenance.

I feel so blessed whenever I am at this home. Look at the abundance and blessings in her backyard!
Potato leaves - excellent stir fry.

Beautiful ketola flowers - soon two of these soft and tasty gourd will be at the table.

This is a red herb which can help to reduce cholesterol. Very popular health drink.

this is Lang King Herng (nan king herng)- brought from Fuzhou. It is used to fry beehoon and it gives a purple colour to the beehoon. Very tasty. Believed to be eaten by the Foochows only. So here is an additional purple coloured vegetables to your health food list besides purple egg plant and grapes!

This used to looked down upon years ago. But now it is a restaurant dish - and given a good name - Emperor Shoots.

This is a hybrid - sweet honey pomelo tangerine (tangmelo or pomerine?)

Two egg plants here can give at least ten fruits - enough for three to four meals.

Bitter gourd - flowering.

Round gourd growing steadily.

Ping pong longan. Very very sweet and hundreds of them.

If you look at these photos you really do believe in the phrase "Your neighbour's grass is always greener." But truth be told...she has really worked on her garden to produce good harvest year after year and enough for many neighbours too. In times of economic downturn this kind of home vegetable growing can definitely help our economy to build up again.

Families must be cautious with their spending. SAving is the key to economic recovery and further take off. Since the family unit is the basic organisation of a society we must all look at strong family units to help sustain our economy. If our families are dysfunctional then our society cannot survive the great tests.

What's the Cure for Homesickness?

2009-04-22T07:18:00.001+08:00

I am an immigrant in another city. I experience grief certainly and indefinitely.

I do not really have any antidote for homesickness. But if I am homesick for Sibu after all these years I have a few.

I recently tried this antidote. Got up to a bright sun drenched morning. And I got myself two soft boiled eggs and took out the coffee shop set.

I arranged the still life for photography session...and after a while (not too long) I had some photos....but my soft boiled eggs had hardened a wee bit too much....

This is a good try - trying to carry on life outside Sibu where the Moi Soung Cafe and its er hu is just a long ago dream.

Being homesick is a normal emotional situation.

The Foochows when they first left the Min Valley in their cramped boats were very homesick and a few even tried to escape from the boats!

The Bishop Warne came on board to pray and help them and accompanied them all the way to the swampy and mosquito ridden Sibu. It was definitely a hard life then. When James Hoover came the worship services must have helped them.

At that time there were no counsellers to help them to overcome their sense of grief. Hardship was there. My grandmother Lau used to tell me that when she opened her eyes in the morning she could see only WORK WORK and WORK. And then when the day was done it was hard to find her bed! Sleep was an antidote. If only sleep could come! And not to think was a challenge. For her the stages of grief (unstated) were real. Finally she accepted her situation after many many years. When she went to the Min River for a visit she brought money to celebrate her new life in Sarawak. It was a kind of triumphant return as a migrant. She and her family had worked hard for that day.

Perhaps missionaries all over the world feel very homesick more often than not.

What about Rev. James Hoover. Was he ever homesick? What about Mrs. Hoover was she ever homesick?

Perhaps all the Methodists and the Hoovers sang "This World is not my Home" (a hymn which often is said to cure homesickness) at all times.

Now what is your cure for homesickness?

Fresh from the Oven(Chu Lu Le)

2009-04-21T07:47:00.006+08:00

Kompia or Kwang Ping is a kind of plain unleaven bun (made only by the Foochows)which is round in shape with a hole in the middle. Fresh from the oven the crust is usually crunchy and covered with sesame. A little saltish in taste it is chewy nonetheless. Actually the more you chew the more you will like the bun.

It is one of the most popular snacks of the Foochows and is found in almost every place the Foochows have settled in. In Malaysia the kompia and some its variations is found in Sitiawan and Sibu especially where the Foochows first settled in the 1900's. Today the kompia is spreading far and wide where there is Foochow enterprise. And if you see Kompia you are assured that there is a Foochow Settlement nearby.

This little shop in Rejang Park in Sibu is operated by three young people who are energetic and systematic. Two of the bakers will roll and prepare the buns and the third young person is the front man who sells the kompia and collects the money. He is also the man who picks up the baked buns from the hot oven located right in the front of the shop. This threesome makes a very effective team. In no time the morning's business is over and a profit is made. The operation is completely done only in a ten by ten square feet of business space!

The photo shows the huge dough ready to be divided into small balls. Each ball is to be made into one little kompia. The green enamel bowl is a common bowl used by the Foochows for soup and even for measurement.

Here the small balls are ready for further kneading and flattening.

This is the Foochow rolling pin with a bigger part(to press the kompia into a round flat dough) and a small part (to make the small hole )

the young lady is skillfully flattening the dough. In a few minutes she can make many kompia. The quickness of the hand in making the kompia is always the most important part of the production line. If the kneading is too slow the dough will not be spongy enough.

These are the kompia ready for the oven.
This young man forms the other assembly line in the making of kompia. He is ever cheerful. I suppose he can make as many kompia as the girl with his eyes closed!! (This is the Foochow expression meaning a person is very good at his work.)

This is always the moment we are waiting for - the kompia is hot from the oven!! Chu Lu Loh!

A very modern shop sign. It means Fragrance for All Seasons. ( Reminds me of A Man for All Seasons.)

As I watched the threesome produce their kompia and took in the fragrance of dough baking mixed with the tantalising sweetness of fresh burning charcoal in the open oven I was reminded of my Grandfather Tiong Kung Ping who was always very careful with his money and very humble in his outlook . He would pick the rather maimed or distorted but cheaper kompia when he was a young father with many young children. In that way he could buy more for his money. The bakers in those days would always sell the "deformed ones" at a lower price. In fact when I was a kid walking to school I would stop by Wan Hin (No 1 Island Road) owned by the Toh family and I would too ask for the "ngaew ngaew" ones which were actually placed in a side basket. This meant that for ten cents I could get one or two more . Grandpa used to say - "the amount of flour (content) is the same - looks do not matter. It is important to be able to fill the stomach."

But to me even in those days that kind of bargain was a good one. So with such discounts we got more to eat!! We learned not to be choosy and difficult. He passed on a lot of wisdom to us especially about humility and frugality. At all times we must always stretch our dollar/ringgit to its limit and be careful with our spending. And always remember drive a good bargain.

Later in life I would give a home to some of the ugliest and unwanted dogs in the kennel and leave the good looking ones to someone else. These dogs turned out to be loyal and faithful guard dogs. This could be one of his influences.

Naturally today I still do not mind the badly formed kompia. There is something special in them. Just give me more!
(To my aunts and uncles and cousins please correct me/scold me if I am wrong...)

Chinese Licorice - Kan Chou (Liver Plant)

2009-04-20T05:36:00.002+08:00

I have lots of these Chinese licorice growing in my garden. They appeared all of a sudden some time ago so it is considered wild. But as time goes by I would throw the seeds around and I get fairly good batches of them . Relatives would come around to harvest them perhaps five plants at a time when they like brewing a soup.

The fresh plants are cleaned and dried in the sun roots and all included. And then cut into smaller pieces for boiling of soup with a bit of pork or chicken. No salt or any other flavours is permissible. A clay pot or a Chinese medicine pot is best for brewing the soup.

I normally cook my own brew whenever I have too many nightmares which are indicative of an overheated liver. However in order to be cautious I do not often take the brew. Probably once or twice a year when needed. I was told that when SARS was wreaking havoc in Sarawak very little Chinese licorice was left standing on any ground!! It was sold at more than RM10 a kilo in its dried form.

If you do not trust the real plants growing in the garden then you can always get a few hundred grams from the Chinese drug stores. Simply ask for Kan Chou and the Chinese Sin Seh will give you a good measure and some complementary bits and pieces to make you a good potion for your ailment!

Chinese Licorice root stands next to ginseng in importance in Chinese herbalism. It is one of the most widely used of all Chinese herbs. Laboratory tests in China have demonstrated that the extracts of Chinese Licorice can help eliminate or detoxify over 1,200 known toxins. It is believed to drive out all poisons and toxins from the system and to eliminate side effects from other herbs used with it. It is also effective in relieving the intoxication due to bad foods, drugs and alcohol. Thus the Chinese calls it the 'great detoxifier' and the 'great adjunct'.

Chinese Licorice is said to help revitalize impaired stomach energy. It helps supplement the energy and strikes a balance between the internal regions of the body. It is a tonic to the spleen and kidneys and helps regulate stomach functions. Chinese Licorice acts as a blood tonic through its positive effects on the kidneys (bone marrow) and spleen. It sedates and soothes excess fire and helps moisten the lungs and throat.

Chinese Licorice is used throughout the orient simply because of its ability to build and sustain energy. It is now known that this is at least partly due to its remarkable power to regulate blood sugar balance, sharpen the power of concentration, relieve abdominal pain and congestion, benefits the functions of the abdominal organs, clear the meridians and allow chi to flow smoothly. In addition Chinese Licorice helps build muscle growth, beautifies the countenance, fortifies the sinews and bones, cures swollen wounds caused by straining or incisive injury, detoxifies the blood and relieves pain and tension due to stress. It has been used successfully for a thousand years in cases of anorexia, which is now a growing health concern in the West.

Chinese Licorice root is obviously quite highly regarded by those who know and use this most remarkable of Chinese tonic herbs. When used over a long period of time, Chinese Licorice root is said to produce radiant health and prolong life.

Note - Chinese Licorice root is a very different herb from the Western variety of licorice (glycyrrhizae glabra). The Western variety can cause nervousness, an obviously undesirable side-effects when use regularly. To the contrary, Chinese Licorice, (glycyrrhizae uralensis) is energizing but calming and does not have the side-effects associated with Western Licorice. Be sure to use Chinese Licorice root, which is also called gan cao, for all of its wonderful health benefits.

Note - Nothing within these pages should be construed as medical advice. All information on these pages is intended for educational use only. Nothing herein is intended to diagnose, treat or cure any specific disease. Please consult your health care provider if you have a serious condition.
Source : http://www.healthcareherb.com/chineselicorice.html

Many Foochows grow some of these plants in their garden plots. But in Miri I see them along the spare land between houses and every other possible grounds.)

Buntal!

2009-04-19T05:36:00.010+08:00

One of the fishermen in Bakam has several dried specimens hanging from the roof of his stall. And to my delight I came face to face with this rounded and puffed up form of a buntal!! This fish also called Puffer Fish or Fugu in Japanese. While the Japanese have been famously preparing the fugu as an exotic delicacy for generations we Sarawakians only like the eggs and in its salted form. However many have also found a new taste in deep fried buntal but its preparation has to be very delicate as prepared wrongly the buntal is fatal.

I must commend the fisherman for his proactive attitude of bringing good well preserved natural specimen to his stall and making it a living classroom!! Pity he was too shy to have a photo taken. May be next time I'll offer to take a photo with him like a tourist or I can persuade him when I bring this photo and a printout of this posting to him in the future.

The Chinese characters for this fish is River Pig. (Shui Ju) The Japanese actually eat thousands of tons of well prepared fugu every year.

Pufferfish contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in their internal organs, especially the liver and the ovaries, but also in the skin and the testicles. And to be absolutely safe from poisoning only licensed chefs are allowed to prepare fugu. So be warned.
The well preserved puffer fish/buntal specimen hanging from the "kajang" atap or roof of the fisherman's stall in Bakam.

Newly marinated buntal eggs look like this. One pair and not really separated. Today you can buy a pair of salted buntal eggs for about RM10 in Saratok shops.

FromNicolekiss Thanks Nicole!!

Isn't she pretty in blue?

Another pretty puffer fish.

