Chinese New Year's Eve (Chuxi)

Today is Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day of the 12th lunar month. Chu literally means "change" and xi means "eve".

Traditionally, Chinese New Year is an occasion of family reunion. On the Eve, the reunion dinner is the highlight of every family, signifying togetherness.

A market scene - goodies were on sale early this morning.

The Eve has kept Yian non-stop for the whole day long. She took it up all by herself to come out with 15 dishes for the reunion dinner.

Before we settled down on the gorgeous dinner, we gave a thanksgiving prayer to God for His gracious care and love.

The delectable reunion dinner - Almighty God, thank you for the nourishment you have provided us.

The Manhattan Fish Market

We concluded our Kuching trip with a lunch at The Manhattan Fish Market in tHe Spring.

On Jan. 29, we checked out from Hotel Grand Continental Kuching after breakfast and proceeded straight to our serious business. From the city centre to Petra Jaya, we were jostling around to get our assigned dutues attended to.

Before embarking on return journey, we popped in tHe Spring to break for lunch. We settled on The Manhattan Fish Market to sample the renowned seafoods.

The Manhattan Fish Market is a chain restaurant specialising in American-style seafood.

Recently the chain built inroad into East Malaysia with one outlet opened up in tHe Spring.

The ambience there is very soothing. I placed order for Fish & Chip and Black Coffee to try out my favourites.

The Manhattan's Fish & Chip was perhaps one of the best I had ever sampled. I recommend it to all fish & chip lovers.

Trip To Kuching - Boulevard Shopping Complex

From tHe Spring we moved on to Boulevard Shopping Complex. On the day of its opening, it caused a big stir in Kuching. I learned that the traffic was jammed for miles long on that day.

Boulevard Hypermarket made a mark in Miri where it gave a wholly new shopping experience. It is timely for it to spread its wing to Kuching and build inroad into the market.

A truly hyprtmarket, Boulevard has a double-levelled basement carpark to accommodate the hypervolume of shoppers. It essentially aims at the broad-based domestic consumer market with competitive pricing and wide merchandise range. Boulevard is, therefore, appealing to a very broad sector of the local market.

In the hypermarket, I was amazed by the streams of shoppers. The traffic flow was congested and non-stop, making the whole place so very bustling.

I believe Boulevard has all the criteria to make another mark in Kuching.

Boulevard Hypermarket - it aims to be a market leader.

Trip To Kuching - tHe Spring

Before we embarked on this trip, we were already very much drawn on the two latest additions in Kuching. Dwelling in my mind was the fancy of the two malls which are still in the lime-light.

tHe Spring is splendid in its outward look. The moment I entered its basement carpark, I was deeply impressed by its orderly layout and gigantic capacity. I gave a thumb up to the planning.

The mall's ambience is just wonderful. It instantly gives a sense of comfort to shoppers. The spacious interiors make shopping completely enjoyable in a grand setting.

tHe Spring apparently positions itself to go upmarket. From posh designs to brand-oriented concept, it aims to capture the high-end consumers and tourists. It has redefined shopping comfort for consumers in Kuching.

It was a great time hanging out there before we ended up in tHe Spring Food Bazaar for our dinner.

The picture shows the posh interiors - Has Kuching got sufficient market for tHe Spring? Take my question as a food for thought!

tHe Spring Food Bazaar - Take my words, quality is definitely the word there.
I ordered Mediterranean Grilled Fish Fillets - it was yummy!

Trip To Kuching - Hotel Grand Continental Kuching

Hotel Grand Continental Kuching was our obvious choice for accommodation - we have a reciprocal arrangement with the hotel for mutual benefits.

Rated four-star, Hotel Grand Continental Kuching is ideal for both leisure anf business travellers in terms of pricing and convenience.

Hotels in Kuching generally fare better than those in Sibu for two obvious reasons.

Firstly, Kuching is the capital city and it naturally stands to gain in travel-related business.

Secondly, in-bound tours have a brisk demand there. This generates huge business for the operators in Kuching.

Sibu lags behind Kuching and Miri for a simple reason that there are insufficient tourists to boost the travel-related trade.

After checking in to the hotel, we proceeded straight to business. It was a hectic afternoon with lots of donkey-work. Eventually we managed to hit the nail on the head.

We scheduled to spend the evening inspecting the latest paradises of the city - tHe Spring and Boulevard Shopping Complex.

Lunch At Chillipeppers

We reached Kuching at about 1:00pm after a six-hour drive. It was past lunch time, so we decided to break for our meal first before checking in to Grand Continental Hotel.

Popular eatery places are aplenty in Kuching, but we settled on Chillipeppers at Liwah Hotel for both convenience and fineness in foods.

The setting of Chillipeppers is based on an open concept with no air-conditioning with the exception of a partitioned room. The whole ambience gives the diners a strong tropical touch. This concept gives Chillipeppers an edge in pricing and menu selection.

I ordered Nasi Lemak+ Drumstick and Teh Tarik, all at extremely competitive pricing.

The serving time was commentable, considering the dining crowd at that hour. Nasi Lemak+Drumstick was to my satisfaction. Teh Tarik turned out to be better than I had expected.

On the whole, the dining experience at Chillipeppers was fabulous.

Serian And Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing

When we reached Serian, we decided to stop for a break at a kopitiam.

Serian, located about 65 km from Kuching, is a town in Samarahan Division.

The kopitiam that we patronised is unique in having its washroom located in the basement. On the food pricing aspect, Serian is ahead of Sibu. It looks like the standard is moving towards that of Kuching.

The moment we arrived at Serian town, one of the first features that caught our attention is the landmark left by Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing.

About two years back, rows of wooden shophouses were gutted by fire. The furious outbreak of disaster landed the owners in a lamentable state of helplessness.

Last year, Tan Sri Ting stepped in and took it up to rebuild the burnt-down shophouses. Tan Sri once again lived up to his good name as a unfailing builder - he did it very much ahead of the schedule.

When we departed Serian for Kuching, I gave a big thumb up to Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing.