A Foodful Trip Back Home

Ahhhhh…. Scrumptious Malaysian fusion food, at Kafe Empat Sekawan, Butterworth, Malaysia – Jul 2024

Did it! Here’re all the valuable family photos of our recent trip back home!

It looks like it’s all about food, but it’s more than that. (Although, I admit that we’ve been heaping up on the cholesterol… ahem. Can’t help it. There’s just so much variety, everywhere, and for a fraction of the cost of what you’ll have to pay in friggin Dubai). (No wonder, Malaysia’s the most obese country in South East Asia!!! Sez some report. Not something to be proud of unfortunately). Amazing, how dad and his siblings remained so thin…


First breakfast of our Malaysia trip …Dim Sum at Thong Sum Restaurant, Butterworth. Eat up dad! Match our size, haha!


We, at Gurney Bay, Penang, a new park built on reclaimed land along Gurney Drive. Right after our medical check-ups in the Penang Adventist Hospital. We, typically do a full body check-up, when we visit Malaysia. Dad, Anu and I did it. Hazel was supposed to do it, but opted out due to her period. The results were OK, luckily. (It would’ve been worse, if we did it a week later, looking at all the food that we gorged down in the week ahead, ahem). I prefer the old Gurney Drive promenade to this reclaimed, ‘sanitized’ version. The old promenade was cooler, ermmm… more natural.


More food!! At the famous Teksen Restaurant, Penang …where you’d have to queue up to get a place, even at 5-ish pm. Don’t believe me? Go visit yourself. Heck, even the tourists queued up (it must have featured in some tourist guide). Right behind us in the queue, was a Dutch couple on holiday.


Visiting the Ipoh family. Meet Tuapek, dad’s eldest brother, at the Moonlight Care Centre Old Folks Home. Tuapek is the ‘delinquent’ of the home, well-known for his exploits of trying to escape. Don’t blame him. What’s an old man gotta do to get some freedom? His children visit, but they stay overseas, unfortunately. He’s got a little ‘behavioural dementia’ according to the home. We saw a little of that on the first time we met him, but on the second and third, he was lucidly clear. Just didn’t like the lack of freedom in the home, he said… Pity him, I hope he gets a better deal soon


And this is Tuakor, dad’s eldest sister, 90 years old this year (a year older than tuapek), with son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Still strong, but thin as a reed. Sure hope they’ll eat more. If only I could give them some of my excess fat…


Ah Yee, my cousin sister from mom’s side, with husband and son, at our Canning Garden old house. Thanks for pandering to my last-minute plea for meeting up!!!


Looking for food in Ipoh. Dad’s a stickler for the tried and tested. But all his favourite food shops were closed! Maybe because it’s a week day. We ended up in Concubine Lane (near where dad grew up in Ipoh), and tried a new restaurant, at our prompting, The One Café, that specializes in Chee Cheong Fun, with multiple flavours that you could choose from. Not bad! “Get out of the way, Jayden!” The photo-bomber of the family strikes again.


Back in Butterworth… another new restaurant, again at my prompting, hehe - King Kong Ramen. See, it ain’t bad, right?


Cheers! First time, in a long time that we had a drink in a pub! The Beer Factory, Butterworth, P Pinang, Malaysia


Time to go! So quick. – Penang Airport. Sure wish we had more time. Hope to visit again soon! Stay strong, stay happy!


We’re in Singapore! Hello Justin! We miss you! The Jewel, Changi Airport, Singapore – Aug 2024


Time to tuck in, again. With Jason, at Tai Er Restaurant, a mainland Chinese restaurant which specializes in… wait for it. …Chinese Sauerkraut Fish! Sauerkraut?!? What’s sauerkraut doing in a Chinese restaurant? Sauerkraut’s a friggin German thing! Wait, ooh, it’s only ‘suancai’ or what we called ‘kiam-chai’ in Hokkien (salted vegetable). Kiam-chai therng (salted vegetable soup) was a pretty common dish we had at home, growing up. But who’d have thought of pairing it up with fish! But it obviously worked, or it wouldn’t have grown into this big a restaurant chain, with branches all over! This is their Singapore Jewel Branch. Thanks, Jason, for the treat!


Another meal. This time a Korean barbecue. So that the kids could serve us for a change, haha. They loved the cooking! Seorae Korean BBQ, Compass One, Singapore


Hey guys, family photo time! At Compass One (near Jason’s flat), Singapore, before we fly back to Dubai!

