Chicken Market

After bidding farewell to the wrapped chicken & ducks in the market, now we continue our "chicken talk", by paying a visit to the nearby chicken market.

Hundreds of hen available here in the market. I will refer them as chicken instead, although these are "grown up chicken" :P Most of the chicken here are awaiting to be slaughtered few meters ahead. And the poor chicken have to witness the slaughtering of their own kinds. So traumatizing for the poor kokokai..

I won't include in the bloody scene of slitting the chicken throat. Too scary bloody to be included here. Anyone knows what is this black cylindrical container with a wider white container underneath for? Yeah, the slaughtered chicken will be placed here, and the narrow black container will prevent the chicken from moving around prevent the headless chicken from running around hence thrasing the blood all over the place. The white container underneath collects the drained blood.

This scene is not suitable for those who are phobic of blood as well as phobia of chicken. Notice the pool of blood on the floor? And the blood stained chicken feathers were all over the place.

I haven't see such scene for quite some time already. Reminiscing the days seeing my parents slitting the chicken's throats, draining the blood and plucking and removing the chicken feathers in the backyard in the 80's. I believe kids in big cities won't have the opportunities to witness such scenes.

Cleaning the chicken after plucking and removing the feathers.

Notice the slit mark at the chicken's throat with clotted blood stain?

Uncle is cleaning the chicken and plucking the remaining fur with scapula prior to marketing selling the "manually processed" chicken.

Chicken & Duck Talk

Is this something new to u? Why all the chicken being tied up? Did they do something wrong, hence being punished? :)

These are common scenes seen in Sarawak Market. The chicken & ducks are rolled and tied up with newspaper and raffia string for sales.

Some sellers even write the weight and the price on the wrapping newspaper, as in the photo above.

Duckie praying.. "Anyone wanna bring me back home? But please bring me back as a pet duck, and please don't cook/eat me" :P

Sarikei Jetty

Many might just ignore those small "insignificant" details in life, but I don't. I love to observe the happenings and little details around me, unless if I'm rushing for time.

This was taken at the Sarikei jetty in Sarawak three weeks back.

The wooden plank or footbridge.

Watch out your steps. Look at the "holes" or missing wood in between the plank.

If you step wrongly on the plank, u might drop into the river instead. By the way, what is the girl doing here?

The filial girl is waiting for her granny. Her granny's boat had finally arrived.

Granny or Nenek walking bare feet on the boat toward the connecting wooden bridge, which is a piece of wood.

Granny started to walk on the little wooden bridge.

Granny passing her slippers to her grand daughter.

Scary lah seeing how the granny cross the bridge. I don't know whether I dare to do that or not as I scared I might lost balance and fell into the river. :P

Granny managed to cross the bridge, safe and sound. :)

Buah Keranji

Buah Keranji

Buah Keranji used to be one of my favourites. I used to savour the "fruit"for years when I was in Sarikei (since my childhood time). Buah Keranji is widely available in my hometown. I came across them once again (after so many years) when I visited the tamu market in Bintulu during my trip to Sarawak. (The same place where I saw the fat, juicy, squirmy & cute sago worms. How can I miss out the chance buying and tasting the nostalgic fruits once again?

Small in size (about the size of a thumb), which turned black when ripe.

The fruit is covered with thin, brittle skin. Thin layer of flesh with sweet, caramel-like flavour covering the large seed. Is this a local Sarawak/Borneo product? I dunno.. But I remembered a Malay pantun (up to date, I still haven't come across Buah Keranji outside Sarawak) :-

Sorong Papan Tarik Papan,
Buah Keranji Dalam Perahu,
Suruh Makan Dia Makan,
Suruh Mengaji Dia Tidak Mahu.

My primary school - SRB St Anne

Most of my chinese coursemates in university thought I'm from Chinese school since I can read, write and speak Chinese fluently. Despite explaining several times to them 我不是华校生 ... They still kept on forgetting, so I finally give up explaining. I still remember they constantly asked me whether I skipped Remove Class /Kelas Peralihan (for those from Chinese School), cos I am one year younger than them.