I am writing this post especially for my children who once loved salted buntal eggs. In the early 80's we travelled "up and down" a lot the whole of Sarawak looking at small towns and visiting Kuching and Sibu. We as parents with our own agenda dragged them around everywhere and I am really ashamed of having put them in discomfort and in a lot of personal agonies at time. Perhaps sometimes in danger too. I just hope that as they grow older they too will forgive the nasty nightmarish parts(bad and dusty roads and poor road side food at times of emergency and unpreparedness and of course the occasional puncture) but enjoy the good memories.

One of our favourite places to stop by was Roban near Saratok where we could buy a few tins (!!)of salted buntal eggs and stretch our legs.These eggs were sold not by weight then but by the piece. And then like Santa Claus I would distribute the buntal eggs as gifts to friends and relatives in Miri!! While we would be just so happy to eat one or two of the eggs every day until we finished our stock we would think of other ways to improve our meals!! I really like the way our boy used to ask while we were in the middle of lunch "What's for dinner ma?" He really loves food!

But be assured we were just never too tired of the salted Buntal eggs then. One of my regrets was the digital camera was not invented then. All my coloured photos taken then are turning yellowish brown in the albums like fading memories.

Today alas - we can no longer get buntal salted eggs easily as we don't go to Roban any more. Our friends have moved to Kuching to be with their grandchildren( hopefully just temporarily). I have been thinking of kampong style fried rice served with a sprinkling of fried buntal eggs on top with lots of basil leaves with chopped spring onions and fried onions.

What a pity that these "caviar" of Sarawak may be disappearing slowly.

I can think of Special Sarawak Fried Rice with Five different Kinds of Eggs . What a fusion cuisine it would be - Fresh chicken eggs -Century eggs- Salted eggs- salted buntal eggs- and fresh /salted terbuk eggs!! How more exotic can you get?

A Foochow Table made in Miri

2009-04-18T17:32:00.003+08:00

This is what I call a Foochow Table with legs which could be folded and a top taht could be taken off when not in use.

Another table top which can be larger for twelve people can be placed on top. With a table cloth no one would know any difference.

Most restaurants in the past like Hock Cheu Lou and Yen Ching had these kinds of t ables. The foldable legs were ubiquitous. And when banquetting staff started to roll out the table tops to the five foot ways bystanders would know that definitely there would be a huge banquet tht day.

The Banquetting staff long ago would be strong men and their attire was simple - Pagoda or Chili brand singlets.

There were many occasions when one single banquet staff could carry a wooden tray with five dishes for five different tables. I used to be amazed how a man could carry five bowls of sharks' fin soup on a single wooden tray on his head!! And then like an acrobat he would bring the tray down to one of the tables and place the bowl nicely at the centre of the table.

There wasn't any food presentation at the beginning of the feast like today. And music which usually comes with the food presentation like Star Wars Theme was entirely different.

It could be "Today I am not coming home" playing at full volume when the first dish came out!!

(I had this table personally made for me recently as my own retirement gift for myself...for old time's sake...It is a disappearing style. According to the craftsman he is too old and no one can make this style any more. The younger generation prefers imported tables from China or West Malaysia.)

The Oldest Kedayan Coffee Shop in Bekenu/Sibuti

2009-04-18T07:07:00.004+08:00

The Rosnisa Coffee Shop is the corner shop on the first row of the old wooden shops of Bekenu town if you are facing the river. It is the oldest coffee shop owned by a Kedayan enterpreneur. The shop must be more than 50 years old. I hope that these two rows of shops may be conserved as a special historical tourist place for the future generations. Very quintessential and unique.

As you enter the shop you would be attracted to the amazing sliding wooden windows which is of 1950's vintage. My grandfather Tiong used to build wooden houses with this kind of windows in Sibu. Not a single hinge is needed and less wood is used. It is amazing that the coffee shop keeps these two panels of vintage windows. It only shows that security is good in Bekenu and no metal grills are needed!! Praise be to the values of these traditional people!!

This fried mee (halal ) is very famous and most people from Miri and Bekenu would make a trip just to have a taste. The sauce is thick a little like carbonera so I think there's a lot of egg yolks in the frying of the noodles. You may have a try of this noodles if you go to Bekenu in the future.

This is no soup kosong ( which is nothing soup for most kolo mee and it is indeed just lots of Aji no moto and pepper and some onion bits). For those who normally do not drink soup kosong you must really try it as it is actually Beef Bone Soup with nicely chopped spring onions and it is good to the last drop too. Don't miss it.

This is their signature kopi susu but it is not strong enough for me. However the price according to the fixture by the Coffee Shop Owners' Association is lower than that of Miri's.

Three packets of tapai (fermented sweet rice) are usually placed in a little dish to tantalise the customers. Besides there are dishes of hard boiled eggs and other kuihs too.

I need to take another shot of the windows ..This is from the back.

Most people would say that no visit to Bekenu is complete without a few moments in this shop.

As you sit down to drink your coffee and wait for the noodles to be served you can see tudung clad older ladies coming in in twos and threes often laughing together and giving great smiles. It is good to know that your sisters in Bekenu feel good about themselves and the world around them. And you also gather that they are really comfortable with the shop. This is indeed their own world - Kedayan land - Kedayan coffee shop. Bekenu is definitely a friendly and welcoming place - it is only half an hour's drive from Miri.

Hajis (MUslim men who have performed their Haj)wearing their lovely embroidered caps take their seats too at other tables and talk quietly in low tones while other gentlemen drink their kopi in silence and cracking an egg or two. They are not shy to make eye contact with you. Pink tudung clad waitresses who are charming and pretty with good complexion come quickly out to take the orders. The quiet towkay is the one who will collect the payments and serve the men. I understand that many land deals are made in this very coffee shop.

If you need a quiet and clean but well patronised coffee shop in Bekenu this is the one to go to. Also you get pretty inspired when you have a slow moving day and lots of time to stir that condensed milk in your coffee cup. The coolness from the wooden walls just sort of make your day!

Let Us Not Take Offence

2009-04-17T06:46:00.004+08:00

In most places in Sarawak you cannot really tell who is Chinese or who is Iban or who is Melanau because all of us look quite Sarawakian if we have some mixed ancestry. One student called "Siti" is every inch a Chinese (grandma is Chinese) but she is Iban and speaks BM and Iban only. Another is totally Indian looking but only his grandfather is Indian. You will be surprised he speaks Iban or Chinese to you. In Sarawak you might find the Biblical Tower of Babel but you may be able to at least communicate in Bahasa Sarawak or Bahasa Malaysia. You will be surprised that today you have Bangladeshis who speak good Mandarin in Miri.!

I had this nice conversation with one of my coffee shop towkay neo friends. She told me that she often made embarrassing mistakes when she spoke Chinese to a customer who turned out to be Iban or Bahasa Malaysia to another customer who turned out to be Chinese!

We really must not take offence because it is really difficult to tell who is what from all my experiences.

Even I have been mistaken for a Malay whenever I wear Baju Kurong and Bahasa Malaysia would be our language of interchange. But the best communication faux pas was when a Chinese man spoke Iban to me and I replied in Iban knowing fully well that he was a Chinese. We would do this for a while until I allowed him to find out that I was a Chinese. On another occasion an Iban friend of mine was driving a Mercedes up to a petrol pump when the assistant asked in a friendly way how long he had been a driver in Bahasa Sarawak. The pump assistant was Iban! But my friend was very sporting as he said he had been a driver since he was 18 in excellent Iban with Bahasa Sarawak accent!!

Yong Huo is a lovely little shop located to the left of the Park Hotel. It serves nice Taiwan Toufoo Milk and Taiwanese Biscuits. It specialises in Yew Tiau with cucumber salad dressed with mayonnaise. Whenever I bring a friend for some accupressure with Mr. Hii Kah Ang and his assistant Madam Hii I would stop by for a coffee and/or bowl of kampua mee ( a connoisseur had some time ago told me that it is NOT kampua mee but Cantonese mee).

The towkay neo who is the daughter-in-law of Madam Hii is very honest when she told me that their mee was more kolo mee than kampua mee but it is made in the same way. But it does not really matter as I have found that the two are totally different over the years. The difference is Sibu Kampua and Miri Kampua! Confusing isn't it? So when in Sibu order Sibu Kampua Mee. In Miri..just any dry mee kolo or Cantonese. There cannot be a conclusion to this debate...:) :) :P

While waiting I would read all the Chinese newspapers available in the coffee shop even "old newspapers"! In times of recession this is a good way of saving some ringgit on newspapers. Parking is also expensive here as it is 50 sen for the first half hour. You cannot win can you? But the towkay neo will give you extra portion of noodles because you are waiting....(whisper : you can pack more than half of the bowl of noodles to take home (ta pau). :)

When you meet these two you will think that they are Chinese. Inda on the left is an Iban from Kanowit and Moi on the right is Indonesian who may just reply you in Chinese!! Being ever so cheerful and friendly they will never take offence.
These two waitresses always put their customers at ease .

Yong Huo is a very multi-racial coffee shop and is not the domain of only one race. You can see civil servants having their break here and early morning bus communters coming down from Niah having their breakfast. Some of the Senior Citizens of Chinese descent also patronise this shop. I like to see some old Chinese ladies coming to the pasar for their marketing and stopping by for their kolo mee and kopi-o. Some Foochow men will have a good conversation about the economy for a good hour or two even under the swirling fan. A cup of kopi-o can go a long long way for them. As for me I love this "waiting room". It is very much a social centre!

Customers should just enjoy the linguistic confusion which comes along with living in a multi-racial country.

Enjoy the cup of kopi and the kampua/kolo mee that come along with all the diverse mix! That's very Sarawak.

Fresh Fish Head with Wild Ginger Soup

2009-04-16T06:49:00.006+08:00

Ikan Sultan or Ikan Jelawat. Chinese call it Su Tang Yu.

this is a type of wild ginger flower. In west Malaysia it is called Torch Ginger. In Sarawak it is called Kechalak by the natives. The Malays call it Bunga Kantan.

Fresh water fish is lovely if it is very fresh from the Baram and Rejang. So when I think of a good river fish I think of semah . And to be able to get one in the fresh fish market it is almost like finding a gold mine. But alas since the semah is not so readily available (now near extinct) I have to settle with a small head of Ikan Sultan (about 600 grams)which is quite adequate for two persons.

Last night I had this small but fresh fish head to share with my father-in-law's cousin. It isn't quite the thing to steam(ching chen - my favourite) just the head of a small fish so I decided to use wild ginger from the back garden and make a simple fish head soup. It was definitely worth spending time and love to cook the dish!

The fish head was cut into three pieces with three small stalks of wild ginger and flowers. (The head and another slice for the guest and one slice for yours truly.)

Boil four cups of water with some normal ginger and a few drops of sesame oil. Add the fish slices when the water is boiling. Cover the pot for about 20 minutes to bring out the full flavour of the fish head.

Add the sliced wild ginger flowers and cook till soft - about 10 minutes. Add some hot chilies. A few asam paya would be nice too to enhance the sweetness of the fish while adding some sourish tang!! Add salt and pepper to taste.

We had rice (specially cooked with a lot of hard crust in a good thick pot - kerak asi) with a good green chilli and belacan sambal and freshly boiled long beans (from the neighbour's garden). The soup was good to the last drop!!

When relatives come the kitchen can become the centre of social interaction especially if they can cook together and have fun like in the olden days.

It was a good organic meal! Hope you can join me next time. And I hope some one can give me the English name of this sultan fish. It is probably a near cousin of the semah.

Tie a Wish to a Balloon

2009-04-15T03:21:00.003+08:00

At a recent glamourous wedding in Miri balloons filled the Indoor Stadium turning the venue into a special wonderland. The multi coloured helium filled balloons looked stunning when the lights played on them - diamond looking stars glowing in the darkness. It must be one of the best if not the best ever outdoor catering by the Dynasty Hotel. What a tremendous effort to give the newly wedded couple a glittering and happy night!

