More futsal tourney

Saturday, 15th July 2006 @ Kompleks Sukan Negara (KSN) ... a futsal tournament was held organised by KSN bertempat at Hockey Stadium. The open air stadium, and it was 2pm. The weather was utterly hot. I should have worn my sleeveless, instead of my white England worldcup t-shirt. Dehidration is the word of the day!
This time, the team only play 5 minutes for 1st half and another 5 minutes ( second half ), total to 10 minutes per game.
First game of UserFriendly ( UF ) meeting up with Blades. Tense! Tense! Tense game. Blades, top 5 best team in Malaysia ( from my point of view ) is not an easy opponent for UF. However, to track back record UF did won 1-0 to Blades during the 3R tournament 2006 at time square. But this time, luck has ran out. UF vs Blades and the result is 1-1 ... Tough luck guys!!
It is about an hour later the next game in line. By the mean time, the players did some post mortem discussion with the captain, coach and manager.
Next opponent is the Pharma'B team. Well, based on below pictures you may make your own conclussion. That is Slash, UF goalkeeper... Ermmm, no comment .. UF vs Pharma'B : 5 - Nil ....Good game y'all!
Right after 2 match after meeting up Pharma'B, its time for UF meetiong up Srikandi. It is nearly 6.30 at the time. Nice evening weather, less dehidration and more concentration. The game goes well and smoothly. UF won again : 4- Nil
That's it for the day. Group winner is Blades ( with 11 goals ) and UF 1st runner up ( with 10 goals ).
The next day, Sunday all the winners and 1st runner up will be meeting each other ( eventually I wasnt there the next day ... A day with my dad! ). News from them, they loose at the quarter final, UF vs Moonlighters ... 3 - Nil.

chapter FOUR : the return

The next morning, I woke up at 9:30, knowing that Germany had won third place in Worldcup. Poor, poor Portugal. Breakfast downstairs and get ready to go sight-seeing again this time buckle up in John's car ( a fren of Joe back in MMU ). Again we visited Pasar Satok, looking for some kind of wierd looking ulam for Azmeer's mom. Its already almost 1 in the afternoon and people here are all getting ready to head home. Sunday is a lazy day for Kuching residents, that's what John told me. Then, we went around town. Visiting others building and monument. We passed thru the longest road name in Malaysia i guess -- Bulatan Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah bin Datuk Bandar Abang Haji Mohammad Kassim. That is 12 words in a name ( Bulatan is not a name ). Heheheh, these are the uniques thing in Sarawak. We visit the riverside from the other side of the city. A beuatiful pink sampan pass me by, how frequent can you see a pink sampan?
Later we head to an outskirt area from the city. Taman Sahabat somewhere in nowhere ( forgot the name ). Here, there's a Laksamana Cheng Ho bronze statue specially imported from China. Nice neighbourhood with man-made lake, a big bronze statue, dim sum restuarant by the lake, a big gate fully imported from China and 24-hour CCTV survelliance.
I check out half day late from the hotel. Our flight is at 7:45pm supposedly. By the time I reaced the hotel, it is already 5pm and I havent packed any of my things yet. I didnt follow the boys to Indian Street ( where you can get lotssa gambir Sarawak there .. hehehehehe ).
John was being kind enough offering us a ride to the Kuching International Airport (KIA). KIA look almost like a mini KLIA. See for yourself ( below pix )... Doesnt it look like KLIA?
So, as stated in my boarding pass we should be boarding at 7:15 pm, but the flight was delay to 8:30pm!!! Standard procuders for AirAsia, oftenly delayed!
8.30 and we are of heading back to KL. The weather is a bit rough, flying with boeing 737-300 I can feel the rough wind ( turbulence or something like that )... And we reached LCCT safely at 10:10pm .....
Kuching a nice place to visit, full with colours, culture and a very clean city. Hope that I could make it my annual visit, Rainforest Music Festival and Kuching.

