Nanga Geremai Longhouse joining in the 'beauty' competition

My mum & I went back to our longhouse on sunday,21st October, because the longhouse was selected to join in a 'beauty' competiton organised by a government department. The Tuai Rumah,Joanis Giri requested all the tuai bilek ( head of each household) of the longhouse to come back for the occasion. You see, most of the tuai bilek are away in Miri seeking a livelihood and hardly return to base. Names of tuai bilek of Rumah Panjai TR Joanis Giri,Nanga Geremai, working and living especially in Miri were broadcast over WaiFM,to make sure that the request to head back to "Home Sweet Home" was loud and clear,I suppose.

Upon our arrival,never had I seen such a breath taking environment of the longhouse. The compound was cleared of all debris,unwanted plants that were an eye sore were nowhere in sight. As we stepped on the 'tanju' we saw pink curtains on every windows throughout the 50+ door longhouse and all the walls of each bilek were painted the same colour(greenish blue). Only then, we realised the seriousness of the request to be present. Cousins and relatives (everybody is somehow related in the longhouse) related the scenes,pains(body ache, painting,clearing&spring cleaning) and the short notice given by the officials of this competition.

Well, to all those involved in the "beautification" of Rumah Panjai TR Joanis Giri,Nanga Geremai, we say,"WELL DONE".

Chef Wit ala K Floyd

A satisfied chef with his dish..pork cooked in bamboo.

Joe..the Ibanlish(Iban+English) warrior!

Steady uchak!Oh,by the way,Joe speaks Iban.Nama brita?Nama aku Joe. Umur aku 19 taun. Anang manchal. Suut! AND....he can sing an Ibanlish song called "Kampung Love" by Acid Rain. Top right,he's singing the song for the last time during his farewell party at Kedai Kopi Wong. WHY,WHY, WHY........did you dulu belaki?..now everybody, sing....WHY..WHY.. Joe was requested to sing this song twice during last year's Gawai dinner.

That's Joe! dressed in a traditional Iban costume taken 2 days before he left Miri. Yes Joe, MALAYA ( May Angel Look After You Always). Note the angel blowing the trumpet.

In the 2nd picture,the man standing next to Joe is Uncle David Sambang,as Joe calls him. It's his and his wife's idea that Joe should be photographed wearing the Iban costume. I wish the whole episode was video recorded. Ha..ha..The posings under the hot sun. The hunted becomes the hunter..

at Joe's farewell party

at Putrajaya

Joe,nuan ka ngirup kopi?Udah makai?

Joe is the tall(6' 7") English..ooopps sorry,(he prefers to be called British) guy who was staying at St. Columba's Church apartment or otherwise called 'rumah pada' from January 2006 to 23rd August,2006. Ya,THAT ONE! Punjabi? No lah, anak orang putih..( a white kid) (action: one has to move the lips /mouth at the same time pointing to that person just like Esther) One kid even mistook him for -----when he went to the playschool to teach Bible Study (?). Once, as we were walking along Petaling Street,some stall vendors shouted,"Peter Crouch" as we were passing by. Josap just smiled back. Jusip once commented that it's easier for M'sians to call him Joseph than to call him JOE. We ended calling him JAW instead. Ha..ha..JOE!.(Plenty of jaw exercise here if we're to pronounce the way that Joe would like us to call him.)
He was sent by a church organisation ( somewhere in the Midlands) to get a first hand experience living with the Borneons. No,no,he's not a trainee priest even though he was treated like one during his 6 mths' stint at St. Columba's.(He stayed in Brunei for a while,too,hence I said Borneo)This page is dedicated to Joe because in his email to me about 6 mths ago was,"I really miss being able to go for coffee all day long everyday, and so cheaply too,compared to London."

Towards the end of his stay,he,somehow switched back to drinking tea.
Some mornings and afternoons,Nel and I took Joe out from the Parish office for breakfast and tea. We did quite a bit of 'hopping from one kedai kupi to the next' ngirup kupi all day long,tiap-tiap ari.'
Tea for you,sir????????

Rubbish Bin,where are you?

Last month,a desperate person who probably had his/her rubbish bin stolen by some other desperate people decided to steal my bin. It was done in broad daylight at peak hours( @5.00pm-6.15pm). At this time of the day,this stretch of road is at its busiest because of the supermarket nearby. I really salute this person who was brave enough to steal the bin,probably put it in the back of a pick-up truck,van or lorry and drove away. God Bless the thief.....

The next day I went 'bin' searching around my neighbourhood but did not see any abandoned bin. Well, what to do..the 'A' Team (scavenger truck) would not take your rubbish if you don't put them in the green bin. So off I went looking for a rubbish bin and found a shop selling them next to AirAsia's office,near M2. I entered the shop and asked,"How much is that bin?". The lady answered,"RM165." WHAT! So mahal(so expensive) Tidak boleh discount? Tidak dapat.(no discount?fixed price!) The price includes having your Lot house number printed on the side of the bin. Now I know why that 'thief' did not think twice about stealing my bin because it was too expensive for the thief to buy a new rubbish bin.

I remember smiling to myself when another victim of a stolen rubbish bin wanted to 'rantai'(chain) his rubbish bin to his house fence. Now I, too, feel like doing that.

Thieves can make money from stealing these rubbish bins. They can easily sell them for RM50 or get the scrap metal where the wheels of the bin are attached.

It makes me wonder what was wrong with the black bin before this ruling that we have to use this green bin. This is daylight robbery!

Eating Places & food to eat...Sun City Food Centre Part 1

The kopi c kosong (white coffee w'out sugar) &

teh c (white tea)

Sun City Food Centre offers a variety of hawker food. Here you can see Capt Nelly of Girls' Brigade 1st Company Miri,on her way to savour the food together with the photographer. This food centre is near to the Sikh Temple.

A Stray Dog

The Chinese believe that if a dog strays to one's house,LUCK comes to the house. I am still waiting to check if it's a myth or fact/truth. This dog has been with us for almost 3 months. It refuses to go away. Rain,shine,thunder & lightning,it would just lie down near my gate,barking and chasing at people & at everything that passes by my place. It used to wear a dog licence-collar judging from the lighter shade around its neck. My cousin said,"It looks like a wolf." I do not like dogs or any kind of animals for pets. I do not know how to get rid of it. Any taker for this dog.?