Kuching's iconic Darul Hana bridge at sunset |
Our guide, Margaret on India Street |
The morning before the Kuching Waterfront Music Festival, we were taken on a morning city tour by the Place Borneo team along with our Hokkien city guide, Margaret. Our first stop was the Satok weekend local sellers market, about 20-25 minutes drive away from the waterfront area. It's bustling with sellers and buyers as it was still early on a Saturday. Well, we wouldn't go hungry here as most of the items on sale are familiar not only in appearance but oftentimes in names (and flavors). Occasionally, some vowels would be different but phonetically, they're similar to the ones we use back in the Philippines. Members of the garlic family are called bahwang (Pinoy bawang). Noodles used in Chinese and Malay cooking? Beehon (Pinoy bihon). A stack is called tempok (Pinoy tumpok). So pardon me if I used the local colloquial expression, "Sounds family?"
Fort Margharita museum |
Oldest shop along India Street |
For the curious, here's the reason why: in the olden days, Chinese clients used to take their opium chased down by coffee laced with butter to make the sticky, irritating substance go down the throat more easily. The shop wears the patina of age, from the wooden cabinets to the framed pictures, from the tables and chairs to the front kitchen fixtures, so much so that the story (or tale, depending on what you believe in) doesn't sound so far-fetched at all.
Place Borneo's Jas and Sarah posing with the "opium" coffee shop owner, Og and Ironwulf |
Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Place Borneo and the Sarawak Tourism Board for letting us experience the sights, sounds, flavors, music of Kuching.