Kuching A to Z (Part 4)

Thanks everyone for all your great contributions. I'm happy that this " Kuching A to Z" series of entries is still going strong. Keep it up ! Here's what you suggested for the next three letters ...

F

Fata Hotel - pretty centrally located on Jalan McDougall, near St Mary's and St Thomas' schools. Actually I don't know much about this hotel. Never stayed there nor had any visitors staying there. What I do know is that on the ground floor of the same block as this Hotel, there's a cafe that sells pretty delicious porridge (In the photo, the cafe is just out of view, on the right side)

The song "Feelings" was sooooo popular in the mid 70's. Watched a lot of local and international singers crooning it on TV variety shows. I just googled it for more details. Found that it was popularised by a Morris Albert in a 1975 album of the same name. Commercially very successful, but one music critic somewhat unkindly referred to it the "best song in the world to put you to sleep" :-)

Psssst ! Someone mentioned to me a couple of days ago that he could still envision a certain lovely CCF singing it on a local TV show. Hmmm ...

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F is for Fun Fair. Someone reminded us of the annual (?) school fun fairs that were held at the grounds behind the old Catholic Centre, and adjacent to St Mike's. The fair had many game stalls, like hoopla, mechanical horse-racing, darts, throwing ping pong balls into bottles, shooting balloons etc. (Website Jaga also remembers that other game where you have to light about a dozen or so candles with one matchstick and avoid getting fingers burnt) Then there was also the music DJ playing requests, and our friend remembers Cliff Richard's song "Congratulations" being one of the most popular numbers. (The following video clip may bolster those memories ... aaah, nostalgia!)

G

Grand Margherita - formerly Holiday Inn Kuching. I've already mentioned this in one of the photo posts, so will not repeat it.

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Gambier Road is the road where the p0ultry and wet markets used to be. I believe they were moved out last year. Opposite the markets are a whole series of shophouses selling all kinds of goods - food commodities (like rice, sugar, pepper), hardware, kitchen utensils, textiles and clothes, souvenirs, etc.

H

Hornbill - refers to a family of birds found in sub-tropical Africa and Asia (including of course Borneo). This creature has been adopted as the state symbol of Sarawak, which often refers to itself as "Land of Hornbills". Ironically, this creature is not that easy to sight. In fact, the person who suggested this item said that he had only seen hornbills in a foreign zoo, rather than in Sarawak :-)

Cikgu Hol - our long-suffering BM teacher in Form5. We didn't make his life any easier, as our interests generally weren't in the subject. He was remarkably patient with us. Rarely raised his voice. Wonder where he is these days ...?

Hilton Hotel - a nice hotel overlooking the Sarawak river.

Horse racing was quite popular in the old days. As a boy, I remember going to the Sarawak Turf Club to watch races with my grandparents. These days I believe the excitement over horse-racing is not as intense among Kuching dwellers, except for serious punters.

That's all for this entry folks. Start thinking about letters I,J and K.

Kuching A to Z (Part 3)

Here's the list of "D" and "E" items people associate with Kuching. From your contributions, it seemed like there were quite a number of "D"s and very few "E"s ...

D
Diana Ho, an elegant and eloquent GP teacher at St Joseph's in the 70's, who obviously had a lifelong impact on some of our form mates. We're not sure where she is now. Ms Ho, if you happen to be reading this, you'll be happy to know that you're well loved and remembered.

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Durian & Duku (Langsat), very popular fruits then and now. 'Nuff said.

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Datuk - the honourific title bestowed on those who have made significant contributions to the state. As far as I know, two of our form mates have gotten theirs - warm congrats to Datuk Justine Jinggut, a senior political leader of SNAP and Datuk Firdaus Bujang / Anthony Macpherson, CEO of New Straits Times !
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Dewan Undangan Negeri (D.U.N.) - that huge building that's being built overlooking the Sarawak River, and will serve as the state assembly when completed. Personally I think its location destroys the calm serenity of the river scene. Any architects in our group would like to comment on the design?
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MV Doulos - a ship (I believe one of a number of ships, another called MV Logos) run by a charitable group which sails around and stops at different ports in our region, selling books and doing social work. The Logos & Doulos (and maybe some other vessel which I might have forgotten) visited Kuching a few times during our secondary school days. I'm not too sure about the details of their social work, but I do remember they carried a lot of interesting books that we couldn't find in Kuching (at that time anyway).

