Green Hill at Kuching

There is one not-so-touristy place that my parents will bring guests to visit during their first visit to Kuching. The direct translation from Hokkien is 'Green Hill' but not the Green Hill with an asylum.

There were many steps up the temple

It was actually a Chinese temple built by Hokkien people when they first reached Kuching from China. It was built to protect a small harbour below, according to their belief.

Birds eye view of the harbour below

A part of the temple from outside. I did not take any photos inside. I seldom go inside temples as I was not sure of the 'etiquette' inside a Buddhist temple

'Foot Print of Lord Buddha' as what I read from the description. It was one of the sacred items in Buddhism commonly found in Burmese Temples

We were Christians, not Buddhists but we brought guest there just to show them the history as we were Hokkien and the serene surrounding was good for strolling.

We went to a seafood restaurant at the foot of the hill and the food was delicious and cheap. Again, there were about 10 adults and 2 kids and the bills was only around RM150 including drinks (mostly coconuts). Of course, there were few other dishes that I did not managed to take photo.

Teo-chew style fried oyster which was sticky unlike that other crispy type that I had in my previous post

Curry Bamboo Clam - The clams were huge and juicy

Bamboo Clams with spring onions and ginger. What we had in Johor was cooked with the shell (to make up the bulk) and the clams were so tiny

Prawns in Vietnamese sauce. It was not spicy at all with a tinge of sourish sweetish taste. We dipped fried 'man-tau' to eat the sauce. Really delicious!

Steamboat on Chap Goh Meh and other foods in Kuching

To celebrate Chap Goh Meh (the fifteenth day of Chinese New Year), we had steamboat for dinner. There were thirteen adults and two kids so I suggested to my mum to have steamboat as it would be too much of a hassle to cook different dishes for all of us.

We had beef slices (used for Japanese Shabu-Shabu), pomfret fish, prawns, pig liver, fish/ prawn balls, sea cucumber, eggs and different types of mushrooms.

After dinner, my dad lit fire crackers and most of the people around the neighbourhood did the same. My cousins lit lots of fireworks and the kids had a great time admiring them. My parents-in-law were amazed and said that it had been very long since they saw people light fireworks/ fire crackers so freely unlike in West Malaysia.


We had very nice Kolo Mee at this shop called Sin Lian Shin at Green Road. It was a very old shop and even on weekdays, we had to wait for more than half an hour for this simple but delicious noodles. There were no photos of the noodles because the kids were getting restless due to hot weather and long waiting time. When the noodles and 'pien sip' (meat wrapped in skin made from flour) were served, we wolfed down the food and I had totally forgotten to take any photos. We proceeded to the muzium to enjoy the air-cond and it was my in-laws first visit in Kuching.

On another day,we had a dinner at Lok Garden. I was not sure where it was but I heard my dad mentioned at Batu Lintang. Luckily we reached there early and did not have to wait for too long as the place was getting more and more packed.

Lok Garden Restaurant



Mango Fish

Fried Oyster (Oh-Chien). When I remembered to take a photo, there were almost none left

There were some other delicious foods that I did not manage to take photos like fish maw soup, two dishes of midin (local/ native vegetables) cooked with red yeast wine and sambal. Both tasted superb. We had some pork dishes, garlic salted prawn etc. The bill was considered cheap as there were ten adult and two kids having the meal and it was only around RM200 including drinks. Oh, how I loved having meals in Sarawak!

Arrival and First Day in Kuching

We arrived in Kuching at 10:00pm so we headed back to my brother's house straightaway because it was time for the kids to sleep. However, my aunt (dad's sis) and her daughter and son were at my brother's house because they wanted to see the kids. So the girls had a good time eating tit bits, receiving angpows (it was 14th day of Chinese New Year) and displaying their 'cuteness' to our relatives before settling down to sleep.

Kuching Airport at night

On the next morning, we started our feasting journey. We went to Chong Choon Cafe for the famous laksa. My parents-in-law had been looking forward to taste this laksa because hubby had been praising how nice it was and there was several Taiwanese programmes introducing delicious foods featuring this laksa at this shop. I was glad they liked the laksa. The kids had Kolo Mee, Cheese Toast and Peanut Butter toast.

