Inul talks politics...meow..meow...meow....

The BIG event in Sarawak yesterday ( 16 April) was the Sarawak's 10th state elections results announcement. The ruling party ( Barisan Nasional) was declared the victor after garnering 55 seats out of 71 contested ( two-thirds majority). That means the Prime Minister of Malaysia has Sarawak tucked nicely in his pocket as FD ( fixed deposit) state!! ( Oh , yes we cats do understand politics...humans got plenty of tips from our animal kingdom about the rat race , survival of the fittest and inhuman or animal behaviour in man .....meow, meow, meow.. POLITICS AND POSTERS Inul gets to see much show of election posters along the journey. There is this HUGE STRUCTURE OF A PYRAMID OF POSTERS seen along the Pan-Borneo Highway at the rest area outside the town of Betong ( pix above). The pyramid was erected by the ruling party. Inul still wonders however what politicians have done to the Pan-Borneo Highway? Example: The worst stretch that Inul find is from Bintulu to Tatau ( est. 50 km) ---Inul cries and screams when travelling on this stretch because the road there is very bumpy, uneven, and dangerous because of too many potholes, bad patch-up work etc. Oh, Inul hates the Bintulu to Tatau road...Will the politicians care to listen please ? Secondly...Inul has been travelling the Pan- Borneo Highway for about four years now and after a bit of research found out that for about 50 years the highway has not changed a little ...It is still a two-lane single carriageway after such a long , loooooong time!... meow, meow, meow... What??? after 50 years this is what Sarawak gets?? In contrast, in West Malaysia, the highways are 6- lanes dual carriage ways...Judging by the conditions of roads alone Inul concludes that Sarawak is 150 years behind schedule from Semenanjung ( West Malaysia). Oh ,noo....meow...meow....meow....... o oo politicians in Sarawak don't be too complacent...you need to catch-up A LOT guys!!!!You need to work for the people not for your pockets!!!! ( Cats know that too) ....Try the roads first. The journey.... The day after the election night, fospa decided to get back on the road again . So we left at 8.50 am in fine weather and arrived Kuching at 7.30 pm in heavy rain. The heavy rains however occurred during the last lap of the journey 1.e. after the town of Sri Aman which is a three hours journey to Kuching. First pit stop was Selangau ( inset) , then Sibu ( below) where fospa was keen to grab the morning papers to know the detail results of the election. But thanks to fospa, he chose a cool and shady place for us to relax while they were having some coffee at the food court. We had our share of food served in the car. Being a Sunday and the day after the election results were announced, Sibu coffee shops were flooded with customers naturally to talk and analyse the results ..the coffee-talk way.

Fospa thought this poster as most outstanding for its originality. According to fospa, the use of metal scaffolding for rural advertising is new. To the best of fospa knowledge the candidate is an engineer who owns a scaffolding company (besides undertaking civil and mechanical works) at many of the industrial outfits in Bintulu. That would probably explain how he can afford the use of BS scaffolding( British Standard) which is the only allowable standard of scaffolding used in the major oil and gas installations in Bintulu to a remote place like Ulu Krian. Ali ak Biju is an Iban and his posters use the Iban language to relay his message . Ali Biju's poster reads : "Aram Berubah - Together we Change, " Angkat semua - Rise up, "Tan ke reta pesaka kita "- Fight for our ancestral heritage. Ali won the contest on an opposition ticket ( PKR) after defeating the BN incumbent.

Mama Daisy and me ( back facing camera) - sharing the front seats.

The heavy rains slowed down the journey from Sri Aman to Kuching. What would normally take two and a half hours instead took us three hours.

All's well that ends well.....meow...meow...meow....

Note: On this 25th journey back Kuching, cumulative distance achieved = 29,400 km.

Mama Daisy and Inul's 25th trip to Bintulu

"Ok, airconditioning is fine" exclaimed Mama Daisy at the start of the journey.

It has been slightly more than a month since we stayed in Kuching.

On Sunday (27th Feb) we made our 25th trip to Bintulu.

