Adventures across a latitude 2006: Sibu

This was one unscheduled trip. It started with a wedding dinner I wasn't supposed to attend, but after repeated invites I decided, at 1 pm Friday, to take the 4.30 pm Friday flight into Sibu with my dad and uncle, to go for the wedding dinner that night. Talk about whirlwind!

But that wasn't the only purpose of my trip - it was also to see my grandparents before I fly off to London. It was great to see them and talk haltingly to them in broken Chinese, Hokkien and Foochow, and to see the Sibu shops. Because of the wedding, there were a lot of relatives around too, and to be in the midst of the phrases of Foochow and Hokkien swirling around was like steeping myself in a comforting hot tub of Chinese culture. It was enough for me to just sit quietly and try to absorb as much as I could from the talk around me (which wasn't much I'm afraid) and enjoy the sing-song dialects that I won't be getting much of in London.

My grandmother managed to keep me in Sibu long enough for another wedding dinner (let me add that I hardly knew both the couples!), which was quite a far cry from the first one - the only thing they had in common was that it was a wedding dinner catered by Sheraton (not the hotel). The 2nd was humongous - about 100 tables (but each table was at most RM500, making Sibu very worth it for wedding dinners), with a very novel entertainment - a Chinese instrument orchestra. It added a very appropriate Oriental touch, which soon went overboard with soloists (some good and some not very good) singing Chinese and Hokkien songs. Actually, the songs weren't half bad; what was bad was the sound level controller, who probably thought everyone there was half deaf. We all came out half deaf instead - imagine piercing high notes in Chinese songs at rock concert decibel levels (ouch).

The other interesting thing from that wedding was the champagne glasses the bride and groom used to yam-seng, all decked up like the wedding couple themselves (pic a bit blur - taken on the sly):

Besides the sumptuous wedding dinner sets, I had kampua mian a whopping 3 times - bliss. Sibu's kampua mian is the best! (No pics - too intent on eating).

What would have capped my "adventure" would be a real adventure taking the boat out from Sibu to Kuching - 4 hours express boat ride on the sea. But, on my grandmother's urging (she'd read about the recent rape case in KL :P ), I bought a flight ticket instead. That adventure will be left for another trip to Sibu.

By the way, Sibu is a haven for DVD/VCD shopping. DVD 9s are crystal clear (about RM7 each), and classic movies (think black-and-white, Ingrid Bergman, Frank Sinatra style) DVDs sell at 5 for RM10. Free advertisement... hee hee