Man Papaya

“As large as papaya, as small as keranji,
Break a branch and the fruit falls down
A face so lovely with manners so ugly
Is like rain falling murky and brown”
Growing papaya, or betik, from seed is easy enough – sow them on loose soil straight from the fruit and they’ll come up without trouble. The tough part is figuring out if your tree is a boy or a girl…

All the Pantuns

I’ve translated a lot of pantuns into English as part of my stories.  Maybe you’d just like the pantuns. Here they are. Bamboo and Rebung Dragging a shield while shaking in fear Holding a telescope and flashlight too How can Moustache be big brother to Beard Why is Rebung’s kid sister Bamboo? Bawa perisai terhinggut-hinggut Bawa teropong sambil bersuluh […]

Dabai, the Sarawak Olive

Olives are a food I miss from back home. In Detroit, you can get a dozen different kinds of imported olives from the Lebanese grocery stores. My favorite are the dehydrated Turkish olives that you reconstitute by soaking in olive oil, lemon juice and crushed garlic. Mmmm. But I’m not complaining! Sarawak has its own […]

The Yard: Cekur Udang Gamit

Great, so that makes about as much sense as nursery rhymes can be expected to make. But what on earth is cekur, you ask? Maybe you’re not all that sure what turmeric is either, for that matter.<

MLM Madness

This afternoon, after returning from a day at the beach, my neighbor’s son comes to the house to say his father invites me to his house. This happens all the time – a lovely part of neighborhood life here is the various kenduris: get-togethers for weddings, graduations, funeral rememberances (tahlil) or often much smaller events. […]