chapter THREE : Rainforest Music Festival 2006

It was an ONE hour trip from Kuching city to Cultural Village. Paid RM60 for the entrance fee per day with K-9 dogs waiting furiously by his guardians. To be exact, the village was located beside Damai Beach, a walking distance from Holiday Inn Damai Beach Resorts ( the resorts was fully booked by the time I plan this trip! ). More souveniers here, and even Lim Kok Wing University was there. We entered almost all the traditional houses there. Below picture was taken in rumah panjang.
Due to this event, all other cultural shows was cancelled. Music workshop were held in the afternoon, and the concert starts at 7.30pm.
Dont be fooled with this sopan crowds. The stage was setup with a rainforest background, and a little help with lighting to create the mood. Open air, fresh fresh air ( before it was contiminated with liqour adour )
7.30pm sharp and the shows begin!! Start of slowly with local performance ( 10 minute ). Though they looked old but they bring out the groove!! I think those two instrument ( the guitar like shape ) had been modified and it is electronic. Cool!!!! and the crowd just getting warmed up!
Next, a very catchy tune played by Canadians band, accompanied by Kilema from Madagascar,a friend they met here. The violin guy ( sitting at the corner ) was very talented. His sings, plays violin and stomping his feet for beat at the same time! Even I cant do that. The crowd start dancing around to the tunes played by them.
Mongolian traditional instrument is one of the oldest in the world. They dance gracefully, like floating in the air, their music was unique with that unique guy ( the one in brown costume )added in the package. He sing with a Juon sounds, wierd eerie sound
Next, lets yodelling with these Austrians band. Good music, wierd instrument! yoOOoo~~dellinggg~~leeEEE~hoOOoooo~~!!!
Second best performers of the night! The bangra music. They play their tune while the crowd start jumping and swing to the tune!! Good performance and I just cant stop dancing all the way. A makcik standing in front of me cant make her waist stay still!
Latin, means SAMBA!!! The congo man was from Bahamas, and the other two Im not sure ... Samba samba samba and the crowds really goes wild!! Nothing like a gig in KL
The last band, yet the best performance of all. They are scottish, the guy in blue paint really reminds me of Braveheart movie! Mel Gibson as William Wallace. All about their music were superb, great!! Fusion music, new age or watsoever you call them. More interesting, these guys are wearing kilt ... hehehehe
Show ended at 12.15am ( extended, by crowd requests ). Escorted with 2 bodyguards, we took a shuttle back to the city. On the way back, all I can think was my plan for next year ... Plan to re-visit Culture Village for 3 night in a row!

13th - 15th JULY 2007 ... any takers????

chapter TWO : jalan jalan cari pasal

Woke up, then woke the boys up for breakfast ( late breakfast actually .. 9:30am!!! ) Breakfast on the house, compliment of Grand Cont Hotel. For me, make it simple - toast, scramble eggs, jem , beacon, fruits and coffee.
Then, we head for the tourist office in the hotel to purchase our shuttle return tickets to Culture Village, Santubong. RM10 per way, which make it RM20 return ... cheap! If take a cab from Kuching to Culture Village in Santubong it may cost up to RM45 per car per trip ( not including those extra midnight charges yet! )
Azmeer decided to stay in bed ( he had a rough night I guess ) and left me n Joe to jalan-jalan cari pasal around Kuching.
11am, we start walking .. It was a bright windy day, nice weather to walk around. Again we set foot at the most famous Kuching statue in front of McD ( I was told that there were only 2 McD in Kuching, and I only found one! ). Mat Salleh is everywhere, with their cameras and digicam, including me 'the Mat Salleh celop'.