Can you remember when was the first time you were given a balloon?

The first balloons I ever saw were those used to decorate the Sing Ang Tong in Sungei Merah one Christmas. I remember watching the church ladies decorating the church. Two or three balloons were tied to each of the windows together with the red and green crepe paper in those air-con less and simpler days. But I cannot remember how the service went. I also liked the little Christmas tree and the cardboard pictures of Jesus in the manger. Later there was a little skit of the angels appearing to the shepherds and then the scene at the stable.

My first ever balloon? Given by my Grand Aunt or Goo Poh Yuk Ging when she organised a children's party for the kindergarten. It was not helium filled. And that was really something to remember.

Indeed for years and years I watched always with amazement what balloons can do to a person's emotions. At the Sibu Trade Fair we bought balloons as they were the only things we could afford or wanted to spend on. And I believe when the circus came to Sibu my mother gave us money to buy balloons. It was so amazing to watch the tank of helium filling up the balloons which soon started to go straight up.

Here's a bit of history from Wikipedia.....In 1643 Evangelista Toricelli, an Italian physicist, showed air was something more than nothing. The Chinese, Japanese and Native American cultures led to beginning of the balloon.

The first balloon was (called the balloon of pie) invented by Brazilian-born Portuguese priest, Bartolomeu de Gusmão, and the first public exhibition was to the Portuguese Court on August 8, 1709, in the hall of the Casa da India in Lisbon. The rubber balloon was invented by Michael Faraday in 1824; it was inflated with hydrogen and used in his experiments with that element. Rubber balloons were soon after sold for a penny a piece in parks and circuses in America. The more familiar latex balloons of today were first manufactured in London, 1847, by J.G. Ingram, but mass production did not occur until the 1930s.[citation needed]According to the Reader's Digest, children and adults send up a billion balloons each year in celebration.

What do balloons do to us?

Firstly they make us just so very happy.
Secondly we do often tie a wish to a balloon and that gives us hope.
Thirdly balloons always make an occasion grander and more joyful.
Fourthly when a man carries a balloon towards you you will think that he is the best man in the world. I would have wished that a man like Richard Gere would walk towards me with a balloon and that wonderful smile of his...that's a really good wish.
Fifthly when you want a child to take his/her medicine always have a balloon ready.
Sixthly - a balloon often has a get well message - it lifts my spirit when I see a balloon or two in the hospital. I think I would rather have balloons than Brand's Essence of Chicken.

Whenever I am sad I would wish I were a balloon and float away in the sky - and have an adventure.

Have a balloon day today.....bring one home to your loved ones.

Orang Ulu Cuisine in Miri

2009-04-14T08:38:00.012+08:00

Two West Malaysian friends sat down for lunch at Summit Coffee Shop in Centrepoint Miri to a First Meal of Orang Ulu Food recently.

It was a nice occasion to break their taste buds in. After the sumptuous meal they were not disappointed and asked to be brought back again for the truly organic food and ingredients from the jungle!! (I left out the photo of the belacan and chili paste)
The shop is famous for the three layered tea (a too sweet but addictive concoction of gula apong at the bottom with condensed milk in the middle and very frothy evaporated milk at the top)

Leaf wrapped soft rice.

A dish of stir fried wild ginger flower.

This is stir fried meeding with fresh wild and soft tree fungi.

Another dish of wild ginger flowers with chicken.

This is minced tapioca leaves cooked with young shoots of the wild ginger plant.

This is pineapple cooked with small intestines and not for the faint hearted. But is nothing on the screen of Extreme Food!! Rebranded this is a dish for exotic Londoners!

This is a delicious dish of oil palm shoot cooked with pounded chillies and some belachan paste with bits of chicken.

This is a group of Maths and Science experts. For Miss Wong and Miss Teo all these dishes including the tea were Firsts for them. Mr. Gan having lived in Sarawak since 1987 and recently transferred to Kelantan this cuisine is top of the list amongst his favourite.

And all good things must come to an end and so did our exciting and exotic meal along the five foot way (the coffee shop itself cannot seat all the noon time diners). The shop is not on the busy road and therefore diners would not have to breathe in extra lead. It is a good choice for a quiet and easy meal. All these dishes are part of the Economy Food displayed on the warming shelf. So you can pick and choose from the trays.

You point and you get the dishes that look good to you. You can always ask for one portion to start with.

But you can be assured....most of the dishes are nice.

The Street Cleaners of Miri

2009-04-13T05:48:00.003+08:00

Whether you are in Sibu or Miri you are bound to meet these cleaning ladies on the streets. They work from early morning till night. Street cleaners are given their specific areas to clean and so they work very hard in order to achieve a high grade for their assessment. But bless their hearts Miri streets according to most reports in the newspapers are the cleanest in Sarawak!

This street cleaning lady knows how to protect herself from the hot sun with two hats - a cloth and leaf hat made by herself over another cloth hat which is made in China. She is over 60 years old and has been serving as a street cleaning for many years in Miri.

This is her full work gear : a recycled plastic basket which she can pull behind her and a palm leaf broom which she made herself. This kind of broom is very popular for street cleaning and apparently is so environmentally friendly that it does not cost a cent to make but only her time. Every thing she uses to make this kind of broom is from nature and therefore very biodegradable.

This is her friend who hails from Kanowit and together they form a team .According to her she did not receive much education because her longhouse was too far away from any school and her parents did not know enough to send her to school. She said it was a real pity because she could have studied very hard.

She is repairing her broom for more sweeping after their packed lunch under a friendly and shady angsana tree. They bring their own rice packed in plastic containers. It is usually cold and this reminds them of their days when they planted paddy in the hill regions of Sarawak.

This is group photo of three of the four ladies. The oldest is about 65 (she cannot really tell how old she is and she was born probably around the Japanese occupation) They are usually well covered from head to toe.

All of them have migrated from Sibu or Kanowit and are staying with their relatives who have found jobs in the oil and gas industry or in the construction field. Together all of them work and chip in to make the economics of living in the city viable. Going back to their longhouse would mean a harder life with very little cash and land that has not been productive because of shortage of labour. They do have some kind of job satisfaction because they are together as a group and they can see the nice city lights . Most importantly they enjoy urban facilities like shops and hospitals.

Perhaps they might go back to their land eventually when there is no work in the city. Who knows they might be lucky in buying numbers?

We must really do our part to keep our town or city clean. We must never throw rubbish out of our car to dirty the roads. We actually should stop littering! Every town in Sarawak has to employ more than 50 cleaners to clean up our mess actually.

Thoughts of EggsTra Nice Easter : Past and Present

2009-04-12T06:09:00.006+08:00

Leslie was absolutely over the moon when she received this sugary traditional easter egg as a gift from her friend! Having stayed in Sarawak since the late 60's Leslie gains a lot of pleasure receiving gifts via the traditional post although she enjoys Internet connectivity right at home! This easter egg is a fabulous handmade thoughtful gift. It was so well packed that not a grain of sugar is damaged.

Having been shown this Easter Egg I started thinking about Easter Eggs of Yesteryears and the present.

The first time I learned how to make scrambled eggs was with Pauline Wiltshire in Rumah Merah where we cooked perhaps more than a 100 eggs for the first English Sunrise Service I ever attended. I will never forget that service nor how many times the scrambled eggs came useful to me in my life. Saved my face so many times when I could not cook for visitors who dropped by suddenly. That's the first dish I would teach my children to cook when they were ready to learn cooking.

Red eggs are not the domain of the Chinese. The Greeks use onion skins to colour their eggs red to celebrate Easter. Indeed that's another fantastic recipe.

I continue to remember how the Cheng Brothers used to send eggs to us on their rounds from Queensway. The two brothers would come by with their bicycles and my mum would pay them immediately. When Easter came we would boil the eggs and donate them to Masland Church (where our Grand Aunt would be in charge). When the coating the eggs red we would get our fingers all red and we would laugh at each other. What fun we had!

Eggs are just so important to the Foochows! When the late Rev Lau Ngoh Kee made his outreach rounds in Sg. Maaw my late grandmother would always give him an extra egg in his chicken noodle soup(mee sua) as a token of appreciation. The late Rev Lau was a very popular Methodist Pastor who was a remarkable and enthusaistic man who provided a lot of pastoral care in his days. He must have walked a few thousand miles in his rounds of home visitation during the early days of the 50's and 60's. Sometimes I wonder where his descendants are.

The rest are images of western world easter eggs! Enjoy them! Happy Easter!

Easter to me would always remind me of physical and spiritual losses (via death or broken relationship)the deep grief - the emptiness of a tomb(which can only be truly felt by those who have lost their loved ones) - and finally the renewal of faith because of the revelation of the resurrection.

No He is NOT Mr. Flintstone

2009-04-11T06:15:00.006+08:00

This is Mersin my friend from Sg. Brit Marudi who is an oil and gas off shore personnel. An Iban can only be as happy as can be when he is able to obtain a highly valued pantu stump like this. This palm shoot stump costs more than RM 20 in the market but is free in the longhouse if it is part of the kebun planted by his grandfather. This stump is enough for more than 30 people. A huge Indian curry pot is usually used to cook pantu - plain boiling with chicken or pork with or without fu chuk. It is an excellent soup as the pantu is soft and sweet - almost like sweet potato in texture.

Pantu is a popular domesticated palm grown by Ibans all over Sarawak. In fact wherever you see the tall pantu palm you can be assured that there is an Iban settlement near it. It is a palm that can be grown on undulating hills or even in swampy soils.

Discovery Channel has featured the cooking of pantu in one of its programmes on Borneo.

According to an old uncle when the Foochows first came to settle in Sibu the Ibans taught them how to cook this popular food as soup or just boil it with some rice as porridge.In various Chinese documents the Ibans have helped the Foochows learn to eat various vegetables grown by the Ibans and also food found growing wild in the jungle like tapioca leaves and other shoots. It was only later when the Foochows began to grow their own vegetables successfully that they probably stopped eating the wild plants and fruits. My grandmother used to tell us that they often harvested the bamboo shoots from the jungle in Sg. Maaw. But most probably these bamboo shoots were not wild but have been planted by the Ibans more than 100 years ago. The Ibans and Foochows had during the pioneering days of Sibu exchanged vegetable seeds and learned from each other about market gardening. Today after 100 years or so it is hard to tell who started to grow cangkok manis for example!

Pantu can also be cooked in fish curry or stir fried with lots of dried prawns. My family actually loves it very much. It is organic and is definitely fertilizer free . Sometimes because of its high price we share one stump with two or three other families. We normally cook it when we have something to celebrate like a birthday or a graduation.

Many of my Foochow relatives who live near Ibans in Marudi and Bintangor claim that pantu is one of the dishes they love.

The Passing of a Good Friday

2009-04-10T22:18:00.011+08:00

Good Friday is a restful day for those who are retired . It is also considered fairly easy for those without adult children and boisterious grandchildren around. If they have friends around they would not suffer from the proverbial empty nest syndrome especially during a public holiday.

It is a blessing that Sarawak continues to observe Good Friday as a public holiday where more than 60% of the population will gather in various places of worship to remember the bitter crucifixion of Christ.

Apart from going to church perhaps a small gathering of four or five friends would be a nice way to await the Easter celebration. These days such gatherings might be interrupted by mobile phone calls from loved ones and even Skype or chatting on line!! Cyberspace and virtual relationship have become part of life making our later years easier to go by.

After Ching Ming the bittersweet Good Friday which follows just one week later can also be a memorable special day.

Three roti canai and two pieces of naan (similar to the bread eaten by the Jews in Judea during Jesus' time) with dhall curry appeared first on the table served by the cheerful Indonesian made. With our fingers we dug into the roti and the dhall curry very much like the First Century Christians did.

