If you’re in Sibu and you’re looking for something different, other than those same old coffee shops, you can actually take a ride to the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Sibu.

No, I’m not asking you to worship the Gods, but right beside the temple, there’s a block of revamped building that houses Sibu’s finest lounge and cafe. The lounge is located at Jalan Chew Geok Lin. The once antique building looks great now after major refurbishment works.

The building is owned by Wah Tat Holdings. The lounge is closed in the morning, nothing’s happening there during daytime…but when the sun goes down…

Mary and I were having a getaway in Kuching last week. We were enroute Lundu town, about 100km away from Kuching for its picturesque Sematan beach. The town sat close to the border of Kalimantan, Indonesia. But our journey were cut short, or rather, unsuccessful where we had to make a U-turn back to Kuching City due to bad weather, and as darkness closed in, we dare not venture into the unfamiliar territory.

There are no lights nor residence for as long as the eyes could see and the terrain is rough. Wrong timing for a trip like this…but we could still afford to stop for a HDR photography session.

After that long, 8 hours journey from Sibu, the first thing that comes to our mind once we’ve reached Kuching City is FOOD! We’ve yet to take any solid meals since we left early in the morning at 6 a.m. I’m nursing a sorethroat and any hot, deep fried finger food at the rest stop is prohibited by Mary.

It’s freaking hot and humid here in Kuching, a scorching 38 degree celcius sunshine is burning our skin off. Sitting under the lowly covered zinc roof food court isn’t such a good idea, but the food must be good enough to be able to lure us here! Many thanks to Mary’s brother-in-law, Francis, for bringing us around Kuching to hunt for their best foods.

Kuching Open Air Food Court. Not the orange concrete building.

Another stretch of the food court, which only opens at night.

Inside the food court. The ceiling is made of the old asbestos board and the roof structures made of wood, which is abundant in the timberland of Borneo.

The famous Sin Kwang Heng Kuching open air market Sio Bee (Siu Mai – 烧卖). So famous it’s even being “exported” to Miri! But you gotta try the fresh ones here.

Laksa. Although I’m nursing a sorethroat, but die die I’ve to order laksa, because I’m in Kuching! They said Kuching laksa’s the best in the whole of Sarawak. But, I have other ideas, I would say Miri has the best laksa – and it’s at Jalan Krokop 10 just beside the Krokop Wet Market.

We also went to the place where they serve the best Laksa in Kuching at 3rd Mile, Golden Arch. Also, disappointingly, not as good as Miri’s.

Kolo Mee. This is the best kolo mee I’ve had for years. They “saturate” the noodle with their “Char Siew” (BBQ) oil, which brings about the addictive aromatic fragrance to their kolo mee. Although it’s a bit too oily and certainly not good for the health conscious bunch.

Kuching Rojak. I know this is not the best rojak in Kuching. Nevermind that, cause Bintangor has the best Rojak in Sarawak.

Nothing beats this cool and refreshing 五味汤 (5-flavor syrup) on a hot sunny day. It’s a mixture of 5 (sometimes 6) different Chinese herbs in a sweet syrup with a scoop of blended ice on top. Perfectly cooled me down after a bowl of hot laksa.

Bb had her favorite ABC.

This concludes my first day in Kuching City. Stay tuned for more stories from the Cat City!

When it’s raining, get under an umbrella. This is yet another fine dining place popping up like mushrooms after the rain.

This is Payung Cafe @ Lanang Road. It’s a few blocks before Fat Mum Restaurant if you’re going from Upper Lanang towards the town area.

This is Payung Cafe from the outside.

The typical, laminated menu.

Mango Milk Shake @ RM5. Tasted okay, but adding some mango bits would certainly boost the taste.

Springroll.

Chicken Rice. Lots of bones and the chicken is tasteless.

Pamelo Salad, Thai style.

Guava Salad, Thai Style.

I’ve to say their Thai style salads taste great. Probably the best dishes of the night.

Not to be mistaken with the Little Umbrella Cafe (Xiao Yu Shan) at the end Brooke Drive, this Payung Cafe is located at a shoplot beside shipyards and timber yards along the Lanang Road, a few blocks away from the Fat Mom Restaurant. They serve mainly exotic Asian dishes and some western dishes. It’s not easy to spot, if you need directions, please contact me!

12km from the pineapple town of Sarikei is the Jakar Rest Stop. The rest stop consists of a few rows of shophouses and an awkward monument to symbolize the place’s main produce – Sarawak’s pepper.

Jakar (Zakar), is a Malay word that carries the meaning of a man’s sex organ. It’s still a mystery to what makes the pioneer in choosing such term to their little township, but I guess they’re just following suit. I mean, there’s fucking roads in Austria, why can’t they name their town Dick? right?

Or maybe it’s just the pepper plantations…

Will Chua was kind enough to guide us here for a peanut soup stop, at the expense of his working hour at his family-owned motorbike store.

The peanut soup. Will Chua’s favorite during his free time. Erm, someone said there’s better peanut soup elsewhere, I’ll review it when I had the chance to taste it.

Peoples stop-by here enroute to Sibu from Kuching, or vice versa. That’s why it’s called a rest stop. Usually they’ll get quick food here before continuing their journey.

The coffee shop even has its own mini mart!

The eggs and pepper. Still seen in some old kopitiams, some will put pulut panggang, some put karipap. But as for this one, it seems like their pepper is free. Put in such a big bottle. But it’s not surprising anyway cause they can always get from the Dick when they run out of pepper.

I took a massive 3 days off last week and went back to Miri for the Hari Raya holidays. I had the chance to visit Brunei to check out the sports rims there. Will be getting them at the end of this year.

While approaching the Brunei Sultan’s Palace, we spotted these crowds along the stretch of the palace roads. The palace is open for public visitation every year during the Hari Raya season. During the visit, you get to shake hands with the Sultan himself and grab a free goodie pack, along with some hot food served on the spot – if you’re willing to wait on the queue.

A little traffic jam here.

The palace entrance.

Visitation hour is over and the crowd comes out of the palace.

I wonder how he managed to get so many of those goodie packs. I thought there’s only 1 for each person? By the way, those goodie packs are actually filled with food.

And then, there’s more people with goodie packs.

Everyone has it, little ones, old ones.

Goodie packs for the whole family.

Those who didn’t get it were left dejected and sitting by the roadside.

The chick in pink got a goodie pack too!!!!

Alright, enough of those goodie packs, I’ll show you some nice rims in the next post.