February 10, 2024

Soh Mien on First Day of Lunar New Year


 Today 10.2.2024 is the first day of the New Lunar Year of the Dragon. Yes I have cooked the chicken and made the soh mien. Happy New Year!! Praise God we have come this far in our life.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Foochows originating from Minqing, Fujian, living in Sarawak would always prepare SOH Mieng or longevity wheat noodles with a chicken soup. A generous amount of red rice wine would be added to the bowl of noodles besides chicken  meat, shitake mushroom and a whole hard boiled egg.,

The hard boiled egg is a must because it will symbolise peace. Eggs are always held as an auspicious food by the Foochows. Egg in Foochow sounds like LONG or WAVE. so when you eat an egg or two, or you bring hard boiled eggs when you travel, you are actually indicating you are controlling the waves in the sea or river.

In the early days hard boiled eggs were even sold to travellers at the Tua Pek Kong Wharf. Relatives would buy the eggs and give to the travellers, remarking..."Eat eggs, control waves. Peace."

Today many people have forgotten this symbolism.

January 6, 2024

Local Rice Varieties and their Future


 Life in smaller towns of Sarawak often bring people closer to padi fields and rice producers. I have lived in Limbang and Kanowit, and now I am living in Miri where some good rice is grown nearby Bekenu and outlying areas.

It is often a nice outing to visit farms whenever there is a holiday with friends. I can even play tour guide and drive friends along the smaller roads to Bekenu , Beluru and a very small place called Sg Tiris where farmers continue to grow rice.

Further away from Miri are two places where good rice is grown, Bario and Long Banga. A friend still has a padi field in Pa Ukat and I have a good Saban friend who grows both hill and wet padi in Long Banga. Some friends continue to bring to Miri rice grown in Long Lellang, which is served by Sarawak Rural Air Serice.

In December 2023 I went to buy Kanowit Rice, a special fragrant rice and was told by the friend rice vendor at the tamu  that since the MCO it has been very difficult to get the variety. Oil palm has taken over as a very important cash crop and padi farmers have become oil palm growers in the last 10 years. And slowly more and more padi farmers have abandoned their rice fields for oil palm.

That is also one of the reasons why local rice is getting more expensive. It is difficult to say what the future of local rice varieties would be like.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and pray that farmers will consider growing more local rice in the next five years to keep the heirloom rice varieties safe.

December 24, 2023

Lessons from Aunts


 Christmas time is time for reflection and nostalgia. Mum has been gone since 2020. And this is the 3rd Christmas we dont have her.

Each Christmas as kids we would think of all our aunts and uncles, grandparents and parents who have left us. Time passes all too fast.

This year we remember Aunt Carrie who left us 4 years ago..The photo shows her in blue. The other are still around. I am grateful.

My father was very fond of his sisters who were extremely beautiful. My aunts' beauty was well known in the whole of the Rajang Valley. They were tall as teenagers and well eduated in the Yuk Ing Girls' School Three of them went to St Theresa in Kuching to study in the 1950's, at the time when I was still in lower Primary school. My father asked all of us to emulate them.

Lessons from 7th Aunt. By the time I was to understand social dynamics in Sibu, I had two lessons from Aunt Chiew. She taughtme hwo to live in harmony with in laws, She was such a upright Christian, caring and full of conerns for others.

She also taught me about being polite to all, especially customers. She was one of the owners of Chop Ching Chiong Textile in High Street Sibu and I used to observe her selling materials and other necessities to young and old, men and women. She was ever so polite and thoughtful.

From Aunt Pick I learned to value the art of cooking for big families and keeping the kitchen clean. She was a good seamstress when she still had good eyes. These days she does not do any more sewing. I used to watch her us paper patterns to make new year clothes for us. She actually learned tailoring from Mrs. Hoover and Aunt Chiew. Aunt Pick taught me to do smocking too but I never captialized on the skill I had in those days and made money.

Aunt Greta taught me Maths in school and I was terrified of making mistakes. May be it was because of her sterness I was very good in Maths. My Indian teacher later could not be believe that a girl could score 100% in three consecutive tests in class. Aunt Greta was a Maths teacher until she retired.

Aunt Carrie was the glamourous aunt of our family and she lived in Hong Kong. She used to work for BOAC. She taught my sister and I to be creative in making of jewellery. But she too was a good dressmaker. She made dresses for us for Chinese New Year when she was staying with us and she was only in Form 4 and Form 5!! We all missed her after staying with us for 5 years to live in Hong Kong.

December 19, 2023

Sibu : Chinese New Year Couplets


 My friend Wong Meng Lei is famous for Chinese New Year Couplets.

In the olden days, just before Chinese New Year, many older Chinese , including a famous artist, Lau Mang, would go around visiting the towkays, to wish them a happy Chinese New Year. The towkays would hand out a red note or ten dollars or sometimes even more. Some old ladies also join the Chinese New Year couplet business. They would get their grand children to write the auspicious words and then they would go from shop to shop to say their greetings. They often receive less like a few ringgit. But it was a good way of getting some cash.