And then an exciting green vegetable dish was served. We did not eat rice by choice.

This vegetable is home grown by a neighbour who makes a good sale every morning. Sometimes in the evening she still has enough to sell to a few more families. Very organic and these curly greens are stir fried quickly with water chestnut. Very crispy and nutty in taste.

Fried Bananas - crispy and perfectly fresh and tenderly sweet.

Another dish was served - bitter gourd fried with ikan bilis and dried chillies to add to the bitterness of the occasion.

finally a dish of toufoo cooked with imported vegetables like celery and sweet peas and small tiny mushrooms came up to sweeten our tastebuds.

All these was washed down by bitter sweet kopi-o.

The bitterness of the kopi 0 reminded me of the bitterness and pain that Jesus must have suffered in the hands of the Romans and the Jews.

An unforgettable and perhaps unique Good Friday vegetarian meal with friends. No merry making with wine. No meat.

Thus we remembered the unique Good Friday more than 2000 years ago when He said"Lord forgive them for they know not what they are doing." Such divine grace. Such compassion. Such love for all of us sinners.

12 Lessons from a Slide

2009-04-08T07:30:00.005+08:00

These three wooden slides found in the Methodist Children's Home Kindergarten at Journey's End in Sibu must be more than 35 years old. They are small(less than 5 feet in height) solid wooden ones and the joints which had been put together without any visible nail are still in perfect condition. They are exactly the same measurements as those in the the Kindergarten at Island Road. When I looked at them they reminded me of what my Goo Poh (the late Madam Tiong Yuk Ging) said to me from time to time a long time ago. They were my first "game rules".

These are the lessons I have gathered from playing on a slide with her as the quiet and soft spoken supervisor.

1. Go up the steps slowly and hang on to the side bars. Don't rush. Play safe always.

2.Take turns politely. Show that you are well brought up.

3.Never push your friend down.

4.Slide down with joy and pick yourself up.

5.Don't cry if you land badly. Smile. Pick youself up like a lady and hold your head high.

6.Do not dominate the slide. Join the queue.

7.Don't crowd around at the bottom of the slide. Give a clear space to your friend. Or else you will cause an accident.

8.If no one cheers you as you slide down, give yourself a pat on the back. That is a simple success.

9.When you are up there on the slide realise that there is always a downslide. Life is like that. Up and down. Accept both. Going down is great fun.

10 You can play on a slide alone. It is not lonely to be alone. You have the slide! And God is watching. In real life you are often expected to do things INDEPENDENTLY.

11.Happiness is accepting the challenge that you are going down because of gravity. The wind on your face is a bonus. You gain confidence along the way. And you slowly mature.

12.You may scrape your knees. But you have some marks and scars to tell stories with when you are older. So don't cry.

Years and years later I discover that it is always such a wonderful activity to watch children play on a slide. And more often than not they break the rules.
(I took this photo a little too early before the sun drench the yard...but it reminds me of the days when I sent my own children to Kindergarten...early in the morning ...)

Roadside Iban Family Socio-economic Life

2009-04-07T06:15:00.005+08:00

This family has left a strong imprint on my mind. I was in need of a rest after a long journey recently.

The grandmother opened her home to me so that I could have a little rest and she welcome me to use her toilet. She actually has two toilets she told me. One for passersby and one for the family. She had the former built because too many people drop by. Nope she does not charge. Afterall the rain water she uses is from God - free.

She led me to her family washroom which she said was bigger and had more water.

I bought some drinks from her to repay her kindness.

As she had been putting the finishing touches to her mat I told her that I would like to photograph her making the mat. She was shy but she did pose. Without looking up. She did not mind my muddy shoes at all as she warmly said in a very hospitable manner "nadai ngawa-nadai ngawa " meaning "no trouble-no trouble". I was so touched by her kindness and friendliness.

I noticed that she must have made enough money to buy nice shiny tiles for her verandah. An upward socio-economic move - modern tiling.

This is her grandson who watches cars passing by their roadside stall. He is not old enough to go to school. Baby sitting him is easy. He sits on the wooden platform while his mother and sister sell freshly barbequed fish and catfish kept in huge tubs.

Will he have the opportunities to get a tertiary education and help his family break free from poverty?

The ubiquitous oil drum is such a useful re-cyclable item used as a good stove for smoking fish.

Mother and daughter selling freshly smoked pond fish.

I have learned to eat smoked fish when I studied in Devon many years ago. And Sarawak has a lot of smoked fish or ikan salai. You can use smoked fish in soups or stews. Freshly smoked fish can be cooked in a good sweet and sour sauce or re-heated in an oven . You can also prepare a Thai sauce (chillies and limes with some fish gravy and honey)and pour over it. Excellent instant dish when you have just completed a seven hour journey.(too tired to take this photo - next time)

While huge four wheels or Kancils drive by this humble road side stall this Iban family eek out a living day in day out without complaint. They are glad that their men can have jobs with the oil palm plantation and that they too can earn some pocket money to buy a sarong or two and some cheap children's t-shirts and rubberised shorts.

They however have not lost their humanity to be kind to a tired traveller. May God bless them for their kind hearts and genuine hospitality.

Coffee Break and Chance Meeting in Sungei Merah

2009-04-06T06:23:00.004+08:00

This is rumoured to be the best kopi and kopi-o peng in Sungei Merah if not in Sibu. I ordered the kopi which is localfreshly ground coffee with a huge dollop of condensed milk - and it was indeed a comfort drink. All memories came back to me...and my brains went on over-drive!! And it is a local well kept trade secret so you can never make such a drink at home!! It has something to do with the specialist "Coffee Hand". You have to go back and order the coffee again and again.

This is a wonderful photo. Miss Ida Mamora was a former student of Methodist School and she became my teacher when I was a student there together with pretty and ever green Nai Siong (on my left). When I became a temporary teacher in Methodist School after Sixth Form for a year I taught alongside Miss Ida: both she and I taught Poh Eng a bright and cheerful student (slightly behind Siong).Poh Eng belongs to a special class of star quality students that include my own sister and brother-in-law and a host of other very special personalities like Daniel Teng and James Tiang. the list is too long to mention here.

These three personalities look extremely youthful and not a strand of grey hair can be found on their head. They are cheerful and ever so friendly and respectful.

You kind of get this kind of wonderful coincidental meeting during Ching Ming and especially in Sungei Merah!! You meet people you haven't met for over 30 years!! Thanks to Judy Wong who is one year my senior and the Principal of Methodist Pilley Institute who took this photo.

And apologies to the guy in the Poh Eng's group. We ladies completely left him out of the picture!! Could he be one of the ex-Methodist students too?

Palm Sunday - A Warm Greeter!!

2009-04-05T19:38:00.007+08:00

Today is Palm Sunday.

Worshipping in Wesley Church Sibu is always a joy and a homecoming for me.

And especially when the greeter is Peter Lau my faithful and loving cousin who even comes down the steps to welcome me!! True to the family tradition Peter is a grandson of the Second Kang Chu Lau Kah Tii who was a warm hearted and hospitable community leader. Peter's mother is my third aunt and sister of my father. So we are doubly related and therefore doubly close. Just slightly younger than I he and have been through Sunday School and MYF and then adult services together at Wesley Church.

Wesley Church greeters are always very special because of their smiles and warm personalities. They are truly the second mile people - now they are the "many steps down people". Indeed a lesson in humility - Christ like.

What is outside is so good. And what is inside is even better.

(As for the great Palm Sunday sermon - go to YAN. Scroll down my blog roll. )

Re-Branding

2009-04-04T15:39:00.006+08:00

These days every one is talking about re-branding. Hotels are renamed. Some products are re-named and re-packaged. But rebranding is more than renaming.

So I have given thought to one of my favourite drinks - tea. How has tea which traditionally come in loose form or in tea leaves been rebranded?

How has some types of tea been re-branded in the past few years? See for yourself!

tea sticks with Japanese influence.

Tea in special tins with Yoga influence.

The Mainland Chinese are magicians in their product innovation and rebranding. Here "Rejang Basin" blog owner is showing a Chinese zodiac pendant gift tied to a Chinese Eternity knot. Wow that's a lot of culture in this gift! It looks like a bronze pendant. But is it?

Many people love to bring gifts to this affable and warm hearted prolific writer. And I particularly like to spend time to appreciate artifacts and trace their origins.

This pendant is actually made of pressed tea and embossed on it is an Ox for this is the year of the Ox. It is very meaningful to me especially since I am going into my 5th Cycle of the Zodiac...oops I am getting antiquated! If I get one of this it will probably hang from my wall for eternity.

Another posting on pressed tea cake later.

Ching Ming in Sibu

2009-04-03T13:21:00.005+08:00

I am borrowing this photo from Wong Meng Lei just in case many of you do not read Chinese.

Ching Ming in Sibu is usually blue skies and high temperatures. And as many Foochows are Methodist this cross filled cemetery scene is just so representative of Methodist Cemeteries in Sibu.

the photo reminds me of the hymn we used to sing on Sunday :

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies
For the love which from our birth
over and around us lies
Lord of all
To thee we raise
This our hymn of greatful praise. (Folliot Pierpoint 1864)

May all give a kind thought or two to our dearly departed and be eternally grateful for all that we have received.

Ching Ming Painting T'ang Dynasty

2009-04-03T08:31:00.003+08:00

source : http://english.eastday.com

Ching Ming Announcement and Thoughts of Sungei Merah

2009-04-03T07:57:00.006+08:00

(Source : a 2007 Ching Ming announcement - San Francisco Gin Sun Association)

This is from a newspaper in San Francisco.

Overseas Chinese and most Malaysian Chinese Associations take care of the members from cradle to the grave. It is heartening that they take good care of all especially those who need hired transport for special occasions.

And this is a good example of how an association can step in to help members with good organisation.

The notice says a bus will be ready to transport members to pay their respects to their dearly departed.

This brings to mind many decades ago when Sibu-Sungei Merah Road or Queensway was so congested that many of my uncles and aunties from Sg. Maaw waslked all the three or four miles from the town to the Methodist cemetery in Sungei Merah so that they could pay respects to our late Grandfather Chui Chui and our late Granduncle Moh Moh and others as early as six in the morning so that that they visit all the graves of their dearly departed before it was noon. They would bring along hard brooms and water to give the graves an annual clean up. Flowers were not in style and fashion then. The crowd was almost shoulder to shoulder.

Sungei Merah would spring to life for a few days with almost every shop selling Ching Ming related goods. And after Ching Ming the old slow life would once more take over. Today Sungei Merah is no longer that laid back. This is almost a vibrant suburb or even a new township! But you can still see some chickens tied onto the handle bar of a bicycle or a small pig tied across a Yamaha motorbike. You can still catch sight of two baskets tied to a pian dan.

As I think of so many of my uncles' offsprings having huge air conditioned cars ( no less than Mercedes and some with drivers) perhaps it is their elders' filial piety which has brought them their wealth and success!! Or rather opportunities?

45 years of Bristol-Sibu Friendship

2009-04-02T07:32:00.009+08:00

I was one of the bright eyed and hopeful students who joined the Journalist Club of the Methodist School because I was not tall enough to play basketball and not slim (not fast) enough to play table tennis. I had to choose from several other clubs but finally chose to write in English.The Advisor of the club was Mrs. Wiltshire the wife of the school Principal then. She taught me more than one life long living skill.

Besides being a great mentor she opened our eyes to the world and worldly issues which we as students in Sibu could never have been able to do ourselves. Many of the club members enjoyed a long lasting friendship of more than 40 years with her! Even when they returned home Mrs. Wilsthire continued to write and encouraged us.

