Cat City, Here We Come!

I haven't been to Kuching (malay word for cat, though the name of this city actually derives from the Mandarin word "Wu Qing" which means old well) ever since we came here for our honeymoon 10 years ago.

Ten years ago - 1998 - Asia was facing a financial crisis. KLSE went as low as 270 points earlier that year. We just purchased a house which is RM40K more than our budget. And we got married!

About 2 months before the wedding, we still weren't sure where we will go for our honeymoon. Money seemed to be running so quickly and Rajen was worried about the cost of the wedding dinner.

I was walking around in town when I came upon this bridal magazine and in there were two contests. That night, I sat Rajen down at KFC in Tasik Jaya and made him write the slogans. I put his name down for one contest and mine for the other contest. That way, the judges wouldn't suspect that we are the same couple (hehe!!!) While Rajen was quite skeptical over it, I was confident that we'd win at least 1 of the contests.

A few days later, even before the deadline of the contest was over, I got a phone call. I won the 1st out of 3 prizes for a 4 nights 5 days stay in one of the resorts in Langkawi (I've forgotten the name of the resort but it boasts of having the longest swimming pool in Malaysia)

I called Rajen and in surprise, he told me that he had just received a phone call from the bridal magazine informing him that he had won the other contest, which is the only prize for an all paid for trip to Sarawak (1 night in Kuching and 2 nights in Damai beach)

Wow!!!

Rajen felt guilty because we're actually one couple winning two contests and he made me call the bridal magazine to tell them that. Mum overheard my conversation and asked if the prize could be transferable. Ha!

I called them up and they told me that we won fair and square.

To cut a long story short, we went to Kuching first. Flew via MAS and was picked up by a limo from the hotel. We checked into the Crown Plaza Hotel and the moment we opened the door of our suite, our jaws dropped (almost to the ground). It is NOT a room at all!!! It's a duplex apartment with one bedroom. The built-up was was bigger than the piece of property we had just purchased back in Peninsular Malaysia. Out of curiousity, we asked the front desk staff the cost of staying in this suite for a night. "RM1,600", came their reply. Gosh! That was even more than what we're paying for our house mortgage a month.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there, more so because we were treated like royalty.

Now, 10 years later, we decided to come back to Kuching, to the same suite - but sadly, this time, we had to pay for everything!!! :(

This idea came about when I saw in the papers that MAS was giving out 5000 seats of free flights but alas, the dates that I wanted was not available. Rajen then decided that we should travel in style and booked the both of us into the business class flight.

The travel to Kuching was great. We had breakfast at the Golden Club Lounge in KLIA. We only had 15 minutes to gobble down our breakfast because I got stuck at the place where they scan our belongings for sharp or dangerous stuff. The scanning showed that my camera backpack had a fork and knife in it but after a thorough check and rescanning, I was clear. I think they were still puzzled at the missing fork and knife.

The flight was pleasant. Food was great, though the fruits went to waste because I didn't dare take any cold stuff for fear that I cough would get worse.

We were picked up by a limo from the hotel at 10.30am and were brought to the hotel. Thank God we were allowed to check in early because we were super tired, having to wake up so early this morning (4.45am).

There were minor changes made to the suite. The kitchen an open concept style (previously, we had to go through a door to get into the kitchen) and they swapped the position of the sofa set and the dining set. Electrical appliances in the kitchen were added too.

Like young children, we walked (err.. not run) around the suite to check out every nook and corner. After so many years, we were still amazed at the vastness of the suite. They gave us a fruit basket with far too many fruits for us to consume, white chocolate with strawberry filling, some biscuits .... and an anniversary cake!

We finally settled down, unpacked and rested for a while.

In the evening, we met up with one of my Skype friends, Bob, and his girlfriend, June. After 3 years of chatting online, we finally met each other for the first time.

He brought us to a western restaurant called The Junk (there were all sorts of "junk" in the restaurant collected from places around the world. Bob said that the owners had a few other restaurants splatted around Kuching and one of them is called "blah blah blah" which served fusion food).

Because of my prolonged cough, I chose Spaghetti Cabonara. Rajen had lamb shank. It was a huge portion and I could only finish half of it.

Bob spoke of his experiences in building churches - literally building them - and the challenges he faced in completing a project. He's on to his 7th project.

After dinner, we adjourned to the Sarawak Club where we had another round of conversation. We left the club at 11.40pm.