12 Rabi’ul Awwal, the day our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) was born, is a national holiday in Malaysia as it is in every muslim country on earth except one. In the city of Kuching, Sarawak, to where I had just moved from America, there was to be a large parade that morning as there is […]
Tag Archives: sarawak
SARS in Sarawak?
The Sarawak Tribune is reporting that the Kuching Mental Hospital in Kota Sentosa and parts of the Sarawak General Hospital are under quarantine pending verification. The SGH is within walking distance of my wife’s office. A woman from the mental hospital died of bacterial pneumnonia several days ago at SGH. Her case is being reexamined […]
Bup Kudus
A religious controversy came and went here in Sarawak before I even heard about it. The Bup Kudus, the translation of the Holy Bible into the Iban language, was banned two weeks ago, and dis-banned today. The Sarawak Tribune I picked up was so information-poor, I could not discern from the article why they banned […]
Strange Fruit, pt 2: Mata Kuching
The next fruit I present to you is the mata kuching, literally, cat’s eye. It’s about the size of a quarter, with a thin peel that covers a juicy greyish meat that covers a hard shiny dark brown seed. The fruit is sweet with a musky, almost salty aftertaste. They are inexpensive in season. They’re […]
A Kuap by Any Other Name
If Malaysia is the land of odd fruit, then Sarawak must be the capital. I have just as much fun looking at it all as I do eating it. This one is called a Kuap Terap, according to the guy who sold to me. My Malay dictionary doesn’t have it, Google doesn’t have it, SR […]
Food Update
My adik biras, or younger brother-in-law, flew into Kuching for a day on business. That makes him the first relative to see my daughter, which is fitting, since I was the first relative to see his daughter who was born just last month when we were in Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, he took those of us […]
The Waters of the Sungai Maong
Two weeks ago, the Maong River jumped its banks and swallowed my entire neighborhood. We were not alone. The Kuching District received its worst flood in 40 years. The Great Kuching Flood It had been raining daily leading up to the Chinese New Year. But the day after that, it really began to pour. I […]
Fried Green Tomatoes?
We were walking through the night market last night when, amid all the other fruits and vegetables, I saw a guy hawking from the back of his van what appeared to be big green-beans, chopped and marinated. Pickled green-beans, I thought; just like Dad makes. I few steps closer and I see that those are […]