The Bintulu Journals: 1st July

Today was the most hectic of all the days, and no, this is not lunch time. Today is stock take day. It is 30 minutes to midnight and I am here writing after a good dose of shower, dinner, Milo, and biscuits. And not forgetting Chor Dai Di which my colleagues taught me yesterday =D

Today was a hot, sticky, dirty day. Trampled in black muddy puddles of oil, glue, soil and wood scraps and in my Adidas, because old Nike could not come as his soles were dangling and threatening to fall off. It broke my heart to see the white on Adidas turn into shades of black :(

We went to eat foochow noodles, with big ass prawns. Only halfway though did I start thinking of the things people told me “the cost of living in Bintulu is high”, “eating out in Bintulu is EXPENSIVE”.

I then starred at the gigantic prawn in my bowl of Foochow Noodles and thought “CRAP I ONLY BROUGHT RM13 WITH ME”. The person who took us out paid eventually but I felt super duper bad about it.

In 24 hours I will be back home and sitting in my own bed. Hence, a few more pictures to wrap up the Bintulu trip.

This was last night’s dinner.

Cucumbers, greens, pork and prawns. And that bowl at the back is filled with awesome sea cucumber soup.

Vendors along the road

My pisang goreng stall

 

Banana fritter; simple, sinful, yumminess.

The Boys

The Girls

The afternoon before we left, we were brought to this place for rojak. I thought ‘rojak ‘meant eating at coffee shops or hawker stalls. That made me feel better after the RM20 noodle experience. Instead, we were brought to Riverside Cafe, a hotel restaurant. *holds breath*

The rojak was indeed a bit different. Saltier and more watery than usual. Less sweet, and we were given a bowl of pound peanuts to sprinkle as we pleased.

We ordered this too. The called it sago. We call it ABC Cendol Special – because it had everything.

Well it had everything except sugar. The sugar syrup came in a cute little er… syrup holder?

Then we left for the airport and watched an entire Saw 4 movie as we shrieked and covered our eyes.

And that wraps up Bintulu. =)

The Bintulu Journals: 30th June

Lunch is over. I am done with the first episode of my Taiwanese drama and I am now writing because we’ve worked ahead of time. Awesomeness.

Yesterday evening we went for a jog, my colleague and I. It ends up that the place is not THAT big after all. Running one around around Jalan Song’s Friendship Park takes longer. I ended up running up and down the slope as there were dogs further into the housing area and my colleague was afraid. Prevention is better than cure huh?

The jog was followed by dinner and this is what we had.

 

Really, the food was pretty good and it looks a lot nicer than this. We had clams, eggplant, curry chicken, seaweed soup and cabbage. Dom says I suck at taking pictures. I think this is proof =S

Anyway, this was followed by an Orange, which I irresponsibly cut on a plate like I always did back in uni, until the kakak came and said “jangan potong atas pinggan, nanti scratch” *SHY MAX*

Nights were drama time with the colleague. It was this Taiwanese series that Kelyn gave me, about this happy family who was broken up by this girl. It included a lot of me yelling ‘fucker go die’ and her throwing blankets on the laptop and banging the mattress.

Why men like damsel in distress-weak, innocent looking, constantly crying, but hiaw bitches har? takes two hands to clap.

Day three and no spiders yet. Bintulu has been kind to me. Looking forward to pisang goreng this evening and outdoor audit work tomorrow! =)

The Bintulu Journals: 29th June

Lunch time again. Today we had fried fish, cucumber and Japanese tofu for lunch.

The staff living quarters was not too bad. It was even quite beautiful, with houses built in an enclosed area. There was no kitchen, but there was a separate unit where a kakak was there to cook breakfast and dinners for staffs. There was even a basketball court next to it. And from what I saw yesterday evening after work, it would be perfect for a jog too!

Outside the quarters, vendors drove to the area to set up stalls. Fear not for forgetting your body bath or shampoos, the sell those. I being tam chiak, bought pisang goreng after dinner. *I promise to run today if it doesn’t rain* SIX pieces of banana fritters for RM1 ! There goes my hopes of losing weight eh?

The only problem I had would be the spiders. Those big, black, fast and immortal ones who would never die no matter how much Ridsect you spray. Apparently they are many creeping around, says my colleague. And well, my second problem would be the toilet (where the spiders usually linger) which isn’t the cleanest toilet I’ve seen, and the mattress that flattens out you can feel the steel rods of the bed frame beneath you. But I guess I can live with that for another 3 to 4 days.

Currently enjoying the short break away responsibilities, away from home, away from Kuching, away from complaints and naggings and stubborn people, away from the cold house and away from the stress it brings. Maybe by Saturday night I’ll miss home enough to want to go back. Then Kuching will look all bright and sparkly once again =)

The Bintulu Journals: 28th June

Hello Bintulu.

That’s where I am today. That’s where I was told I’d be coming told by a kind colleague informally on Sunday night. And that’s where my manager told me I’d be heading to 24 hours ago. And here I am now, eating lunch out of a polystyrene box, brought in by a staff at the client office.

Two vegetables and one (very tough) meat. If it’s any consolation, at least the three boxes of rice was brought in on  a shiny metal tray, rather than in a plastic bag *optimism*

I am starting to wonder if I will start losing weight during my 6-day stay. Yes, we should always be hopeful.

When I found out about this posting, my first thoughts were: “But I’m menstruating!”, “But Dom is coming back this week and we’re supposed to meet up!”… then reality sunk in and i thought “Well at least I’m with nice colleagues”.

The night before the bf packed my bags for me. Probably because he could not stand seeing me packing at snail pace. It was sweet and at the same time frustrating because I could not keep track of my things. But now, thinking of all the things he did for me – take me to buy my necessities, drive me to the airport at 5.45, give me encouraging words, I feel a bit bad for snapping.

Waking up at 5am was most dreadful – I have never been a morning person. Lack of sleep and uncertain of what awaits, I hopped onto the flight. It was the first of me boarding MAS wings. I flew in a mini plane with four seats in a row and slept until they served breakfast. I had my first shot of caffeine, perked up and started anticipating what was coming.

I arrived at Bintulu airport met by a rainy day. It was refreshing to hear and smell rain after the many dry days in Kuching. I and stood there waiting for my transport with no idea who was coming, what car he drove, where we were going or what time he was arriving. The guy finally came anyway and took me straight to the client’s office. *faith* lol

So lunch time is over, I’ve had my second mug of coffee and enough caffeine to get me through noon,so I shall get back to work. Can’t wait to see how the living quarters looks like. Not keeping my hopes high because I haven’t heard many encouraging comments about it. But my aim is to hop into bed by 10pm.