I had my primary education (Primary 1 to Primary 6) in SRB Saint Anne, Sarikei. By just looking at the name of the school, you will know that is not a Chinese school, right? I had my secondary education (Form 1 till Form 5) in SMB Saint Anthony, Sarikei and did my Form 6 (Upper six and Lower six) in SMK Meradong.

How I get to learn Chinese? Chinese language was taught as one of the language subject during my primary school days, just as English language and Jawi. Malay Language is used as the teaching medium for all the other subjects. Although I stopped learning chinese after I completed my primary school, but because of my passion and my love for chinese language, I still continue reading chinese novels and story books and even chinese newspaper till today.

I still remember reading 兒童樂園 (er tong le yuan) and 小叮噹 (xiao ding dang) when I was in primary 2 or 3 time, reading the 西遊记(Journey to the West) thick novel when I was in primary 6 and reading 卫斯理系列小说 during my secondary school days. I am glad I didn't neglect Chinese language all these while cos it is indeed a very useful language and communication tool. (Psss.. I prefer reading Chinese novels than English novels. The descriptions in chinese novels are much more lively & interesting, don't u think so?)

I learnt Jawi as well during my primary school day (from primary one till primary six).. Jawi is a compulsory subject :( We had exam too for Jawi and I remembered once I even score 100 marks for Jawi. Hahahha, unbelievable, and I don't know how I did that. I can even write my own name in Jawi during those days. But now what I can remember are only - alif, ba, ta, sa and lam.. that's all.. Nothing more and nothing less. All returned back to my primary school Jawi teacher.

Sarikei Time Capsule

Introducing Sarikei/泗里街 (again) - my beloved hometown. Sarikei (泗里街) is a small town in Sarawak, previously known as the 6th division. Sarikei is also known as "The Town of Swallows". This is the place where I spent my entire childhood, where I have my primary and secondary education and the place where I spent more than 2 decades of my life.. Although I'm now residing and working in other place far away from home, Sarikei will always remain in my mind.

My cousin, Daniel has recently starts a blog - Sarikei Time Capsule, introducing Sarikei in greater details (history, scenery, heritage, festivals, food, people etc). Throughout blogging, I manage to get to know quite a number of Sarikei bloggers, although most of them are currently studying/working/residing in other part of the world. For those Sarikei folks abroad/those who are interested to know more about Sarikei/those who wants to have a glimpse on my beloved hometown, do visit his blog for greater details of Sarikei town.

Side note : It is recommended to visit Sarikei Time Capsule with Internet Explorer (IE) browser since the template/display is "distorted" with Firefox browser.

Review: Malaysian Babies of the 70s/early 80s

I receive this via email some time back.. I enjoy reading it and thought some of you might enjoy reading it as well.. Especially those who are born in those eras. Remembering those good old days :) The one written in brackets in black italic font style is my answer..

You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Thundercats, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget Ninja turtles, Mask and Smurfs too. (Anyone remembers "Cumi dan Ciki" - the local Malaysian muppet show in the early 80's (I don't like the show, and can't remember it well.. Is Cumi and Ciki a butterfly and a monkey or vice versa? The show just suddenly pop up in my mind when I write this post.. I'm just wondering anyone remember the show?) and "The Muppets" (with Kermit the Frog, Piggy the Pig etc..)? )

You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in primary school after recess time. You squatted by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brushed your teeth with a colourful mug. (Hahha.. I stand by the drain, didn't squat :P)

Remember the days when the school nurse comes with a list for the dentist appointment.. the sound of the drilling when ur friend has a fill in his tooth. (Err... I hate fillings during my primary school times..)