I in particular appreciate her kindness and friendship. And as my family grew I looked up to her as my counsellor and friend. She came to visit several times and I had visited them in Singapore and in Bristol. Their home in Bristol is full of Sarawakiana memorabilia which will make any Sarawakian visiting them feel at home immediately.

She encourages me to take great interest in local social history as she herself is researching on her own family history which stretches back more than 300 years. She writes about her garden which delights my soul. And she talks about the weather and what she sees in her surroundings bringing a European window to my hot equatorial environs.

At first it was the plain and reasonsly priced aerogramme (30 cents to the UK) We continued write each other as we caught our first strands of grey hair: hers already quite grey and mine grey on black. Her daughters grew into teenagers interested in games and music and then later got engaged to great guys while mine were learning to ride their bicycles . She and her family enjoyed eating Indian food while I go in search of a nice pumpkin to make a Dayak soup or make English scrambled eggs the way she taught me one Easter so long ago in Sibu.

though we are quite different we are remarkably the same as we believe in alleviating the plight of suffering women and supporting endangered species of all kinds. We savour the good values of our ancestors and hope for the best for our future generation.

Here's her most recent mail which brings sunshine to my garden and delight to my soul as a good neighbour could:

Right now we are enjoying full on spring, except it's a bit chilly still. Mona visited for a couple of days. We just did ordinary things together, visiting the garden centre, riding our local train, enjoying each others company.
Then Pat and David came over after a family wedding down south.Grace and Pete joined us for an Indian meal out and we are still enjoying the leftovers without the bother of making them.They'll soon have both Tom and Kate home for Easter.We had also spent Monday with Grace visiting a National Trust Tudor/Restoration style house. Lots of blue and white china and elaborate wall hangingsand rather gloomy so as to protect them
P&D invited us up to the Lake District later .Just a short local train ride then a long one and they'll meet us so we are tempted but again right now K spends 3 mornings a week volunteering at the South West Green Party European Election Office.Have you heard about the film, "The Age Of Stupid"? We have seen it premiered in Bristol.Please look it up on the web.

You may have heard that 35,000 marched in London last Sat for "Jobs ,People and the Climate". We had considered joining the March tomorrow as the G20 meet but old age and wisdom prevailed as we both agreed that if we lost each other in the crowd the other one would be very worried!.
.... We are in the throes of getting some more estimates for replacing our 75 year old original guttering and "soffits", i.e under the eaves.and planning my 75th birthday in June with a garden party with family and friends for lunch and neighbours joining us for tea.
So what are you planning to do next?

Can you recognise Mr. Wiltshire- Mr. David Johnson -Mrs. David Johnson and Mrs. Pauline Wiltshire? Grace is every inch her mother. Pete (Grace's husband is next to Mrs. Johnson)

And I really hope that every generation would be able to connect with their teachers and friends in their special ways and be long lasting friends.

Comments are free
Facts are sacred
Truth will prevail.
(Charles P. Scott)

A Wise Dino

2009-04-01T17:33:00.003+08:00

A very wise retired First Admiral of the Malaysian Navy (from no less Kampong Sessang in Roban- Sarawak) sent us this picture.

A.Marzuki has sailed the seven seas;lived in Beijing for many years and is a good friend. He took little steps from his kampong and slowly made his way up. His is one of life's greatest stories. He writes better pinyin Chinese than I. (Stay tuned - story coming up)

And for some young people out there here is something from senior citizens....Enjoy!

Methodist Children's Home in Miri

2009-03-31T09:03:00.004+08:00

There are millions of orphans who need care around the globe. The first children's home in Sarawak was established in 1950 by Rev and Mrs. Pilley. And since then hundreds of children have been helped and educated with some even achieving great social status. Recently the Miri district also saw the establishmenht of a Miri Methodist Children's Home in Pujut. To date there are 12 needy children under the care of Mr and Mrs. Ling Ching Chuoi . Mr. Ling is a former student of Methdodist Sceondary school Sibu and a year my junior.

It is hoped that a new building will be soon consructed to realise the vision and mission of this Children's Home in Miri.

This van is used by Mr and Mrs. Ling to send the children to school and for tuition. On Sundays they go to church together in this van.

Ling Ching Chuoi from Methodist Secondary School

This is one of the two buildings located in Pujut 5 used as home to these 12 needy children.

Children who are taken in will have a wholesome upbringing and growth under a safe and secure environment with well equipped facilities and well trained carers.

It is indeed a great hope that all of them will become useful and God fearing citizens in our society.

The trail set blazed by the Methodists from the time of John Wesley in the UK and Rev and Mrs. Pilley in Sarawak is still strong and hopeful.

Tiny Kindergarten Chairs

2009-03-30T07:55:00.006+08:00

This is a very old photo of my Koo Poh (Madam Tiong Yuk Ging) teaching her kindergarten class in the old Methodist Kindergarten Building in Island Road. The building is long gone and my grand aunt passed away in 1997 after serving God for a long long time.

The chairs if you notice lasted a long time. I remember sitting on them when I was
5. By the time my eldest and second daughters went to this kindergarten they too sat on these actual chairs. And after many years when I returned to visit the school and kindergarten they were still there!! The carpenter who made them must have been very very good. I am wondering where these chairs are now. Are they still in the best of conditions?

The kindergarten children learned to carry their chairs quietly to the front so that they could have a very close session with their teacher (Goo Poh) and they learn their singing and listening and speaking. Then they would carry their chairs back to their tables where they would carry out their own individual work or group work. They would share the colour pencils put in the middle of the table or take out their own colours in colour their masterpieces.

I still remember the children going to the toilets and they would pretend that they were butterflies winging to the wash rooms. Boys would be in one team and the girls in another. Every one would be smiling and the teachers-in-charge beaming away.

Later they would enjoy the lovely biscuits which they would dip into their plastic cups of milo. They would so systematically return the empty cups to the rack!! Happy that they had a share in the magnificient tiffin!!

Sometimes the teachers would have the towels ready to mop any spills or dry any tearful child.

And then the beautiful angels would be singing their kindergarten songs to the accompaniment of the organ music played by a teacher like Madam Tiong Ai Lan also a grand aunt of mine.

Both these Goo Poh taught "two generations" or may be even a third generation of kindergarten children from 1950's until 1980's!! They were never transferred any where else. such was the stability of the teaching profession then. And salaries were a meagre $200.00 (They probably started with 60 or even less)

The chairs always remind me of the First Carpenter. Love of your craft must bring about long lasting work!! Today most chairs which we can buy from furniture shop last only a few months. What a pity we do not have our olden days carpenters.

Take another look at the photo.... - two boys and one girl were obviously not listening to the teacher!! They prefer talking to their own friends.

"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten". (A very thought provoking book by Robert Fulghum)

Birthday at SOHO

2009-03-29T06:49:00.006+08:00

In 1988 we sent our third daughter to Sri Mawar which was sited at Jalan Bintang then. Flor was her Headmistress. As parents we felt very comforted and delighted to have a very dedicated person like Flor to manage an English school.

Sri Mawar has an exceptionally good English curriculum with a built in on going reading program for both the child and the parents. I enjoyed helping my daughter read and soon enough she picked up reading very fast and could read almost every word given to her. She soon graduated into Lady Bird series and other children's books to our delight and joy. I am happy that she never lost her love for reading from then on.

In fact Flor and her team of teachers have helped a generation of Mirians to read well. And I am sure many of us mothers in Miri would like to join in and say Happy Birthday and thank you to Florence who has been in Miri for 30 years.

Very single minded and very capable she has always been there to help others
and anyone in need.I like the way she talks warmly and lovingly about each of the children who went through Sri Mawar! She has been charming towards parents who wait for their children. She was always willing to walk the second mile.

Together with her is Lesley Linggod who has also been a great teacher in Sri Mawar. Rosalind Tan another good friend and staff of Sri Mawar is also in the getogether.

Here Flor is celebrating her birthday with some us in SOHO where the service is good and the food fairly good. It was a wee bit hot that evening but we had our good time especially when we had three special visitors who joined us in the celebration. We all wish Flor the best of birthdays and many more to come.

But on the whole when good friends are together all other factors are secondary.

A slice of Tiramisu only for the Birthday Girl - on the house.

A beaming Florence Enau.

I would recommend the seafood spaghetti. The garlic bread can be improved. And I must say some of the drinks need a great deal of improvement. But the waitresses are doing well and are helpful and polite and patient to older ladies like us. On the whole the roadside restaurant is also fairly quiet and diners talk softly too. All these make us want to go there again.

Honour women! They entwine and weave heavenly roses in our earthly life. Frederick von Schiller.

Remember these musical instruments?

2009-03-28T08:15:00.005+08:00

My uncle the late Hii Wen Hui was a good accordion player. In fact most of the Chinese teachers in Sibu and its vicinity were self trained to play this instrument. We had many evenings of fun music whenever such teachers were around.

You can see this accordion and also the organ in the Methodist Archive and History Section in the Methodist Message Office in Sibu. This particular accordion belongs to Meng Lei's father and the organ comes from one of the churches downriver.

This is a great portable pump organ popularly owned by many homes too and I also remember so many downriver Methodist churches having one. The old Methodist Theological Chapel also had one which provided beautiful accompaniment to the singing of the youthful choir led by good musicians like Mrs. Charlotte Hipkins and Miss Jackie Fries. Much later a piano was added to the inventory.

Mr. David Johnson one of my English teachers was probably the best organist Sibu had ever seen! And we really found it very amazing to have such a learned man playing such a simple instrument and making heavenly music. Later when Wesley was housed in the Sing Fu Yuan Tang Mr. Johnson was to bring great church music to the whole neighbourhood when he played on the pipe organ of the church. these days I often wonder if that pipe organ is still functioning. In those days I used to allow my teenage mind wander and allow angels to fly around Sibu when listening to his music.

Another missionary I remember who was a very good musician was the late Rev Lucius Mamora who had an organ like this in his home in Queensway. I went to school with most of his children and once in a while would visit their home. I loved to watch him play the organ and sing!! He was also a man who translated many of the hymns into Bahasa Iban. He had also written many songs himself. It was a great honour to be able to visit such a great talented man. I never knew then that later (almost 22 years later)in my life I would have the honour of having him name my third daughter with an Indonesian name.

Actually the organist had to pedal hard to "bring in wind" for the sounds to come out or "blow" the notes out. Correctly the Chinese call this "Wind piano". I loved to put my small feet on the pedals but my fingers could not produce any musical notes!! How often I wished and wished that I was musically gifted like the missionaries or had the financial resources to take up music lessons! And as the evening of my life approaches the few regrets that I have are still with me. Today I can only press buttons on DVD players to bring out the music I wish to hear.

Beautiful hymns were sung accompanied by a simple organ like this for more than 50 years!!

We must thank all the missionaries and Tze Koo (missionary teachers and wives) and later the Foochow teachers trained by the Methodist Church who brought this special organ church music to the Rejang based Foochow families.

Beggars and beggaring

2009-03-27T06:28:00.006+08:00

Sleeping Child Beggar (LIFE Magazine)

(Photo by Sarawakiana)Blind Beggar at a corner of a street in Miri. Please drop a ringgit or two into his tin.

For centuries society has struggled with poverty which rears its head in many different forms. Western societies have different arms to overcome its ugly sides. Today most countries depend on various religious bodies and semi government bodies to help out in order to reduce extreme poverty and beggaring. In a little way these efforts can help to keep beggars off the streets but the issues of real poverty and human bankruptcy cannot be eradicated so easily. On the other hand it has been proven again and again beggaring has been taken advantage of by various illegal syndicates to enrich themselves.

However by putting poverty under wraps and genuine beggars of the streets is not the only solution. Now the poverty strickened have built tent cities and tin sheds. Slums which long have been the symbol of poverty have taken a new publicity via the "Slumdog Millionaire" this year when Bollywood and Hollywood propelled Mumbai slums into world media blitz.

