Go Where the flavour is - Saigon II

The city of HCM is choking with motorcycles. Motorcycles are cheap and affordable form of transportation. A motorcycle costs between RM1000 - RM2000 in HCM City. Most 4-wheel vehicles are taxis with very few private cars.

Go where the flavour is - Saigon III

Streets of Saigon are very vibrant, robust and colourful. I particularly like the street vendors.

Demolishment of Batu Lintang Junior Staff Quarters

The land for the Batu Lintang Government Quarters has been acquired by a private company for development. I have taken a few snapshots of the quarters before they are gone. A part of Kuching history (British colonial era) will be gone now.

Crystal fruit (Pometia pinnata - Sapindaceae)

Crystal fruits or locally known as kasai (Pometia pinnata) and belongs to the same family as rambutan (Sapindaceae). I was told by locals that kasai fruits in Sarawak are smaller but taste equally nice. The fruit shown in the picture was bought from a fruit stall at Lundu. The fruit vendor informed me that the fruits is known as crystal fruit and was bought back from Papua New Guinea by a Sarawakian worker working in logging camps there. The fruits taste sweet which is similar to lychee.

Sematan beckons me

If you are free and would like to head for beaches, look no further. Sematan is a coastal town about 1-1.5 hours by road from Kuching. Sematan is a small coastal town where bauxite was once mined. Today you can find silkworm and crab farming. Satang and Talang Talang Islands are just close by. So are the Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary and Tanjung Datu National Park which are just an hour journey by boat away. In the 1970's you can find turtle eggs being sold on five foot way outside the shophouses there. Today, selling turtle eggs has, of course, been banned.



Mangroves and Beaches at Sematan


The Granitic Mount Pueh at Sematan



Century-old Shophouses of the early Chinese pioneers




Along the way to Sematan from Kuching (Lundu-Sematan road), you can have a glimpse of kerangas/heath forest which is very rare now.