That’s it for our short trip, with lots of errands, but we managed to squeeze in a road trip to Tioman Island, hehe. More on that next time. See ya!

The Lion-Less City

The Merlion, at Marina Bay, Singapore

We’re back! From our Malaysia home trip with short stopovers in India and Singapore. Two weeks is too darn short, now that it’s done. Still having holiday blues, and tired with jet lag. Guess I’ll put up some leftover Singapore photos of our last family visit in July 2022, while I sort out the photos of our latest home trip. Here goes.


Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

No, there’re no lions in Singapore. Although Singapore literally means ‘Lion City’ (in Malay), lions have never existed in this tropical island, nor anywhere in South East Asia. But, there’re legends, and statues, and symbols, and dances, and what-have-you, all about the mighty lion! I guess these were borrowed from India through the Hindu and Buddhist epics and stories, when South East Asia adopted these religions.

And so it is with Singapore, when a Malay prince in the 13th century (whom I assume would never have seen a real lion before, …unless he ventured to India, the Middle East, or Africa, which I doubt), saw a ‘lion’ on the shores of this island, and decided to establish a kingdom with its namesake on the island! Nobody knows what he really saw, was it a tiger? Or a bear? Or a Chimera? Or some silly Chinese people in a lion-dance costume? (which I doubt happened at that time).

Anyway, fast-forward to the 1960’s when Singapore became independent, and the inhabitants of the lion-less ‘Lion City’ were trying to find their identity, some smart alec thought, “Hey, what the heck! Since we’re a maritime port and a ‘lion’ city (without a lion), why don’t we combine the two?” And Voila! The Merlion was born. That’s how you create a mythical creature, folks!


The Jubilee Bridge at Marina Bay, Singapore. Do you see the Merlion? It’s at the far end of the bridge


Jason was our guide for the night…


Anu at the Jubilee Bridge, Marina Bay, Singapore


A walk in the rain, by the Singapore River


Smile! Cavenagh Bridge, Singapore River


Boat going under the Anderson Bridge, on the Singapore River


And here’s something from Nov 2022, when I dropped Justin off in Singapore to start schooling – catching up with an old friend, Raymond Ho, at Dian Xiao Er Restaurant, in NEX, Serangoon. Thanks, Raymond, for the treat!


Bye-bye, till the next post. The Butterfly Garden in Changi Airport’s Terminal 3

In the Heart of Borneo

The Canopy Walk, in the Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia

I might as well finish my story of our Mulu National Park Family Trip two years ago, since I’ve already sorted out all the photos. I’m rushing to finish off work before we go off on a two-week trip home to Malaysia. One super express photo post coming up!


Ahh, nice. Drizzly cool in the Malaysian Rainforest. Way better than getting cooked alive here in Dubai at the moment. This year has been really hot and humid in Dubai. Not a place to be in, except indoors. Now you know why there’re malls all over the place?


That was our long-house for our 3-night stay in Mulu – there’re 4 rooms in it. The left most room was ours, and the second left most was Dad and Hazel’s


A walk in the forest is a nice thing that you could do. …Come to think of it, it’s about the ONLY thing that you could do. Besides getting lost and scaring yourselves in the dang caves that abound


Oh, a snake! Here snakey-snakey! As if it’ll respond. Jayden (the animal expert of our family) said it was Borneo Keeled Pit Viper. And he’s right! He’s the only one who’ll bother to search it up in our family


Wow. Big tree. More of mommy’s cup o’ tea than snakey-snakey


Canopy walk, here we come! Cmon honey, it’s not scary! (Mommy’s scared of heights)


See! Hazel on the canopy walk


Yours truly, ahem


And Dad


Back at ‘camp’, the kids


Oh, here’s one cool thing that you could do apart from jungle-trekking and exploring caves - Swimming! Yeah, at a natural pool outside Clearwater Cave. No, don’t swim in the raging underground river inside the cave. That might be the last time we ever hear from you… Who knows what lies in the caves?.. The kids made a friend here, Louie (right)


This raging river (Sungai Melinau Paku) separates the Mulu National Park premises from the small village and airport. No, not recommended to swim here. (Are you kidding me? Look at the torrent. But the water isn’t always that high and fast. We were there during a rainy spell). This is where you have to catch the boat to caves like Clearwater and Lagang, and also to Camp 5 if you decide to attempt the Pinnacles climb. Nope, didn’t do that. Not for kids below 16, and the unfit, ahem…


Leaving Mulu National Park, crossing the Melinau Paku River. Bye-bye, see you when we see you. Maybe. If we’re fit enough for the Pinnacles!


