Category: Life

I’m leaving Sandakan tomorrow. :((

The lion above is one out of the eight lions who performed this morning. Very pretty!

Had lunch at Imperial Bayview Restaurant after that. Amber Chia once patroned this restaurant too. Saw her picture on the wall.

At 4pm, the sound of the drums broke the silence, calling all penduduk to gather at the basketball court. 4:30pm sharp, the performance began. There was a black+ golden lion and a dragon. Yes…a dragon!!!!

My wish is fulfilled! 😀

Today’s the 7th day of Chinese New Year and it’s everyone’s birthday, may you grow one year wiser!

Pappy called the Immigration office to check if the machine is up and running. And it is. So we went there, made payment and was expecting to collect my passport after 3 hours. But guess what? One of the officers knew Pappy or the other way round…but the officer saw Pappy and offered to help him and gave him the promptest service.

After making the payment, they immediately processed the renewal for me. All in, it was just less than 30 minutes. Like magic! Unbelievable! While walking out of the building, I was holding the passport in my hand and waved it to Mummy who was waiting in the car. More so, the passport is red so it looked like I just got a very big angpau!

Had lunch at New Century Restaurant and ordered 3 of my favourite dishes. Crystal Prawn, Sabah Vege (Cos you only get this in Sabah) and Corn Soup! The Crystal Prawn (???? was so good. Maybe because I only get to eat this once a year so everything taste very good to me.

Came back home to have a short nap and then off I went to visit my friend, who has moved to a new, bigger house. We had 2 and a half hours of girl talk. Very therapeutic, especially for another friend of mine who expressed herself throughout the hours and we helped to cheer her up, give her some tips and suggestions. Hoping that she’ll bring back some courage and optimism to face the challenge again while she goes abroad. You see…sometimes I enjoy being a girl. Wait, I enjoy being a girl ALL the time.

Pappy brought me round the new housing estates, showing me the new places and new development areas and suddenly I have this feeling of coming back home for good. I love this place a lot. Even more, when you have leave home, seen other places and come back to feel the warmness of your own birth place. It’s just so good to be home and I feel that this is a very nice place to stay with the good food and all. Simple people. Simple environment.

At least, it is affordable to buy a decent house here and renovate it to your own liking. Salary may not be as high as what I get in KL but then expenses here is low…so you can actually save money. It is a very good place to start a family, raise children and grow old. Sometimes I wish to meet someone from Sandakan, marry him and live happily ever after here. The only thing is that I don’t know what I can do here, as in work for a living, which is also the main reason why I’m working in KL, where there are more opportunities, just like most of my friends are doing. We come home every Chinese New Year feeling happy and excited and we leave this place as the holiday ends with a very heavy heart. I’ve only got 3 more days before I fly back and I feel like time is running short.

When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to leave this place but now that I’m older, I feel like coming home everyday. *sigh*

I’m just going to work hard when I get back to KL, gain more experiences, learn new things and see what I can do about it. One of my dreams is to own a house, as in paying with my own hard-earned money. I do not need to own a car of my own but I definitely would like to see myself buying a house.

***

Dinner…went to Happy Restaurant at SS2. There is an SS2 in Sandakan as well. Hehe.

The best part of today is I got to know that I’ll get to watch a lion dance performance featuring 8 lions at one of Pappy’s friend’s shop tomorrow morning.

This is what I call Chinese New Year!

Happiness is…seeing this red notice hanging on my gate in the morning.

It has been such a LONG time since someone sponsored to bring lion dance to the housing estate I’m staying. There used to be lion dance performance many years back and I’m very happy that this time around, I can walk down memory lane again.

More so, the basketball court is just opposite my house. YB Au Kam Wah, even though I do not know you, thank you very much for bringing lion dance this Saturday. I can’t wait! Hopefully, it’s going to be more than one lion. I haven’t had to chance to watch the dragon dance and the Hokkien lion dance. There is only one in Sandakan so it’s quite hard to spot it.

One thing I miss doing is flipping through our very own daily Chinese newspaper – Berita Harian Merdeka (?????. Bought The Star too and read about how crowded the Immigration office in Pusat Bandar Damansara is. Coincidently, I was on my way to get my passport renewal done.

There wasn’t much of a crowd here in the Immigration office, Wisma Persekutuan, Sandakan but the machine is down so that means I won’t be able to get the renewal done today. They are waiting for the technician to fly from KL to Sandakan to get it repaired. My goodness. Why can’t they get someone who is based in Sandakan?

Went to Kedai Kopi Shin Cheong Loong for ais kacang. And my friends had satay. I’ve never fancied eating satay and I have no particular reason why. Met some of my ex-classmates while we were there.

Had dinner at Pasir Putih and got to taste “Manila Clams” or locally known as “Sah Bak” (Cantonese). I only know the English name to it today while I was going through the receipt. I don’t know if it’s found in Manila but you can only get it in Sabah. It is yummy!

Someone drove me out for a ride and bought me Iced Chocolate. How sweet!

More sweetness tomorrow! Pictures..will only publish when I get back to KL. I want to savour the moments while I’m still here in Sandakan. Time really flies!

FINALLY, I can access the Internet at home! *jumping up and down*

Met this green lion just after having our breakfast at Restoran 2020, Bandar Kim Fung, which serves the best Fish Slice + Salted Vegetable Mee Hoon Soup. The lion is so pretty!

Before that, the sound of the drum woke me up this morning when the lion came visiting us at 8 o’clock this morning. Very early! Wanted to continue sleeping but when I hear the sound of the drum, I just can’t. How can I miss the opportunity to see a lion visiting my house? I woke up and waited for its arrival. I pray that lion dance will last forever!