You remember the packets of milk we get in primary school to encourage us to drink more milk. (The yummy chocolate milk drink (Projek Susu Sekolah).. at least it was yummy during those days.. Can't remember exactly the price.. I guess it was something like 30 cents per packet? )

During primary school days, the teacher will punish you using a ruler to hit your palm. (Teachers those days used to hit the pupils hands with ruler if the pupils were naughty or disobeyed the school rules or didn't do homework etc.. Hehhee.. I am a good student, so I hardly get punished.. ). A bowl of noodles soup cost only 40c in primary school days. (Most of the time, I bring my own food (bekal) to school, prepared by my mum in the early morning. So, I seldom bring pocket $$ to school. Things and food are cheap during those days, but I can't remember the exact price of the food stuff..) When you were in primary school, girls like to go to the bookshop to buy cute stuff such as animal erasers, sharpeners, notebook etc. (I don't have extra $$$ to buy all those cute stuffs.. So, I don't have any of those).

In secondary school, girls go to the library to borrow their favourite romance storybook. In secondary school, girls altered their school skirt to shorten it and guys will go to the school appointed school uniform tailor shop to tailor make their school trousers to the then fashionable "baggy pants"! (Hahhaa.. I seldom read romance story book.. Prefer reading the fiction or detective story books).

In secondary school days, you buy the Bata BM Turbo school shoes. Some guys like to wear those china made ankle high shoes. Some even like to wear those very thick socks with their school shoes. (Bata is a famous brand during my days.. One of my friend/classmate's father is the owner of the Bata Shoes Shop in Sarikei during those days).

Internet? E-mail? What the hell is that? So you thought a decade or more ago. Your friends don't have pagers or handphones in school. (I only get to know about internet and email during my university days - in the mid 90's ).

CDs? What's that? Cassette tapes were the norm. Movie tickets used to cost less than $5 last time. (I still have the Sony walkman with cassette tapes.. Followed by the Discman (I don't have any of those). Nowadays, school kids have mp3 or mp4 players..)

The goodies from Mama shop used to be Mamee, Ka ka,Kum Kum, Ding Dang choco balls (with toys in the box), colourful hard "egg", "cigarette" chocolate, pink bottle of bubbles, and small tubes with orange sticks to blow "more lasting" bubbles that you can pop more air in or slam it on. (I'm sure many of us still remember all these things.. Hahhaa.. the colourful hard egg candies, the cigarrette chocolate, blowing bubbles from the orange sticks...)

When exams are over, the board games (eg:UNO,Monopoly) & hand held video games will be all over the class room. (What I did after exams? I can't remember.. might be reading story books? The only handheld video games I have during those days was the "Octopus" video games... Hahhaa... I guess most of those who were born in the 70's have played this game before... How about you? )

Your favourite sound is the bell! For it's the homemade ice cream man. The cream that tops Haagan Dazs! The pink colour ice-cream with eyes plus a wide smile. Another bell is the recess bell, a time to get away from school work and to eat. Another time when there is no bell but all guys will anxiously wait for it...The PJ/PE time. (I guess everyone of us love the recess bell and the "school is over" bell..)

Your favourite childhood games were playing "guli"(marbles), five stones, zero-point, catching, Police & Sentry. (I remember we used to play the hide and seek and chasing games.. During recess time in my primary school days, I love to play the five-stones game with my classmates.)

The best thirst quencher of all times is the yummy colourful ice tubes you can buy from provision shops. To eat them, break the tab and suck while holding the freezing tube! (Another nostalgic ice cream I have during my days are the syrup filled in long plastic tubes with an assam or soey boi at one end of the tubes, and knotted at the other end.. This frozen ice cream only costed 10 or 20 cents per tube).

All gals have a barbie doll/strawberry shortcake/my little pony/pound puppy, while all boys have a star wars figurine or a rubber band catapult thatshoots folded paper! Once was the era whereby ice-cream sticks were valueable items, than came the paper aircrafts, chalk fights. Some boys made their own guns from wood,and used 'Bacali' as the bullets. (I don't have any of those dolls.. But I remember the days playing with paper aircrafts or making wonders with pieces of papers..)

Everyone envies the class monitor and his assistant, cos they were the ones who can come up with the daily duty rooster, giving names to teacher on who makes the most noise. The elite group are the prefects, the one with license to move around, they consider themselves above the law. (mmmm... I don't envy my class monitor.. hahhaha... we are good friends)

And your favourite holiday was Lunar New Year! New clothes, ang pows, shopping, junk food and family outings! (During my childhood days, CNY means new clothes, nice food, angpow, fire crackers, lion dance etc etc .. Love CNY during childhood days but not nowadays...)

