For the sake of an update: Planet and Cherrie

I was on a photo editing spree one fine morning at work when the system was done. This was at Planet, the karaoke pub. Winnie was right. We are buay paiseh here already. Our second home! Hahah no lah kidding. But we are kinda immune to the other people there already cos we are regulars there. This is our new VA. New hangout spot. Don't know if this is a good thing or not. :D

We drink as much as we want (cheap beers and open corkage for Macallans cheaper than outside pubs), request songs to sing - also very buay paiseh. Screaming/screeching at the top of our lungs! HAHA kidding kidding! And then we start dancing. In a karaoke/pub. Btw, this is an open area. No private rooms.

 In the beginning, we were all shy and awkward when we started singing in public, but now not so much. (We here refers to me, Winnie and mum). But still after liberal amounts of alcohol lah. I salute people who sing without alcohol. 

This is the Retreat I was talking about at Lundu! 

And this is the little princess surrounded by her toys! She is soo spoilt! :)

 Little bundle of joy! Little cutie pie! She never fails to make us smile. This is her in a good mood cos all of us are crowding around her, playing with her. And just look at her toys. This is not all of them some more. She also has a lot of dresses/shirts.

Cherrie and Cs sniffing each other hahha: you smell pretty bad yourself.

OK have a good weekend everyone!

Jambu Restaurant and Lounge

I have always wanted to try Jambu. The place is not new; in fact it has been open for years! I always assumed that the food is expensive - more so than usual. I don't know what gave me that impression. More on that later. Show you the photos first.

It was a Friday night and the place was empty save for us and another table. In fact, we wanted to go to Secret Garden but it was so packed and we were staving so, we decided to fook it lah and try out Jambu. Finally! Btw, we here refers to Cs and I, plus Winnie.

Complimentary keropok with dip. The dip had a sourish minty taste that I didn't really like. Sour cream dip, yum, but the mint aftertaste wasn't really my cup of tea/sauce. But its nice that its complimentary, no?

We ordered tuak to share. Winnie's bright idea was good! It costs RM 20 for a big bottle. They brew it themselves, yum! It has a ginger after taste (not strong though), and slightly sweet. 

Very nice and smooth! Definitely try if you're there. Plus its cheap for a big bottle. It was quite strong too. After a few sips, our faces start to heat up. Hahha always a good thing!

We ordered a few dishes from the Tapas section of the menu. According to Wikipedia, Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. I love this section! I am definitely going back to sample more of the things that I have not ordered yet from the Tapas section!!

From the Tapas section, we ordered Spanish omelets, mussels with white wine, and chicken boxing. OK not very adventurous I know. But, I had Spanish omelets before made from some of my Spanish friends and I assumed they would be the same. 

Alas Jambu lost this round. The omelet was good, but a bit tasteless and I don't know..not so outstanding. But maybe that's just me! Its eggs and potatoes mi, what do you want?!! Ok fine fine! I take it back. RM 6 btw.

That was the Spanish omelet I had before..actually they look more or less the same.Only much, much smaller portion. Maybe I'm just much more picky now. =.=

There was a sauce on top but I forgot what sauce, sorry. Then how can you say Jambu lost this round? Ya ya, I take it back then. =.= talking to myself, I'm good at this. (And yah I looked like that back then. The guy is still cooking/making more omelets and we start eating already).

Anyway!! The mussels with white wine was absolutely divine! My language suddenly become so proper! Hahha I don't know what else to describe them. The sauce/soup!!! You could taste the white wine, and it was slightly creamy, plus the mussels were fresh!! I'm definitely going to order this again! RM 12 for 6 mussels (if I'm not mistaken).

Chicken boxing was good..they're chicken. What can I say about them? Hahha good nonetheless. RM 10 and I forgot how many there were.

The bread came complimentary - we had no idea what was supposed to be eaten with the bread, but we finished it all anyway. This is because the main course took so friggin longggggggg to arrive!! I KID YOU NOT!! About 40 mins to one hour!? I am NOT exaggerating!

So, we take photos to while the time away..click click flash click.

Finish 3/4 of our tuak..(about 1/2 of which are finished by Winnie).

