sibu – Page 18 – sixthseal.com

Junaco Park in Sibu (a last hurrah)

January 4, 2003 by HB

I went to Junaco Park (Sibu) a couple of days before I came back to
Melbourne – I think it was the evening of the 29th, but those last few
days have been rather hectic and I didn’t have time to write things up
since I was out so often. Oh well, I better do it now in case I get any
more ideas about deleting my precious memories (photos). Anyway, Junaco
Park is this place 30 kilometers away from Sibu which is like a mini
zoo. The entrance fee is only RM 1 per person. There are the usual
suspects like monkeys, horses, birds etc. We went to see the horses
(ponies?) first.

I had wanted to take a picture of the famed horse phallus, but
unfortunately none of them felt that it was necessary to erect their
organs to their full potential, so all I got was this:

Oh well, next we went to see the monkeys:

He’s pretty tame though, contrary to the “Beware – Monkey Bites”
sign on the cage. We handed it grass from outside the cage and he’ll
reach out and take it from us. He has soft hands, which was pretty
interesting. One of my friends thought it was a good idea to try and
trip him with an umbrella (hope no one from RSPCA is reading this) but
the nimble fellow managed to dodge the umbrella every time.
Fascinating. He also loved this bunch of fruits that grows from a tree
to the side of the cage and it was fun to watch him try and eat it
through the cage (coz he couldn’t pull the whole bunch thru the wire
netting).

Next on the itinerary was the sheep (or are those lambs?). Lemme
tell you, those creatures are hella fierce. I wanted to climb over the
fence to hug one of them and pose for a photo, but one of them, which I
assume is the alpha male started making loud baying noises and stamped
his feet to voice his displeasure at my attempts to violate his mate.

I reckon he would have bit me had I went into the fence. It probably
wouldn’t have hurt but his head is about the same height as my genitals
so I decided not to risk it, seeing as I was the only son in our family
and protecting the family jewels should be a priority.

Anyway, we also saw some wild boar:

an eagle or a hawk:

big ass fishes (you have to squint a bit for this one):

a peacock (I think):

and a porcupine who wanted a staring match with me, despite my obviously superior physical size:

Anyway, we had wanted to go fishing or go for a ride on one of the
boats, but it was getting dark so we just had a drink at the canteen
and headed home. All in all it was a fun and memorable day. Junaco Park
is pretty big and there is a lot of hilly terrain, so be prepared for a
bit of physical exertion should you go there. Man, writing all this
made me miss Sibu. I can’t wait to go back again in July.

Christmas Eve 2002

December 25, 2002 by HB

My night out started with a bang so to speak. I headed out at around
8 pm with Johnny, Ting Chuan and Christopher in search of something to
eat. As we were nearing town, we saw this big plume of smoke near the
town center. We headed over to investigate and was caught in a terrible
traffic jam that took us damn near an hour to get out of. There was a
big fire at Tong Sang Road and there was a lot of gawkers and the
police blocked off one stretch of road, resulting in the traffic jam.
Actually a traffic jam doesn’t do the situation justice, a better word
would be gridlock. I didn’t get near enough to get a good photo, this
is the best one I could get:

The final toll was 20 houses burned down in the blaze, they were all
wooden so the fire spread fast and hard. The papers said 180 people
were left homeless by this. What bad luck to have this happen on
Christmas Eve.

Anyway, we headed to McDonalds after that for our Christmas Eve
dinner coz it was pretty late by that time already. I had Bubur Ikan
McD, a coke float and a toffee sundae. This is my Christmas Dinner:

Grand, ain’t it? 😉 We went to 1 Q after that to play a couple of
games of snooker and then Christopher had to go home so we sent him
home and we arranged to meet Thai Ling, Alan and Ku Ling at Liquid
where Diana and the rest are. Unfortunately, the tickets were all sold
out and they couldn’t let any more people in coz the place was full. We
then decided to go to the Paramount disco (Happy Valley) instead coz it
was closer and the countdown was about to start. I saw my cousin there,
apparently he’s now working in the Paramount kitchen. I also saw Wan
Wen and her friend. We met Chew Yieng (her dad is one of the major
shareholders of Paramount) inside the disco and she bought us all a
round of brandy. I had a couple of beers too and we stayed there until
well past midnight. There was this old guy on the dance floor who was
really going hard out. Heh. Everyone cheered for him, you go dude!