Our flight’s here! Kuching, here we come. Say cheese! Mulu Airport, Sarawak, Malaysia, Jul 2022

The Dark Cave Expedition

The start of a cave expedition in the jungles of Borneo. You’d have to get there by boat. What have we got ourselves into? Who knows what horrors lie in the cave. Will it be like The Descent?!?

This is the story of our visit to a cave in the rainforest of Borneo. It’s actually one of the caves in the Mulu National Park that we visited exactly 2 years ago, in July 2022. So, nope, there’re no horrors that we couldn’t cope with, unless… somehow, we’re trapped in there. No, I don’t want to imagine that.

But it’s easy to imagine being in one of those cave horror movie scenarios. An expedition to an unknown cave in the rainforest of Borneo. With ‘hostile’ hill tribes and who knows what lurks in the wilderness and darkness. Get ready for the unimaginable… OK, OK, that’s over-dramatic. The reality is the exact opposite actually, hehe.


The ‘hostile’ hill tribes turned out to be quite ‘docile’. This is the Penan Handicraft Centre in Batu Bungan, a Penan resettlement village near the Mulu National Park. The Penans are one of the tribes found in this area, but the predominant tribe original to this area, is actually the Berawan tribe, said one of the guides at Mulu National Park. The Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers who gained fame in the 80’s and 90’s when their plight to challenge and stop the Malaysian and Indonesian logging companies from cutting down the rainforest came to light with the help of Bruno Manser, a Swiss environmentalist who stayed with the Penan people for a few years in the Sarawak forests.


We’ve reached the location. Now to trek thru the thick jungle. What flower is this? The lost miracle herb that could cure all sicknesses (like in The Jungle Cruise), or the deadly parasitic plant that could take over your body (like in The Ruins)?!? Heck, it’s just a flower, how would I know. Ask a botanist, or Google Lens…


The ascent…


The descent… Why is this cave locked? “This cave is locked to keep out unauthorised visitors who could easily get lost in the cave,” explained the guide. (Is it? OR is it to keep something IN??!?)


“What’s that? What’s that? I saw something run into the hole…” “Oh, it’s a long-legged centipede,” explained a ‘learned’ Singaporean visitor nonchalantly. The ‘critter-expert’ was with the only other group visiting the cave that day with us, a Singaporean family consisting of a pair of grown-up siblings, their parents and a spouse (if I remember correctly).


Swiftlets… the bats of the bird-world. Like bats, they use echolocation to fly in total darkness in the chasms and shafts of the caves, which are where they build their nests. Cool, huh? Why’s the West only hyped up over bats… Why aren’t there vampire swiftlets, or Swiftlet-Man?? The ‘click’ sounds that you hear in the caves aren’t from bats, but from swiftlets. Bat clicks are too high pitched for our human ears to hear.


The name of this cave is actually Lagang Cave, as explained by our local guide. In Mulu National Parks’ tour website and brochure, this particular cave tour is nicknamed, Fastlane. No, I have no idea why it’s called Fastlane. It isn’t faster than any of the other caves we visited in Mulu. The Fastlane Cave Tour can only be arranged directly with Mulu National Park, unlike the other ‘show caves’ in Mulu, like Deer Cave and Clearwater Cave, where external tour agents could arrange.


All visitors are advised to bring their own torches or headlamps as there’re no lights installed in this cave. Strangely, although this cave was the least popular cave of the 5 caves we visited in Mulu, both our kids said this was their favourite cave! One special thing about this cave is that because it is less visited, and more ‘hidden’, you could see more critters here than the other caves we’ve gone to – crickets, spiders, long-legged centipede, swiftlets, blind crabs… Wanted to see racer snakes, but no luck that day


Our family, Lagang Cave (aka Fastlane), Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia




Whew, we’re out. No mutants or monsters in the cave, …or is there?!?


Back at our base, the Mulu National Park!

We’ll be going for another home trip to Malaysia soon. It’ll be a shorter trip this time, than the last in 2022. So, we’ll have less time to go wandering around, sigh. Looking forward to the trip. Any trip is an adventure, woo-hoo!