And finally our Caesar salad arrives!! It does not disappoint though. It is good. And look, quail eggs?! RM 18.

Lemongrass chicken with wild rice. The chicken was very flavorful and tasty!! Really nice. Can order this if you're willing to wait 40 mins. RM 28.

We ordered fish and chips from the children's menu. This was really value for money though (RM 14), and quite a big portion! Doesn't look like it in the photo but bear in mind its RM 14 leh. This also came after 40 mins. #justsaying.

Total damage: RM 118. Quite surprised!

 Not as pricey as I thought. Quite affordable really but also because we ordered 3 dishes from Tapas!

 But yes, I would go back!! For special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, it is not bad. Just call and try to order the food in advance. Here's the menu from the website. Next time I go, I'll call and order in advance!!

For those not in Kuching:

Address: 32, Crookshank Road, Kuching, 93100, Kuching, Sarawak

Phone:  082-235292

Hallway to the toilet..

One last thing before I go, Jambu apparently won an award for toilet cleanliness. Hahaha yes, I did visit. And yes, it was very clean, stocked with toilet paper, tissue paper, hand towels, and there are hooks for handbags. There are also many ornaments, paintings, and stuff in the toilet. Go check it out lol.

*****

After that we went to Pullman hotel to meet up with friends..

Pretended to poke at goldfishes just to snap a photo..

 And have more tuak. This bottle costs us RM 28 (for a small bottle; about the size of a normal Heineken).

We asked the waitress how much was this, and she said RM 18, but when the bill came we realized it was RM 28.. Not worth it..but damn its good! Not as sweet, not ginger taste (not that its bad), and more gas. But still smooth. Took a photo for future reference!

OK bye.

Talang Satang National Park

Last Saturday, we went to Talang Satang National Park. 

I took the liberty of copying and pasting from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation website for you:

Sarawak’s first marine national park, Talang-Satang was established with the primary aim of conserving Sarawak’s marine turtle population. The park comprises the coastline and sea surrounding four islands of the southwest coast of Sarawak; Pulau Talang Besar (Greater Talang Island) and Pulau Talang Kecil (Lesser Talang Island) off Sematan, and Pulau Satang Besar (Greater Satang Island) and Pulau Satang Kecil (Lesser Satang Island) off Santubong, near Kuching. These four “Turtle Islands” are responsible for 95% of all the turtle landings in Sarawak. The park also includes the Pulau Tukong Ara-Banun Wildlife Sanctuary, two tiny islets which are important nesting sites for colonies of Bridled Terns and Black-Naped Terns.

So there you go. Proper explanation. I didn't know it comprised four islands. Thought I heard our guide told us it was three islands. And no, I don't know which island I went to. So for the purpose of referring to them later in this post, I shall refer to the island I went to as Talang-Satang island. :)

Apparently, the night before we went there, 7 turtles were on the island laying eggs at night!! OMG excited max! @_@ I was so excited. Walking around the coast, I kept hoping to see the adult turtles. Ahhh.. Anyway, as we went past another island, our guide (Ryan) told us that there was only one turtle on that island last night. So yeah sorry I still don't know which island I went to. =.=

But let's start at the beginning! We drove up at about 7:10 am and arrived at about 8:20 am at the jetty at Sematan. Not bad. Just one hour 10 mins. There was hardly any traffic at that time that's why. Empty roads save for us. Bit spooky to tell the truth. Loong stretch of road and no cars. Hahaha

After breakfast, we waited for the boat to arrive at about 9 am. That's Benz in the photo. He was walking in front of me and I can't exactly ask him to go away or run in front of him to take photo. Actually I can. Maybe I'll do that next time..

Crystal clear waters.. It was ok but at least not dirty. As we got further out to sea, the water was much clearer and greener.

My trusty blue towel. Doesn't matter that people are laughing at me hahhaa including the guy at the back zzzz.. I came back in the same shade of skin and that's good enough for me. :)

Lucky I didn't get sea sick this time round. Actually going to the island, I felt a bit dizzy and kept burping out air. SY, the guy in the black cap was worse than me, I think. He held a hand to his mouth and kept burping too...looking at him made me feel worse hahha. 

