I have been wrecked with The ShitsTM whole day long. I ate 7
eggs last night, coz I felt like eating soft boiled eggs with lots of
pepper and soy sauce. Unfortunately, my body is not used to the prodigious
influx of protein and thus, I felt like I needed to go to the toilet all
day long. I’ve been subjecting my girlfriend to my odiferous farts too.
Speaking of flatulence, I had a tutor when I was in primary school who
told me the process of manufacturing “fart biscuits”. It is done by
putting a biscuit (I hear the Marie variety works particularly well) into
a Milo tin and farting into it, taking care to “clap the lid on as soon as
you fart”. According to him, there is a waiting period of 2 weeks for the
fart to be “absorbed” into the biscuit. After the appropriate time has
elapsed, the biscuit is to be gingerly removed from the Milo tin and
offered to an unsuspecting person. It is said that the original fart’s
odors will be released as soon as the biscuit is bitten into. A delayed
release fart-in-a-biscuit if you will. He also mentioned that if it’s done
right, the biscuit should expand to several times it’s original size,
courtesy of the fart. Even now, I wonder if he’s pulling my leg or if it
recipe really works (minus some embellishments). I’ve never tried it, I
don’t have the patience to wait though the 2 week fermentation period, so
if anyone can verify the authenticity of this recipe, do not hesitate to
mail me about
the details.
HB
Last week’s Friday Five
Since I seem to have forgotten to do last week’s
Friday Five [fridayfive.org],
I might as well do it now before the new one comes online in a couple of
hours. Better late than never. A saying that rates up there with “a gramme
is better than a damn”.
1. Where are you right now? In my room at my house in Sibu. Sadly,
I’m flying back to Melbourne on the 22nd of July, which is slightly more
than one week away. I always feel bummed when I’m about to go off, but at
least I only have one more year to go before I graduate.
2. What have you lost recently? My temper.
3. What was the first CD you ever purchased? Does that embarrass you
now?
“To the Faithful Departed” by The Cranberries [amazon.com]. Nah, I’m
not embarrassed of it, coz I still like them. My favorite song off that
album is Electric Blue. Funny fact: I bought the CD before I even had a CD
player. Heh. Unfortunately, this led to many jokes which goes along the
lines of:
Friend: Look at that Gameboy game! Don’t you like (insert game title)?
Me: But I don’t even have a Gameboy?
Friend: Nevermind, get it first and you’ll be motivated to get a Gameboy
then. *cackle*
4. What is your favorite kind of writing pen? The
Pilot
Pentopia Chameleon [pentopia.com] for the Palm m505. I carry my Palm
everywhere so that means I have access to a pen at all times. Even though
the shape is hardly conducive to serious writing, its very handy to have a
pen whenever you need one.
5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Cadbury’s
Caramello [pbfoods.com.au] tubs. Sinfully delicious and deliciously
rich. I have been known to finish 2L tubs in a single sitting. Little
wonder I weigh so much ever since I left for Melbourne.
Or maybe I’m just tired
I’m feeling pretty irritable now…the smallest things seem to set
me off and I find myself struggling to keep my temper the better part
of the day. This is known in the medical community as “Foul Mood-itis”
and is considered to be highly contagious. It must be because Venus is
overshadowed by Mars today, or something like that.
Sarikei
I went out at 8 am this morning to get some breakfast with Diana. Picked up Daniel too and headed off to Sugarbun to get something to eat, partly because it’s air-conditioned and partly because we haven’t eaten there in a while.
Me and Diana
Hung around there for an hour before Ah Chan joined us. We had to leave at 10 am though, to meet up with Yi Ching and Justina to go to Sarikei. We went to the city bus terminal to catch the bus, but the buses leaves in 2 hour intervals and we just missed the 10 am bus. We decided to take the express boat to Paradom and catch a bus from there. The bus fare from Paradom to Sarikei is RM 5.40, the most I’ve paid for a bus ticket in Sibu. Heh.
Me and Daniel
An hour later, we were in Sarikei and got some lunch while waiting for Jonas to pick us up.
Lunch at Sarikei
Obligatory picture with Sarikei signboard to show I was there
The pineapple replica in Sarikei town
After lunch, we walked to the tallest building in Sarikei (some government building) because it was air-conditioned. It was really hot today. We walked to Courts Mammoth after that to pretend to try the couches there. Another thinly veiled attempt to enjoy their air-conditioned premises, of course. I saw this interestingly named coffee shop besides Courts Mammoth. It’s named Ma Li Cafe which cracked me up.
