Though the arrival arrangement seemed ‘messy’, it provides us with chances to explore Kuching on our own. I, arriving early in the afternoon, was joined by Mr Saiful in an impromptu trip to
Singgahsana Lodge was a delightful budget hotel – colorful, friendly (both staff and guests alike!) and comfortable. There was not much to complain about. The common bathroom was clean, the room was satisfactory and there was a cool lounge to boot.
Dinner at the Sarawak Club was a nice surprise. We had 2 tables at the Hornbill Restaurant to us. 5 Rotarians were there to host us –Pres Lau Seng, PP Edwin Liew, Rtr Moon, Rtr Robert and Rtr Arif Arabi. It was kind of daunting at first to go without a Rotarian and we are also without our President or President elect. I thank god for Mr. Saiful’s presence.
My first blunder of the trip would be to forget to bring the club’s bannerette to the dinner. Pres Lau Seng took me by surprise when he presented their bannerette to me halfway through dinner. Fortunately, we were able to make it up the very next day.
The day ended with the Rotaractors ( PP Sorensen and Pres Chong) and us hanging out in a lounge nearby.
19th June 2009
9am marked the start of our visit to KAA [ Kuching Autistic Association ]. Mr Andrew and Mr Bernard gave us a short tour of the care center, which in my opinion, looks pretty ‘old’ and not as well maintained. It was previously a government owned house – used as its officials’ residence. As requested, we presented to them RM300 worth of products – a kettle and a vacuum cleaner - as well as stationeries from UTP and bags from RC KL. I could see why they needed those ( the electrical appliances ). Andrew shared with us that the center has been broken into 4 times in the last 7 months! Suddenly our contributions aren’t really ‘significant’ anymore.
Bernard and Andrew guided us throughout the center, explaining stage by stage how they train the autistic children. It was eye-opening for some. There were students as old as 12 yet they were just starting to learn how to clothe themselves. We spent most of the time in a special room with various equipments aimed to evoke the autistic children’s senses – swings to calm agitated children down and slides to train focus of the eyes, just to name a few. The trainers there did most of the explaining and one of them is actually a parent to an autistic child. At the end of the day, everyone was touched in a way or two.
We interacted with some of the children there and even tried out the one-to-one training method (on one of the children and among ourselves).
At noon, we went off to lunch before traveling for about an hour to UNIMAS.
It was a very short trip. Arriving at 3pm, we were greeted by Mr Mohammad Ibrahim, the head of the quality assurance division. After a brief presentation at the chancellery, we headed to the engineering faculty where we visited the civil engineering labs there. The faculty was quite empty as students were on their semester break. Honestly, this particular visit had me becoming more grateful of UTP for its better lab facilities and structures. However, all of us agreed that the students’ area at UNIMAS is not to be missed. It boasted a bowling court, a couple of snooker sets and a room for mini-karaoke. It was not a surprise that we hung out there for almost 2 hours.
** I left a bannerette there to be passed to Pres Lau Seng (He’s a professor of Environmental Chemistry as well as the director for the Center for Water Research at UNIMAS.
20th June 2009
It was our free day and we were joined by Michelle’s friend, Sam!! We headed off to the cultural village and got a RM15 pass each. Basically, it was a 7-stop-tour, with each stop showcasing a traditional house. What was most interesting would be the daily cultural show at the Rainforest Stage. The 45-minute-performance was packed with dances of various tribes of
After a seafood lunch nearby, it was ‘free time’ for all.
Most of us headed to Michelle’s aunt’s place for a BBQ dinner. [ Andrey and Stella had other plans while Javier and Yen Pinng joined us later on. Aamir and Mr Saiful on the other hand, had a great time shopping and exploring the Waterfront ]. As an added treat, Michelle’s dad gave us two bottles of tuak.
Basically, it was a laid-back yet fun-filled day.
21st June 2009
We set off early to the Bako Jetty and got a boat to the National Park, which was about half an hour away. Sorensen, Pres Chong and Ethan were there too (for the first time as well) and we braved the Pandan Kecil trail for almost 2 hours. Most parts of the trail looked postcard-perfect – the surreal greeneries, the pitcher plants, and the rocky cliff which looked like the surface of the moon. The beach and cliff were definitely worth our trek. Sorensen and I exchanged bannerettes on the cliff.