Cheers to the Malaysia 70's & early 80's babies... Anyone want to share their feedbacks and review on these matters? I would like to hear your stories :)

*Side note:
I have written a similar post previously (in Octorber 2005) with the title Those were the days - talking about the old days. Those who are interested can have a look... Included there were the monochrome computer screen with green coloured text and picture display, the 5 & 1/4 inches floppy disks, snail mails, queueing up at the phone booth when wanting to make phone calls, etc etc....

Top 10 reasons that you were/are from Sarikei

This post was written by Daniel, my cousin : Top 10 reasons that you were/are from Sarikei. Quite accurate in a way, and it really brings me back to the old days. My answer is written in the bracket (italic and blue colour). To those who have no idea where is Sarikei, it's a small town in the Sarikei Division (previously the 6th division), near Sibu town.

* You like Kam Pua, Kompia & Yu Hu Eng Chai. (yeah yeah... I do like kampua and kompia) You think Sarikei pineapples are the best in the world. (Yes... Sarikei pineapples is very sweet and juicy, right? However, these pineapples cannot be consumed in large quantities cos it can "cut" your tongue or the oral cavity mucous membrane..) Who cares about KFC & Sugar Bun? (I don't actually fancy fastfood except french fries :D, but I don't think is applicable to the modern societies in Sarikei. )

* You can speak 4-7 dialects and languages: FooChow, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, Iban, English & Chinese. (Quite true ~ I can speak foochow, hokkien, cantonese, malay, english and chinese and little little bit of Iban). You know the Foochow & Hokkien "dirty words". "Hey, Lu capak apa?"(This one ah.. not really lah...)

* You wonder what the black pepper & rubber farmers are doing now to make a living. (I guess they are still planting black pepper ??? ) You don't bat an eyelid at the swarms of swallows. (Get to see a huge swarm of swallow every evening, who cares cos it's like bread and butter to Sarikeian? Just for your info, Sarikei = Town of Swallow). You have savoured wild game like bats, snakes, turtles and pangolin. (This one is ~ absolutely true !!!!! 101% agree)

* You have watched a movie at Lido & Cathay but now watch pirated VCD/DVDs. (Watching movie at Lido & Cathay? That was ages ago... ) You can not find the new Sarikei library & the new hospital. (Yeah lah.. the new Sarikei library and the new hospital is so far away from town.. Damn troublesome to go to those places..) What happened to the padang and basketball court? (Mmmmmm... I have no idea :D ) You wonder whether the brothel ("Lok Kee") is still around.

* You thought Sibu's Sarawak House was darn cool and Kuching's Holiday Inn was hip (so "atas") when you were young. (Hahhaha.. how true.. During my childhood time, Sarawak House in Sibu was damn cool.. Now? errr... it's just another old building, nothing special :D )Your best memories of the Sarikei-Bintangor-Sibu express boat ride is the Bintangor vendors jumping on board to sell green oranges. (Wow... those really were the days.. And I remember jumping fast from the boat to the jetty cos the express boat stopped at the jetty for just a brief duration !) Jakar bridge ride was the scariest 5 seconds of your childhood days. ( I can't remember anything about Jakar bridge, sorry...) You think the Mosque is still the most beautiful building in Sarikei. (Hehehe.. is it? However, there's no unique building in Sarikei lah) You have hardly used the Sarikei Swimming Pool despite yearning for one when you were young.(I guess... I don't go there cos I dunno how to swim :P) And the Sarikei airport is still a mirage. When will Air Asia fly there? (This one.. I agree 100%. Waiting for the Sarikei airport till my neck also become long... I guess it won't happen )

* You think Sebangkoi is the romantic place for a cuddle, (Hahaha... Sebangkoi is the best !!! I guess all Sarikeian been to Sebangkoi before, and this is the one and only recreational place in the early days...) Rejang River Esplanade is the place for a breezy walk (true.. I enjoy strolling there, and in fact, each time I go back to Sarikei, I will visit that place) and Ngiu Kee store is the place for a free air con stroll. (During those days, Ngiu Kee Supermarket really rocks !!!)