<img alt=”xmasgrp.jpg” src=”http://www.sixthseal.com/archive/December2002/xmasgrp.jpg” border=”0″ height=”225″ width=”300″> 
Part of the original group

Anyway, we headed to Pool House after that, but the ambience was not
really conducive to a Christmas Eve party (they were singing karaoke
there), so we headed over to Liquid again and found out that the crowd
has thinned out a bit so we went in. We met Diana and I also saw Jane,
who was there with her group of friends. The music there was pretty
good and I met a lot of people who I used to know but have since lost
touch with. There also was this girl who was dancing and offered
everyone her glass of water. Thanks! That was great for ambience. It
made things more like an MDMA-fuelled rave. 🙂 Alan or Thai Ling
(forgot who) bought us another round of drinks and we stayed there till
the venue slowly emptied.

The rest of the guys wanted to head home, and I had another bunch of
friends who were at Heaven and I thought about joining them, but it was
late at that time and so we decided to call it a night. We had a late
supper at Taman Selera (it was still open) and then headed home. All in
all, it was a great night. Good friends, alcohol and the festive season
goes nicely together. 🙂 Merry Christmas!

Good tidings we bring…

December 24, 2002 by HB

I’ll be heading out tonight for dinner and then I’ll be at the UCA
disco till the wee hours of the morning. Wishing you all a very merry
Christmas and party safe.

Link:
The Erimin-5 clarification post

Annual Christmas Procession 2002

December 22, 2002 by HB

Did I die and go to heaven? 😉

Our town has a history of having a Christmas street parade every
year. This year’s had a praise and worship thing going on before the
actual parade and was held at the Sibu town square. I went there at
around 7 pm with Ting Chuan.

Silent night, holy night.

There weren’t many floats around this year though, there used to be
heaps and there was a competition to see which one was the best. I
don’t know if they still have that competition going on, but there
wasn’t a lot of floats around.

The drivers of the floats actually need guides to navigate.

The crowd watching the procession.

Anyway, after the church service was over, the procession started
with a float followed by several walking groups and then another float
and so on.

Cherubic mascots on a boat float.

A float mounted on a trishaw.

The back of a float.

Ghetto.

A float with a nativity scene.

There were groups of various denominations and churches. There were
a lot of bands which are affiliated with church groups too like the
Boys Brigade and the Girls Brigade, to name a few.

A very satanic looking Santa Claus with huge heart shaped testicles giving everyone the finger.

I also stumbled upon my church’s (Wesley Methodist Church) group and
one of the lay leaders invited me to join their entourage. I didn’t
feel like walking though, just wanted to take a couple of photos, so I
declined. I also saw my ex-college’s group who was also part of the
procession. I saw Remy, someone I haven’t seen in several years. We
used to talk a lot in college and it’s good to see her again.

Remy and myself.

Anyway, going back to the floats, there was two in particular that
stood out. One had a giant TV screen showing Christmas carol movies
complete with karaoke style lyrics at the bottom. The other had several
girls dressed as angels standing on the float, which we all agreed were
aesthetically pleasing. Hmm…am I talking about the float or the angels?

A closer look at one of the angels.

There was also a massive police presence to provide crowd control
and several streets were closed off to traffic to make way for the
procession. There was this group with children carrying balloons. On a
whim, I stopped one cute little girl who didn’t look more than 6 years
old who had two balloons and asked her for one, and she gave one of
hers to me. hehehe Thanks dear!

Well, we were standing near the exit of the town square so we
managed to see the procession first. It wasn’t really long, perhaps the
whole parade took 25 minutes.

Cute.

Frilly.

There was something nice that happened though. A pretty girl dressed
as an angel who was giving out sweets gave me one. I was pretty
surprised as they only gave those to children so I looked up and who
did I see but Alice Lim! She’s from my high school, I was in Form 5
when she was in Form 1, but I know her from seeing her pass by my
father’s office every day to get the record attendance book (she was
the class monitor). It’s good to see her again and I’m glad she still
recognizes me.

Alice in the parade.