Begging cannot be completely abolished by law or by acts of kindnesses. And I dare say that there will be more and more forms of begging in the future.

Abject poverty is still in our neighbourhood.

And just as a reminder here is a story of the most famous beggar in the Christian world:
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's Side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell,[3] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' 'No, Father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'

– NIV

Have a good day!!

Bailey Bridges - Piasau Bridge Miri

2009-03-26T05:51:00.006+08:00

I have always marvelled at how the Piasau Bridge make life so convenient for my friends living in Piasau Camp as well as those who needed to travel faster to Lutong. When the Nightingale was still ferrying many of us to and from the hospital we could take a longer route just to buy nice things from Ng Siang Hap.

The Piasau bridge not only built relationships but it always provided many children wonderful memories of life on the peninsular. How many of them remember a party or two at the Piasau Boat Club. And how many of them remember going to the air strip just to fly kites or watch the fishermen come in. Crossing the bridge and having all the wooden plank noise under the tires was memorable.

But unknown to many of them the bridge has many stories built into each nut and bolt.

Who built it?

A contractor ,China-born Lee Tung ,who passed away on 25th November 2004,built it just about 50 years ago.

According to his daughter, he himself was skeptical about building the bridge!! The bridge was to be built across the Miri River at Piasau so as to provide an alternate road access to Piasau Camp, Golf club and the then Miri General Hospital. The design was a combination of two long beams spanning across and partially supported by steel wires from two towers at each end. These cables of high tension wires could support an immense weight. To allow for expansion and contraction a gap remained between the two arms that would reach out from their abutment. The gap could then be bridged by a single beam.

All the main structures were to be built using metal parts, fitted and joined together with bolts and nuts. The walking surface was laid with wooden planks placed horizontally across. The central of the bridge was to be used for motor vehicles and on both sides for pedestrian walkways. The bridge allowed for only one single lane of traffic to cross at any one time. To regulate the flow of traffic, a set of
traffic lights was installed at both end of the bridge.

He had only to supply the workers to build it. Yes he did just that. Even when the engineer in charge went away for three weeks he was able to place the last beam in place.

My thanks and tribute to a man who "built" for his fellowmen.

Source : Lee Shoon Yin - Miri 2008
Photos : Sarawakiana

Bailey Bridges - General

2009-03-25T12:50:00.017+08:00

Photo of Merudu Bailey Bridge by Daniel Yiek (Sarikei Time Capsule)

Bailey Bridge

Malaysian Soldiers building a Bailey Bridge in Perak during a recent flood. Took them just a few hours to complete it.(Malay Mail)

I am going to have a great goal from now on ...or a personal photographic and blogging cyber-expedition - writing about as many Bailey bridges in Sarawak as possible. Today there are 366 Bailey Bridges in Sarawak. That's a worthy topic to write about.

The Bailey bridge is a portable pre-fabricated truss bridge, designed for use by military engineering units to bridge up to 60 m (200 ft) gaps. Requiring no special tools or heavy equipment for construction, the bridge elements are small enough to be carried in trucks. The bridge is so strong that it can carry tanks. Since the Second World War it has been considered a great example of military engineering.

Donald Bailey was a civil servant in the British War Office who tinkered with model bridges as a hobby. Still unimpressed his chiefs, who saw some merit in the design and had construction started at a slow rate. The bridge was taken into service by the Corps of Royal Engineers and first used in Italy in 1943. A number of bridges were available by 1944 for D-Day, when production was ramped up. The US also licensed the design and started rapid construction for their own use. Bailey was later knighted for his invention, which continues to be widely produced and used today.

The basic bridge consists of three main parts. The "floor" of the bridge consists of a number of 19 ft (5.8 m) wide transoms that run across the bridge, with 10 ft long stringers running between them on the bottom, forming a square. The bridge's strength is provided by the panels on the sides, which are 10 ft (3 m) long cross-braced rectangles. These are placed standing upright above the stringers, and clamps run from the stringers to the panels to hold them together. Ribands are placed on top of the completed structural frame, and wood planking is placed on top of the ribands to provide a roadbed. Later in the war, these wooden panels were replaced by steel, which was more resistant to the damage caused by tank treads.

Each unit constructed in this fashion creates a single 10 ft (3 m) long section of bridge, with a 12 ft (4 m) wide roadbed. After one section is complete it is typically pushed forward over rollers on the bridgehead, and another section built behind it. The two are then connected together with pins pounded into holes in the corners of the panels.

For added strength several panels (and transoms) can be bolted on either side of the bridge, up to three. Another solution is to stack the panels vertically. With three panels across and two high, the Bailey Bridge can support tanks over a 200 ft (60 m) span.

A useful feature of the Bailey bridge is its ability to be "launched" from one side of a gap. In this system the frontmost portion of the bridge is angled up with wedges into a launching nose and most of the bridge is left without the roadbed and ribands. The bridge is placed on rollers and simply pushed across the gap, using manpower or a truck or tracked vehicle, at which point the roller is removed (with the help of jacks) and the ribands and roadbed installed, along with any additional panels and transoms that might be needed.

Sources : Wikipedia®
2) http://www.baileybridge.com

I would be most grateful if you could send me photos of your favourite Bailey Bridge i.e. if you could spare the time via yisawan@gmail.com) In this way we could all together pay tribute to our JKR or PWD for their endeavours in the past two generations.

Ling Wen Choon - 83 Autobiographical Chapters

2009-03-24T06:32:00.005+08:00

Muriel Cadwell Pilley wrote in her book "The Hills of T'ang".....Weng Choon walked down to the main road and I thought that would be the last time I saw him. But how wrong I was!!
Indeed not too many years later the Pilleys would too leave China and arrive in Sibu. Together they founded the Methodist Chiildren's Home and spent many years together as educators (Mr.Ling was briefly principal of the Methodist School) and social change agents (they served in many different committees to help run activities and manage properties of the Church)- always trying to make other people's lives better by introducing Christ to them.

Mr. Ling was a principal and teacher as well as a "missionary". He contributed much to the welfare of the Methodist Church and community in Sibu. But more in the form of his historical records which he had left behind. Sibu with two fires and many other factors did not have a rich primary historical basis for good research to be accomplished. A lot of the history is in fact based on a strong oral tradition and one or two historians like my late cousin Lau Tze Cheng.

Here is his small but significant book which might not be publicly available.

Born in 1889 in September in Foochow China he was one of those Chinese children who took pains to change writing with his left hand to right hand at the age of five. In 1900 his mother passed away. 1902 he arrived in Sibu with the others and he started learning English in the Catholic primary school. The following year Rev Hoover came to Sibu and started the Anglo Chinese School.

He wrote in great details about his life in Sibu thus giving readers a good indepth perspective of the life at that time. He completed this memoirs in 1971 and had it published in Taiwan. Thousands of students and Children Homes' children would remember his simple Christian soldier endeavour.

The late Mr. Ling Wen Choon

Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Ling Wen Choon

Mr. and Mrs. John Pilley - beloved of many in Sibu.

Mrs. Ling conducting evening devotion - Judy Wong was chairperson for the service. She is now Principal of Methodist Pilley Institute.

Management Committee of the Methodist Children's Home

The Ling's Residence in Sibu Queensway - Now only found in the pages of history) - a new residence belonging to Mr. Ding Lian Cheong is in its place)

I will write another article on the Methodist Children's Home and how it impacted the lives of many people of Sibu and even Sarawak.

It is good to read his carefully written book which opens a window to more than 50 years of life and development in Sibu . I find it remarkable because it is from a very special perspective of a man who crossed between two lands - China and Borneo and two historical eras - the old China and the New Foochow (or Sibu).

Note : I welcome comments on this posting. If I have made mistakes they are entirely mine due to my disadvantage of not knowing enough Chinese.

Toastmasters' Farewell

2009-03-23T22:51:00.007+08:00

All good things must come to an end.

And so my stint as a special hoteliers' English teacher must come to a sweet end.

The last Dynasty Hotel Toastmasters Club meeting was also my farewell session. It was sweet and very heartfelt. 2 years 9 months seem to have passed like a blink of the eye.

A lot can be written about the second group (tyhe first group having graduated in Nov 2007)and their efforts but I will let the smiles in the photos bear witness to a project well done! After the TM meeting they organised a very heavy almost midnight supper!! Secretly they have bought a beautiful and a too expensive pearl necklace which I cannot wear in places where I love to go, like the jungle or the poverty stricken areas of the world. However they have noticed that I love wearing necklaces for official duties and I will definitely keep this special gift dearly. How sweet and thoughtful these young people are.

Special cangkok manis beehoon - Bidayuh style - winning preparation.

Ever popular KFC

Pizza is a favourite with young people.

Last word of the evening - Farewell - written neatly on the board by Rezzeni.

Luli, Fitri and Rezzeni

Roland, Jamal, Amelia and Christine

Christine, Titus, Rita,Sureani and Adian(who was running a temperature but was a great Toastmaster of the Evening)

Rezzeni,Douglas,Hong Ai Hua, Nicole

Nicole,Hazella, Sufauni and Jin

Final group photo. They completed their ten speech assignments despite uphill challenges and time constraints. Well done!

One special phase of my life ends and another will begin. I will always hold them dear in my heart.

My Own Pumpkin Soup

2009-03-22T17:53:00.008+08:00

Cut the pumpkin up nicely.

Cook the pumpkin in just enough water. ( e.g. 1 cup pumpkin with l cup water) Or if you like steam the pumpkin

Blend the cooked pumpkin.

In the months of January and Febrary this year the floods took away a lot of home grown and tamu oriented vegetables. With fresh imported vegetables being also too pricey and more often then not - "not -really- that- fresh" discerning homemakers looked at other sources for fresh vegetables. I went further afield to buy vegetables if and when and where I could.

One wonderful source would be roadside kampong stalls. Pumpkins especially can keep for a long time. Sometimes up to one year. I have tried cooking pumpkin in many different ways and my children love them. Perhaps it is a vegetable not many urbanite might prefer but it is one vegetable they should try to eat more. Indeed my friend humourously remarked that in Australia pumpkin is a main vegetable on a plate where mum would also put a green one (capcicum or brocoli) a white one (cauliflower) and an orange one (pumpkin(. In the United States pumpkin is always made into a popular soup especially for the year end festive seasons. But in Britain pumpkin has been fed to the pigs!

I must say in my own Foochow family (for three generations in Sibu) pumpkin has always been one of our most popular vegetables and I personally call it my all time favourite. So do my children. We cook this wonderful vegetable in as many ways as possible and enjoy it to the last drop.

Making a simple thick creamy western soup is also a good and healthy way. Here is the recipe. It is really that simple!! And you can even take out the oil!

1 red or bombay onion - chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil/butter
l.5 kg pumpkin - cut and cooked with l slice of ginger then mashed slightly (or 1 cup for one person)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar (optional)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (from bottle)
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cup full cream milk

Blend the chopped onions and pumpkin.

Put the blended pumpkin into the pan. Add salt, nutmeg and pepper. Slowly add chicken broth and heat thoroughly.
Add full cream milk and cook slowly until some water has evaporated and to the consistency you like.
Serve in a soup bowl.
Makes for about 6 person.

(To make a richer soup add some cream or yoghurt before serving)

This soup can be served hot or cold.

I recommend cooking pumpkin soup when you get a really nice orange and thick fleshed pumpkin. The soup would be very rich and absolutely amazing!

Enjoy!

Laksa and Birthdays at LCP

2009-03-22T12:50:00.011+08:00

We had given a weeks' notice to make sure that we get our laksa today. As we arrived at about 11 a.m. (Church service was longer than usual this morning) laksa was not available to the late comers again unfortunately!! The others were so gracious about it and they ordered other dishes. Praise God we three could have our laksa.