* There's a 70% probability that you have studied at St. Anthony's (Yeah, I'm proud to be student of SMB St Anthony, or the so called Anthonian !!) and 100% chance that you have bought something from the Anthonian (yeah yeah.. I bought ALL my reference books from Anthonian since that's the one and only reference book supplier bookstore available in town during my time) , Culture or Shanghai bookstores. You have cringed at your geeky look at high school. (No comment :P ) You still cannot sing the whole Negara Ku but knows all the lyrics to Liu Wen Zheng's songs. (Err.. this one I think not true lah.. I can still memorise Negaraku although I haven't sing the song for ages already, since I left Form 6)

* You have wondered why the muddy Rejang River could not be as clear as those Alpine streams in the cigarette ads but now you feel proud of the river & its heritage. (I never wonder about the earlier question, but I do feel proud of the rive and its heritage) You have probably swum in the Nyelong River because all the buaya's have been eaten by man. (This one... nope, cos I can't swim) You have likely caught sewage eating guppies (fish) and tadpoles from the streams. (I caught fish & tadpoles from the drains or longkang before. Does this count?) There's a 90% chance that you have never entered a long house or tried the Iban tuak (rice wine). (Then, I'm in the other 10% category. I have entered long house before, few times ~ during my Form 6 time while camping and also in the early days in my career as a doctor ~ cos we have to give talk to the community in one of the long house etc etc... Yeah.. I have tasted Iban tuak before as well during visitation to Iban friends' place during Gawai Festival )

* Ah Kow's is still the best restaurant in town.
(Hahahha.. Ah Kow, Ah Kow.... always attend wedding dinner or some other function in that restaurant. But now, the popularity has dropped already, compare to the early days).

And, last but not least, when we talk about Sarikei ~ sure the huge pineapple near the Sarikei wharf will come into the Sarikei folk's mind :)

Kompia (光餅)

This is another Foochow specialties ~ Kompia (光餅) (the name of the pastry in Foochow dialect). Another must eat item when I go back home to Sarawak. I noticed I posted lotsa Foochow food lately :P (And I'm not Foochow btw but I grow up in Sarikei town; My dialect is Xinhui). There's lotsa Foochow people in Sarikei and Sibu town in Sarawak. So, I ate all these Foochow related products/food since young and I have lotsa Foochow friends. I bought few packets to bring back together with me to Peninsular Malaysia and I finished eating it the next day :P

The bigger kompia shown in the picture is the sweet version of kompia ~ it's bigger, light & fluffy. The smaller kompia in the picture is the salty version of kompia ~ Smaller and harder. There's a hole in the centre of this pastry. It's nice to eat when served hot but hard when the pastry is cold. The pastry can be stuffed with meat/char siew and other ingredients as well. And it can be soaked in gravy as well to give a better taste.

The crispy kongpia stuffed with ingredients (meat)

There's many different ways to eat these kompia. Some prefer it dry, some like it wet or soaked with gravy, some want it to be crispy or stuffed with ingredients.. It all depends on individuals.

These kompia is widely available in towns or cities with Foochow communities, eg. Sibu and Sarikei town in Sarawak and Sitiawan in Peninsular Malaysia. However, nowadays, kompia is available in other town in Sarawak as well due to influx of Foochow communities to those areas.

Some facts about Kompia (I get this piece of info from CooknEngr, my fellow foochow friend) ~ Kompia 光餅, a Foochow special was invented by a general "Chee Sheek Kuong" back in the Ming dynasty. The hole in the center is for the convenience of running a string through so that the warrior can hang a roll of Kompias on their neck. Fighting and taking a Kompia break at the same time.