Anyway, after the procession, we walked around Wisma Sanyan for a
while and came out the other side only to find the procession winding
up there. We joined and walked with the procession for a while and I
gave my balloon to a balloon-less little girl standing in the crowd.
She was shy and her mom told her to say “thank you”. Heh. That’s my
good deed for the day. My car was blocked by the procession, so we had
to wait for a while until all the groups have finished. I did see Alice
again though when the parade came back around and snapped a pic, and
she said Merry Christmas. 🙂

This is a clearer picture of Alice taken 6 months ago.

Archoo!

December 16, 2002 by HB

I have been having sneezing fits and a runny nose every time I pick
up the new kitten. The cat has recently given birth to a brown kitten
(she’s champagne colored herself) and I have an allergic reaction to
the kitten. I’ll sneeze and sneeze everytime I pick the kitten up and
it’s so small and nice that I still want to pick it up regardless.
Anyway, I don’t know much about the reproductive systems of cats, but
the mother is still lactating even after all this while. I know because:
1. I get milk on my hands when I touch the mother’s nipples
2. The kitten is still breast feeding (it stops when I’m looking though)

Anyway, my parents are coming back from their Beijing (China) trip
the day after, so tomorrow will be the last day I have the house to
myself.

A reunion of sorts…

December 14, 2002 by HB

From left: Christopher, Johnny, Ming Tze, Huai Bin (me), Ting Chuan, Thai Ling, Boyd, Daniel.
On the right hand side: Siew Ting, who doesn’t like to be photographed but ended up in the frame anyway 🙂
Not shown (left early): May Ling, Susie

I went out for supper today with a couple of my ex-classmates. It
was good to catch up with the happenings of everyone. The juiciest
gossip of the day is the apparent fact that KATHERINE LAW and ALVIN TOH
is going out! Heh. The were two confirmed sightings (one by Boyd and
the other by Ming Tze) of them holding hands while walking around in
Wisma Sanyan. Both of the sightings resulted in a subsequent loss of
physical contact between their hands when they saw the sightees. I
thought I saw Katherine last time I went to Parkson too, but I wasn’t
sure. Anyway, apparently this is a bit of a hush hush thing (for
reasons unknown). Boyd, who lives together with Alvin in KL didn’t even
know about it until recently, although he did report a suspicious
increase in communications via SMSs and ICQ msgs between Alvin and
Katherine. It’s interesting that the two ended up together, you’ll be
as surprised as everyone was if you knew them. 🙂

Anyway, tonight started with Daniel picking Johnny and myself up at
around 8:30 pm. We went to Christopher’s house, and man, is that house
sound-proof! Horns were useless in summoning anyone, so I went down and
knocked on the door, with no results. I could clearly see 4 people
talking in the living room but despite my (loud) calls of “Auntie!” no
one could hear me. I did knock on the door a couple of times, but it
took 2 full minutes before anyone could hear me (!).

Well, we got Christopher and headed over to Ting Chuan’s house. We
had planned to meet up with Thai Ling and Boyd, and May Ling and Susie
were also going to join us. Ting Chuan had made plans with Ming Tze and
Siew Ting and were going to pick them up and join us at Taman Selera
Muhibbah in Pedada later on. Anyway, I’m going into way too much detail
here. The bump on my head must have affected me in strange ways. 😉
(more about that later)

Anyway, we all met up at Taman Selera Muhibbah and talked until
11:30 pm. Why am I going into so much detail? I ask myself.
Hmm…anyway I had two cups of my favorite drink – Shi Ta Tien Wang/Shi
Ta Kai Sing (literally: four great heavenly kings/four great
happiness). It’s an ice blended drink containing coffee, horlicks, milo
and tea (thus the name). There are two names for it partly because of
the competition for customers over there. It’s absolutely insane. Every
stall will send a representative to swarm you the moment you sit down
and show you their menu. Not only that, if they see you ordering from a
competiting store, they will saunter over and whisper conspirationally
that the particular store’s stuff is not fresh and they make better
stuff. Heh.