Ma Li
If you speak Foochow, the words “ma li” will no doubt elicit chuckles. For those of you who don’t, it sounds like a mild profanity in Foochow. After that, we walked to SMB St Anthony (a high school), who seems to produce several individuals of high caliber.
St Anthony High School
Jonas picked us up from St Anthony’s and we headed to get some ABC special to cool down and headed off to Ngiu Kee to get a large bottle of cold mineral water.
Eating ABC special (an iced dessert)
We went to this new park in Sarikei after that, it’s called the Water Tower Park, if I’m not mistaken. The main feature is an old water tower.
Water Tower Park
The Water Tower
Jonas dropped us off at the government building again after that and we got visitor’s passes to go to the top floor. The top floor is the 10th floor (what did you expect?) and there is nothing much there, except a good view of the river and some exceptionally cool air conditioning.
View of the river with ferry in dock
A friend of Justina’s picked us up after that and took us to Sebangkoi, a nature reserve about 30 minutes away from Sarikei town. Took heaps of pics there and Yi Ching had cramps and was trailing us all through the reserve. =D
Bridge over a waterfall
Rapids
Arrrggghhhhh…the croc got me!!!!!!!!!!!
We headed to Daniel’s uncle’s orchard after that, where I was promptly bitten 1000 times by 1000 mosquitoes.
The orchard
Managed to walk though most of the orchard, which contains ‘landmines’ in the form of holes (some going down as far as 1 feet) which are covered by shrubbery.
Landmine
Tr navigation. I also managed to drive this mini tractor thing, which has no gas pedal, but only a lever to move faster. The gear shift is in between the legs too, and the tractor jittered all the time, which makes an interesting experience.
Mini tractor
We drove Daniel’s uncle’s car to Jakar (har har…sounds like penis in Malay) to get something to eat. Headed back to the orchard after that and hi uncle drove us back to Sibu at around 8:15 pm. Interesting day, but I managed to get mild heat stroke from the obscene heat. Poor Yi Ching was struck by heat stroke too, we’re both sensitive that way. Now where did I put my Poh Chi Kit pills?
From left: Huai Bin (me), Yi Ching, Justina, Daniel
Day trip
I’m heading down to
Sarikei [sarawaktourism.com] tomorrow with Daniel, Yi Ching and
Justina for Part III of my Rural AdventuresTM. Heh. We’ll be
taking either the express boat or bus there, depending on which one leaves
first. I was also surprised to receive a call from Diana today, who is in
Sibu for only two days. She’ll be leaving tomorrow evening, so I’m going
to grab some breakfast with her tomorrow morning and catch up on things.
Sibu Superbowl Part II
I was planning to update sooner, but I was caught up in a game of scramble
(a word game) in #kuching. Pretty fun and addictive stuff. Anyway, I went
out with Yi Ching, Daniel and Johnny today for some bowling action. Me and
Daniel had a game of pool while waiting for Yi Ching to arrive and I can
safely say that my pool skillz have not atrophied. It feels good to be
able sink shots using a dodgy cue. =D
My bowling skillz have improved somewhat too. I managed to get a strike in
this game.
Overall, I did better than last time. I used a heavy bowling ball and
rolled it down the lane with brute force, which seems to work much better
than that spinning nonsense I was trying last time. Heh. Managed to down
plenty of pins for a change. I think the velocity of the ball when it hits
the pins is very important, so I used a heavy ball and just hurled it down
the lane for maximum pin trippage.
After a couple of games, we headed down to the UCA (United Chinese
Association) food court in Bukit Lima. Had a bowl of those “longevity
noodles” that people eat during Chinese New Year and birthdays. It’s that
thin, clumpy rice vermicelli that is eaten with chicken soup. I don’t know
what possessed me to order that, since I don’t like that stuff at all.
Bintangor Day Trip
I headed down to Bintangor today with Daniel for some rojak. Daniel says
that the Bintangor rojak is really good, and sure enough, there were six
other groups of non-Bintangor residents eating rojak there. Anyway, we
took the 2:30 pm express boat out of Sibu wharf. The boat ride took 30
minutes and arrived at Paradom, where we had to catch a bus to Bintangor,
which took 30 minutes as well. There is a large fruit replica right in
Bintangor town, and Daniel says it’s a pau (a kind of large citrus fruit,
don’t know what it’s called in English) while I thought it looked like an
orange. The rojak store had a drink called Bintangor orange juice, which
somewhat supports my theory. I hear Bintangor is famous for it’s oranges
too. Anyway, I found the rojak so good that I bought two bottles of the
rojak sauce to bring back. We had an hour to spare coz the last express
boat leaves at 6 pm from the Paradom wharf, and we’ll be taking the 5:15
pm bus out of Bintangor to catch that boat. Bintangor is not a really big town, and we
managed to cover the whole town on foot in that one hour. Took heaps of
photos too.
