From the 9th to 16th April, I accompanied the Universiti Sains Malaysia Pusat Kecermerlangan Sukan (USM-PKS) Swim Team to Kuching, Sarawak for the National University Games, or more commonly known as MASUM.
My stay in Kuching was
not a comfortable one. My room at MyGalleria in Kota Samarahan was very dirty and dusty and the apartment itself didn't have any running water. I learned later that some of the athlete's apartments didn't even have mattresses.
The moment I checked into my room, I developed an allergy problem due to the dust. As a result, I ended up in the UNIMAS Hospital Emergency Room on my very first night in Kuching!
Fortunately, the USM Secretariat went into action and found everyone better accommodations the next day. But I swear, I was prepared to buy a plane ticket home after my dusty experience at MyGalleria.
The MASUM meet was similar to all other meets that I had attended countless times. But during this meet, I felt like a fish out of water; I didn't notice any other coaches with stop watches taking splits and stroke rates on the deck.
The team officials didn't seem interested in how well their swimmers performed, but rather, how many gold medals their team won. This got me thinking.
Overall, the USM swim team won 4 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze medals as well as broke 3 meet records. This is an admirable achievement and credit must be given to the Team Captains / Coaches Lim Ben and Mandy Yeap for this success.
To be honest, the meet itself was boring for me. Each day's events ended by 1:30 PM and personally, I just couldn't wait till lunch where I could enjoy a good meal and a good shower and return to my bed.
When the MASUM meet ended, the USM team had to stay an extra two days in Kuching. This meant we had two days of nothing to do and we had to come up with our own forms of entertainment. Luckily, being in the company of resourceful young adults, we managed to rent a few cars and even had a short tour of Kuching.
We visited malls, notably The Spring and Boulevard, and even watched the movie "Battleship" at MBO Theatres at The Spring Megamall.
The movie was loud and full of CGI. The storyline was not realistic and not something you would remember in 6 months' time. But it was entertaining nonetheless, and something needed to pass the time.
We also visited the Cat Museum and the Kuching waterfront.
We made trips to
Kueh Lapis shops where everyone feasted and enjoyed themselves on the free samples.
We also had an excellent seafood dinner at TopSpot Kuching. There, we sampled the
paku pakis dish - a Kuching speciality.
This vegetable dish looked very much like the
paku pakis fern leaf that you'd commonly find anywhere in the rain forest. Cooked with belacan, this vege dish was very delicious.
Towards the end of our stay, we visited numerous souvenir shops and undoubtedly boosted the Kuching economy with our many purchases.
Honestly speaking, the best experience that I had during my stay in Kuching is the food. Most notably,
Kueh Chap from Chinatown. This dish was introduced to me by Lim Ben, the Captain and Coach of the USM Swim Team.
Kueh Chap is strictly non-halal and is made up of a broth with oversized
kueh teow (hence the
kueh in the dish), pork fat, pork innards and pork bits. Not something for the weak-hearted but very tasty and had me coming back for more.
Another of Kuching's favourite dishes that I enjoyed is
Kolok Mee:
The above is the halal mixed seafood
Kolok Mee bought at the food court in The Spring Megamall.
Kolok Mee is similar to Penang's
Wan Tan Mee, but without the wan tan or dark gravy but with different seasoning. It can be dry to some, but when stirred and mixed thoroughly, it is very tasty. The above picture shows
Kolok Mee with pork and pork satay.
Another memorable experience that I had was our visit to
Jong's Crocodile Farm. The crocodile farm has hundreds, if not thousands of crocodiles either captured from the wild or bred from captivity. We were lucky to reach the farm in time to see their "crocodile feeding time" or "jumping crocodile show":
These crocs reminded me of the one in the movie "Hook".
Some other pics of the residents of the crocodile farm:
This guy was in a bad mood and was ready to lunge at us. Note those beady eyes staring at me ...
Looking at this picture, I can't remember getting so close to this monster. If he had lunged or snapped at me, I would probably had screamed and ran away like a girl!
All the crocs in the farm appear well-fed. They spent most of the time basking in the sun.
Cooling off. Either that, or waiting for his lunch with the camera (me!) to come closer.
One of the oldest and largest crocs in the farm. I was told that some of the crocs here were man-eaters. I'm not sure if this is one of them.
Some non-reptile residents of the farm.
I left Kuching with some mixed feelings. I can't exactly say that I haven't enjoyed my time there, but I still feel that the 8 days spent there was too long.
One thing that I will miss from Kuching is the
Kueh Chap. I also didn't get to try their famous Sarawak Laksa or the Kuching Tomato Noodles. Maybe on the next trip ...
But meanwhile, it's good to be home.
people have visited me!