The group then trekked to the beach and we hung out there for about 2 hours – chatting, napping, swimming and cam-whoring. Aamir decided to trek back to the starting point. He clearly enjoyed himself very much that day. The rest of us (too beaten up and lazy to join him) took a boat back instead.
By the time we reached the city, it was already 4pm. We had a quick KFC lunch with the Rotaractors before parting ways. The rest of the day was yet another ‘free session for all’.
For dinner, we crossed the river to the more ‘Malay’ part of Kuching. The sampan fare was RM0.50 each but the journey was a mere minute (or even less!). We tried halal kolo mee.I prefer the real thing.
After the meal, we adjourned to Scopes – a new place serving gelatos – with Pres Chong. The night ended quite late for most of us, including our host, as we hung out at the hotel lounge (playing pool and even left the Rotaract logo on the walls).
22nd June 2009
The express boat took a good half of the day. Fortunately, no one got seasick. By the time we arrived at the Sibu Jetty, it was already nearing 2pm.
To everyone’s surprise, we were greeted with a welcoming banner (despite the typo – it read ‘University of Technology, Tronoh’ instead of ‘Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS’ – it remains the most memorable moment for the rest of the Sibu trip). The welcoming crew of more than 5 ( I forgot how many ) was headed by Pres Ting (of the Rotaract Club of UCS).
The PP of the Rotary Club of Sibu, Mr Stephen Wong, kindly provided us with 2 rented cars throughout our stay there while Pres Ting acted as the 3rd driver with his own transport.
Eden Inn was just another family-run budget hotel. (No complains here though since we were to stay for just one night and it was just RM40 per room!). Everyone was tired by the time we reached our rooms.
By the time everyone had their dues done, we set off to the longhouse of Sungai Aup. It was 4 plus when we got there. To my disappointment, it was a rather ‘modern’ community. There were long houses there. Just not the ones I’ve pictured so many times in my head prior to the trip – I was expecting the place to be like the Simpang Pulai orang asli settlement. We did nothing much there except presenting gifts to the village chief (I had arranged 16 sets of hand-outs worth RM10 each for the families there).
At about 5.30 pm, we set off to UCS – United College of Sarawak- for an unofficial visit. Well, the Rotaractors wanted to freshen up before the dinner, and by chance, the college is just around the corner. By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was already 6.30pm.
The dinner at Tanahmas Hotel started with speeches from the PP of Waterboard Sibu ( Mr Daniel Wong ) and the president of the Rotary Club of Sibu ( Mr Philip Lau ) as well as a presentation on ‘Water Preservation’.
The dinner was attended by the members of local press (which is Mandarin-based), members of Sibu Waterboard, Rotarians of the Rotary Club of Sibu, and Rotaractors of UCS. A personal opinion here – we were seated according to tables, as in the Rotarians, Rotaractors, etc occupied a table each, so we did not really get to interact much with the anyone there. This is when, I think, Rotarian Arthur could have done his magic.
Halfway through the dinner, the RACUTP presented its bannerette to the Rotary Club of Sibu. **Something embarrassing happened. I was addressed as the President. And of course, they were corrected.
23rd June 2009
Pres Ting brought us to a kampua mee-and-kompia- breakfast (well, Mr Saiful and Aamir had their meal in a Malay stall nearby) before setting off to the
We were supposed to start at 8.30am, however, delays were unavoidable as we had to wait for the ‘painting sifu’ and Mr John Wong (the secretary of the center). Meanwhile, under the prompts by the supervisor there, we took pictures, pictures, and pictures.
By 9am, the paints arrived – the boys were assigned to scrap off the old paint of the front gate while the girls were asked to clean up the center.
Basically, that was what we did until 11.30am. Evidently, we did not have enough time to finish painting but we provided enough paint for them to do so. ** Mr Saiful left for his flight at 9.30am. We took more pictures of course before we left for lunch.
Lunch at Rafie Café was sponsored. Dr Hii and a journalist were there to greet us.
Andrey, Javier and Yen Pinng left right after lunch to catch their flight and bus respectively. The rest of us were brought back to the hotel to check out before going about Sibu – just plain hanging out and shopping.
3 Rotaractors (Pres Ting, Incoming Pres Wong and Benjamin) played host till the end. They even waited with us for our flights back! We couldn’t thank the Sibu Rotaractors more as our trip coincide with their normal lecture days.
There are just too many pics. Here I present to you, my favorite!
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