Next stop is the Fort Margherita, located across the Sarawak River. Fort Margherita was a heritage building left by the British long ago ( blablabla ... I dont dare to go details on this, I might twist the history .. hehehe ). We take a ride on a sampan to cross the river,RM0.50 per ride. While me enjoying the ride, all Joe can think about is were there a crocs in this river?!
We arrive safely to the other side ( thank God, no crocs! ), asked a local woman the way to the Fort. Luckily we were on the same route as her, only halfway. The route is scary, small pathway with bushes around. Walked behind a school, pass by a PDRM marching field, then only we reached the Fort ( below picture ). If I to walked alone, I might just turn around and wait a sampan at the jetty . The Fort is very small to be called a fort actually. It has 3 floors, 2 towers, 2 cel and 1 hanging room!! There is much information about the fort itself, just a brief history.
Both of us walked around the fort, go to every possible entries. Went up the spiral steep stairs, to the 3rd level ( where the flag poles are ) and it was a pleasant view from up there. Love the view, love the air!!
Back to ground level, I peeked thru the cels and it spooks me!! The hanging room ( below pix )was on the far side to the right ( based on the picture above ). One walked up the stairs to second floor, enter the door and pull the level. You'll be hanging below with your feet danggling in the air ... With that imagination, I'd answer my own question -- why the fort keeper reciting Al-Quran during their duty. Just how many of them lost their lives to the most cruel door i'd ever seen?
We are back on the other side. Next destination -- Pasar Satok. A cheap local flea market, a must go for cheap good sourveniers and bargain, and none of us know the road to Pasar Satok! hahahha, walked around Kuching with no map in hands. Stop by the nearest police station and ask for some directions.
"Walk straight and turn left at the United Oversea Bank building. From there just walk straight passing the tourims center, Merdeka Hotel and take right on the 1st traffic light after Merdeka Hotel. Pasar Satok shouldn't be any more further". Yeah! not far, about 1km ... supposedly 2km. Luckily both if us are used to super long walking distance. Thanx to all the band practice, marching around the 400m track non-stop for at least 5 rounds!
Pasar Satok is divided into a few different categories ( just like these days giant hypermart ). Here I bought a few souveniers to bring back. Keychains, bracelet, bags and vases. The market open at 12.45pm on Saturday and closes at 1pm Sunday! If I wasnt thinking of the extra kilos on my lugagge, I might spent more than I did here.
On the way back, we took a taxi back ( my legs are killing me man!! ). Very sytematic taxi, not like those KL taxis!! They only pickup customer at the taxi stand and the rate is synchronised! RM10 per cab from Pasar Satok to Grand Cont Hotel.
.... and get ready for The Rainforest Music Festival 2006 in Sarawak Culture Village.

chapter ONE : arriving in Kuching

Reach LCCT at 1410 hours, collect our tickets and lunch at McD ( a bit expensive here ). 1500 hours check-in and the que at P8 is just way too long. My friends need to smoke and sadly enough, LCCT does not have any smoking room while waiting to depart. My flight was suppose to take off at 15:25 hours from LCCT to KIA, but it was delayed to 16:00 hours.
That is my flight and those two were my friend ( azmeer n joe ), supposedly four of us instead of three.
The flight was about 1 hour 40 minutes, crossing the South China Sea. The weather was good and the A320 was comfy, less turbulence and a lot of sunlight! Either you read, sleep or just trying your best to waste the time. Those are the activites on board .. A long long long journey.
As we approaching Kuching, its started to rain. Take a taxi from KIA to Grand Continential. The taxi driver was friendly, way way too much friendly. The cost RM17.50, coupon systems applies here.

Check-in to our room, freshen up and its time for dinner -- TOPSPOT foodcourt at Taman Kereta is a seafood area. How do we know of this place? A local fren of us recomended this place. RM65++ meal for 3, and we are full! The place is about 10 minutes walk from our hotel, but something about this place creep me out. There is a lot of stairs to climb and it was deserted until you reached the foodcourt on the highest level.
Just opposite the Taman Kereta, we found our first cat statue, McD and 7-11. The River waterfront just behind the Holiday Inn. We enter 7-11 for a snack attack supply during our stay. It was a bout 9pm, most of the shop were closed except for bars, pubs and clubs. It was one hot night, not breezy at all. However, the environment is much much better than KL. Less car means less pollution.We took a strolled down the Riverside walk. Sorry bout the noise image ( taken with my W900i phone ). I think I'd walked about 2km along the riverside with 7-11 plastic bag on one side of my hand. Along the riverside, there was a lot of small f&b shop lot, a nice place to hangout and have a couple drinks.
On the way back to hotel, we hardly can walk ... We are sweating because of the heat and lucky for us, a fren of us ( a Sarawakian ) did stop by and pick us up. And now, Im strolling around town in a car. Hehehhehe .. Glad to see you my old acquintaces who had an affair with my housemate once upon a time ago ...
By 1AM, Im in my room hiding under the blanket .. The big room was all mine ... and I sleep like a baby till my alarm wake me up the next day ......