This time, we consciously tried as many different dishes as possible whenever we dined outside. Food prices were noticeably higher due to the impact of the pandemic and rising inflation. Still, we benefited from the weakened local currency. A $2 meal would comfortably fill one stomach, whereas the same dish would cost about $15 in the midwestern US. The Klang Valley is blessed with endless restaurants and food options. We typically searched for popular restaurants for a dish we craved on our phones before driving just a short distance to reach there. We also had Bak Kut Teh a grand total of 5 times — the most iconic dish in Klang that literally means “meat bone tea” in Hokkien. So famous that it is also commonly known now as just BKT. Every night, a dim sum food truck passed by our house with a young voice blaring on a loudspeaker, yelling “tua pau, char siew pau, lo mai kai” — all the tasty treats we liked. It failed to entice us to get our supper because we locked the door, threw the key away, and stuck to the plan to protect our ever-expanding waistlines.

We had many visitors throughout our stay here. Sis’ family spent quality time with us several times — whenever we could align with her hectic schedules. Simon’s family and a few cousins went out of their way just to have lunch with us. Shuang’s family drove 5 hours from their place and stayed overnight at a nearby hotel in Klang to see us the following morning. Of course, we treated them with BKT, which they absolutely loved. One memorable moment was when my 80 years young world-traveler neighbor paid us an impromptu visit — Uncle Mohd Nor, we called him. Speaking to him brought back many priceless nostalgic childhood memories.

Just like that, our 3 weeks in the Klang Valley and the overall trip concluded. Our flight transited at a familiar INC, and we stopped at the same cafe to get our Ginsengccino fix — a beverage we stumbled upon at the beginning of our trip. As we sipped our drink, it reminded us how fast time flew. Just 5 weeks ago, we spent 19 hours in this airport terminal. This time, we were there again on our way home. Apart from the stressful luggage-hunting incident on three separate baggage carousels at DTW, the journey was relatively smooth. We battled grogginess due to the 13-hour time difference on our final 1.5 hours drive home and slept continuously for 12 hours upon arriving home.

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Since our last visit 3 years ago, the garden has been tidier and more spacious. Messy shrubs were replaced with grass. The dirty sculptures were cleaned and carefully repainted with bright colors. There used to be a wooden “prison cell” for the incarcerated monkeys to think about their wrongdoings for a few days, but it was now dismantled. Nevertheless, the wild monkey problems were still prevalent, where a troop of them would swing from the nearby jungle to steal ripped fruits. We marveled at Richard’s enormous vegetable garden project, where the rainwater collected from the roof irrigated the vegetables. Another new addition was a row of dragon fruit plants, although none bore edible fruits yet.

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Every morning, we headed to downtown Sarikei to have a long breakfast with several family members and relatives. We happily sampled many different dishes ordered by others. After spending the first night at Aunt Hung’s place, we spent the remaining nights at the secluded garden house. Many warned us about the relentless mosquitoes at dusk and how muggy it would be at night due to the lack of air conditioners. Nevertheless, we prevailed by hiding inside the house at night and bathing frequently. The morning temperature was much more pleasant, with plenty of big trees around the house. However, it typically rose to high 90Fs by 10 AM due to the high humidity. After that, it was almost like the scenes from Riddick where we quickly sought shade from the burning sun.

At this time of the year, only a few ripped fruits were available from the garden. Typically, there was an abundance of exotic local fruits available whenever we were home. That said, we rarely visited home in August, either. Many siblings brought and prepared various fruits, such as coconut, chempedak, papaya, pineapple, and jackfruit. This year, the garden has many dogs — six of the nine dogs were puppies. This gang of playful puppies had many mini adventures where they ran around hunting for small critters. They spread lazily on the cement pavement in the afternoon to cool down in the scorching heat. These hungry puppies followed us closely every time we got out of the house. We were the Pied Piper, and they were the rats. They licked our feet whenever we stopped, even for a second, hoping we would drop food on the ground. On the other hand, the mama dog hated our guts. Every time we walked towards her, she stood her ground and barked crazily at us.

Time flew by very fast. One by one, each sibling headed back to their respective home. It started with Simon. We were next, and finally, Tony and Jimmy. Eventually, it would only be just Richard and our parents in Sarikei. It was not easy to say goodbye to one another. Perhaps, it is never goodbye, more like a see you later. We promised each other we would have a get-together next year, perhaps in Kota Kinabalu or somewhere in China when COVID-19 becomes a thing of the past. We all realized it was not easy to see everyone together like this, and this year, everyone made an extra effort to make this a reality. Deep down in our hearts, we cherished the opportunity to enjoy the company and camaraderie of our aging parents and siblings. From Sarikei, we departed for Kuala Lumpur and spent the remainder of our trip in the Klang Valley.

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This weather was pretty wet in Kuching at this time of the year. The climate change in recent years has pushed up and lengthened the Northeast Monsoon that typically occurs from November to March. Aunt Hung graciously allowed us to cramp into her new 3-bedroom condo in a reasonably new suburb located southwest of the city center. Mount Serapi in Kubah National Park could be clearly seen from the balcony on the 7th floor. Aunt Kwong’s children lent us a car to move freely there. The development in Kuching has been multiplying rapidly over the last decade. Unlike our previous visit there, we couldn’t recall witnessing so many new changes or frequently getting stuck in countless traffics. Even the Kuching Waterfront has an architecturally unique pedestrian bridge over the Sarawak River.

