This post beat all the other back log. By far, this post took the longest to be posted here after the last batch. Almost a year…

This is the story about my trip to some unknown place in Gwangju.

I will let the picture do the talking. Almost….

All of the trip that we done by far is by bus. The bus system here really kick the bus system ass back in Sarawak. Almost every 15 minutes the bus will arrive on time at its destination. The sad thing is that I don’t really know the place written in the bus schedule.

But luckily we have our old timer, a friend from Pakistan who know the city.

This is the place. Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall. Don’t ask me what is the purpose of this place. We just don’t know. This trip is more like a random trip. But I think this place is just like Dewan Suarah back in Sarikei.

Only that it has a fountain outside, unlike the one in Sarikei which has a fish pond only. By the way, the sun is high in the sky. Its a hot summer afternoon in Gwangju.

The map for the place.

Well, the hall is kinda empty that day. Because its the public holiday. We was granted special privilege by the hall keeper to enter and walk all over the hall lobby. That is after we told them we are from Malaysia and Pakistan. Who say Korean people are rude?

Theres a lot of hall in here..

As I mention, the hall is empty.

We left the hall after we explore the entire building…

and off we go to the next adventure. From the map, there suppose to be a convention center nearby. So we decide to walk there… which is a good idea at that time. Which we soon realize…. was not.

But luckily, I can foresee it and bought a supply. A large supply of donuts… Big soft Dunkin’ Donuts..

and off we go to the next post…

hopefully

without the butterflies… and with some fake butterfly

This is a cultural event trip, organized by the Center of International Students and Scholars, CISS for short. The festival started back in 1999. So screw the history since I don’t really know about it.

We begin our journey from GIST, I was preparing for a long bus ride.. But… I was disappointed…It was a short bus ride after all.. only 36++Km..

The place was packed with people and incredibly, the traffic is flowing smoothly.. The Malaysian in me already prepared for a fully congested road and some stupid buggers blocking the roads. To my disappointment..

LOL

The first thing I’m targeting is food. Since in everyone mindset festival=food. They have lot of it in there. The only problem is the communication… oh well…

The attraction is supposed to be the Butterfly expo which we pay 3000won per entry… Not really enjoying that part.. I’m more towards the food..
In short~ I see a lot of small butterfly and some agricultural product and so on.. fruits, cucumber etc… More or less like Pesta Pertanian in Sarikei.

and not to mention the flower.. flower everywhere… girls really digg it..

We have from noon till 6pm time limit. Too much for me.. and spent the time walking aimlessly with my friend. Snapping photos here and there. Not really a good condition to take photo though, to cloudy.. but we survive..

Lunch was heaven.. found a stall selling bbq pork. Plain bbq pork over hot coal, no marinate, just plain salt just like the Iban way. Really to my liking. Ordering was a little bit tricky, it involve a lot of pointing to the desired food rather than talking to the waitress. Almost 90% of the people I met can’t understand English. Well, a little drawing and hand gesture will do the trick I guess.. But it is better if you know some Korean words for certain food or meat, it really help in choosing your foods.

Some sort of omelet with squid, spring onion etc… Nice.. really nice.

The heavenly BBQ… the fat.. the juicy fat..

spent 23000 won for the food. Go Google won to RM conversion if you want to know how expensive is that…

Food stall is all over the place… from prawn, donuts, satay (Korean style), ram myun stall, cold drinks, BBQ pork, squids, beef, etc…. the limit is my pocket…. sadly the language is also the limit.. hm…

The insects

The mama insects…

and not forgetting the pig catching competition.. can you imagine the horror the pigs have gone through, being chased by kids… I believe if we let an Iban kid loose down there, he really screw the rest of the kids….

finally

It’s time to go back…

This is the promised dedicated post on Tebaloi. The food that is synonymous with the Melanau of Sarawak. Tebaloi is some sort of a cracker made from sago powder (in shredded form). This cracker is made from the same stuff the sago grub eat.

We start with this traditional method of making it. I assume this Kilang is a family affair.

Relatively the tebaloi start in the blender machine.

With a mix of certain stuff to give flavour, texture, colour and smell. (please refer to recipe at the bottom). This so call dough will go on to the next phase..

Later on the dough was spread evenly on a banana leaf to get the nice thin physic of the cracker. Somehow they only use banana leaf because it is the most suitable material, I was told. Bottle is use to spread the dough on the leaf. That lady can done it smoothly and evenly…

You end up with this.

They put it aside for a moment. I don’t know why they do so. Maybe for letting the dough settle.

Later on they bake it over this traditional style oven. They have mangrove wood as fuel, I believe this wood give a very stable and consistent heat as it burn away. This is the first baking phase.

Half way through the baking the tebaloi is taken out for cutting. At this stage the tebaloi is still soggy but manageable. It is cut into small pieces (almost the size of ½ A4).

Another shot of the pre-baked tebaloi. Still soft..

The cut tebaloi then go through it’s final baking process. This is where it get the crunch. Actually it’s more like smoked not baked. *noticed the cylinder to vent out excess smoke?

The finish product is weight and packaged. Ready to ship out.

Next we visit yet another Tebaloi factory with a modern twist.

