6th December 2009 (Sunday)

We woke up early in the morning and called a taxi to pick us in Kenyalang Park then to BDC to pick up Aunty Alice and Teresa. From Kuching International Airport we flew to Kota Kinabalu for transit to Tawau.

The flight from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu lasted 1.5 hours. At 10:30 am we reached Kota Kinabalu Airport. The next flight to Tawau was at 1:15 pm. We had about 2 hours free time at KK Airport.

The Boeing 737 touched down Tawau airport at 2:15 pm. This is a small airport where you will not get lost.

Tawau arrival hall is always crowded with smiling faces. Here in Tawau, when a friend comes to visit,  the whole family, young and old, will congregate at the airport to welcome the arrival. 

Uncle Yee and Mei Yin are at the airport to welcome us. They came to fetch us with a Vyva 660 specially rented for 2 days just for our visit. His 30 years old Dasun car has been running well all the while till week earlier when it refuse to start.

Not having lunch during flight transit. We are hungry so on the way Uncle Yee brought us to a restaurant in Hot Spring Market when we tried Tawau style fried Kue-Tiu and Bee Hun.

We had a welcoming dinner at Daily-Q at night. Welcome Uncle Wong Fook Foong, Aunty Alice Anak Kiyun and Teresa Yee Jin Wong to Tawau!

6:11 am in Kenyalang Park. We already woke up and get ready our luggage to start our journey. This basket of Uncle Foong stay behind. This is his "business beg" he uses every morning for his Kue-Kue selling.

8:30 am. We reached Kuching Airport Departure Hall. We arrived early. No body send us there so we had to call a taxi.

12:02 pm. We have reached Kota Kinabalu Airport and waited in the Departure Hall for our next flight to Tawau.

2:23 pm. We finally landed at Tawau Airport. Yin is peeping through the windows hoping to spot her cousin disembarking the plane.

2:37 pm. We just came out from the Arrival Hall after collecting our luggages in Tawau Airport. Look who's smiling face is this?

4:40 pm. This is Taman Semarak, we finally arrived Chun Xing's home and watch Mei Yin's favorite cartoon series.

Teresa Wong Yee Jin from Kuching City

Photo above : Posing in front the house wall painted by Wong Chun Xing, a home beautification project he completed only few weeks earlier.

Young Teresa Yee Jin Wong has all the reasons to be happy and proud. This is her first time to fly and have her father and mother as company. This 7 day trip to Sabah is her 'Scholarly Reward' for being the 'Top 10 Students' in class in 2009.

All freight, accommodation and foods are fully sponsored by the eldest Uncle Yee who gave this as a reward to her for being the Top Ten student in her class.

It all began in 2008 in Kuching one afternoon when Teresa's mother express her concern to the elder Uncle that her daughter will be in the final year of primary school (Primary 6) the following year and yet not showing any good progress in school in order to meet the UPSR examination.

The old Uncle then said "....Tell Teresa to be the top 10 in class and she will be invited for a holiday in Sabah.............the parents will come along too......."

Sure enough, less than a year later in the 1st school term in 2009 (this year), an SMS message was sent to Uncle Wong that she has achieved a position 4th in her class.

She got her rewarded holiday, after the UPSR examination, and here she is in Sabah happy with pride.

Uncle Wong Fook Foong standing against the bright restaurant.

Tawau is known for fresh seafood. Tawau Town  located facing South China Sea and Sebatik Island just off shore. Filipino and Indonesian Fishermen bring in fresh fish for the most delicious fresh and sweet seafood on our dinning tables.

We came to this Daily-Q open air restaurant famous for steamboat at Jalan Sin On. Today is Sunday, the place is crowded. We occupied 2 tables each with a separate steamboat.

Steamboat is a pot of boiling soup heated constantly by gentle gas stove fire.

Uncooked  foods are arranged at a central location and patron can choose whatever he/she likes. Eat what you can and eat all you can. Uncooked chicken, fish, prawn, various kinds of meatballs, fish balls, crabsticks, variety of vegetables, tofu, noodles, beehun and eggs are served on plates to the patron.

After making your choice, then proceed to put some portion of it into the boiling cauldron of soup till it cooked.

Here is a rough guide to STEAMBOAT DINNER in Tawau:

The meat dishes goes into the pot first as they take longer to cook. Prawns cook fast so a quick dip till it turns red and it can be taken out to eat. Tofus thrown in tend to break to pieces while rummaging for grub, this is normal, just eat the pieces whenever you scoop it out with ladle, There are two types of ladle; one with holes in it and the other one without. The ladle with holes is to scoop out the grub without scooping out the soup thereby flooding your tiny bowl with soup. Soup is to be savored later as it become most tasty after boiling countless meat and vegetables. Vegetables cooked fast so are thrown in the steamboat sometimes halfway through the cooking

Uncle Wong kept on reminding every one to take some vegetables as a source of fiber. Seafood contains high content of cholesterol. So gulp down Chinese tea to neutralizes the cholesterol.

Noodles, beehun and eggs are usually the last to go in. Noodles and beehun get cooked really fast, all it needs is just a dip for a minute and you are good to go. Scoop some soup to your bowl of noodles or beehun to complete the dish.

But always remember one thing, Never waste foods! Do not take more than you can eat or else there is a fine of Rm 8.00 for every 100grams of foods wasted.
 

 Homepage of Wong Family Website   April 3, 2009 / Friday, March 04, 2011 12:30:31 PM