We had no big plans to visit any attractions this time. Cousin Siang tried planning a last-minute trip with us to explore the Borneo Highlands, but that didn’t pan out. That said, we took the opportunity to meet with many relatives and friends daily. Our meetings usually revolved around food. Knowing everyone was busy, we typically reserved a table or two at a restaurant to maximize our opportunities to meet many of them at once. We tried many famous local dishes. To name a few: the undisputable Kolo Mee, Sarawak Laksa that was deemed as the “Breakfast of the Gods” by Anthony Bourdain, wild jungle fern known as Midin, Kueh Chap, Gong Pia, and spinach-like leaves known as Mani Cai. Then, there is the white Kolo Mee — the original version — and the sweeter red Kolo Mee, and we tried them all. Aunt Kwong’s family invited us to their home for lunch to eat the delicious homemade Mee Suah served with Kampong Chicken. These dishes are so unique to Sarawak that most don’t even exist in west Malaysia. In fact, we wholeheartedly enjoyed having these simple yet inexpensive dishes at the food stalls rather than dining at luxurious restaurants. After spending a wonderful week in Kuching, we departed to Sarikei with family members and continued with our packed travel itinerary.

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Sipadan — the only oceanic island in Malaysia — is considered one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. Unfortunately, none of us are divers. If we dive, we sink and will never resurface. Still, we were all very excited to snorkel there. Many Chinese tourists paid top dollar to visit this exotic location during the pre-pandemic period. Our boat carried six passengers, two local guides, and one driver. Although we shared the same boat with one young Chinese couple, there were still not many Chinese visitors due to the strict travel restrictions in China. We were very well aware of the rampant kidnappings-for-ransom threats from the pirates in this part of the country. The US, UK, and Canada travel advisories also discourage their citizens from avoiding non-essential travel to the east coast of Sabah. That said, we felt we were in good hands since Jimmy and Shing knew the excursion company very well, and we would be back on the mainland before dark. It was a blessing in disguise to arrive a day late because, unlike the previous day, we had a perfect sunny day. The gloomy weather would have prevented us from seeing the corals and marine life. The boat driver mentioned one of the boats had to turn back on the previous day due to the rough waves. Our snorkeling excursion covered Barracuda Point, Coral Garden, and South Point. We saw many green turtles and batfish. The most surreal part was swimming with thousands of jackfish at the Malaysia-Indonesia border.

This trip educated us about the existence and the plight of the Bajau people — the stateless indigenous seafarers. They escaped the Mindanao civil war in the 1970s and now live in the waters off the coasts of Malaysia. Given their status as outsiders, they are forbidden to set foot on Malaysian soil. However, during traffic stops in Tawau, we saw many women and young kids on bare feet begging for food and money. The Bajau people are isolated from the rest of the world and live in dangerous waters. Just like most of us who get seasick after spending too much time on the water, the Bajau people get land sick after spending too long on solid ground.

On the final day, we traveled to Kuching to meet more family members and relatives. Given the remoteness of this area, there were no direct flights from Tawau to Kuching. Hence, we spent the whole day traveling and eventually arrived in Kuching at night. This trip to Semporna was too short, but we were grateful to make our first-ever visit. Our super gracious hosts — Jimmy and Shing — went above and beyond to make our stay as comfortable as possible and treated us to delicious local dishes in Tawau and Semporna. This would not be our last time visiting them. We would love to explore other beautiful islands around Semporna in the coming years.

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The ever-expanding nursery looks vastly different since the last time I was here 2 years ago. There are many varieties of mature tropical fruit trees… to name a few: banana, soursop, cempedak (Artocarpus Integer), papaya, langsat (Lansium Parasiticum), starfruit, guava, pamelo, pineapple, rambutan, custard apple (Annona Squamosa), coconut and durian. There are also many mature exotic fruit trees that I have yet noticed before, such as tarap (Artocarpus Odoratissimus), durian isu (Durio Graveolens) and mundar (Garcinia Forbesii). An interesting addition to the nursery is a monkey in a made-shift cage. Due to sheer amount of fruits available throughout the season, a troop of monkeys have been stealing the bananas and cempedaks in the recent months. Hence, some of these fruits are now enclosed in wire frames. Perhaps we were no different than the monkeys, because we ate lots of fruits while we were there. Since our visit coincided with the durian season this time, we also ate lots of locally grown durians brought over by family members and relatives. These durians were neither Musang Kings or D24s, but they were still very delicious and outrageously cheap.

