Fruits Season

Thursday, 6 November 2008

It is the fruits season again! I just love to see the fruits on the trees! Thanks Angie for allowing me to take pictures of your fruit trees :)

Red Rambutan Tree


Yellow rambutans from another rambutan tree


Who or what is the king of fruits? Durian! First time I tried in Matang-Kuching, I fell in love with it. I was almost in my mid-20's then. Before that, I only knew it from the smell. It was stinky, rotten. We would know when a neighbor had durians and I would moaned over it to my mother. The smell travels! First time I tried it I closed my nose.

I think it is an amazing fruit. I like the dodol durian, the durian ice-cream, the durian cake, mooncake, cooked tempoyak. I don't know what else is made from it. They are delicious.

You can get sick eating too much of it because it is 'heaty' - sore throat especially. So what we did, as per beliefs, is to drink salted water, that we make, from any of the emptied pulps section of the durian husk. So far it works for me :)



Local Oranges


Banana


Red Ginger


Heliconia

Kelabit Food for Lunch

Wednesday, 5 November 2008

A Kelabit friend asked me if I would like to join her for a Kelabit lunch at a restaurant in Center Point Phase 1. I definitely would. I love trying out food and it would be interesting to find out how they taste like. The restaurant is operated by a Kelabit, the cook is Kelabit and the food cooked the Kelabit way. I wanted to try all the food displayed and these was what we ended up on the table, some double portions! There were 6 of us so that was enough for us.

The green bundles around the sides had boiled rice in them. I understood they were boiled for hours.





I like the sticky rice. They are not glutinous, just ordinary rice wrapped and boiled in leaves. The food tasted to me like Chinese food. I enjoyed them.

LGSS 45th Anniversary Reunion Dinner

Sunday, 2 November 2008

Thanks Siew Kuan, for giving me the permission to use your pictures.

Finally the LGSS's 45th Anniversary Reunion Dinner was here!

I came to know about it when the four of us visited the school on the 5 September.


I had just came back to Miri on the 2 September and I was excited when Angela asked me on the 4 September if I would go with them to visit our school. She didn't tell me about the 45th Anniversary celebration then. They asked that I stay back for the special occasion. The date fitted into my schedule!

It didn't fit in Catherine's (who was our class and school head prefect) schedule. We missed her this night.

Our dear KK, who is best in gathering the classmates together, emailed on the 21 September 2008:

Hi Folks, First of all, this is not meant to be a disrespect or an insult nor be offensive to those observing the Ramadan.You may have already known or heard about it. Just to inform those with email box and some of whom I had also smsed on the LGSS 45TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION organised by the school.

Please now book your calendar for this event and do spread the news to relevant others.

Time & Date: 7PM sharp Sunday 2nd November 2008.
Venue: EASTWOOD VALLEY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB (somewhere at the Miri Bypass - that between the Padang Kerbau flyover to Miri Airport)
Ticket Charge per head:RM40.00

Those interested individuals at KL/Singapore/Kuching, etc., are to timely email or sms confirm attendance with Aisah (she had affirmed 3 definites but would furnish the names soon) or me for the ticket reservation, pay to Aisah/me during collect the ticket at the venue.

Attendees from outstation are to advised make their own early online flight booking (MAS or Air Asia) or via travel agents to Miri. Our MASWings " globe trotting " MD Dr. Amin Khan maybe available for request to assist in getting the MAS flight seats under specific dilemma situations.

Though comfortably confident with the current confirmed and not withstanding an interim booking of just 1 table for 10 people, all message recipients in this distribution loop are to let Aisah or yours truly know/updated timely in order to possibly address the booking for adjacent tables - birds of same feather flock together.

Those who had already sms or phone called to me in confirm attendance, where in this email loop do not have to response.

Your timely return confirmation is awaited. If you do so via sms, please do not transmit at odd hours.

Regards,
KK

The evening came! KK and Angela picked me up and passed me my ticket.


There were a lot of people attending. It was good to see familiar faces again - students from other classes, senior, juniors, and not forgetting the teachers. The best part was meeting our own classmates, some of which had been my classmates since Primary.

Reception



Pictures of the activites of the school


Long Time No See - Nee Joon (whom I have not met since we left Form 5), Ahmad, Peggy, Angie, Irene, KK, Sha

Nee Joon, Angie, Ahmad, Peggy, KK, Jamel & Sha


A photographer being photographed! Siew Kuan took this shot unaware by her.


The Banquet hall in the Eastwood Club. Incidentally, this was my first visit to the Eastwood Club. I had been invited to join New Year Eve Dinner and other occasion there but didn't join.


I think this is the SMK Lutong Choir. The school was renamed Sekolah Menengah Kerajaan Lutong when the medium of instruction was changed from English to Bahasa Malaysia.


What was disappointing for me was we didn't get to visit with each other much ! There were about 22 of us, and therefore 2 tables. Each table seated 10 persons. Jamel was not seated in either of these 2 tables and that was not very nice. Worst of all these 2 tables were not next to each other!

