Kuching, Sarawak - Day 4

On our final day of our Kuching trip, we've decided to hire a couple of taxis and visit the orangUtans and the pottery factory. Initially we wanted to do this on the 3rd day, but I reminded Esther that we had to check out of Tune hotel by 10am and it would be better if we hire the taxis on the last day of our trip and ask them to take us to the airport at the end of the day. This would save us the taxi fares from the city to the airport. :P

It was decided the day before that we had to get up early today if we wanted to go out for breakfast at 7am. Aunt Annie, Aunt Chris and Brian decided not to go. The rest of us were looking forward to have another famous-only-in-Sarawak meal called Hor Thien Hoo (not sure if it was spelt or pronounced correctly). Sze-En's dad told her that she must try this food. So for the first few days we went around hunting for this food.

The day before, after our heavy breakfast, we passed by a restaurant selling this food. Actually, it was by pure chance that we stumbled upon this restaurant. My mom saw the cook making this food and asked her what it was. It was so uniquely made and my mom couldn't resist asking the cook what was this food called. When she realized that this was what we were hunting for all the while, she and the other aunties wanted to order a bowl and shared among them. But they were so full from breakfast and everyone thought it would be better to try it the next day.

The restaurant was situated very near to the "great cat."

The "noodle" was made of rice flour and they just added some water and cooked it flat on a wok. Once it was cooked, they peel it of the wok and mix them with a bowl of soup. The soup contained all kinds of nice ingredients like fish, mushrooms, white and black fungus. A bowl of this cost RM4.50, a very reasonable price because of the ingredients.

The "Hor Thien Hoo" looks like a bowl of meen fun koh, but it sure taste different. I had my usual teh-si.

After breakfast, we walked back to our hotel and started packing up. Once we have finished packing, my parents and aunties saw that they had at least 1/2 an hour to kill, so they played their card games again.

The day before, my mom went out for a walk alone along the waterfront. She met someone, a driver of a van-for-hire and he said that he was willing to hire his 11-seater van for RM200 (USD57, EURO 40) for the whole day and he would chauffeur us wherever we wanted to go. My mom was thinking - if we hire 2 car taxis , it would cost us the same, but we would be in 2 different cars. To have all of us in 1 vehicle could be better right? And so, she got then man's contact number and gave it to Esther.

Esther called him to confirmed the hiring of his van. He agreed to take us up from the hotel at 9.30am. Umm... for all who are thinking of doing the same thing if you have a big group, be sure to check out the van first. The van that we booked was old and the air-cond was pathetic.

Anyway, we have already agreed to take his van, we shouldn't complain too much. The driver suggested to go to the Crocodile Farm first. We weren't so keen but since he suggested it, so we went.

This is the Jong's Crocodile Farm and Zoo. Like I've mentioned in my earlier post, the idea of visiting the crocodiles weren't very appealing to me. It was one of those "been there done that" kind of thing.

It was already passed 12pm and we were hungry.... at least I was, watching the crocodiles fight for their food made me hungry. The driver took us to a place to have lunch.

I must say, the food here is very good. I had nasi hailam (Hailam rice) and the others had chicken chop rice or rice with mixed dishes.

The driver suggested us to go to a bird's nest.. um farm or shop, but we said we didn't want to go there because we wanted to spend more time at the pottery factory.

Here at the pottery factory, the kids had so much fun. They declared that of all the places they visited, the pottery factory was the best. I think that they just love to get their hands dirty. hehe.

Our next destination was the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. We arrived there a little too early to see the orang utans so what did was to check out the area.

Apart from the orang utans, we saw pepper and pitcher plants too.

Our next destination - the airport. We told the driver that we wanted to reach the airport by 5pm, but we were too tired out to go anywhere else. We arrived at the airport at 4pm. It wasn't time to check in yet and so we waited till 5.15pm for the counter to open.

Once we got our boarding passes we went straight to the waiting area. We had to go through the international flight entrance. Over here domestic flights means places like Miri and Sibu.

The kids had a light meal at the Mary Brown restautant. I think this is the only restaurant once you get pass the immigration counter.

We had over an hour to kill before boarding the plane. After the kids had their meal, they wandered over to look at the planes while the aunties and my mom played their card games again.... in the airport. Sigh! What would they do without the RM3.80 cards, I wonder.

Oh this was our fourth day and by the time we reached the airport, Brian was so fed-up with Sze-En's presence. Did I tell you that she is a real chatter-box? Anyway, sometimes it is nice to hear what she had to say but other times... gosh.. I'm glad I'm not staying in the same house as her. hehe..

We separated the kids and there was peace. :)

The plane took off a little bit later than its scheduled time. It was alright.. as long as it wasn't like 1 hour or more.

This was what I had in the plane - nasi goreng with satay (fried rice and barbequed chicken). Esther had the Air Asia's famous nasi lemak.

Sze-En ordered maggi mee (at last her mom allowed her to have a cup of instant maggi mee)... but it was such a shame that she couldn't eat it because she was airsick. She slept most of the journey back and my mom ate her maggi mee for her.

Well... that's all. My Kuching trip ends here. All in all it was a good trip. I enjoyed my time in Kuching and didn't really mind the complains and grumbling made by the rest of my family members... hehe.

Our next trip? Not sure, but one of the aunties suggested Langkawi. Hmmm.... I'm not too sure about that. :)