The nursery has a few more dogs than in the past with the current total of 6 (or 7) dogs. Although some dogs belong to the distant neighbor, they usually move in a pack between both places in search of food. They have no names, but everyone called them “Lu Lu”. Every time we drove past the entrance gate at night, they sprinted out in delight and gave us a warm welcome by wagging their tails, escorting the car to the house and licking our legs while we unloaded the items from the car trunk, hoping that we brought meals for them. They don’t possess the “security dog” materials but they would randomly bark when they get startled, which is helpful especially in a secluded place like this. Every once in awhile, their ears perked up and they raced off to their silly adventures chasing critters in the woods. When they got bored, they playfully fought one another until we yelled at them to shut the hell up. When the blazing heat from the afternoon sun became unbearable, the dogs spread their bodies and napped on the shaded and cooler concrete floor.

This album pays a special tribute to 1) parents-in-law for their unimaginable amount of blood, sweat and tears to create this magnificent nursery from a piece of jungle land, and 2) all siblings who have contributed in some shape or form to fulfill dad-in-law’s ultimate dream of spending the majority of his time at the nursery. Hopefully, each photo is worth at least a few words, hence, these photos are not captioned.

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My sister and I remember visiting this place when we were kids and interestingly enough, we shared the same vivid memory of our dad having a sleepless night in Fraser’s Hill because he thought he saw a ghost in a hotel. Through the gap underneath the door, he noticed some shadow outside the room but discovered no one at the hallway when he opened the door. Besides this funny memory, none of us had any recollection about this place.

Fraser’s Hill, named after a Scotsman who set up a tin-ore trading post in the 1890s, is one of the few cool climate destinations in Malaysia. The town center is surrounded by Tudor-style buildings. Not much has changed here since the state government ruled out further development almost a decade ago to preserve the pristine forest.

What strikes me the most is how small and secluded the area is. At the same time, the surrounding atmosphere was tranquil and relaxing. There are a few dated attractions where we visited a paddock, an archery range, a big fish pond, and hiked one of the trails. Every morning, we relaxed at the patio listening to the chirping birds and the howlings from a troop of monkeys echoing loudly in the forest. Due to the monsoon season, it rained frequently in the afternoon. We hung out in the house playing cards, reading books, watching TV and napping to past our time while enjoying the cool breeze.

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We visited a few touristy places, including Genting Highlands, the only casino in Malaysia. Located 6000 feet above sea level with the temperature hovering between 60F to 75F, it is one of the very few places in the country where the locals have a chance to wear and show off their windbreaker jackets. Genting Highlands has changed a lot and everything looks different. The last time I was there, I was a kid. Now, Genting Highlands has five hotels and one of the hotels, First World Hotel, holds the Guinness World Record as the largest hotel in the world with 7351 rooms.

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Our 2-night stay at Permai Rainforest Resort was fantastic. The smell of earthy scents after the rain, the crashing wave by the shore, the cooler temperature in the rainforest, the free-roaming wildlife around us… a few words to sum up the whole experience: quiet, peaceful and tranquil. We also visited the nearby Damai Beach and did a morning hike at Mount Santubong National Park.

We spent a night at Angelina’s cousin’s place on the 3rd night in Kuching before spending the remaining 2 nights at the Imperial Hotel in the downtown area. Throughout our stay in Kuching, we visited several relatives and friends as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. We also celebrated Angelina’s dad’s 70th birthday at a restaurant with his old friends.

During our last day in Kuching, we visited the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre to see orangutans before heading home. It is the biggest orangutan rehabilitation center in the state of Sarawak that serves as a sanctuary for the injured and orphaned orangutans.

Although we didn’t plan much for this trip, it actually turned out to be really relaxing and fun.

A few observations:-

• The drive from Sarikei to Kuching are mostly on single-lane double-yellow-line roads. There are lots of Pan-Borneo Highway constructions along the drive, which is supposed to stretch from the state of Sarawak to the state of Sabah. That said, most drivers disregard the “no passing” signs and pass slower traffic at dangerous speed.
• We contemplated choosing either Damai Beach Resort or Permai Rainforest Resort since both resorts are closely located among one another and they are away from the bustling Kuching downtown, but ended up choosing the latter because it was much more secluded and it has 10 treehouses that are 20 feet from the ground. That said, it didn’t dawn on us that we had to walk quite a distance to reach our accommodations. Thankfully, we were able to persuade the resort workers to provide buggy ride for the parents and at the same time, lug some of our belongings in.
• The orangutans, known as “the old men of the forest”, are only found in parts of Borneo and parts of Sumatra. The Sumatran species are critically endangered, with only about 7500 left. The Bornean species fare a little better with about 104K left. Most orangutans live in Indonesia. To see free-roaming orangutans at Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is truly a treat. There are two orangutan rehabilitation centers in Malaysia: Semenggoh in the state of Sarawak and Sepilok in the state of Sabah. These centers are not meant to be touristy spots but the visitors have an unique opportunity to see the orangutans during designated feeding times from a distance, and at the same time, get educated regarding these species by the knowledgeable wardens.

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Celebrating Chinese New Year at home is always very special and rare for us. This is the time of the year where most of us hit the pause button from our busy lives, head back to our old timeless hometown and celebrate the new year with the loved ones. This caption-free album hopes to capture the smiles and laughters from everyone, the candid interactions, the ever expanding dad-in-law’s garden, and the unique dishes and fruits we had.

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