I had my first trip to East Malaysia last week. I've always wanted to visit the other side of our country and finally had the chance to do so. Not only that, my trip was fully sponsored by the government! Well, not really everything was paid my them, but at least I had my accomodation and transportation covered.
I went there for the Symposium of Adolescent Health, organised by MMA, held at the Merdeka Palace. The event was rather...disorganised. I was initially very irritated on the first day. Imagine, the registration was on the second floor, getting the goodie bag was on the first floor (not like it was worth it) and the talk was on the third floor. Unnecessary exercise that morning. On top of that, the hall that they used was too small to accomodate 400 participants. Somehow the managed to cram everybody. There were no tables provided for us to write on and the aircon was just to cold. The ceiling was too low, and so the people sitting at the back had to hunch in order to properly see the projected slides. To make things worse, packed lunch was served. Who serves packed lunches at a symposium??
I went there for the Symposium of Adolescent Health, organised by MMA, held at the Merdeka Palace. The event was rather...disorganised. I was initially very irritated on the first day. Imagine, the registration was on the second floor, getting the goodie bag was on the first floor (not like it was worth it) and the talk was on the third floor. Unnecessary exercise that morning. On top of that, the hall that they used was too small to accomodate 400 participants. Somehow the managed to cram everybody. There were no tables provided for us to write on and the aircon was just to cold. The ceiling was too low, and so the people sitting at the back had to hunch in order to properly see the projected slides. To make things worse, packed lunch was served. Who serves packed lunches at a symposium??
On the second day, I was smart enough to sit in front, where the view of the slides was much better and it was less cold as well. The best part of the symposium was that I bumped into my ex-classmate from IMU, Zhun Neay. At least I had someone to sit with and to keep me awake throughout the lectures.
With Zhun Neay-One of the nicest guy in our batch- such a gentleman
Enough about the symposium.
I managed to do some sightseeing in between my hectic schedule. Went to Pasar Satok on Saturday, in the midst of the heavy rain. According to the locals, it's famous for ikan telubuk and fresh prawns, which I didn't purchase. Apparently, they are able to pack the stuff nicely into a box filled with ice, and we could check the box in at the airport. Heh, I actually bought the famous Sarawak pineapple and had a taste of it at the hotel later that night. It was excellent.
I also met up with another friend, Lik Han, who is currently working at Sarawak GH. He brought Zhun Neay and myself for dinner at this Indonesian restaurant called Gamelan, and later to the recently opened shopping mall, The Springs. The mall is probably the same size as Alamanda, and most of the shops there were still under renovation.
The three of us at The Springs
The night before I left for KL, my sister and I (yeah, I dragged along my sister) had dinner at the Khatulistiwa cafe which was just opposite our hotel. I had a taste of the Sarawak Laksa, which was nothing to shout about. Then, we took a stroll down the Riverfront, which had a few food stalls for people to hang out.
The Riverfront
The best part of my trip was the Cultural Village-which is must for people visiting Kuching. The place is like an outdoor museum-telling stories about the various ethic groups of Sarawak, i.e. the Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu, Iban, Penan, Malay and Chinese. The cultural show was great too, which completed our visit to the village and Kuching as a whole.
The Cultural Show
Would I visit Kuching again? Definitely.
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