Located not far from the traditional one. This one is under Jabatan Pertanian.

Actually they do the same thing here only they use industrial type machine to process the tebaloi dough.

See the same dough…

They have this huge electric baking oven to bake the Tebaloi to perfection. They use production line concept to mass produce the tebaloi. Taste the same… but you will not smell the smoke on the tebaloi.

So for those who is adventurous enough, try your hand on making one. Below is a pamphlet given by the factory. It contain instructions to DIY your Tebaloi.

technorati tags: Mukah, Food, Tebaloi, Melanau

I will write briefly about my Mukah Trip last month.

If you read my last post, I stopped at the first day to give way to Gawai. So here is the continuation.

The next morning in the itinerary is an official trip to the spanking new Mukah Politeknik. Still fresh from construction… well.. it look nice.

Before the trip to politeknik we visit the pasar ikan. Will be buying Ikan the next day.

This is main entrance become a hot topic, most of the teachers/headmaster say it is waste of tax payers money. A glorify main entrance just for a politeknik which does nothing.
and I quote one of the dialog I have heard…
..they build this entrance so nice for what? Most of the schools now don’t even have enough classrooms and teachers using cramped space as teacher’s room…

Which I really agree with. There you have it; Malaysianism

They have more than 4 faculties here, if I’m not wrong lah…

This is the boy’s hostel.

Just like your regular LAWATAN, we was given a welcoming speech…etc… *yawn*

A walkway which has an interesting motif.

Ok Ok… enough with the Politeknik… next in the list is the Kilang Kuih Sepit. Actually we were lost but alas we found it…

Located in Kampung Judan. This kilang is under Jabatan Pertanian.

The ladies working inside was very sporting. They invite us in even though we were late. They demo to us how to make the tiny tiny little Kuih Sepit… cute…. and they even give us some to eat. Thanks…

Rest of the day 2 was spent sleeping because it was raining…

Self shot… for day 2.

Day 3…

We visited the Tebaloi Factory. I will write a dedicated post for this one. Just you wait…

Then we go on a fishing spree at the wet market. Buying fish here and there

Fish fish fish everywhere… oh BTW I also use Fish as my nickname sometime…

The fish here is totally fresh from the sea. We bought that batch of fish… so fresh that they still jumping around. Prawn, cuttlefish and etc… you imagine-lah.

If you want to buy fish. Fresh fish will come around 10 a.m everyday. Make sure you bring along your Coleman and some ice. And your money.. (+_+”)

Later…

We check out around 12 pm….

Where we stay.

This is the main event for the Teacher’s Day Celebration. Where our CM fly from Kuching just for it.

Oh.. well… I’m farking lazy now…. that is all…. LAAAAZZZYYYYYY

technorati tags: Mukah, Sarawak, Sunset, Travel

[There Will Be no update for my trip to Mukah day 2 and 3 until Gawai Dayak (Harvest Festival) ends ]

Ok let’s talk about the trip here. The road into Mukah is in its worst state but still drivable. I advice you to use 4wd and please do not use your car with sport rims because the potholes is a killer. But the road near (30km) to Mukah is still new and great. You can easily reach 100km/h .

Along the way you will pass palm trees (kelapa sawit). Like any other Sarawak region. palm tree is among a boomin business here. I believe this one belong to the Jabatan Pertanian.

The Sambutan Hari Guru (2006) is held in Kingwood Resort, we (referring to my father) stop there to register for the event. Heck, everyone else is using long pants but I wear short pants and t-shirt. That hotel is still new, fresh from constructions I guess. I think there is nothing to do there. But wait, I need to check every inch of the resort first.

A shot for myself… hehehe…

Sadly we are staying in Kaul Beach Resort not that glamorous Kingwood. Oh.. regarding Kaul Beach Resort the pricing for the room is RM71 (approx US$ 19) for a double bed room and the max price will not exceed RM90. It’s located like approximately 4km from Mukah town. Not that far if you have your own transportation. Service is good and acceptable, don’t you expect a first class service here . later I will add some video of the room.

In the chalet, which is very old and seem to be in a bad condition, not that bad-lah. See the video for the interior. Like I just said it’s acceptable for a living quarters. If you want to feel Lonely Planet style you can stay here but if you want to be pampered go to the Kingwood and basically you shouldn’t come here.

Oh.. they have WiFi so you can read your mail or update your blog. Its available 24 hour, I believe. Best of all it’s free if you stay there. It’s not a secure connection.

Later in the evening we decided to check out the road leading to Oya, we pass by the Politeknik Mukah (more on that later). The road is still upgraded, like 60% of the road is already finished.

And we check out the Batang Oya Bridge. I encounter far too many new bridge this holiday.

Ulu Oya town.
Later on we check out the sunset… nothing to say much…

Me again

Later on we have our dinner at the Richview Inn which is located along the way to Poiliteknik. The served the some of the local food, seafood and they make their own seafood bean curd. Quite nice….

Ok that is all… I have uploaded some photos into my gallery and I’m still in the process.

[Note: This post will be updated later on so come again]

Keyword: Mukah, Kaul Beach Resort, Internet in Mukah, WiFi in Kaul Beach Resort, Politeknik Mukah