Attractions in Mukah

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sunday morning

Mukah is a pretty small town but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have anything to offer besides the infamous sago worms and umai. I stayed at the Kingwood Resort Mukah with Clare, which is about a 14 km distance away from the town. We woke up at around 9 am in the morning, and I read the papers while having my nicotine fix at the balcony before deciding to head down to Mukah.

hitched ride

Unfortunately, the hotel shuttle is currently in transit and the reception informed us that all the taxi drivers are on assignment so I told Clare we’ll just stand by the highway and hitch a ride. I had this idea of using a RM 5 bill (RM 10 if that fails) to flag passing cars to Mukah down. We looked like tourists so I reckon people would be inclined to pick us up. The first car didn’t stop and it started to seem like a bad idea when an SUV saw us and pulled up.

drive

These fine folks were on assignment from HICOM for a Mukah project and was all too happy to drop us off at Mukah. They wouldn’t even accept payment but I insisted, noticing the cigarette packs on the dashboard, to buy them some smokes. It was very kind of them to do that, most people wouldn’t stop but I have faith in The System (TM). 🙂

mukah mascot

They dropped us off at Mukah Old Town where the pasar tamu is. This is the central market where you can get umai, sago grubs, tebaloi, and other authentic Melanau produce. The official mascot of Mukah is a fish – Mukah is known for their fresh fish from the sea and fish is their primary export.

fish gills

I’ve been told that the best method of ensuring that a fish is fresh is to look at the color of the gills.

fish bite

It may also be necessary to bite off a chunk of fin to verify the freshness of the fish.

fish camwhore

I have been learning the arcane arts of camwhoring to limited success too. 😉

tamu stall

The pasar tamu has a lot of stalls selling local produce such as tebaloi, belacan, fish crackers and sago pearls. The kind ladies at the stall were nice enough to show us how sago products are actually made.

sago paste

Sago comes in a paste form which can be used for cooking various dishes or processed to make other sago products.

sago pearls

Sago pearls are made from sago paste after a baking process. There are different grades and sizes of sago pearls, some of which is eaten with umai and some for cooking.

tebaloi

The famous tebaloi (sago crackers) is a sweet biscuit made of sago flour that has been exported to markets as far as the US and Australia.

fish market

Our next stop is to the famous fresh fish market, where the catch of the day is sold straight from the fishing vessels the very same morning.

barracuda

The stalls were doing brisk business selling everything from barracudas…

stingray

…to stingrays.

old man

We met this friendly old man selling stingrays who saw us taking photos and quickly pointed us to the opposite stall where a huge stingray has just being caught and was in the process of being chopped into more manageable portions.

huge stingray

The gigantic stingray was easily the size of a car tire and the man handled the dissection with the ease of one with years of experience, pulling out the innards and chopping the parts into smaller sizes.

baby sharks

We also saw a catch of baby sharks. They look really cute in that size, but I imagine the cuteness factor will disappear when one of them bites your toes off. 😉

fishing

Fishing seems to be the favorite pastime of the people of Mukah. It’s done on a large industrial scale with fishing vessels and also on a smaller scale with recreational anglers at the pier.

crucified

This is the obligatory “I was here” photo with the Welcome to Mukah sign. Crucified and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. 😉

temple

Mukah is also home to a famous Chinese temple built by the early Chinese settlers in 1879.

lion

I found the statue of a lion with a fatherly paw over it’s cub very adorable. 🙂

sago chimney

The main historical attraction in Mukah is the 20 meter tall chimney from the first sago factory in Mukah. We nearly missed it due to its unassuming facade.

mukah end

Mukah is a very laid back and relaxed town that is about to be developed into a huge administrative capital from the SCORE project. The town is a little bit far from the resort, but it’s definitely worth the trip, if only to experience the culture and heritage of the Melanau people.

sixthseal.com Guide to Eating Umai

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umai stall

Umai is a raw fish dish prepared by the Melanau tribe in Mukah. It’s a must try dish if you ever go to Mukah. It’s the Malaysian version of the sashimi and is traditionally the working lunch for Melanau fishermen.