James brought two small "token" cakes as the birthday surprises for Richard's( today) and Jennifer Yong (tomorrow). A blessed and special way to have birthdays recognised by cell group members in LCP.

This is my laksa - (one week's pre-order !)Looks good and tastes even better. You got to try!!

Three angelic Wongs leading the singing of the birthday song.

Richard - as happy as can be.

Jennifer being helped with her birthday candle. (no - she is still very young with lots of energy for praising and praise dancing)

Jennifer says with her hands "I'm going to let this little light shine".

Happy cell group - one more time - altogether S-M-I-L-E

The lady behind the laksa and the kampua....she was impressed by our group's JOY.

Ah Chiong BB Officer Getting Married

2009-03-21T08:48:00.011+08:00

Since I wrote about their the civil registration of their marriage in Sibu I might as well complete the story today!! Their wedding was at Sing Ang Tong - the first Methodist Church in Sarawak. This church was built in Sungei Merah or Sing Chuo Sang (New Pearl Mountain) in 1903 not long after the first Foochow Settlers arrived under the leadership of Wong Nai Siong.

Sing Ang Tong has been "changed" and renovated more than four times over the years from attap to the present concrete and steel structure.

The Bridal Kiss dates back to the Roman times. The Romans practised the sealing of a contract or agreement with a kiss. The kiss seals the nuptial agreement between Ah Chiong and Ei Ling. In the 60's we also had a song "Sealed with a Kiss".

Since many of you readers are from the Methodist Church Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade I have selected another photo for your viewing.

The bridal couple would walk out of the church under an arch of swords which represent protection from the groom's brothers and friends. This is again a very old European ceremony. But Ah Chiong being a BB Officer and Ei Ling will be protected in his marriage by his BB's!! The Boys Brigade really look good.

(By the way when I was very little I used to worship in Sing Ang Tong often accompanying my grandfather and grandmother. The pastor was Rev Ho Siew Liong who spoke Foochow with a very strong Heng Hua accent. I always thought that he looked like Jesus.)

These photos are from Steve Ling a popular reporter and former Methodist School school mate of mine.

Congratulations Ah Chiong and Ei Ling

Thoughts of Feather Fans

2009-03-21T06:18:00.010+08:00

Another leaf from my own history lessons!!

I have often thought about asking an artist to draw a picture of my grandmother carrying a fan. That image is just so clear in my mind!! This is a drawing I found in Google Images. But it is still not my grandmother. Nearly though.

My grandmother loved to carry a fan which was actually part of her dressing. With a fan in hand she was always neat and tidy. To my youthful eyes then she was one cool lady. Indeed I never saw her flustered and sweaty. And I remember her being really angry only once in my life - when my cousin Ching did not get a job with a finance company.

Her "coolness" secret? A fan in hand. Those were the days when air conditioning was non-existent in Sibu.

Whenever she travelled up to Sibu she would never fail to put her feather fan in her basket. And I do remember with fondness that every one respected her basket all along the Rejang River. And this I do remember again - there was zero crime in the motor launch. No body stole from any body. So for years my grandmother carried the same good fan travelling up and down the river until it became synonymous with her.

And now take a look at this! A man who was synonymous with a feather fan! Zhuge Liang was a great historical figure who carried a crane feather fan at all times.

This is a hand drawn picture of Zhuge Liang. This kind of pictorial depiction of historical figure is a classic method. In most manhwa we used to read in the olden days cartoonists drew in this style. So I am very comfortable with it.

A new version of Zhuge Liang's fan in Red Cliff II (Zhuge Liang is played by Takeshi Kaneshiro )

Zhuge Liang or Kung Ming (also known as the Hidden Dragon) was the most famous strategist and inventor in Chinese history. His life history is part of the Romance of Three Kingdoms. In 208 in the Battle of Red Cliffs he showed that by knowing the geography of the area a battle could be won.

This is a painting by a western artist. The fan is highlighted.
In another arena - the English Francis Drake in 1588 defeated the Spanish Armada by being patient. He waited until he finished his game of bowls. The tide came up and a storm blew to destroy more than half of the 130 Spanish ships. The English defeated the great Spanish Armada with very few cannons and other fire arms. Queen Elizabeth I remained souvereign of the Seas!

Well the pages of history repeatedly tell us that Sun Tzu 's Art of War is supreme. Knowledge of geography can help win a battle.

Let's keep our cool by carrying a nice fan!

Shangri La

2009-03-20T07:51:00.010+08:00

This movie Lost Horizon was shown in Sibu years ago and gave many young girls hopes and dreams of Shangri La. And I wasn't different from them for I have since then harbour that romantic notion of a mystical land where everything would be just perfect.

We were given this book as part of our class reading programme.

Our own Shangri La - The Mulu - beauty through the eyes of a good photographer -(Flickr Photo from MacLoo)

This morning as I was cleaning out one of my bookshelves I caught sight of a very old school reader "Lost Horizon" by British author James Hilton and I was immediately reminded of my dreams of "Shangri-La" which might not be a common metaphor for young people today. But to people of my age Shangri La is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains.

Nope. I am not throwing out this torn and tattered book. It will have to stay on the shelf.

In the last forty years my journeys have indeed been in search of this mythical Shangri-La . Have I ever found it?

With China opening up and with Tibet becoming a really nice tourist destination we may now visit it after a wait of more than 40 years! May be that" mythical Himalayan utopia—a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world" could be a reachable destination for me. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are "almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. The story of Shangri-La is based on the concept of Shambhala, a mystical city in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition".
(Wikipedia)

Now what is your thought today?

Noodles and Cooling Teas at LCP Miri

2009-03-17T06:28:00.003+08:00

After church on Sunday is often a good time for another smaller get together.

James Wong initiated a laksa brunch since most of us probably did not have breakfast and not much time left for cooking a simple lunch. So he chose LCP . Immediately I thought that it could stand for Lord Can Provide.

But no it was Liang Char Po or Cooling Drinks for Nourishment.

It is absolutely clean and pretty. Yes Pretty. and in a very small obscure corner of Miri. It is hard to get to because one has to drive around to the Krokop/Jee Foh Roundabout and then to come out of it one has to drive around the Piasau Mosque. In an emergency one might get lost in the kampong! It is the other end of Ayam Fresh. But just look for the beautiful black square wooden stools. After half an hour you might find them.

This is the frontage.

Neat chicken bowls all lined up for service. But unfortunately at 11 in the morning all the laksa has been wiped out! So we had to settle for Cantonese mee(a version of Kampua) and huat tan ho (Cantonese style kway tiaw) and other fried noodles.

This is a group with Sibu roots! Angeline's grandparents are Heng Hwa from Sibu. Duan's parents served in Sibu. Miss Tiong is from Sungei Bidut!! and of course James and family are all Sibuians! Moses Lau is also there with three other great Church youths who are brothers.

The Cantonese Huat Tan Ho or Kway Tiaw with egg sauce.

Kampua has a flat and softer hand made noodle. This preparation can also be called the Cantonese noodle depending on the stall. It is quite hard to get Foochow kampua in Miri. This preparation can be a replacement. It does not have the lardy sauce.

The "writing on the wall " - their signature cooling drinks which will help us to nourish or repair our system.

This is a beautiful Chinese porcelain at the corner of the wash room.

A small but lovely deco in the ladies' rest room

this Nyonya mirror is so exquisite and for this winning point I will give this corner coffee shop the thumbs up for their decor and hospitality effort.

This is the beautiful service bar. It is clean and pretty. Different and a grade above from other coffee shops.

This black wooden table and chair set is a modern version of the Chinese tea house look. Black is a polish and refine colour.

They have a wooden plaque which says "May Wealth Come In". I love seeing ancient Chinese plaques becuase I can learn my Chinese.
Given the effort made on the decor and ambience and good service more than half the battle has been won.
For the young we need quantity and good taste. For the older generation we need less salt and no Aji no Moto. Probably the latter might ask for more vegetables and less noodles. Wow what a demanding lot!! But the proprietors are very nice and patient. And the girls are indeed very humble happy and helpful.
Who knows if we can spread the word around this will indeed be a place where the Lord Can Provide. It was a good gathering. Thanks James Wong and Rosalind Lee. Exquisite choice!

(Photos from a very old first generation Sony Cybershot)

Whose Rubbish ?

2009-03-16T06:30:00.011+08:00

The last day of school used to be a "clean up" day. We would clean the school inside and out and leave it clean for the holidays.

But instead a sad scenario met my eye on Sunday when I visited the neigbhourhood.

Who should clean up this mess? It is at a bus stop outside a school. It is a public place no doubt. Is a public site the responsibility of NO ONE?

And the public can live with this mess!!????

If this mess grows this area will be the neighbourhood rubbish tip/dump I suppose.

A student who is a sharp shooter must have plonked this bun wrapped in plastic right into the fence to leave it as "fun" mark over the weekend before the school holidays.

This is a part of the bus stop.

This is the back of the bus stop.

This is the front of the bus stop.

Readers from Miri --- who can solve this problem?

James Hoover's Sola Topi

2009-03-15T01:11:00.013+08:00

A Wolseley Hat (many variations are available in eBay)

Harry S. Truman's hat

This hat is an exhibit of the Methodist Board of Archive and History in Sibu. The late Rev. James Hoover who served in Sibu for more than 35 years wore a similar safari or sola topi as a protection from the sun. His solar hat or pith helmet was brought over from the United States as it was a proper and popular tropical attire then. Most foreign missionaries would have worn one. It was also worn by Harry S. Truman and many others in the 1920's.

Besides the late Rev James Hoover many other Chinese businessmen and Foochow community leaders also developed a liking for this kind of hat. According to Sibu Oral Tradition the father of Tan Sri Dr. Wong Soon Kai was even given a nick name "Bah Tou Bing" referring to his interest in sporting such a white helmet. Although honestly I have never seen a photo of this remarkable man wearing a helmet.
Bah Tou Bing is the Foochow term for this hat. My own grandfather also worn one and he kept it very well for a long time even after it became sort of out of fashion in Sibu.

Today a more adventurous version is worn by hunters in Africa and parts of Asia. The Philippines has several companies manufacturing it as a tourist souvenir. Recently I also bought one for old times' sake.

The pith helmet (also known as the safari helmet, sun helmet, topee, sola topee, salacot or topi) is a lightweight helmet made of cork or pith, typically from the sola (Indian swamp growth, Aeschynomene aspera or A. paludosa) or a similar plant [1], with a cloth cover, designed to shade the wearer's head from the sun. Pith helmets were once much worn by Westerners in the tropics; today they are most frequently used in Vietnam.[citation needed] (The forms solar topee and solar topi are folk etymology—the name comes from sola, and is not etymologically connected with the sun in any way.)
In British history the British Royal Marines wore "Wolseley" helmets. While crude forms of pith helmets had existed as early as the 1840s, it was around 1870 that the pith helmet became popular with military personnel in Europe's tropical colonies. The Franco-Prussian War had popularized the German Pickelhaube, which may have influenced the definitive design of the pith helmet.

British diplomats in tropical postings, Governors General, Governors and colonial officials continued to wear the traditional white helmets as part of their ceremonial white uniforms until the practice died out during the 1970s and '80s. The ceremonies marking the end of British rule in Hong Kong in 1997 were probably the last occasion on which this style of headdress was seen as a symbol of Empire.

The wild game hunter character Van Pelt wore a spiked pith helmet in Jumanji.

Source: Wikipedia.

(NB I may have to further check the word "sola" which might not be related to solar at all...stay tuned)

The Lanjak Entimau Salt Lick (Part One)

2009-03-14T07:26:00.011+08:00

Dato Professor Haji Mohammad Majid and I went back to the 70's where we met for the first time over the then new product Cornetto icecream.

