me went, me saw, me likey!
took this pic a while back, on a morning when i sent mom to the airport heh.
2 weeks ago, Markus Chong decided to drop by Miri and crashed over at my place.
chilling at starbucks before we left for some gaming :p
Markus’ from Brunei. born n bred in brunei, but is somehow a Malaysian citizen lol. His dad’s working in ITB (Institut Teknologi Brunei) as a senior lecturer in Electrical Engineering and i dont even know why i’m talking abt his dad lol. hahahah!
i met Markus when i was in National Service and like me, he’s a 1989-er who deferred NS for 2 years because he was taking his A-levels in brunei. so, score one for a person my age and understanding to talk to when things got RIDICULOUSLY screwed over in camp.
we talked abt roadtrips and that was when i suggested that he come down to Miri for a few days, checkout the place and its food and then i’d head up to brunei along with him and chill at his place while heading out for FOOD TRIPS in brunei heheh!
anyways, this post is abt the stuff that happened when Markus was around and only happened because Markus was around :/
and as any good host would, i brought Markus to a few of Miri’s scenic spots :)
that’s Reggie and Daniel, both from camp as well who met up coz Markus was around
and because Markus was around, Daniel (below)
decided to arrange for a bbq n invite us for the NS pre-planned visit/bbq at his family’s 5 acre wide garden. wooooot!
Daniel’s Kayan and he taught me a lil abt the differences in the various indegenious tribes. and no, Kayans do not consume Tuak by tradition. they’re a peaceful bunch :)
so daniel rounded up the rest of the guys and we all headed over to the garden which is situated at the outskirts of Miri (further than Soon Hup Garden). drove dad’s Unser and thank God i did coz the way up to the garden was damned rocky.
the turning to the garden was from the highway but there’s no signpost wadsoever and the turning included a wooden bridge the car had to drive thru lol.
PICTURES!
the place was all green, trees, small family plantations and totally a cut-off place from town. EXACTLY something i needed from doing nothing at home :) and down a small hill u have…
that’s Daniel’s mom, btw :) REALLY nice lady who likes to share abt the family and stuff
a small clearing, with trimmed grass, a small wooden hut, benches strewn about the clearing, an outside table and also a walkway across a small river to head across the whole 5 acre garden (in which only 1 acre has been cleared so far, the rest of the 4 acres’ actually still a jungle filled with monkeys n other animals lol).
love how the kitchen’s totally back to basics, firewood lol
best thing abt the whole place was that, EVERYTHING u see there was built by Daniel’s dad!! wooooah! so nicely made and everything’s sturdy in structure and just a really comfy place to chill.
most ppl would be skeptical abt indegenious ppl in a sense where most wud say that they’re still slow, outback, laidback and never progressing. Daniel’s dad? he’s a senior section leader in one of Petronas’ IT departments and he’s constantly flying abt, conducting seminars on using the latest tech in Petronas bases around M’sia. slow? laidback and lazy? seems like we’re actually the blatant ones who look down too much on the indegenious peoples rather than their obvious progress.
this part’s right outside the kitchen n Daniel’s dad is actually planning on digging up a large pond to rear fish so that they could fish right off the kitchen’s plantform haha!
Daniel, “Catch fish from here, fresh, n then straightaway cook!”
reggie, solomon and rudy and uhh… doggie?
daniel, chopping up small bits of firewood to work up the bbq pit
Daniel’s challenge to both Markus and myself (2 city boys) was to build the fire for the bbq that was when i asked, “sure! so where’s the charcoal and firestarter?” LOL damned jakun la me!
Markus and i both sucked so bad that Daniel did everything instead haha!
the plantation consists of various fruits in which the family sells as side income
honestly, the garden was beyond what i expected and everything was so natural, so normal there. i felt totally at ease and was looking forward to the enjoyable day instead. smiled and enjoyed myself so much that day heh :)
Daniel wrote this. true, no?
honestly, Rudy’s one of the few guitarists i know who’s superbly damned good at guitaring n actually knows what he’s playing, how to make variations effortlessly, n just genuinely enjoying the heck out of himself and others in guitaring, with no intent in showing-off his skills. he kept singing hillsong’s hosanna lol.
yesh, we’re all christians who love jammin’ heheh.
Daniel’s younger bro, Rainee (i think it’s spelled this way). plays the bass guitar and is really good at it hey.
see the HUGE.THICK.SAVOURY.JUICY.TENDER.FATTY.GLORIOUS.HEAVENLY.
BEST MEAT IN THE WORLD!
PORKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!
and then… JENG JENG JENG! dark clouds settled in above us and is friggin startled to drizzle!
a good day half ruined but hey, there’s still everyone around and good food to be passed around in a while more :)
Daniel then gave instructions to shift the whole bbq pit over to the hut where there’s an overhead ceiling to keep out the rain haha.
and i was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo tempted to leave this sleepy bugger sleeping under the drizzle. damned sure he wudnt feel a thing being that tired lol
shifted over to the hut’s kitchen to divide the bbq-ing and finish cooking everything faster
there’s auntie who’s making paste out of shrimps, garlic, cili padi, n onions for when cooking the vegetables
that’s a small plate of meat sauce with LOADS of smashed garlic, cili padi along with a lot of lime juice that solomon n rudy made.
ultimately spicy, HOT and tongue flaring, but it went soooo well with the pork!
there was actually too much food for us all to finish haha, but fun nontheless.
some small fishes and prawns that Daniel’s dad caught in the pond not so far off from where we were.
talked to Daniel’s dad for almost a couple of hours, asking abt the garden, how he made the hut n its add-ons, his job, family fares as well as his past. (That’s his granddaughter, Jemaimah, btw)
he proved to be a very wise man who really takes family into account. he said that the garden’s like a small vacation spot where he and his family can get away from their usual life and head back to basics, working together, clearing the land and form strong bonds amongst each other.
and really, Daniel’s family is REALLY tight with 4 boys in the family. children-parent relationships are very open and without strain. something that made me smile over and want as well for my family, down life’s road :)
we all left with bloated stomachs, smiles, and a reunion in mind for next time :)
1 comment:
foooooooooooooood!!
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