Malaysia 2011 Continued: Kuching Part I

Here are some of the events and sights that we took in while in and around Kuching.    

The first night we arrived we were greeted by a millipede which was quickly squashed before I could get a good picture, and a scorpion.  The scorpion had a happier fate.  My Uncle Ignatius, in a moment of kindness, decided to scoop the scorpion up and set it free in the gutter.  

Dinner at my Uncle's house.

In case some of you think the live band was hired just for our arrival, it's actually my Uncle's band that gets together once a month to jam and the night we arrived just happened to land on a regular jam session.

Breakfast!

Kueh kueh kueh!!!

Kolo Mee and Milo.  Quite possibly my favourite breakfast on earth

Kuching Market

Wet Market

Uhoh... this looks like trouble...

India Street, Main Bazaar and the Waterfront

Semangoh Orangutang Sanctuary

Some very realistic orangutang impressions.
(Perhaps we should have left them at the sanctuary?)

Our Malaysian Home

Thanks Aunty Dot and Uncle Ignatius!

The Samsung building is standing in the spot where my mom grew up.

Santubong Mountain and Damai Beach

Sago Gula Melaka...and it's green?  Still tasty.

My uncle convincing us to aim our camera down a tree hole to see what happens..

Buntal

Trying to get a picture of a Buntal cat

Malaysia 2011: En Route only Lah

In July we headed back to Malaysia for a few weeks.  Until this trip, going to Malaysia was always some varying combination of my parents, my sister and I however, our family has expanded and 3 generations of us descended on Kuching (my parents hometown) which is located just under my niece and nephew's hot little hands (see above).

Mamma G also braved the long flight to Asia.  I must say, she is a hard core traveller.  She challenged her stomach by joining the locals in having Laksa for breakfast.  She braved the stench and managed to down two spoonfuls of fresh durian.  She learned how to say "tastes good" in Hokkien.  Unfortunately, she wasn't quite able to master saying "I'm full" which meant my relatives felt free to feed her copious amounts of food every hour.  When immersing herself in the food and language wasn't enough of an experience, she decided to try out the health care system.  She didn't just try a cushy private hospital... nope....she wanted the full meal deal and checked herself into a public hospital complete with resident cat.  

She's one tough cookie. 

To get to Malaysia, we flew to San Francisco (the land of clean cars) and caught a hotel shuttle to the Burlingame Hyatt.  This gave us a chance to go for a quick run and gave some of us a chance to don compression socks!

Here's Mamma G standing in front of an exhibit at the SFO.  The exhibit was on a Swedish furniture and tapestry designer.

After San Francisco we flew to Seoul and blearily wandered the airport.

We spent 12 hours at the Changi in Singapore.  Six of those hours were spent sleeping at the Transit Hotel, and the rest were spent eating and exploring.

Mamma G's first taste of Char Kway Teow and Hainanese Chicken Rice.  Note the smiles..

This is the future site of the Mochi Creamery.  This was the number one reason why I was so excited to be stopping at the Changi Airport.  As you can see, it's under construction which means no ice cream mochi balls.  I couldn't believe our bad luck. 

 I wanted to throw myself on the floor.  

Kicking and screaming.

After I recovered from the crushing disappointment, we explored the sunflower garden, Koi Pond and Butterfly garden.

I also tried to sneakily take a photo of the pretty SIA air stewardesses in their uniforms, but it didn't really turn out:

Roger checked out a foot massager (it was free!!!)

and before we left, Roger made sure to tell the Harrods Bear to make sure the Mochi Creamery was open the next time we passed through Changi.

Stay tuned for more, we haven't even got to the Malaysia bit yet.  I never thought I could have so much fun at an airport!