Umai is made of thinly sliced slivers of raw fish and served with toasted sago pearls. The popularity of the dish for the fishermen is pragmatic – it doesn’t need to be cooked while deep sea fishing and the sago pearls provides the carbohydrates for a filling lunch.

me slicing fish

The fish has to be really fresh for umai to be prepared since it’s eaten raw. I tried my hand at slicing the raw fish and gave myself a nasty cut to the index finger.

umai segar

Umai is readily available in the markets of Mukah and it’s one of the flagship dishes that Mukah is known for (besides sago grubs). There are two different versions of umai – the traditional umai sambal campur and umai cecah jeb.

The sixthseal.com Guide to Eating Umai

umai step 1

Step 1: Ensure that a reputable umai stall is patronized. The fish needs to be really fresh for raw consumption to avoid uncomfortable conditions like E.Coli and explosive diarrhea.

umai step 2

Step 2: Find a comfortable place to mix your own umai. The ingredients for making umai can all be purchased at the stall and most of the stuff is prepackaged and premixed to the right amounts.

umai step 3

Step 3: Receptacles for the mixing of umai is essential. You would require a plate and a bowl in addition to forks. Sago pearls are eaten using your hand. Empty the raw slivers of fish into the plate. You can opt to retain a small portion of the raw fish for the the other version of umai.

umai step 4

Step 4: Inspect the contents of your umai sambal campur package. It should contain a bag of premixed ingredients essential to the umai experience containing raw onions and chillies. Calamansi limes should also be in the package for the original umai as well as a small packet of salt and the crunchy peanut cookies.

umai step 5

Step 5: Open the packet of crumbly peanut cookies and put it on top of the raw fish slivers. This is the secret ingredient in all good umai dishes that provides the sweet and crunchy texture to the dish.

umai step 6

Step 6: Crush the peanut cookie into a finely grounded powder using the fork. You need the peanut cake to be evenly distributed throughout the dish.

umai step 7

Step 7: Pierce the calamansi limes using a fork to enable a reasonable flow of the juice into the umai. Do not attempt to squeeze the lime without penetrating it with a fork (or another sharp utensil) first. Splash damage is likely to occur.

umai step 8

Step 8: Squeeze the calamansi lime over the raw fish.

umai step 9

Step 9: You need all the calamansi lime juice provided since the acidic nature of the fruit “cooks” the raw fish. I’ll explain the scientific principles at the bottom of the guide.

umai step 10

Step 10: Open the small packet of salt and empty the contents into the umai. The salt offsets the sourness of the calamansi lime and makes it sweet.

umai step 11

Step 11: Open the plastic bag containing the thinly sliced onions and chillies and empty it into the plate of umai.

umai step 12

Step 12: Toss the umai with a fork as you would toss a salad. The motions are similar and so are the aims – to mix everything as evenly as possible. The traditional umai is now ready for consumption!

umai step 13

Step 13: The final step is to empty the sago pearls into a bowl for easier consumption. The sago pearls are eaten using your bare hands to go with the umai.

umai step 14

Step 14: Consume the umai with a handful of sago pearls. The umai should be eaten first and chased with the sago pearls for the authentic Melanau umai experience.

Guide to eating umai video

Optional:

umai jeb

There is a new variant of umai called the umai cecah jeb which is dipped into a sambal (spicy paste) concoction.

umai jeb eat

You’re supposed to take a forkful of umai (raw fish) and then dip it into the special sambal sauce and eat it. It’s delicious! The sambal really got oomph! Very spicy. I like!