Anyway, moving on, I bumped my head very hard on this outcropping of
stairs in my store room while trying to extract my cat from the store
room. I think I forgot my name for a couple of minutes. 🙁

MAN – The Powerstation Concert

December 12, 2002 by HB

Powerstation

The Powerstation concert was good. I arrived there at around 7:10 pm
and there were still heaps of parking spaces left. The center wasn’t
really full either, there were about a hundred people already in there,
but they were spread out so I got within 3 meters of the stage.

Powerstation with the MC

Anyway, Powerstation only came on stage at 7:30 pm and they did 6
tracks and 1 encore. I don’t know the track names because I’ve only
heard two of their albums (Legend and UPS). There was an SMS
competition thing at the beginning, the MC gave out a phrase – “psman”
and a cell phone number and the first two people to send an SMS with
that phrase to that particular number got a plane ticket to “I don’t
know where”. I must have zoned out or something coz I really didn’t
catch where the plane ticket was to. I did have a go, but the others
were inhuman, they already sent the SMS before I finished typing. 🙂

One half of Powerstation (I don’t know their names)

Another half of Powerstation (I don’t know their names)

Anyway, the MC introduced Powerstation after that and they did 3
songs followed by an intermission. There was a yellow shirted girl in
front of me who was VERY enthusiastic. Nice, she added much needed
ambience to the dreary crowd. Well, at the intermission, they asked six
people to come onstage to sing any Powerstation song and the best
person will get a ticket to “I don’t know where” too. I don’t remember
much, but there were two who got the most applause (a guy and a girl).
The girl finally got the ticket from a game of rock-paper-scissors to
break the tie because both of them got equally enthusiastic applause.

The six audience members who rendered Powerstation songs for a plane ticket

After that, there was another 3 songs and Powerstation left the
stage. They actually have a pretty good stage presence, really game and
the MC got them to speak several phrases in Bahasa Malaysia which I
can’t remember. Hmm…my memory is failing me. Moving on, they came out
for an encore and that was the end of the show. There was an autograph
signing session after that, but I didn’t stay on. Overall, it was a
good show and well worth the RM 10 (A$ 5) I spent. Highlights were the
enthusiastic yellow shirted girl and the 6 audience members who
rendered Powerstation songs.

Last song

Kinetic power doesn’t deplete natural resources

December 11, 2002 by HB

I’m going to Powerstation’s concert/autographing session tonight at
the Sibu Civic Center. See Hua (a local Chinese newspaper) had an
advertisement running the whole week on their front page, where you can
cut out the ad and pay another RM10 (A$5) to redeem a ticket at their
headquarters. Powerstation is a Hong Kong band which mostly plays cover
songs with a twist but I like their sound. They’re actually called Dong
Li Huo Cher (direct translation: kinetic powered train) but their
official English moniker is Powerstation. Go figure.

The game of snooker

December 8, 2002 by HB

I went to 1 cue (a local snooker center) with a friend
tonight to play a couple of games. I haven’t touched a cue in 2 years,
so it’s good to play again. This was the snooker center we used to
frequent back in the days, the tables are relatively good and the air
conditioning is cold so it was a favourite haunt of ours back in the
days. Unfortunately, my snooker skillz have atrophied during my two
years of non-practise. I managed to hold my own, but lost both games.
🙂 I really liked this placing though:

Dangerous.

Why is this man naked?

December 6, 2002 by HB

Spotted @ Jalan Bako, Sibu

Hmm…that’s a good question. I was out having lunch with a friend
when this old man sauntered up and peered at our food. I could see his
patch of pubic hair (it was grey if you want to know), which couldn’t
be covered by that miniscule piece of cloth he wound around himself. I
looked at him questioningly, and he turned away and walked to another
table. The view of his back showed that the piece of cloth was not
sufficient to cover his anus as well. In fact, it left it wide open (it
was black-ish, if you’re interested in the color). 🙂 Very strange guy,
he’s harmless but yet he disrupted the rest of the customers due to his
near nudity. Two families promptly got up and left the moment he came
by them. He was indifferent though, he just stood there and TOOK OFF
HIS CLOTH. I won’t go into details regarding his anatomy, but I could
see everything. He then wound the cloth around himself again and sat
down and ordered some food to eat. He was around 70 by the looks of
it…poor guy, I think he’s trying to make a fashion statement. That,
or he’s mentally deranged.