We left our home around 8.45 am.

The sky was blue and clear when we left Kuching.

On this trip fospa decided to make few pit stops viz Serian, Betong and Sibu only.

Throughout the whole journey we experienced very little rain. Almost negligible. On this trip most of the driving was done by fospa. Fosma generally would attend to Inul and Mama . See, who says travelling is not fun.

Paddy farmers doing it the conventional way. Harvesting paddy in Sarawak is typically by hard labour, mostly women folks (:

The most memorable thing to see during this journey was the vast expanse of golden paddy fields that dotted the Sarawak country side from Sri Aman to Bintulu.
Sarawak is a net importer of rice despite its small population and vast land mass. "Apparently for many a thousand reasons Sarawak is unable to feed its own people with rice" quipped Mama. " Ministers after Ministers have been unable to improve on the rice production of Sarawak.

" AHH, we have Ministers but they keep on changing portfolios and priorities. Thus overtime nothing important gets done by them or should I say THEM" sighed Mama.
(Inset, CU of a ripe paddy stalk)

Oh what a picture. Is this for real?

Inter-cropping of hill paddy with oil palm was a pleasant surprise to see.

Being a panicky girl as I am, Mama would always come to my rescue. " Inul, we are on a big journey here. Don't be nervous or cry. No, no you're a big girl now!" Soon after about an hour or so Inul settled down and Mama continued with her beauty sleep as she always does on long journey like this.

Above: Inul (back facing camera) rests comfortably on Mama's new blanket.

Often times along the journey, Mama showered her kindness to Inul by letting Inul share her special blanket. Inul too gets her chance to rest on Mama's blanket of a thousand dreams. Many times in fact. Ya , Mama you're a darling. MUUAAAAAHHHH!!!MEEoooooowwww.

"Fospa get ready the change", reminded Mama.

When we were about to leave the Sibu Main Market multi-storey car park, Mama became curious and decided to have a front view of the transaction. For an hour of parking we were charged RM1.05. At 4.30 pm we drove on to Bintulu. The journey from Sibu was a direct one. No pit stop. We arrived at our farm in Bintulu at 7.30 pm in darkness.

HOORay we are back in BinTulu or was it " BEEN TO THE LOOO"!?@#!!

Note: The total cumulative distance achieved on this 25th trip to Bintulu = 28,800 km.

Back to Kuching for the Hari Raya

Jungle produce section at the Sibu Central Market.

Fosma has warned us days ago. OK, ok, we know today is the day of travell. We left Bintulu early at 7.30 am in order that we could reach Kuching before sunset to enable fospa and company break fast at home there. On this trip fosis and fosbro joined us. So it was four humans, me~ Inul and Mama Daisy in the car.

The first pit stop was Selangau where I posed for a picture. ( see inset)

Next we stopped at Sibu to buy a couple of things for the Hari Raya celebrations. Some things we missed buying in Bintulu were able to be bought at the Sibu Central Market. (See top picture and below)

What a kaleidoscopic collection of jungle produce products. It seemed everything green was there. Fresh and tempting. Herbal plants and spices were available in plenty.

The above is rare. Edible oil cake from the "Engkabang fruit" or illipe nuts.

An Iban lady weaves "Ketupat" wrappings used to steam glutinous rice which remains one of the favourite dishes during Hari Raya open houses throughout Sarawak. The ketupat glutinous rice is eaten with either curry or satay gravy.

"Hey, everybody city lights are here", Inul joyously announced at Siburan.

Finally we arrived Kuching around 6.30 pm and signs of city life greeted us at Siburan traffic junction. This trip took us a bit longer than usual because fospa decided not to rush the journey due to expected heavy traffic on the Pan Borneo Highway. Safety was top most in our minds. See cats do think. Tomorrow we'll wake up to a new day of celebration called Hari Raya or "Eid Mubarak" as the Arabs call it.

So guys, here's Inul and the rest of the crew wishing all visitors and friends to our blog ,

a Happy Eid Mubarak &

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri!!