"繼光餅，這個小名光餅的口糧，傳說是明大將軍戚繼光為打倭寇所發明，光餅中間一圓圈，可串起讓士兵掛於胸前，戰時隨時補充體力"

扁肉 (Pien Neek)

扁 肉 (Pien Neek) is another dish that I won't miss each time I go back home to Sarawak. This is another Foochow dishes or 福州小吃. It looks similar to 云吞(wantan), but the skin or wrapper texture is different (thinner) and tasted slightly different from wantan as well. This time during my trip back Sarawak, I had 扁 肉/pien neek twice; once in Bintulu and another time in Kuching.

I remembered helping my mum to wrap 扁 肉 (Pien Neek) during my childhood days. Home cooked 扁 肉 (Pien Neek) is still the best, cos 皮薄馅多 with more lean meat :)

鼎邊糊 (Ting Bian Hu)

I have 鼎邊糊/Ting Bian Hu as well during my last trip to Kuching in one of the local hawker Food Court. This 鼎邊糊 doesn't taste as nice as the 鼎邊糊 I have in Sarikei previously. Haven't had it for long time already. I guess many never tasted this Foochow specialities (福州小吃) before :) I have no idea whether there is any special English name for 鼎邊糊. Ting Bian Hu is the direct Foochow translation of the word 鼎邊糊. This dish was widely available in Sarikei and Sibu, and nowadays it's available in other towns in Sarawak as well, including Bintulu, Kuching etc, following the influx of Foochow people to those places.

This is a very healthy dish. The way of making it is somehow unique and different from other dish. From what I recalled, first of all, the thick rice flour paste is ladled slowly along the brim of the kuali, letting it form a sheet of thick rice pasta, with the broth simmers in the kuali. The original Foochow 鼎邊糊/Ting Bian Hu is served hot together with 黑木耳/black fungus and 金針/golden needle with the brown cuttlefish and pepper in the broth.

Hahhaa.. I tried making this dish myself before, but ..... NOT successful :P

Kam Pua Noodle (干盘面)

Sarawakians, will know what is Kam Pua Noodle (干盘面). This is a popular and yet simple dish back home in Sarawak, especially in Sibu and Sarikei. I wrote a post on Sarikei few months ago, and included kam pua noodle inside there :) It's found in most of the coffee shop or hawker centre or food court in Sarawak, and available in almost every coffee shop in Sibu & Sarikei.

The kam pua noodle looks similar to wantan noodle in West Malaysia, but the taste is totally different :) There's two different version of kam pua noodle. One can opt for kam pua with or without soya sauce ~ I still prefer the kam pua noodle with soya sauce. The noodle is served together with few slices of char siew(pork) on top and a bowl of soup (normally it's just the plain ajinomoto soup :D ), and chilli sauce.

kam pua noodle with soya sauce

This is the kam pua noodle with soya sauce. I ate this in one of the food court in Kuching. Taste nice and up to standard, but the one available in my hometown (Sarikei) is even better :P

plain kam pua noodle

I tasted the above kam pua without soya sauce in another coffee shop in Bintulu. They didn't put the red colouring flavour to the char siew pork meat as well :)

So far, I have never see this dish outside Sarawak. Can only get to eat it when I go back home to Sarawak. This is one of the dish that I will not miss out when I balik kampung (go back home).

There will be more upcoming posts on popular food/dishes in Sarawak...

Childhood days biscuits

Went to market this afternoon and noticed these biscuits... I bought some as well ~ the gem biscuits and the animal shaped biscuits. I think most of us have eaten these biscuits during our childhood times. If not mistaken, the last time I ate these biscuits was more than 2 decades ago already.

I think these are called Gem Biscuits (花占餅). Oval in shape, around 1.5 cm in diameter, with little pointy stars icing sugar on top in various colours ~ bright green, yellow, pink, white etc..

This gem biscuit is my old time favourites :) Each and everyone of us have our own ways of eating these little biscuits. I think most of us (including myself), when small time, will bite off the icing sugar part first and leave behind the plain biscuits to be eaten later on/or some even throw the plain biscuits away, hahaha.... Others might chew the whole biscuit together with the icing sugar.. Or is there anyone who eat the plain biscuit first & leave behind the sweet icing sugar to be eaten later on?? I doubt hardly there is any, or even if there is, its just minority only :P What's your way of eating it?