Guide to eating umai cecah jeb video

Caution:

splash damage 2

Splash damage is likely to occur even with the proper piercing technique as can be seen on Clare’s top. Respect the calamansi lime and it shall respect you. 😉

Explanation:

difference is clear

The calamansi lime has acidic properties that “cooks” (cures would be a better word) the raw fish in the umai due to reasons beyond my understanding. It just works.
The left fork contains the raw fish before the calamansi lime treatment and the right fork contains the slightly “cooked” fish after being marinated in calamansi lime. You can see the difference in the coloration and texture of the fish.
The difference is clear (TM). 😉

Mukah beach

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mukah beach

The primary attraction of Mukah is the pristine beach that surrounds the town. The cool breeze coming in from the beach is refreshing with a hint of saltiness and it called to us like moths to a light.

ah beng

It was evening when we arrived in Kingwood Resort Mukah and I went down on, oops, I mean, with Clare to check out the beach and assumed my signature Ah Beng pose before going into the sea.

beached whale

It was fun to just lie in the sea and let the waves wash over your body. Very therapeutic. I’m having a (beached) whale of a time. 😉

making mud mask

Mud masks are available in the local Mukah beach for next to free. Scoop mud and slather it all over your face.

mud mask

It makes for a good sunscreen as well but I got sunburnt anyway.

clare beach

Clare: The new definition of extreme laziness – sex on the beach by sitting in the sea, waiting for the waves to do the rest.

typo 1

I just had to do the obligatory Pimp My Blog thing on the beach. Unfortunately, my sobriety level was not at it’s optimal peak and I wrote “SIXTS…” before Clare corrected me and I used the stick to undo the typo.

typo 2

I then proceeded to make another typo – this time spelling it as “SIXTHT…” before she corrected me again. OMG! What is wrong with me? I can’t even spell my own blog URL. 😉

pimp blog

However, with a bit of concentration, I finally got it right. 🙂

blog done

sixthseal.com

sixthseal

I was so proud of the creation coz it took me so long to do it…

trample

…and Clare just proceeded to trample on it. 🙁

red eyes

Mukah beach is fun but be forewarned – there be monsters. I got bitten by something with pincers and so did Clare (twice). Clare also managed to get sand into her panties. I’m not sure why she was wearing panties under her swim wear in the first place, but apparently sand in the linings of lingerie is almost impossible to wash off. Abandon all hope, all ye who enters here! =D

…and no, I did not take off my Speedos this time. 😉

Blogger name cards

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mock

It has come to my attention that bloggers have started to pass out name cards. I seem to have lost touch with the blogosphere during my time in rehab coz I didn’t even know that was going on. It’s a vanity thing but I got a friend of mine who’s really good in design to do one for me. Heh!

phoenix card front

Front

phoenix card caps

Back #1

phoenix card 2 back

Back #2

I’m not sure which one looks better? Does the “Poh Huai Bin” with caps or the “poh huai bin” without caps look nicer? Comments are appreciated.

I’m going to run a limited 100 pieces print using a standard laser printer coz the KL printers won’t be able to produce them in time for the really good quality ones. The local printers are charging me RM 40 for the 100 pieces run. I’m going to get them printed from KL using four color offset printing with double sided matte lamination and spot UV on 260 gsm art card for only about RM 62 for 200 pieces.

Does anyone have a better deal? I’m looking for high quality printed name cards. Feedback about the back portion of the card would be appreciated. Cheers!

sixthseal.com Guide to Eating Live Sago Worms

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sago worm guide

Sago worms are eaten raw in Mukah, where it is considered a delicacy of sorts. Sago worms looks a lot like huge, fat maggots with spiny fangs.

sago worms header

The worms will actually bite you if you touch it’s head, which is why it’s advisable to tear the head off before consuming it raw.

sago worms packet

Sago worms are sold live, in packets of RM 5 and you can still see the worms wriggling around in the packet.

sago worms

The native habitat of sago worms is inside the trunk of a sago palm tree. The worms are kept in the sago flour and picked out and packaged into manageable sizes.