I was a freshie and he had come over to visit our residential college famed for beauties. Our college had a boy-girl ratio of 1:4. No he was only looking for friends from Sarawak and in particular Tanjong Lobang School students. Then my friends and I made a return visit to meet up with other Sarawakian students in his First Residential College. My first impression of him as a focussed and intense scholar remains to this day. I am terribly proud of being his friend all these years.

The Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary is definitely a great place to visit once it is more open to ordinary tourists.

A salt lick is a salt deposit that animals regularly lick. In an ecosystem, salt/mineral licks often occur naturally, providing the sodium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and zinc required in the springtime for bone, muscle and other growth in deer and other wildlife, such as moose, elephants, cattle, woodchucks, domestic sheep, fox squirrels, mountain goats and porcupines. Harsh weather exposes salty mineral deposits that draw animals from miles away for a taste of needed nutrients.(Source : Wikipeadia)

Bernama news regularly publish articles about Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Santuary. Recently there was an article about Prof Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid (the leader of last year's June Expedition to the sanctuary) quoting him about a new discovery.

Professor Haji said today the Rhizanthes, a parasitic plant that could be found growing on other plants, has eco-tourism potential.

"We have other rare Rhizanthes in the Peninsula and Sabah but this is a new species," he told reporters after the launch of 'Seminar of Biodiversity of Eastern Lanjak Entimau - Hidden Jewel of Sarawak' by state assistant minister of planning and resources management Mohamad Naroden Majais here.

The expedition attracted 175 scientists from local and foreign institutions, including those from Brunei, Indonesia, Germany and Japan, who were involved in carrying out research on five main aspects of the area situated in the Heart of Borneo Project.

(Source: Bernama)

Most of Lanjak-Entimau remains inaccessible, and the means of entry is limited to difficult longboat journeys up various rivers such as the Lubang Baya, Engkari, Skrang, Ngemah, Poi and Katibas. Entry to the Sanctuary is controlled and limited to several access points only.

Recently I asked Professor Haji for permission to use his photos for my blog. I am really humbled by his generosity.

Professor Haji now a new Dato of the Sarawak State with his Cikgu from Tanjong Lobang School Miri- Datuk Yusuf Hanifah.

Deer having a lick of the salt.

A tangalong

A Mongoose

We have such wonderful resources like these in Sarawak. And I hope that private businesses will not destroy our nature ruthlessly for the sake of huge and easy profits.

Modern Man and wildlife must live a well integrated and balanced life to conserve the earth before it is too late. You and I are all part of that ecosystem. We cannot afford to ignore the rules of nature.

(Thank you Haji!!)

(part two coming up)

The Changing Faces of Moi Soung Cafe Sibu

2009-03-13T06:23:00.007+08:00

(Photo by Wong Meng Lei. Moi Soung is read from right to left)

The Cafe Moi Soung was started early in the twentieth century by two men who gave the cafe their names : Moi and Soung according to one source. The late Mr. Wong Nien Soung was a powerhouse of Foochow Opera who allowed his coffee shop to be the meeting place for the Foochow Opera group to practise in the early evenings.

Many social and economic changes have been seen right in front of the cafe. But within the cafe the coffee shop culture has also slowly changed . However three of the mainstays of the cafe are the coffee ; tea and the noodles (kampua)which have remained the same in perhaps taste and flavour for more than 50 years!! But porcelain plates have given way to the orange plastic plates. And of course the old coffee cups have given way to glass mugs.

Another remarkable change (perhaps not even the Kang Chu Wong Nai Siong himself could have foreseen) is the figure of the coffee hand (kopi chiw). The coffee hand (in modern terms the bar tender) is the man behind the counter who makes the coffee when it is ordered. It used to be a faithful man who worked for Moi Soung the whole of his life! When he passed on his son took over. Then over the years an Iban man has taken over that important spot. He can quickly make two or three cups of coffee within one or two minutes of your order. This is one remarkable aspect of a Foochow coffee shop. You do not have to wait until your seat is warm before your coffee is at the table served by an older Foochow man who has a ready towel over his right arm.

Foochow boys no longer work for food now in coffee shops like Moi Soung. Their parents used to send them to work in such food outlets so that their labour could be exchanged for "three good meals". The younger generation of Foochows have generally become educated and gone further afield. What I saw in the shop were Indonesian maids who served quickly and heartily.

The old charcoal stove has gone and in its place is the ubiquitous gas stove. It is traditional that the water is always kept piping hot over the stove to maintain the special flavour of the local ground coffee and also to make the service very quick.

These are two bowls of steaming hot pork balls soup. Lovely in taste and very special because the meat is specially chopped by hand and pressed without the additional or extra bean curd or tapioca flour.

This is the plate of special kampua or dry noodles with a simple lard and onion sauce. Some salt is added. The noodles are topped with some slivers of thin pork and chopped onions. The kampua is very addictive. Most people like to order a second plate after eating their first plate. Besides the ingredients the secret lies in how the plate of noodles is mixed with chopsticks and a big spoon before it is served. The Foochows call this "buak" or mix well and evenly with chopsticks and spoon.

The Foochows like their noodles to remain long .However if one has to share the plate of noodles with a friend one has to use the chopsticks skilfully to cut the noodles in this way (as shown in the photo). the Foochow word for this "cutting" of the long noodles is to use the chopsticks to "ga" the noodles. Usually when one eats noodles correctly and traditionally one usually just puts a chopstick of noodles into the mouth and then bite off with one's teeth. The Panda Po did it very well in the excellent movie "Kungfu Panda".

The marble tables and the special chairs are all gone now. In their place are the foldable laminated tables and plastic chairs. But the two frontages of the cafe continue to watch the boats coming in from the villages downriver. Perhaps the river boat horns are all gone but the noise of the bustle of the people is still there.

I had images of the traditional match maker and the potential brides and bridegrooms sitting and looking at each other secretly in the coffee shop. I gave a sigh that a great era of river side life and culture has gone. Life changes. People change.

Memories remain while visions dance before me as I ate my lardy kampua with friends. With a chuckle I told Tumi and Meng Lei( my hosts) that more than thirty years ago no one initiated a match for me in this very cafe which remains an important part of my Foochow childhood.

(All other photos by blogger using a simple Sony Cybershot)

Hercules of Sg. Ma'aw

2009-03-12T17:57:00.008+08:00

When we were growing up in Sg. Maaw near Chung Cheng School we admired our uncle Lau Pang Sing very much. He was not only a filial son to his mother my maternal grandmother Lau Lien Tie (Mrs. lau Ka Chui) but also a great cook and a strong man. We called him Ka Tuai or Big Uncle. He was also very extremely communicative and humourous.

We have a very old photo to show how strong he was: Here he was carrying a crate of aerated water over his shoulders with his two sons following behind. The crate had come with the motor launch and most probably it was Sing Hai Huong (New Sea King). The wooden platform is the jetty he built and a huge floating pontoon was at the end there where we used to wash our clothes. It was one of the biggest and best in Ah Nang Chong. People often called it Pang Sing Toh Tau. Two motor launches could berth easily alongside the pontoon which was built on at least six big logs. The pontoon was very well built and lasted for more than 30 years until the waves of the express boats broke it up in the mid 80's.

Just before Chinese New Year I had the opportunity to capture some traditional soft drink crates on film. I was passing by Selangau and one of the shops had these eight crates of Ngo Kiang aerated water. Each wooden crate traditionally would hold 48 of those brown glass bottles of aerated water or Kan Chui or pok chui. If smaller bottles were put into the crates the total number would be 72.

It was just an easy task for my Uncle Pang Sing to throw a crate over his shoulders and carry it up to the house which was about 200 metres from the river to the applause and merriment of the children ( there were about 19 or 20 of us). He was always called upon to carry heavy things by relatives and neighbours. And it was no wonder that he finally worked as wharf labourer in Sibu when times were really difficult during the Communist insurgency.

His filial piety was examplary. Whenever he came home from his work in Sibu or elsewhere he would look for grandmother first. He would ask Aunty Nguk Ling his wife "Where's Neh?" (Neh is the Foochow dialect term for Niang or mother.) Without fail that was the first question he would ask.If she was having her nap he would go to the room to whisper quietly to her that he had brought her the item she had requested before he went to work at the beginning of the week. It could be chicken wings or a slice of pork belly or may be even a bottle of hair oil.

He and Aunty Nguk Ling had trained their children very well and as visiting cousins we learned from them too. Whatever Grandmother loved (be it chicken wings or the belly pork) we would never dare to pick them first at the dinner table. She would always be the one to sit at the table first and have her choice pieces. And then we kids would start eating. These were our table manners.

Uncle Pang Sing had 8 children while Uncle Pang Ping had 7 children still staying with him and my aunt Yung has four small kids. And I would be visiting very often. When we started running on the first floor or upstairs of the house our elders thought that even the wooden floors could split open!! We were like hordes of Mongols riding on horses whenever we ran and played games like Eagle and Mother Hen.

Those were the days when we were young and innocent. But when we children think of those days we would always be grateful that we had a wonderful uncle like Uncle Pang Sing - our Hercules of Sg. Ma'aw.

Tea Group

2009-03-12T07:38:00.005+08:00

It was a lovely evening as Phyllis and I arrived at the rather inconspicuous corner shop near the Methodist Secondary School. The entrance to the Methodist Message Office was even more inconspicuous! The streets were quiet because it was a Public Holiday to celebrate Prophet Mohammad's birthday.

I was told that landmarks to indicate where the Methodist Message Office could be found were the MAS office and DAP's Wong Ho Leng's office!

And inside the office was another inner office or sanctuary which is Meng Lei's book and tea tins lined office. There were already ten or so members ( ten or more is a very Foochow reckoning)sipping tea daintily from those lovely tea cups.

The welcome was very touching and brotherly!! I felt as if I had come back from my river and lake (kerng hoo) escapade and I was home with brothers and sisters in arms. Unknown to me Meng Lei had sent out an sms to let friends know that he was having a tea meeting even though it was a public holiday thus making this post possible.

And I thank Phyllis and Meng Lei for this wonderful tea journey.

Stay tuned!!

(Photo by Liong - a tea group friend and sent to me by Meng Lei)

Bush Jackets (Buoh Ren Yi Reiin)

2009-03-08T06:13:00.007+08:00

In Miri you can get a fairly decent bush jacket made at about 600 ringgit (depending on the materials). This tailor told me that he has been making suits for more than 40 years and I think you can trust him to do a good job.

These two suits have been cut and sown by hand and they are neat and good looking. Most YBs were dark coloured suits. These two could be for fairer skinned customers.

The bush jacket or safari suit continues to be a mark of a Malaysian politician since the 1970's. So much so that the Sibu people would call such a suit Buoh Ren Yi Reiin (Minister's suit) So business for men's tailor in Sibu was brisk. Most community leaders had one or two suits made at quite a cost. This suit or jacket could take the place of a three piece suit and a necktie. Therefore when one did not like to wear neckties a bush jacket would be a very sensible substitute.

Umno youths in bush jackets.

A fashionable Parisian wearing bush jacket on a warm Summer's day.

A man wearing a bush jacket in the 1970's.

Brian Dixon who brought bush jacket into Parliament and made it inot an icon.

British Air Force uniform - the original bush jacket.

Abdullah Bedawi - blue bush jacket.

Very comfortable longsleeved bush jacket. YTL family ( a press release photo)

YBs in Sarawak when travelling usually wear bush jackets. A suit would be too impractical.

Have you ever received an invitation card that says " Lounge suit or bush jacket"
I would think the party is for gentlemen only. In such a card ladies are often disregarded. So what should the ladies wear? Batik or smart casual. I suppose. May be I will turn up in a niffy bush jacket made for ladies....There are indeed bush jackets for ladies....