Lucky on the way back to mainland, I felt ok. Much better. Him, he closed his eyes, found a comfy spot to lay down till we reached back.

This is where the eggs hatch. After the mother lays the eggs at night, they scoop out the eggs and put them in one of this little wire mesh thingy, with labels and all. Apparently one of this little thingy represents one mummy turtle. Quite a lot eh.

The island is quite isolated, I think. I mean, when on the island, you can't see the mainland. Just sea everywhere and other islands.

Tried the Pano Camera app but didn't turn out so well.

To show you how clear the water was. Ok lah..alot of little fishes around, and sometimes you spot little turtles swimming. While snorkeling, the guys also saw a small shark. Eeeek. No idea how they know its a shark but our guide says so, so should be. Better don't cheat me!

Cs looks so weird in this photo hahha but its the only photo of us both..so..

The leetle baby turtles that just hatched..so cute. They are tiny and waddling about. I didn't dare hold them for too long and quickly set them back.

Hahah he was wearing swimming trunks underneath. And his hair is getting really pong - time for a haircut!

There were many turtle eggs around the beach. Some proper ones like this, some just the shells, and some bad ones.  You have to dig slightly to search for it though. Cos the turtles dig/make a hole to lay their eggs right.

The path the turtles make climbing up the beach. Actually I tilted the camera. It was nowhere this steep!

These poor turtles are the ones that didn't survive. Too little, they get eaten by bigger fishes. Of course lah got sharks in the water leh!

I actually thought they would keep the turtles for longer until they are bigger before being set back into the sea, but no, the newborn turtles are being sent back to sea immediately after the record it etc. 

So fast. But they are so tiny! How to survive? Sigh..that's why only about 1 or 2 out of 10 survive. Poor things. People, stop eating turtle eggs!

Boon and ying watching Vero in the water or at the fishies. Either one.

If you want to go to the island, be warned though. There are really very basic necessities on the island itself. The beach is not large or very clean. Because there are some bad turtle eggs on the sand, there are sand flies, many sand flies. We all sprayed on some mosquito repellent and yet I came back with a grand total of about 8 mosquito bites, at least!! My legs are freaking ugly now.

Btw, photo below stolen off err..I think it was Benz's FB. :)

Also, there is not much things to do on the island. We arrived at about 9.30 am and left by about 2+ pm. Tooo much time to spare doing nothing. It was hot. There was a house that serves as their office and living quarters. But other than that its jungle and beach . 

That's probably the only place of shade from the sun, besides from the office itself. We came up with games to occupy our time. You have to bring your own food and water, or stave and die from dehydration! HAHaha not funny! Toilet facilities - well, there were two cubicles and both the flush wasn't working. So I didn't bother going snorkeling. No way I'm going into that toilet to change yucks. So yea, just to prepare you guys who are planning to go anytime soon. :)

Photo above stolen off Doreen's FB page and below photo stolen from Ryan. Credits to both of them. Thanks.

Last group photo! OK bye!

Public holidays in Kuching

 4 days holiday in Kuching! Everyone is rejoicing. Today is finally the last day. Seems so fast. What did I do the past few days? 

Well, I had tuak on Gawai (seems fitting being Iban). This was at Jambu with Winnie and Cs. My first time there actually. I'll blog about the food next time. I'm short on time today. Blogging with a face mask on my face now. Rushing to finish so I can bath, change and go out for dinner with Cs' family.

 

We also went to Sematan, Lundu, Talang Satang Island with a bunch of friends. Baby turtles! Big thanks to Ryan and Doreen for organizing the trip, and to John and Macy for booking the room at the retreat!

Full post and shitloads of photos next time. Hahha

This was at the retreat at Lundu. I always don't know how to refer to this place. This is the Bank Union's training center. Only their employees can book the rooms (me thinks). That's why thanks to John and Macy.

 Drank every night. Its the holidays what! But not tonight. Its back to work tomorrow so back to normal life from now on..

Also visited Boulevard (like every other Kuching person who wants to see the new block), and yeah finally when there is no other activities planned, I sit down and open my laptop! 

That was my past few days. Short post. I gotta go now lah. Dinner with the in-laws.

K bye.