The sixthseal.com Guide to Eating Live Sago Worms

step 1

Step 1: Pick a big, fat and juicy worm. Care should be taken to not touch the sago worm’s head since it has pincers that will bite you. The pincers are used to burrow into the sago palm trunk so it’s quite sharp.

step 2

Step 2: Look the sago worm in it’s eyes. You’re about to pull it’s head off and eat it so it’s only polite to smile at it before doing so. Worms have feelings too.

step 3

Step 3: After the niceties has been done away with, it is time for heads to roll. Grip the squirming worm firmly with one hand and use the forefinger and thumb of your other hand to grasp the sago worm’s head and rip it off.

step 4

Step 4: Insert the still wriggling worm into your mouth.

step 5

Step 5: Chew. Take the time to savor the taste of live sago worms. There is a burst of flavor when you first bite into the wriggling worm from the innards spilling out onto your palate. Delicious!

Caution:

splash damage

Care should be taken when plucking the head off the sago worm. The innards can cause a bit of Splash Damage (TM) as can be seen with Clare’s spaghetti strap top.

sago worm stall

Thanks to the friendly people at the sago worm stall in Mukah for showing us the proper way to consume a live sago worm.

Sago worms are delicious! It’s a little bit like Pringles, once you start, you can’t stop. I ate a lot of the worms with Clare. She overcame the Fear Factor bit and ate a couple of the worms too.

Here’s another video guide to eating live sago worms. I took three videos of the process just to get it right. Heh!

Sago worms. Mmm…tastes like chicken! 🙂

Mukah – The journey

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bus mukah

I went down to Mukah for a night’s stay at Kingwood Resort, Mukah during the weekend. Mukah is the nearest beach to Sibu and is about 144 km away. The journey takes approximately 4 hours despite the relatively near proximity due to the road conditions – there are potholes galore and parts of the road is made of gravel.

bus ticket

I didn’t want to drive down to the resort since it would cost me more to change the suspension of the car and all that after the ordeal it’s been though in Mukah. 😉 I figured taking the bus would be cheaper so I headed down after work on Saturday with my travel companion Clare. It’s RM 18.70 for the Sibu – Mukah ticket and we took the 2:30 PM bus down.

bus inside

I had gotten a really good deal for the Kingwood Resort in Mukah thanks to Henry. It cost me RM 160 nett for a Premier Room – Sea View with breakfast for two and lunch thrown in to boot. The published rate for that room is RM 368 nett during weekends and peak season. Cheers for that!

clare

The rooms comes with two queen sized beds which is a Good Thing (TM) since Clare claims she snores in her sleep. Heh!

joker

I had gotten supplies the previous night (namely alcohol) and we found this drink called Joker. I figured having some liquid entertainment would help with the tedious journey to Mukah. 😉

It’s a really crappy locally produced liquor but I can’t help but get two bottles of it just coz of the “Why so serious?” quote from The Dark Knight.

bus blurry

The journey took 4 hours and the road was so bumpy that I couldn’t even take a proper shot. See all the photos all blurry one. It’s also senget a bit due to the potholes and all that. I’m really glad I didn’t drive my car down – it would wreck havoc on it.

paddy fields

The view is scenic though if you’re into paddy fields and all that. I managed to get some sleep and you can tell the bus driver to drop you off at the Kingwood Resort in Mukah (which is about 14 km away from Mukah town).

arrival

The fresh breeze from the sea and the beach made it all worth it though. 🙂

sixthseal.com vs worm

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sixthseal worm

Oh, you poor delicious morsel of a sago worm. I am so gonna rip your head off and eat you alive. 😉

I just came back from a trip to the beach in Mukah. We stayed at the Kingwood Resort and managed to sample live sago worms as well as umai during our trip there. More posts coming up later today. Cheers!

