After noticing a cendol pulut stall near the Sungai Gelugor mosque, I did a Google search and stumbled upon reviews of the cucur (fritters) and cendol stalls at Jalan Ismail Nagore in Gelugor, Penang (the place used to be the Gelugor express bus stop). So, I decided that I'd have lunch there on 9 June 2011.
They were both simple roadside stalls, no names... just signs to indicate what they were selling. Cucur is a thick deep fried fritter made of flour, bean sprouts, and prawn. Cendol by default is a dessert made of coconut milk, brown sugar (gula Melaka), short green noodles, and kidney beans; while cendol pulut has glutinous rice added.
The cucur stall also serves taukua (tofu), egg, frankfurter, fishcake, potato, and a few other items... all deep fried.
[Cucur lunch: With taukua, potato, egg, and fishcake added. RM4.20]
[Cendol pulut: Refreshing. RM2.30]
My verdict? Delicious! I shall return...
Our recent outings to the Ayer Itam area seem to be dampened by rain. The latest outing-cut-short was to the Ayer Itam Dam on 29 May 2011. It was the first visit to the dam by the boys. The weather looked fine at first but after parking the car and before we could even start walking across the dam, it started to drizzle. Argghh!
[Julian and Mummy at the Ayer Itam Dam]
Happy Birthday, Julian! Julian turned 4 years old on 28 May 2011.
Here are his updates:
- He has shown that he's the caring "big brother". There were times when Justin dilly-dallies when asked to go indoors, and when we threatened to walk-off, Julian would run over to Justin to hurry him on, or pull his hand.
- Currently he likes to ask Justin: "Justin, you want? Ya?" for a variety of things. Justin would always answer "Ya!"
- For a few months, he has been talking to Klaus Bear before he sleeps. We use Klaus Bear to ask him questions to engage him in conversation. They then tuck each other into bed.
- His reading continues to improve. He can now read simple phrases from newspapers and brochures.
- He's hooked on singing Kenny Roger's "Through the Years" by heart, and some parts of Kenny Nolan's "Love's Grown Deep". He had been hearing these songs from the family photo montages we made.
- Ever since our Kuching holiday, he's now a fan of 7-Eleven. When we ask him what he wants to do there he'd answer, "to buy something" or more precisely "to buy Slurpee!".
[Julian]
[Julian eating banana]
[Julian having a good laugh]
Julian has always been the very active-type. He doesn't sit still except when glued to the TV or computer, or when sitting in a baby chair during meals, or when "held at gunpoint" to do homework :o). However, he's showing some signs of "mellowing down"... perhaps he's maturing a little bit.
For quite some time running up to his birthday, he would often say "My birthday - Mickey Mouse!" (for his cake) and sometimes "My birthday, go restaurant". We eventually bought him a Mickey Mouse cake for him to celebrate with his friends in school the day before his birthday.
[Julian's Mickey Mouse cake to celebrate in school]
On his actual birthday, we celebrated with a lunch at Sea Palace Restaurant.
[Julian's ice-cream cake (from Ah Kong) with Mickey Mouse: For the family celebration at the restaurant]
[Julian cutting his birthday cake]
[Family photo]
Justin turned 22 months on 25 May 2011.
Here are his updates: - He's gradually getting back into his bottle milk routine, almost always finishing 4 oz again. However, we noticed that he likes it earlier in the night and he does better when he's drinking in front of the computer *slap head*. Our primary objective now is to get him to drink... deal with the computer bit later...
- He can say 'stop' with hand action, 'tuck' (truck), 'ep' (help), 'mao' (mouth), ear, yellow, purple, 'dek yu' (thank you), 'beck' (black), bag, and 'shish' (fish).
- He sometimes dilly-dallies just before entering the apartment door. So, we resort to counting from one to three and he complies.
- He likes to line up vehicles, push them, and say 'teet-teet' (imitating Thomas the Tank Engine's whistle).
- He sometimes gasps when he sees something exciting... real drama king...
[Toys in line]
[Banana time!]
[Mummy giving Justin a lift]
[Justin in the pool]
[Justin the Drama King]
7 May 2011 was our last day in Kuching. At about 9.30am, we drove to Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in Kota Samarahan. We drove around the campus, admiring the golf course, the huge lake, and campus facilities.
At about 11.00am, we were back in the city. We boarded a bot tambang, crossing the river to visit the Kek Lapis (layer cake) Dayang Salhah shop. What seemed to be a village house has now turned into a thriving cake business with a countinuous stream of customers. Prices range from RM10-RM20 a slab. Some even had interesting designs and colours.
[Kek lapis samples at the shop]
[Kek lapis being made]
[Colourful kek lapis and chocolate cheese cake]
After the cake shop, we bought some souvenirs at the waterfront bazaar. We then had a simple lunch at the Borneo Cafe before heading back to the hotel to check-out.
We made it to the airport in good time and returned our rented car. However, our departure wasn't without a little "drama". During the security clearance, we realised that Julian was without a boarding pass. At the check-in counter, I had just taken the whole pile of boarding passes without ensuring that all was in order. So, Julian and I made a mad dash to the check-in counter to have his boarding pass re-issued. The rest of our journey was uneventful.
[We're leaving on a jet plane: That's our ride home]
On the whole, we enjoyed our holiday in Kuching. Perhaps we will explore other towns in our future visits to the Land of the Hornbills.
More on our final day of our Kuching holiday on Chris & Connie's Blog.
We made a trip to Bako National Park today. We left the hotel at about 9.30am in a rented automatic Proton Wira sedan (RM240 excluding taxes for a day-and-a-half). Armed with a GPS, we drove to Kampung Bako about 30 minutes away. At the jetty, we hired a boat (RM94 per boat, return) which took us to the mouth of Sungai Tabo out into the South China Sea before arriving at the park headquarters. It was a 20-minute ride.