E

Electra House was Kuching's very first "shopping mall" - long before Kuching Plaza, Sarawak Plaza, Boulevard and Spring were even conceived. It was built on (naturally) Jalan Power in the late 60s (I think) and housed the SESCO main office. A bit run-down these days, but still sees a lot of human traffic because of its very central location. Back when we were in school, we probably spent quite a bit of time there. I was very familiar with an Indian bookshop on the top floor.

(photo contributed by Leonard Sia)

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Escalators - I remember the time when the first escalators in Kuching were installed in Kuching Plaza. Many families went there just to have a look at it, and hesitatingly try it out. Up, down, up, down ... went many, and not just the children. Invariably, there were the few little mishaps, like some kid falling off or someone getting their pants caught in the moving parts of the escalator. Fortunately no one was seriously injured.

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Well, guys & gals, that's all for this part. I invite you to start suggesting the "F", "G" and "H" of Kuching ...

Kuching A to Z (Part 2)

Based on all the comments we've had so far, I think we have enough for a pretty nice post on the "B"s and "C"s of Kuching. Let me know if you have any further items to add.

Here goes ...

B

Belacan Bee Hoon - especially highlighted was the one on Jalan Lumba Kuda (near old Jubilee Grounds). Just imagine the cuttle fish, bee hoon, sauce, tou geh, belacan - mmmm, simply divine.

Bak Kut Teh - our culinary experts report that the best BKT in Kuching can be enjoyed at either Pending or 3rd Mile.

Buntal - little village on the way to Damai Beach. Well known for seafood and other local delicacies. I like the oh luak (oysters) and belacan midin.

Bak Pao (Tua Liap) - many places in Kuching serve paos (and sio bee), but everyone seems to remember Fook Hai (aka Hock Hai) coffeeshop, now located at Padungan, roughly opposite Sky Bookstore. Yes, I agree the Tua Liap (big) paos are quite unique.

Babu - I'm not very familiar with this name, but apparently back in the 70s he was a well-known singer at a Palm Road cafe, near to St Joe Primary School.


C

Cat, as in Kuching the Catcity. In several places of Kuching, large cat statues adorn the street scene, as the city has adopted this feline mascot. Historically however, there is some disagreement as to where Kuching got its name. Many believe it was not from the Malay word "cat", since the local Malay word for cat was "pusa", not "kuching" which was a word used more by the West Malaysians.

Carpenter Street - well known for its eating spots (still) and apparently sports bike shops (back then). Kuching Factoid: Do you realise that India Street and Carpenter Street are perfectly aligned in a straight line? I am told that they used to be joined up as one long road, before the old court houses were built which then seperated the two streets.

Chicken Rice is a popular dish, sold at various places in town. Someone claimed that the best chicken rice was once found next the old Capitol cinema. But I guess these days, lots of delicious Chicken Rice can be found all over Kuching.

Char Kueh Teow is also popular, and if my memory serves me, there used to be a very popular push-stall selling this which usually operated in the evenings on Green Road.

You can now go ahead and start suggesting "D" and "E" items for Part 3

Kuching A to Z (Part 1)

I'm starting this post which I think could be quite interesting and fun too. It's meant to be an interactive exercise, and I hope many of you will give suggestions to guide what the final A-Z product looks like.

The rules are really simple. For each letter of the alphabet (A, B, C ... until Z), we will try to suggest 5 or 6 places or people or events or things that we tend to associate with our hometown Kuching. It's easy for those of you lucky enough to live there now, but for others overseas, think back to what you remember of Kuching town.

For example, for the letter "A", we might have the Astana across the river, Ann Lee Restaurant on Carpenter Street which used to be a favourite for some, but is no more running (at least not under that name), Kuching International Airport and Ang Mo Liu Lian (or Soursop) a favourite of our old pal Philip Chin, who suggested this one) ...

Soooooo ..... based on your inputs, I will then populate the blog entry with appropriate pictures and associated write-up (if necessary). This is obviously going to be a multi-post subject, running into as many entries as required.

Game to give it a try? I've already started "A" for you (but you can add more). Now how about suggestions for "B" ?