Had lunch at Good Taste Bah Kut Teh, Bandar Nam Tung. Yummy! A trip back home is not complete without a meal of Bah Kut Teh, ‘Fish’ Kut Teh, ‘Vege’ Kut Teh and etc. Bah Kut Teh here is different than that of KL.

Joined my ex-schoolmates at English Tea House for tea and then went to town in search of ais kacang, satay and “Cow Shit” Tart (????- local delicacy of Sandakan. I found out today that it’s also being referred to as UFO, because of its shape. The tart..it’s nice and it’s nothing like how the name sounds. Didn’t get to eat ais kacang and satay (not that I fancy them but a friend does) because they are not open today. I’ll see if I get to eat any this time around because there wasn’t any in the coffee shop we went to today.

We continued our food hunting journey at Mile 4 and ended up eating chicken wings at Pasar Kim Fung. Kiong Kee Chicken Wings, served with limau kasturi to add a tinge of sourness to the chicken and a small plate of chilli sauce to add spice to it. I didn’t get to eat this last Chinese New Year so that makes it 2 years not eating any so when I got to eat it today, it tasted so heavenly. I want more!

More pics later…

I know today’s the 4th day of Chinese New Year and I should have wished you Gong Xi Fa Cai on the first day but guess what? I couldn’t access the Internet since the eve of Chinese New Year..much to my dismay and disappointment. Wanted to write, publish some photos but…

Anyway, it isn’t too bad because I’ve been busy since coming back to Sandakan. Absolutely thrilled and happy!

I can go online now because I’m in my dad’s office. Very happy!

Till then, I’ll see you again when I can come online again. Have a joyful and prosperous Chinese New Year!

 Gong Xi Gong Xi!

Now, I’m just going to accept the fact that I have LOST my lipstick and spectacles..even though in the tiny corner of my heart, I still hope I can find it again.

I went down to check on my mailbox and I have a Chinese New Year card and a CD with old, old, very old, Chinese New Year songs. It sort off made me forget about the whole lipstick thing for a while…and I’m listening to it now while writing this. Thank you my friend! Good luck with your SAP exam tomorrow.

I called Iris in Cardiff too because I just needed to talk to someone about my missing lipstick. So, sometimes that’s what sisters are for…to talk to when you have a missing lipstick, even if one is in Malaysia, the other in UK. It’s about the feelings that I needed to pour out to her, whether or not I’ll get my lipstick back.

In return, she told me she’s going to London to celebrate Chinese New Year and that she saw HALIBORANGE and felt like buying it for me. If you are old enough like me, you would know what HALIBORANGE is when you are a few years old. It’s an orange syrup thingy..something like Ribena but this is orange. My favourite drink when I was young and I don’t see it anymore now. So, I asked Iris to get one bottle and try to see if it’s the same HALIBORANGE.

Maybe..I should just forget about the lipstick and be happy that I’m going home, I have 6 working days off, friends who love me, a sister that I love.

BUT…BUT…I STILL WANT MY LIPSTICK! ARGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I’m packing half way and I found out that my lipstick…it’s missing. I haven’t been applying lipstick since attending the last wedding dinner and now it’s nowhere to be found. Why now? Why at this time? I really need my lipstick.

Along with the missing item is my spectacles. Yes..I don’t know where it is all of a sudden.

Oh My God.

I’m pulling my hair and before I go botak. I need to find it but WHERE?

I need a miracle!

While the people out there are having romantic, candle-lit dinner, I was stuck in a traffic jam because there was a stalled car at KM16.8 along LDP and then there was an accident before Bandar Utama so yea..got home later than usual.

While the people out there are busy confessing and expressing their love, I came home to attend to my tree…or rather plants. I’ve just got to decorate them by tonight. I’m tired. Didn’t really had dinner but I’m happy. They look pretty to me now. Although I won’t be spending most of my Chinese New Year days here..in fact, I’m going to be here 5 out of the 15 days, but I just felt the need to redden the house. It’s like…if my house is happy, I’m happy. And I like my house very much.

And about the ribbons, I had a hard time deciding which to get. Red ribbons…they are so many kinds of red ribbons and they all look very pretty so I ended up buying 3 instead of just 1. Tak pe lah, bring back to Sandakan and decorate some more, masih sempat. Decorating the Sandakan house has always been my task. The only thing I miss doing now is baking cookies. Dulu masa belajar di sekolah/kolej, will help Mum to bake cookies. Yesterday, Mum called to tell me, my maid at home, which is affectionately known as Kak Lucy, told Mum that “Grace paling pandai kalau buat acuan untuk biskut coklat”. Syok sangat aku dengar. Tapi, tak kesampaian la. Now that I’m working, cannot fly back so early. Biskut coklat mak saya tu, best seller tahu? Whoever comes to the house will want to tapao it back home so I always have to sorok the cookies. You put 5 types of cookies in the container for the guests, biskut coklat tu yang cepat habis. Sometimes, I don’t know why I blog in Malay.

This Valentine’s Day is a bit different. I remembered crying pathetically on a particular Valentine’s Day but I think I can just kiss those days goodbye.

22888 is the reading of my car’s odometer as of when I reached home just now. So nice the number. 22888 means easy to fatt. Fatt three times some more. Today, I paid less a toll to my delight because when the car before me wanted to pass through the toll gate, the toll pole was going up in the wrong direction, like go pusing-pusing so the toll booth worker came out to adjust the poll to its original position and it was up. She signalled me to just pass through so I didn’t get to touch with my Touch n’Go card, feel a bit weird but also excited la. The car after me had to pay toll already. kekeke

Ok, hang the clothes, bathe, sleep!