For the record

Cumulative distance achieved on this 23rd trip back Kuching = 27,000 km

Date of travell : 9 September, 2010

Pitstop at Sebangkoi Country Park, Sarikei

This is our 23rd trip back Bintulu. On the wheels is fospa and his co-navigator is fosma. Fospa has decided to go to Bintulu for many reasons. Firstly, there are ripe oil palm fruits that need to be harvested. Secondly, fosis will be arriving Bintulu from KL soon to join us for the Ramadan in Bintulu. Finally, fospa needed to check on many projects in Bintulu. Meow, meow ,meow..there's so much to do, so little time.

We left Kuching around 7.00 am and arrived Bintulu at 5.30 pm. Here are pictures about the journey.

Mama sitting steady while passing the bridge at Serian. From Serian it's another nine and a half hours ride to Bintulu.

Mama Daisy on the lookout for the traffic junction. Straight is Sri Aman town and to the right is Sarikei. Go right OK fospa!

SEBANGKOI COUNTRY PARK
SARIKEI

A shady area where fospa left us while he was busy clicking around for some pictures at the Sebangkoi Country Park. Sebangkoi - Inul was here!

The small stream in the park where picnickers refresh and had a good time under green jungle canopy .

A pavilion built over the lily pond for visitors to rest and enjoy the serene beauty of the park.

On this trip fospa decided to have a pit stop at Sibu. Of late Sibu was the talk of the nation when the opposition party headed by Wong Ho Leng won in its by-election. Then came in the yearly floods that are never stoppable here. This is because Sibu was founded on a settlement close to the mighty Rejang River. The early fathers of Sibu weren't smart enough in the choice of location and since then floods have been an annual nightmare. Again some quarters in Sibu said the name must be changed because it bodes bad luck. Why? In Chinese the word Sibu when pronounced meant " witch"- a sure sign of bad luck. Anyway it was not the Chinese who gave the name Sibu. The Ibans and Malays here call Sibu as "Sibau". It has always been the clumsy British tongue that pronounced it as Sibu. Another good example of the clumsy British tongue is the word "Pulau Pinang" referring of the island of "Penang". How did Pulau Pinang become Penang? Blame it on the Britons.

SIBU

Tall buildings in Sibu

The Sanyan building is on the right and the RH Hotel to the left. From where the above picture is taken is the open car park where food stalls are set up during the month of Ramadan for shoppers to buy a vast selection of food for opening of fast.

Looking back, the journey was safe but longer than expected. This must be due to the Puasa Month ( fasting month of Ramadan) when both fospa and fosma took to fast. Ramadan teaches one to be patient and calls for fight against anger and uncontrolled appetite. Follow the middle path , the sure way, the correct way and like we do are able to arrive our destination in conditions of safety, healthy , in good time and a pleasurable journey.

Note: Record achieved on this trip = 26,400 km
Date achieved : 30th August, 2010

21st trip to Bintulu (24,000 km achieved)

From inside the car, Inul saw this baby monkey.



On the 4th of April, we took to the highway early. As usual the whole journey took approximately 10 hours. It was sunny for the most part of the journey. Heavy rains were met from Sibu to Bintulu.

With this 21st trip to Bintulu, our travelling record tied a notch higher i.e. 24000 km. Here are some pictures of the journey.

Inset : Me and Mama taking naps along the way.

At the Sibu central market and from inside the car I watched fospa as he walked around the jungle produce market to see any strange plants, fruits etc.. But what intrigued him ( and Me) was a tiny monkey which was brought to market by one of the traders . The tiny baby was shown around the market. No, it was not for sale. The baby monkey was made a companion by one of the jungle produce traders there.

A busy street adjacent to the market .

We encountered rain for about 3 hours of the journey. A typical sight along the Pan-Borneo Highway.

On this trip we made a pit stop at Betong for refuelling and a late lunch. There we saw these two stray cats.

Finally, at around 7.30 pm we arrived Bintulu.

Remember me, Inul?