[The jetty at Kampung Bako]
[Fishermen catching prawns in the South China Sea]
Before setting foot in the park, we asked the boatman about seeing the sea stacks. He obliged, taking us on another 20-minute ride (RM35 per boat). There were many interesting rock formations - an eagle, the Sphinx, a proboscis monkey's nose, and the famous one looking like a cobra.
[Doesn't this resemble the Sphinx of Giza?]
[The cobra-like sea stack]
We arrived at the headquarters at about 11.15am, having to wade through shin-deep sea water. As we were washing our feet near the cafeteria, we were greeted by the "resident" wild pig. While my parents went off on a hike, we and the boys had a simple lunch before setting off on our own kiddy-paced hiking experience. At 12.30pm, we first attempted the Telok Delima trail. After about 30 minutes we decided to turn back as the boys seemed restless (or bored) on the boardwalk trail, and Justin had soiled himself.
[The wild pig: Looking for the toilet, perhaps?]
[Monkey business]
At about 1.30pm, we decided to try out the Telok Paku trail. We had to walk past a mangrove area before arriving at the start of the trail. This was when we met my parents who, being experienced hikers, had already made it to the Telok Paku beach and back. The hilly Telok Paku trail was a hit with the boys. They loved scrambling over the rocks and uneven ground. But when we arrived at the 100m mark after about 30 minutes, we had to turn back although the boys seemed to want to explore further. We had agreed to meet our boatman at 3.00pm.
[A small snake]
[The mangrove area just before the Telok Paku trail]
[Marching along the Telok Paku trail]
[A hiking landmark for the boys]
[The list of trails at the Bako National Park]
We rendezvous-ed at the cafeteria at about 2.30pm and ordered some cold drinks. We left shortly after 3.00pm and arrived back at Kampung Bako at 3.25pm. It was a short visit but considering we had the boys with us, we were happy to have made the most out of the time we had.
There is a bus service between Kuching and Kampung Bako. The fare, as advertised on the bus we saw, was RM3.50 one way. Not sure where to get the bus in Kuching, but it stops right at the Kampung Bako jetty.
For the record, that night, we had dinner at Planet Sambal located not far from our hotel. The food was quite spicy and not bad actually. However, the dining experience was marred by the restless boys *sigh*.
More on our visit to the Bako National Park on Chris & Connie's blog.
It was the day of the Imagine Cup competition. Bart accompanied his students on this day. For Dad, Mum, the boys and I, we hired a van with a driver to take us round (RM300 per day). This was a better alternative to joining any package tour as it gave us more flexibility in our itinerary.
In the morning, we went first to Semenggoh to see orang utans in their natural habitat. Entrance fee was RM3 per adult. It was feeding time when we arrived and so we got to see the orang utans. Visitors have to be very quiet so as not to provoke the dominant male orang utan which was present. We left as soon as the boys started getting restless - which wasn't too long after we arrived.
[Orang utans at play]
Next stop was the Jong Crocodile Farm. Entrance fee was RM16 for adults and RM8 for children. Justin went in for free :-) Julian liked his visit here as there were many animals to see. If you're thinking of visiting, consider using insect repellent. Lots of mosquitos. The 'highlight' at the farm was the crocodile feeding in which the crocodiles would be lured to jump up to catch their meal. Frankly, what started off as an amazing spectacle turned to a pitiful sight after a while. There appears to be only a limited number of 'bait' so the feeders would pull the meat out of reach of the poor hungry crocodiles as they jumped in order to prolong the show. Imagine having your meal snatched away from you over and over again! Once or twice, I can accept, but the poor crocs, especially for the last two chickens, had to jump countless times. No, I can't say that I enjoyed watching that.
[Julian looking at the crocodiles]
[Jumping crocodiles tyring to catch a meal]
[A cassowary at the crocodile farm]
From the crocodiles, we made our way to Bau, about 40mins away. Justin and Julian slept on the way. We had lunch at a coffee shop in Bau. Justin continued sleeping (the boys had already eaten while at the crocodile farm). After lunch we went to see the Wind Cave. We didn't go inside. Just took a few photos at the entrance. Next, we proceeded to the Fairy cave. The entrance is very high up and we didn't fancy climbing, especially with Julian in tow, so our driver took us to another spot nearby for us to take some photos. After that we headed back to the city.
[Julian at a cave]
Enroute to Kuching we stopped to see pottery-making. Nearer the city our driver took us to see how bird's nest is processed. It's a really tedious task.
[Potter at work]
[Hearing a briefing at the bird nest factory]
Finally we visited the Sarawak Museum. It has two storeys of exhibits but we only covered the ground floor because of the boys. The boys were delighted to see the exhibits of old model vehicles (bus & train). There were also taxidermy of animals which we found educational for the boys.
[The boys and Dad at the Sarawak Museum]
We arrived back at the hotel at about 4.30pm. Bart arrived at about the same time. After a shower and a short rest, we went out for dinner. We decided to eat at Top Spot, a popular seafood foodcourt. We ordered midin (young fiddlehead ferns) cooked with belacan (prawn paste), sotong goreng tepung (squid deep-fried in batter), and ray fish with sambal. Our meal cost us about RM30. This was the best meal that we had during our Kuching holiday.
[Top Spot]
[Midin in belacan]
[Ray fish with sambal]
After dinner, Bart went back to Pullman Hotel to hear the announcement of the results of the Imangine Cup Malaysia Finals. Unfortunately, no overseas trip this year, unlike two years ago.
More on our Day 3 in Kuching on Chris & Connie's blog.