The Making of the Oreo Advertorial

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script 1

The Oreo Twist Lick Dunk advertorial was one of the ones I really enjoyed doing. I enlisted the help of a couple of my friends and coworkers to participate in the script that I had written. It was more of a doodle of sorts with stick figures of scenes I had envisioned and a rough idea of the text.

cream o

The first problem came even before the photo shoot – there were no Oreo cookies to be found in the entire Sibu town. I searched every single supermarket and shopping mall and it seemed like there was a town-wide shortage of Oreo!

mary frustrated

I finally managed to find out the reason behind it – the manufacturer had recalled all the existing Oreo cookies and issued a memo to the retailers with instructions to take it off the shelves pending the arrival of the new packaging. The ship was supposed to have arrived but it got delayed at some port and no one had any idea of when it’ll actually come.

script 2

I thought about changing the script to a “Pepsi Test” writeup with people being blindfolded and asked to determine which cookie tastes better – Oreo or a local emulated version e.g. Cream-O but that would require Oreo biscuits as well. I was a bit concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the arrival of the shipment of Oreo to the Sibu market so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

poslaju

Thus, I called D, who was in KL at that time and staying at the Cititel hotel in Midvalley Megamall. She was kind enough to go to Jusco and get two packs of Oreo cookies and send it back via next-day courier service. D had to go in search of a box (so the Oreo wouldn’t get crushed) and hunt for a post office at the mall, so it’s thanks to her that I managed to meet the deadline. 🙂

mary stereo sad

In the meantime, I enlisted the help of Mary in my alternate scripts. I remember one of the alternate scripts was about not being able to find Oreo and wanted to title that post as “sixthseal.com and The Quest for the Holy Oreo“. The script went along the lines of being unable to get my hands on genuine Oreo cookies in Sibu and having to resort to having it sent from KL.

hb mcflurry 1

I even went to McDonald’s just to get a shot of their Oreo McFlurry, which was just about the only Oreo containing product in Sibu at that time.

hb mcflurry 2

This was the backup plan in case the package of Oreo didn’t arrive for reasons attributed to our fine postal service. 😉

oreo

Lady Luck was on my side though and the package containing Oreo from D arrived the very next day! Thus, I re-shot several of the scenes with the real Oreo. It took me two days to complete the Oreo shoot. One particular scene that stood out was the shoplifting scene.

stealing

I did the first one with Cream-O, a local biscuit “inspired” by Oreo, and I had serious reservations about submitting that since the client would obviously not want to see a competitor’s product in the photos. Cream-O looks almost like Oreo due to the blue packaging but I didn’t want to tarnish the advertorial by passing off another product as Oreo.

caught

Well, the reason this particular scene was memorable was due to one of my friend’s interaction with the clerk at a local supermarket. He has a really funny and sarcastic response during the Sibu Oreo Shortage (TM). We were at Ta Kiong and they haven’t received their shipment of Oreo as well, but one of the clerks said that there had Oreo biscuits and walked with us down the aisle and pointed to…Julie Stereo.

This prompted my wise-cracking friend to launch into a funny tirade against the poor girl.

Friend: Stereo? We said OREO not STEREO.
Clerk: Ya lah, Oreo. (points to Julie Stereo)
Friend: That’s not Oreo! How can you compare Oreo to Stereo? Do you compare a Mercedes to a Kancil? We wanted the original Nabisco Kraft Oreo.
Clerk: (speechless)

Anyway, we didn’t even know if the clerk understood English which was a bit of a mistake on our part. I walked in on Tuesday again to get some chocolates and the very same clerk called out to me and told me that my Oreo has arrived. She then proceeded to talk to a fellow clerk across the counter about getting “suan” (Hokkien for sarcastically teased) by my friend the other day.

clerk

In hindsight, it was really kinda funny. I apologized to her and told her we were only having a bit of fun, albeit at her expense. She was very nice about the entire thing though, so kudos to her for that. I got a DoubleStuf Oreo and the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Oreo to supplement my meager supply of Oreo from KL. I even got her to pose for a photo and we returned the next day to do a proper shot of the shoplifting scene with their ample supply of Oreo as the backdrop. 🙂

Deleted scenes:

sister

Reason: Product placement overkill. The pose with the Oreo is too fake.

shoplifting 1

Reason: The expression on my face wasn’t right. I didn’t look shocked enough – in fact, I look a little bit too aggressive.

shoplifting 2

Reason: Same as above. I look more irritated than shocked at being apprehended by a security guard for shoplifting. I needed the comical horror expression at being caught in the act.

