Miri Exports back in town

Cafe 88 was closed this morning so we deciede to have breakfast at 2020's and while looking for a parking space, I saw a familiar black Naza Citra & immediately said to myself,"Baka kereta sida Doreen & Jayang."True enough it was them,the whole family stuffing themselves with the much-missed 2020's food. They must had been longing/missing the food as could be seen by the 'fullness' of the table. ( penuh meja laban utai di empa) Ya,the Jayangs or OKK as I called Jayang just now(Orang Kota Kinabalu/Orang Kaya-Kaya) are back in town. Doreen said to me something related to my blog..so it seems she's the one from KK who's been reading my blog. Anyway,happy reading & welcome home to Miri. Meet you at tamu this Friday for the mags. Last week there was plenty of Hello,OK, & something on Erra Fazira. Ring a bell?Ha..ha..
Also saw the Gendangs at the tamu last Friday & Adela enjoying, drinking a bottle of the Sibu Krim Soda. On 26th Dec,the Labons would be in town;now they are still skiing at Mt Sorak,imagining that they're acting the scenes from Winter Sonata. ha..ha..
According to Irene, Bedindang is also back in town,..welcome back to Miri.
Since the last 3 years or so, it seems that many young Ibans are leaving Miri for greener pastures/sand dunes/deserts. Heard another one leaving also. Ya, why not if the pendapatan is sangat begitu lumayan & the children's education's taken care of.
Also met a young lady, a friend's daughter who's back from London for the Xmas hols & when I asked her where she's studying...LSE,that's London School of Economics. Way to go Iban girl!
I have to go for now,Nel's waiting for me.

Lutong @Cowboy Town

See,if you could spot the 2 young ladies cycling holding the umbrellas? If you could spot them, I'd buy you their mee at the pasar Lutong?

Turkey for you..

Actually, its Tuesday but the date on my posting says its Monday. Anyway, I was telling D what I had written about turkeys & he handed me money to get a turkey because his good friend anunya, over the weekend,endlessly puji-memuji dan memuja about liking eating turkey; having no cholestrol & so forth. "Ba Ma Baker,bisi sida nyual."ko iya.So kawan received the message loud & clear. I hope the next time we meet anunya, he would say something good about roast beef,roast leg of lamb & cod fish so that kawan would grant his wishes & I would have the means to buy the food. Remember I'm unemployed! Ha..ha..

The turkeys are...

.....available at the various supermarkets now. They cost @RM100+ each according to Jinet & Endu who already bought theirs. No, Jinet would not be having roasted manok sabong for xmas because some thieves stole 2 of the fighting cocks from the sangkar. She's happy that the fighting cocks which belonged to some other people were stolen,meaning less manok to feed. Just kidding!
For those of you who would like to eat roasted turkey this xmas but are not brave enough to roast it yourself, you can ask the guy who sells roasted meats next to Everyday Cafe (opposite ABC Bookshop) Pelita Commercial Centre,to roast the turkey for you. According to Endu & Jinet,they had theirs done there last year & he charged RM15 for roasting. Nyamai,ko seduai. Nya meh ti suntok ari,tau nguji kia, ti enda anjung asoh Indai Shayna ba Pujut 3A. Mak aku muji roasted turkey Indai Shayna.
Laban kami enggai makai turkey,manok ba QQ dibeli aku ila,tabur ke sida sausages,bacon & ham & roasted potatoes. Nadai urang nemu nya ukai kulok,semina kita ke macha blog aku tu. ha..ha..

Lutong Cinema

Not a good photo of the Lutong Cinema & it's now an SIB centre. Every weekend, my friends and I ( late 60s & early 70s) religiously went to meda wayang...afternoon shows be it hindi movies,chinese sword fighting or english movies. We bought the 50cents tickets,3rd class it was called & at times when there's not much money to buy an extra ticket,we had to share a seat. It was a must to eat chendol or rojak at the stalls before the show started. Each time when I walked down memory lane especially when the focus was on Lutong Cinema, I could see friends cycling to the cinema,merely to lepak,not many could afford to see the movies all the time,just cycling to chat with friends.
When a Chinese show was being shown, one could see the Chinese from Kpg Cina coming out in full force to watch Wang Yu as the One Arm Swordsman;when Hindi movies like Bobby were shown the Ibans & the Malay did likewise. I watched Bobby 9 times including the shows at Miri Theatre. The Bhattacharyas & the Sadasivans also came out to watch the hindi movies. those were the days....

This is the old church building of Good Shepherd Lutong. I remember the walls used to be in wood colour,dark & in later years,it was painted white. (Late 60s to early 70s) My friends and I used to watch people passing by; people going to the 2 churches,St. Christopher's Roman Catholic Church (where I used to go before ) & Good Shepherd's;people going to the mosque behind the Good Shepherd Church on Friday;people going to see the movies at the Lutong Cinema; people just passing by to the Lutong Bazaar. We enjoyed watching people passing by,commenting on them and we knew who's new in Lutong especially bala Ibans ke baru datai ari menua diau enggau kaban. We knew that if the newcomer Ibans went to GSC,they had to come from Betong,Saratok & Simanggang/Banting. And if they went to St. Christopher's,they had to be from Sibu area.

This used to be our 'battle field' where we played soldiers & had the local cherries as our pellets.

We didnot think beyond the 'battlefield'..very contented with whatever little we had. For some families,they only went to Miri town,once a month,if any. It was considered a treat if one had a chance to go to Miri town in a month. Usually after payday,my mum dressed us up,put our socks & shoes on and by the time my dad came back from work after 4pm,he drove us to Miri town in his blue Opel car. I remember my friends,6 of them, whose father had to take one of them at a time on each trip he made to Miri town.I almost could see the joy on Julia's face or Evelyn's face each time their dad brought them out of the house,waited for the bus under the mango tree by the roadside. (the mango tree is still there..facing the fencing of Good Shepherd Church)

This empty piece of land used to be where our lodges once stood. Our battlefield is now the carpark for Good Shepherd Church.