I would always count the number of those red paper in my uncles' shops. Those whowere very generous would have more than 20 on their walls.

The Methodist Message Chief Operating Officer Wong Meng Lei wrote many couplets, and had them printed. The couplets were enclosed in the Wei Li Bao, the Chinese Methodist Message and every read would receive one. Those who want freshly written ones would visit Meng Lei...





This year is his last year with Wei Li Bao., And we really thank him for making WeiLiBao world famous. He has done a very good job. Brilliant!!

December 13, 2023

Sibu Tales : Boat Ferry


 The rivers of Sibu, which are the Igan and the Rajang, are still served by small boat ferries like the one in the photo. (By Pro Steve)

I would like to share two tales assoicated with boat ferries. I will share the happy tale first.

My cousin James was a very hardworking son and one Sunday he went back to Nang Chong to help his parents cut the grass in the back yard. Unfortunately he had a heart attack. Every one tried to help him get to the jetty and hail a motor launch to send him to the hospital. There was no long boat in sight and as it was quite laste in the afternoon any boat going to Sibu (20 minutes away) would be very rare. However a friend was able to resuscitate him and as he recovered from his fainting fit, a small ferry came up the river and the family flagged it down and sent him to the Lau King Howe hospital. A short stay and some medication revived him and he was saved. Many years later he got a stent.

In 1967 my third uncle visited our relatives in Sg. Bidut, akong the river Igan. After a short visit, the family waited for the ferry to corss the Igan to go back to Sibu. But in the heat of the morning my third uncle collapse and passed away. It was a cardiac arrest.

The whole family was over wrought even though the ferry was there at the right moment my uncle could not be saved.

Thus jetties and river ferries would always bring a sadness over me whenever I see them, either in photos or in real life.


December 9, 2023

Baram Tales : Coffee Shop Marble Table


 Coffee shops run by Chinese towkays have some vintage marble tables.

The coffee shop culture of South East Asia has lots of tales regarding marble tables. I have a tale or two to share.

My great grandfather bought one in Singapore and had it shipped to Sibu sometime in the 1910's when there was a huge sea trade between Sibu and Singapore. When the marble table arrived in Sibu he had it brought over to the Ice Mill which was called Hua Hong (Chinese Prosperity) My great grandfather and his good friend Rev Yao Shiao Khing were famous for giving a lot of names to local businesses. Great Grandfather was patriotic while Rev Yao was a academician, a man of letters.

Years later, the marble table belonging to great grandfather went to my father who continued to live in the same house as he did when he was alive. My mother married my father in 1948 and she fell in love with the marble table, a valuable asset. She had come from the rubber tapping area where most had only wooden home made tables. To her in her own words, "a marble table was then a status symbol."

Later when we moved to Sibu, the marble table came with us although it was quite tale that someone wanted to steal it and my mother's brother, a very strong man took the table from the thieves and carried it from the wharf to the lorry. Well you see, the belongings of our family had to be moved from across river to the Tua Pek Kong Wharf and from the boat, all the belongings had to be moved from the boat to the waiting lorry. The marble table was not packed as it would be like today's movers would do. The stuff was carried one by one to the lorry and the movers had to be very alert. Nothing should be carted away anyhow. Third Uncle had that marble table story to tell for a long time.

"Good things always get stolen."


BanHup in Miri is Hainanese and used to have several marble tables.



In Marudi there are some very good coffee shops with marble tables but there is only one Hainan Coffee shop, Joon Seng Loong Cafe,  that has good bread and coffee. The shop has many marble tables which have been enjoyed by the locals from many diverse cultures. 

Mr. Phua the owner has lots of tales to share. His father had arrived in Marudi from Hainan and started a small coffee shop. This cafe offers good services to people of all races and it is indeed a well loved outlet for all, young and old, to hang out. Muslims and non Muslims love to come to this shop for their morning coffee. It is one of the few shops in the whole of Sarawak that sells ONLY bread and coffeee. No noodles.....sorry. But it is always full.

The kuihs which are halal are supplied by some Malay suppliers.,

December 4, 2023

Baram Tales : Benches for Ulu People


 In the past businesses opened their doors early in the morning and closed abiut 5 pm. This was especially true in the Baram towns like Marudi and Long Lama.

One awesome feature of Chinese shops in these two towns are the benches the shop keepers build for their ULU customers. Like in the photo a long bench would be most suitable for cutomers to sit down to rest while they converse with the shop keepers, friends and even strangers. This kind of social intercourse was often considered very courteous and was highly valued.

today the bench may not be a common feature of urban life. In the olden days some of the benches were fixed to the five foot way and no one would be evil enough to remove them.

I consider it to be a good hospitality feature and should be maintained.

photo taken in Marudi at 6.30 a.m. before the shop was opened, 

Soh Mien on First Day of Lunar New Year

 Today 10.2.2024 is the first day of the New Lunar Year of the Dragon. Yes I have cooked the chicken and made the soh mien. Happy New Year!!...