Bonus features:

mary 1

mary 2

mary 3

I was delighted to find out that Mary was such a good model to work with. She has a wide repertoire of facial expressions. She can do sad, frustrated, angry, cute and happy when called to. She’s really a pleasure to work with and has been a great help to this project. Thanks Mary! 🙂

The funniest thing about this advertorial is that most of the shots were done using a single Oreo pack. I had to conserve my resources and had planned out which scenes needed the pack to be open and which ones didn’t. I was so stingy with the two packs of Oreo that consumption was strictly controlled even during the scenes except when absolutely necessary. Heh!

Cheeserland – Wildest Football Fantasy

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I told Cheesie that I’ll be doing her Wildest Football Fantasy contest and after a bit of procrastination, I’ve finally managed to get it done. Hey, I needed a bit of time for the props okay? :p

hellboy

I had a dream that I was Hellboy and somehow landed in the middle of a shopping mall. I was searching for the missing piece of the crown that would enable to me control the 4,900 strong Golden Army. Interestingly, I found the missing piece in a “China Mali” shop and instead of controlling the Golden Army, I found myself controlling the Chelsea team during the Chelsea – Malaysia friendly match.

I dreamt that the score was 3-1 to Chelsea (had to let the Malaysian team score a goal since it’s a friendly). I remember winning a ton of money from betting on the forecast scores…and the last thing I recall saying was “You’re in love. Have a beer.”

hancock

…and waking up as Hancock. 😉

Curry fish head @ Phoenix Court, Paramount

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phoenix court

I had promised to buy a curry fish head dinner at Sheraton for some fellow bloggers who had helped me out in the Oreo and Heineken posts and they never really let me forget it. 😉 Unfortunately, Sheraton was closed for the week due to the proprietor being out of town so STP suggested that we head to Phoenix Court at Paramount instead.

phoenix court interior

Now, the interesting thing about Phoenix Court’s curry fish head is that the chef was originally from Sheraton (which has a legendary flagship curry fish head dish) but apparently the proprietor was the only one who knew the exact ingredients so the chef didn’t have the complete recipe for it.

phoenix court setting

Thus, the original Sheraton curry fish head secret recipe is still intact and Phoenix Court does a passable, but inferior version of the dish. However, that didn’t stop Phoenix Court from promoting the curry fish head as one of their flagship dishes. The other flagship dish of Phoenix Court is the the giant prawns in gravy. It’s served with a fried dough that’s cut into slices like a cake.

phoenix court tiger

I’m sorry I ordered Tiger beer, the place doesn’t have Heineken. 😉 Oh, I read in the papers today that it seems like there’s going to be no alcohol served at the Chelsea – Malaysia friendly due to certain religious affiliated political parties being unreceptive to the idea. Oh well. Anyway, The Mysterious D (TMD) had also saw it fit to grace us with her presence so it was a bit of a “Welcome Home!” occasion for her as well.

phoenix court peanuts

You pay RM 2.50, you get peanuts. 😉

phoenix court curry fish head dish

The curry fish head (RM 40) at Phoenix Court resembles the famous Sheraton curry fish head in all but taste.

phoenix court curry fish head

It still tastes pretty good though, but they really shouldn’t be comparing themselves to Sheraton.

phoenix court prawns

The giant prawns cooked in a special egg sauce (RM 42) is, in my opinion, the real flagship dish of Phoenix Court. The sauce is probably the chef’s secret now, and they should be promoting this instead.

phoenix court bread

It is served with a side dish of a huge chunk of fried dough much like a cake. It serves well to soak up the delicious gravy of the dish.

phoenix court prawns macro

This comes highly recommended from me – it’s really that good.

phoenix court us

Thanks to STP, Mary and D for helping me out with the posts! Cheers!
I know, my Photoshop skillz is really POHfessional. 😉

phoenix court napkins

The total was about RM 107.30 which is on par with Sheraton. Nowadays, napkins also RM 1.20 okay.

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