Chong Choon Cafe

My MIL mentioned the Teh-C also tasted superb. In West Malaysia, we would normally order Teh (with condensed milk) because most cafes were not able to make a really nice and smooth Teh-C. We had Teh-C all the time in Kuching.

Sarawak Laksa

We all liked this laksa as it was different from laksa over here. The laksa that we have in Johor is actually Curry Mee/ Bee Hoon in Sarawak.

Kolo Mee - tossed noodles with lard and garnished with char siew pork and chopped spring onions

Kolo Mee was also nice but it was overshadowed by the laksa. We went to another shop that sells only Kolo Mee on the next day. More specialized.

Cheese Toast

Peanut Butter Toast


We headed back home after breakfast and had Sugar Bun meals for lunch. Why such a simple lunch? We were saving tummy space for another delicacy that only started selling at 2:00pm.

The stall was situated perpendicular to the main road where the post office was, opposite a temple below. The stall itself was below a stage that I thought would only be used for special occasions.

The pork satay cost RM0.50 per stick and hubby could easily polish off 20 sticks. Even my 4 yo could finish eating 5 sticks. The peanut gravy is just nice, not to spicy for me and the kids.

Hubby who disliked vermicelli could also finish a whole bowl of this fish ball, bean curd vermicelli. The soup was flavourful without the dehydrated feeling on the tongue due to MSG overload.

I am back from Kuching!

I am back from my Kuching trip since Monday but I have been really busy settling down my kids to our routine. I am also catching up with my work as I did not touch my laptop for almost 6 days eventhough I brought my laptop back to Kuching.

It is month end. I need to process salary payment for employees and hubby asked me to settle his foreign worker application with their agent as soon as possible.

I wish I can blog properly soon and share what we have been doing in Kuching.

I *heart* Valentine's Day!

I start to love Valentine's Day but not because of

TEDDY BEARS;
CHOCOLATES;

OR EVEN A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS;

BUT because of

THIS;

AND THIS;

I received a few larger orders for cut leaves last week from my florists to cater for Valentine's Day demand this Monday. I was so HAPPY because I could compensate for some lost some orders due to Chinese New Year holidays.

I have always told hubby not to send me flowers on Valentine' Day (I know, how unromantic!) because as we are in plantation business, we know almost all the cost price for flowers and leaves and I will get 'heartache' if hubby needs to pay so much for a bouquet of flowers. However, I do hope there will be more and more men who will order flowers for their girlfriends and wives. It means I will have more business. One day, perhaps, when we have money to burn, I might want to receive flowers just for the sake of nice packaging and feeling of being in love.......

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

My cucumber and chili plants

My FIL has grown some other vegetables at the vegetable patch outside my house. Cucumbers and chilies! One good things about growing vegetables is that they grow very fast and usually can be harvested after one month we plant the seeds/ seedlings and we can rotate between several types of vegetables. As we grow them from own consumption, no pesticides is sprayed.

We were happy to see the cucumbers 'greeting' us when we were back from hometown after Chinese New Year holidays. Cucumbers are high in Vitamin A, C, K, Pantothenic Acid (Water soluble yellow, oily acid that is a part of Vitamin B complex), Magnesium, Phosphorous and Manganese.


Several chili plants also started to bear fruits and I wonder how we could finish them all. Chilies are high in Vitamin A, C, K, B6, Potassium, Copper, Manganese, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorous. It aids weight loss and maintains optimum weight. Hubby took a lot of effort in these chili plants (as experiment) as this is one of his new project at his plantation.

Happy Chinese New Year!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!

I decorated the above yesterday. I bought all the flowers and leaves from Singapore, shopping centres and florists.

'Hakka Phoon Choi' was one of the dishes cooked by MIL. This required lots of layering of several seafood (prawn, abalone, sea cucumber), dried seafood (dried scallop, dried oyster, fish maw), bacon, duck, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, yam, broccoli.


I wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!