The animal shaped biscuits(獸形餅) ~ cat, bird, fish, owl, tortoise, hippotamus, cockerel, rabbit, elephant, etc etc... Another old time favourite of mine :D

Seeing these biscuits reminds me of my kindergarden days. During my kindy time, the only available "snacks" sold in my kindergarden (St Clement Kindergarden in Sarikei) were few pieces of these animal shaped biscuits and two sweets at the price of 10 cents (if I didn't remember wrongly).

Xinhui Dialect (新會 粤方言)

My grandparents (both maternal and paternal side) are from Xinhui, a city in Guangdong (广东) province in Southern China. They migrated to Sarawak almost a century ago and settle down there in a small town called Sarikei(泗里街). The dialect we use in our daily conversation is the Cantonese dialect Xinhui group (新會 粤方言). There's quite a number of Xinhui dialect Cantonese speaking people in Sarikei. So far, I have not yet encountered anyone speaking this dialect over here in Peninsular Malaysia. I did a research in internet few days ago and this is what I found :)

Dialects of Cantonese
There are at least four major dialect groups of Cantonese:

• Yuehai, which includes the dialect spoken in Guangzhou 广州/廣州, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Chinese in Southeast Asia and the overseas worldwide Chinese of Cantonese origin as well as the dialects of Zhongshan, and Dongguan;

• Siyi or sei yap 四邑, (the dialects of Taishan, Enping, Kaiping, and Xinhui 新會 ; however exemplified by Taishan 台山 dialect);

• Gaoyang, as spoken in Yangjiang ; and

• Guinan (Nanning dialect) spoken widely in Guangxi.

However, Cantonese generally refers to the Yuehai(Yueyu) 粵語/粤语 dialect.

Just wonder... anyone of you speaking xinhui or sei yap cantonese dialect out there?

Sarikei 泗里街

Sarikei/ 泗里街, my hometown.., also known as the town of swallows. I guess not many have heard or know about this small town, except that Sarikei is always being mentioned in the weather forecast.

Sarikei strikes my mind just now when I read about a post by Fredy with the title "U know u are Sarikeian when"

hahhaha... it really bring back old memories.... Reminiscing the old days..

I was brought up in Sarikei and have my primary education in SMB St Anne; & my secondary education in SMB St Anthony. I did my Form 6 in SMK Meradong since there's no Form 6 in Sarikei town at that time. I get all my reference books for my SPM & STPM from Anthonian bookstore .. The only bookshop available; Well, it's the sole supplier of textbooks & reference books at that time. Nothing much interesting in this small town where I grow up. One can see a huge pineapple near the Sarikei wharf.

Talking about Sarikei reminds me of few things...

Swallows.. in the late evening, folk in Sarikei town will see a huge bundle of swallows flying in the sky.. hence , that's how the name "town of Swallow" was derived...

Foochow... Most Chinese communities in Sarikei & Sibu are Foochows; well, I'm not Foochow, but I can speak Foochow...

Kam Puah Noodle 干盘面 .. One of the "delicacies" in Sarikei town.. Well, there's not much food selection over here.. Kam Puah Noodle is the well known noodle in Sarikei & Sibu town.. Everytime I go back home to Sarikei, I will eat kam puah noodle as well.. since this noodle is not available else where in West Malaysia.

Pineapple 凤梨.. Sarikei is well known for it's delicious, sweet & juicy pineapple... But mind u, these pineapples cannot be consumed in large quantities cos it can "cut" your tongue or the oral cavity mucous membrane..

I get to know CooknEngr too because of "Sarikei". He is also from Sarikei, but we never know each other previously.. I have a homepage previously and somehow he surfed & visited my homepage by searching the word "Sarikei" (I still remember that was way back in 1998..) and since then, we keep in touch with each other till now.. And I met him few times as well during his visits back home to Malaysia.. And I just get to know during CNY 2005 that my late dad & his late uncle were good friends as well (gather this information from his family photos). What a small world :)

p/s : I just noticed there's an orange hairy ape by the name "Sarikei" as well in Chester Zoo.