The weekend was spent touring Marudi bazaar. It has been 28 years since my last visit to Marudi. Equipped with our cameras, Celcom broadband (yuppp.. the 3G service is excellent there), Digi internet (only running on GPRS) and maxis postpaid, we cruise our way upriver on the mighty Baram River. Here are some of my favourite shots.

I was flattered by the remarks by Sungai Brit folks. Ahh.. Uchu Keling brings water (rain) to the village! Hahahaa.. After 28 years I am saddened by the fact that majority of the longhouses in Marudi have yet to receive clean piped water from the government. Luckily it rain heavily late afternoon to cool down the heat and to supply us with free water.

More at my Facebook photo album.

The villagers from Rh. Chabu, Lepong Ajai, Bakong at Miri Courthouse on Monday. We were informed that a police report was lodged against the villagers for encroaching into their own land!

The case will be mention on 8th March. As I was writing this post, the villagers are still looking for a lawyer. We have given Baru Bian’s contact to their spokesman.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1R8pAlZ5jA

Traffic light at the t-junction to Miri Airport at 5.47 am.

Airport Road (infront of the army camp) at 6.25 am.

Traffic light infront of St. Columba’s Church at 6.40 am.

View from Puchong Flyover heading towards Bintang Megamall at 6.48 am.

Condition at Pujut Flyover at 6.56 am.

Piasau Business Park at 7.00 am.

Jalan Bulatan at 8.00 am.

The sun over Seberkas Commercial Centre. Shot taken behind car shade.

Close up of the sun. My first attempt behind the car shade. heheheheeee

We hope the authority will do something on the haze condition in Miri. The long overdue watch tower should be in place by now! It has been over two years and the reason why it is not there – JKR still working on the plan (hahahaaa.. ). Do we have capable architect? Or it is just plan simple – no fund, no budget.. wait for the next Malaysia Plan.

This is a government school and it has never enjoyed treated water supply since its opening decades ago. The school is located in a Barisan Nasional stronghold constituency of Bekenu under YB Rosey Yunus and their parliamentarian is YB Tuan Haji Ahmad Lai.

It is sad to note the failure of the Education Ministry in providing treated water to this school despite its short distance from Batu Niah bazaar – the home of the famous Niah Caves.

Does the failure have anything to do with the school being in a Dayak majority area? To the residents of Rancangan Sepupok – it is!

A month ago, the Education Minister declared open a new multi-million dollar school in sub-urban Miri and here, just 100km from Miri, lies a school that probably never appear in the ministry list of schools requiring urgent assistance.

Read the full news report here.

Updates from Facebook on 24 Feb

Lukanisman Awang Sauni Hello Mr James, Fyi, Tahun Lepas, YB Hj Mat Lai berjaya membawa projek paip air dibawah kementerian luar bandar, sehingga rumah selan di skim sepupok. still on going projek, this year we will try our best to bring this project up to sk sepupok. BUT we need kerjasama semua pihak..Kertas cadangan sudah di hantar kepada Kementerian Luar Bandar.

Makluman projek bekalan air ke kpg tiris sehingga rumah entri sudah bermula.

The Chinese New Year mood can be experience in almost all the major mall in Miri. Lion dances were performed at the Bintang Megamall earlier today.

To my Chinese readers, you may invite the troupe to your house during the lunar new year. Their number is as advertised above.

Next, after a quick lunch at Sugar Bun, we proceed to send John and Cheryl for their haircut at Dewi Unisex Salon, located at Level 1 of the old wing.

Next stop – Formula 1 tailor to pick up my lounge suit. The tailor (Mr. Wong) was formerly from Sparkman Shop, and I can assure you that his tailoring is 5 stars. Price? Negotiable, he said.

Finally to wrap our Sunday outing, the boys went for their weekly football game at the Youth Centre, and later join us at Taman Selera for the sunset.

Shot taken with 1/125 shutter speed.

Time to go now..

It seem that the infamous green men have return to haunt the road users in Miri. No one is crossing and yet the 20 sec green man appears.

Was it a ghost? Was it the timing system? Was it a total nuisance? Yes.. the third one!

Miri City Council, please look into this famous traffic light system again. It is really wasting our time to wait for the 20 sec to run. Probably that green arrow need better bulbs and to be more brighter!

I was invited to attend the dinner with our Deputy Prime Minister last night. Beside dining, it is a great opportunity to listen to the speeches by our state and federal leaders on what’s latest on the development plan and its implementation for Sarawak. And, it is great to know that actions are seriously being taken on major issues in Sarawak. Here are some photos taken during the dinner.

Andrew and Teresa from SPDP Wanita Bahagian Piasau.

Betty Pan and Nancy Embal from SPDP Wanita Bahagian Piasau.

Baghwan Singh, Cony and Caleb from SPDP Youth Bahagian Piasau.

Tuan Suhaili (PBB) and Richard J Mokar from SPDP Youth Bahagian Pujut.

YB Tuan Hj. Ahmad Lai and YB Rosey Yunus.

YB Aidan Wing, YB Mong Dagang, YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Jabu and YB Lihan Jok.

Media personnel greeting YB Abdul Karim Hamzah and a political secretary to the Chief Minister.

Arrival of YB James Masing, President of Parti Rakyat Sarawak.

YB Andy Chia, Sebastian Ting, YB Abdul Karim and YB Tuan Hj. Ahmad Lai.

YB Aidan Wing, Watson Bangau and Paul Igai, both a political secretary to the Chief Minister.

Arrival of YAB Tan Sri Dato Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Speech by YAB Tan Sri Dato Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

YB Datuk Seri Peter Chin, YB Datuk Amar Abang Johari and YB Dato’ Sri Jacob Dungau Sagan.

Richard Wil, Cr. Renggan and other PRS members.

PRS members from Miri.

Members of Sarakup Indu Dayak Sarawak.

Members of Sarakup Indu Dayak Sarawak.

A souvenir from the Iban community presented by Temenggong Atong to YAB DPM.

Members of SPDP Bahagian Lambir.

Cheers and have a great weekend ahead!

Detail joint press release to follow in the various media tomorrow.

Owned by an Iban lady, and best known as Kedai Indai Rajis in Bintulu, it serves various ethnic Iban food. With her 20 years of experience in Iban-style cooking, Indai Rajis is indeed a place that you need to pay a visit.

The restaurant spot a simple coffee shop style and Indai Rajis claimed that their barbecue ikan keli is a favourite dish among happy hours patron.

Ethnic Iban dishes

We hope to see a better interior design of the place in the future which will add the colors to their fantastic ethnic Iban cooking.

Location

To find your way to Indai Rajis, use your Google Map and point to Latitude 3°14’10.61″N and Longitude 113° 5’21.64″E in Bintulu.