The express boat to Paradom.
Paradom Jetty.
96500 Bintangor.
The Bintangor Orange replica.
The old part of Bintangor town.
The new part of Bintangor town.
The non working clock tower in the new part of town.
Old skool barber in front of the football field in Bintangor. Floyd the
barber is cutting the hair of the old man while two people wait for his
services.
I see people like to hang clothes out to dry from their window over here.
The famous rojak stall in Bintangor.
The rojak. Mmm…
Bintangor orange juice.
Got a couple of bottles of rojak sauce to go before we went back.
Sibu Band Competition
There was a band competition going on at Town Square today, so I headed
down at 6:15 pm, just before it was due to start. There were six bands
competing – The Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade, 3rd Division Girls and Boys
Brigade, Tiong Hin Band, Tung Hua Band, and Sacred Heart Bagpipe Band.
Tiong Hin’s performance was there best, and the loudest too, because they
had heaps of bass drums instead of the one or two that the other bands
have. Not surprisingly, Tiong Hin won the best drum solo and the first
place. Sacred Heart Bagpipe Band took the second place, to the
consternation of the crowd, because their performance wasn’t as good as
the other bands. Boys Brigade took the 3rd place. Now that I think of it,
I’m not so sure about the placings, so if it’s wrong, please
mail me to
enlighten me. It seems that the Tiong Hin band always gets first place in
Sibu competitions, but they are the best so there is nothing wrong with
that. My aggressive photography techniques managed to get me into the heat
of the action. I was walking very close to their lineup during their
encore and for some reason, I got stuck inside their formation. Heh.
Interesting that. Here are some pictures from the competition.
All pictures are clickable to bring up a larger picture.
Girls Brigade
(Click image for a larger picture)
Boys Brigade
(Click image for a larger picture)
Boys and Girls Brigade 3rd Division
(Click image for a larger picture)
Sacred Heart Bagpipe Band
(Click image for a larger picture)
Tiong Hin Band
(Click image for a larger picture)
Tung Hua Band
(Click image for a larger picture)
Tiong Hin Band got first place
(Click image for a larger picture)
The encore of Tiong Hin Band
(Click image for a larger picture)
Suzanne’s Corner
I had lunch at Suzanne’s Corner with my girlfriend today. The place is
beside Pathlab in Blacksmith Road, I heard of it through my father, who
gave me a brochure.
The place is run by Vietnam born Suzanne who is also a member of Wesley
Church. I had Vietnamese Pork Chop Rice (RM3.50) and my girlfriend had
Vietnamese Chicken Rice (RM3.50). We also shared a plate of Vietnamese
Spring Rolls (RM3.50). It’s probably the only place in Sibu you can get
Vietnamese food and the food is really good. Friendly service too, so if
you’re in the vicinity, do head over there. Don’t forget to try the New
Zealand Cheese Cake (RM4.50). =D
Vietnamese Pork Chop Rice
Suzanne of Suzanne’s Corner
Sibu Superbowl
I went to Sibu Superbowl today for some bowling action. There was a 9 pin
tag competition going on too, so we had to wait for a bit before a lane
was available. I think I’ve only bowled about 3 times before in my life
but it should be fun. My fingers were numb by the end of the session
because bowling uses muscles in my hands that I haven’t used in years. Heh.
We played for a total of two rounds, and I came in last. Johnny played a
couple of times before so he did pretty well. Daniel is a novice too, but
had a bit of practice a couple of weeks ago, and managed to get a score
close to Johnny’s courtesy of three strikes. I didn’t get a strike, but I
did get a spare, so I’m pretty happy with that. Anyway, we were using Lane
22, which has a bit of an anomaly with the pin grasping machine. A 1 point
score is guaranteed each time because the machine only grasps 9 pins
instead of 10 and thus 1 pin will be swept away each time when it resets.
That probably boosted my score a bit too. =D
6SEAL = Huai Bin (me)
SUCKA = Johnny
NIEL = Daniel
Not off to a good start. The 1 mark is due to the glitch, my ball went
into the drain both times.
The anomaly. Look at that one pin that wasn’t felled but is about to get
swept away by the bar because the machine didn’t pick it up.
End of first round: 47, 91, 86
End of second round: 115, 231, 176