Talking about reunion. Yes, it was a reunion for all the students that have studied there since its formation in 1963 but it was not much of a reunion for our class. That was what I am disappointed in.

Table 54 where I sat with Peggy, Angela, Nee Joon, Alison (who unfortunately couldn't turn up because she was sick), Mee Kiaw, KK, Siew Ming, Thien Hock and Siew Kuan.


Table 45, were Virginia, JamilaS, Aisah, JamilahB, Bibi, Razak, Hamim, Mohsin, Dancy and Ahmad.


Visiting each other


The night's programme:


Performance from the SMK Lutong Traditional Dance Club. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on the stage because it was not clear watching from a angle from a far distance.


A notepad - souvenir to take home.


2 souvenirs on sale: clear (RM4) and golden (RM6)


A group picture for remembrance. Don't know when we will meet again. Can you see Madam Zaleha (our Bahasa Malaysia teacher)?

Lutong Shophouses (2008)

Monday, 27 October 2008

KKChew emailed:
> Hi Folks,

> Some may have already heard or known about it.
> It is with sadness and emotion in me to convey this short message
> and bad news that the 2nd row of wooden shop houses at Lutong
> went up in smoke on AM 24/10/2008.
> They were built in the year most of us came into this world - 1954.
> A significant chronological date to most of us.
>

> Many and most that were born and bred here had also witnessed
> that most of those iconic Shell ETC (Elevated Timber Construction)
> quarters around Lutong Town had also disappeared - demolished.
> Sally was last here and in her memory lane did not get to see the
> wooden semi d ETC that had previously housed them at
> Jalan Merikan and later another by Jalan Machinda.
> It will be also no surprise for Mag in her next planned transit
> itinerary to the fame Mulu, as the detached ETC
> that ever housed them, by the cross junction near
> Good Shepherd (the Lutong Anglican Church),
> is but a flat ground.

>
> An unpleasant but sad update which I had refrained to announce
> earlier of the recent fire mishap, in order not to spoil the appetite
> of particularly the 3 lunch diners at Mid Valley.
>
> Regards,
> KK

Jamel emailed:> O dear. I guess it's a reminder to us that we can go too!

Dr.Amin emailed:
> Sorry to hear the bad news and I hope no one was injured.
> The shop is quite a landmark when I was schooling those days.
>
> The more reason why we need to get together soon.

Aisah emailed:
> I wonder whether the shop is insured! Just the right time that
> we're coming back for the gathering and will definitely see
> the remnants later.
> I recall it's a real "Cowboy" town with all the friendly folks
> living around.

Bong emailed:
> Really sorry to hear about that, any people took any pic?
> Hope no body got hurt.

CheeShak emailed:
> Yes, Indeed we should meet more often to share views &> updated each other on day to day activites.

Ismawi emailed:
> It is sad but things like this sometimes have to go, by choice,> luck or just fate, .... and be replaced by a much permanent symbols,> we too can be like the Lutong Bazaar ....
KH Leong emailed:
> "Expecting the world to treat u fairly coz u are a good person
> is like expecting the lion not to attach u coz u are a vegetarian"


That was so sweet and thoughtful of KK. He refrained from sharing with us when Sha, Meg & I were having lunch at MidValley on the 25 October, which was the day after the mishap of the Lutong shop.

From KK's email, I thought the whole row of shophouses were burnt down, but thank goodness, it wasn't. Most importantly, I hope nobody was hurt.

Yes, I remembered that row. There were two rows. They were wooden for a long long time and then one row was changed to concrete and another row left as it was, as in these pictures that I took and posted in "Lutong" in August 2007




Wednesday, 29 October 2008

In reply to Bong's email, SKLeong took pictures of the fated shophouses and emailed to all of us:

> This is my second try sending out the pics,
> the first one i send had a message saying file not delivered,
> so may be is the pics file too large or wat,
> so i had reduced the size again, i just took this pics this afternoon,
> hope tis last row of the wooden shop houses can bring you
> back some sweet memory in LGSS.

I really don't know why this row of shops were not rebuilt to concrete. Now I think the remaining wooden ones had to be pulled down to make way for a new concrete ones.

Celebrating Mooncake Festival in the Church

Saturday, 20 October 2008

The Chinese celebrated this year's Mooncake Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival) on the 14 September. The Miri branch Chinese celebrated it with pot-luck dinner and some games.

The decorations:


Brother & Sister Dean socialising with the members:


President Chan busy with the games result:



Happy gathering

Miri Petroleum Museum

Monday, 8 September 2008

The first oil well in Miri was drilled in 1910. That was 98 years ago! I wondered how Lutong Shell would celebrate in 2010 when it turn 100 years!








I like the view of the Miri city from here - Canada Hill

Crossing the Baram River to Brunei

Monday, 8 September 2008

I remembered as a little girl, Kuala Baram was the first location where we board the ferry to cross to the other side of the river bank to go to Brunei.





Then the ferry crossing point was changed to another location further up the river.






Now the place is so quiet because there is no more ferry crossing. Now you drive across the Asean bridge to go to Brunei.