Serawak Sarawak Seghawak

I am writing this from Room 921 of Hilton Kuching, a room with a view of the sungai rejang. Nice. I like.

I have always liked Kuching. I first came here in 1977. Went to Sekolah Rendah Mejar Jeneral Dato Ibrahim at Batu 7 from 1977 until 1980. Had the greatest time there: hunting for skulls behind the school, snacking on young shoots of i-dont-know-what-plant (called it daun kambing), singing on the teacher's table (always the same song, 'bila ku dengar bunyi marakas, diiring pula petikan gitar, suara biola mendayu-dayu, mengiringi suaramuuuuu), was always losing in the lari-dalam-guni competition, and watching movies during the weekends with Cikgu Salma Batu.

And i especially love going for ice creams at Sunny Hill and shopping for books at the Electra House. And oh my, i absolutely love the museum! With its stuffed wolves, birds and snakes and that giant skeleton of a whale and then the park that surrounds the museum, the lotus pond (Mak kata, 'hang pegang bunga dia hang jadi batu') and the many many tombstones. Again, i was always scouting around for skulls there. Why the fascination with skulls, you ask? I wonder why too.

There was this one church in town that got my attention. Beautiful, sombre and big. Huge cross on top. Mak kata, ada one little half chicken thrown there on the cross by the wind. You see, my Mak has always been creative. She would create many wonderful stories for us. The half chicken was about this little baby chicken who wanted to meet the king. Cant remember exactly how the story went, but it had something to do with the wind helping the poor lass (as it had only one leg one wing, how to go fast fast to meet the king far far ? Common sense lah) and by blowing too hard, the half chicken went flying up so high and too high, it got stuck between the cross and that's where it still is. Traumatising story for a kid to hear, dont you think? Haha.. My mom, dont i just love her to bits?! Everytime we passed by the church, i would squint my eyes, trying to see better, trying to find the little chickling. Never could see it. SBut there were days, i thought i could see the fluttering of a wing. Chirp Chirp!

i wanted to go visit the museum again today and wanted to look at the church too. Failed miserably : (1) Finished my meeting at 4.30 and the museum pulled its shutters at 4.30 (2) Couldnt remember which church which cross!

Yamtuan sent some MMSes of the kids, Sun blowing me kisses and Dot asking me to hurry home. Miss them sorely. One day, i will drag them all down my memory lane in Sarawak and tell tall tales to them kids too. Like stones are all made from naughty stubborn children and if mothers hit their kids with senduk lauk, they will turn into monkeys. And if they dont eat enough, they might get blown away by the wind like the half chickling too!

I miss them. But i am not worried. I know the kids are in good hands, Yamtuan mothers them better than their mother. It is him that i worry about. I hope he will not heat sambal belacan in the microwave again because the last time he did that, the whole house smelled like belacan. Tilam bantal langsir sejadah all. I tell you, no joke matter. No amount of febreeze could make the smell go away. You try before you say anything. Try see.

And i hope he wont try to cook too. I asked him to go buy kunyit once and because he couldnt find kunyit, he bought me halia instead. Same what, he said. Yeah, baby. Same. Like identical twins. Very very swap-able. Just like pandan and serai. Can use either or. Sure.

And i hope he wouldnt try to do anything (except combing) to Dot's hair. The last time they played with my curlers, her hair got very very entangled. And i mean, big time.

I better hurry home, dont you think?