: : Open Air Market : :
Dad : I feel like eating beef noodles tonight.
So, off we went. Dad was in town to visit his mother who was admitted into the hospital two weeks ago. When I pop by her house to pick him up for dinner, she was sleeping after having eaten her dinner. Not feeling too good. She’s already 96 years old. Hope she gets better. Problem is that she doesn’t eat much except for a few tablespoon of food.
Anyway, back to the conversation with Dad.
Wena : Ok. Where do you want to go and eat?
Dad : Hmm… it’s either open-air market or Pisang Road West.
Wena : Open-air market sounds good. Haven’t been there in a long while and never ate a meal there. Only had the snacks and ice-kacang @ iced drinks. Also, shouldn’t be too crowded around now.
Dad : Ok. We go there then. Eat at Ah Mui’s.
Dad : Wonder if Ah Mui’s is still open.
Wena : Is it this one?
Dad : Yeah. (Turns to hawker) Two beef soup and dry noodles.
Hawker : Ok! Sit there!
We also ordered our ice-kacang @ iced drinks from this stall. The signboard is one of the old old signs from yesteryears where they used to do it by hand. Still surviving. Colours are a bit faded but still very quaint and downright cute.
Our beef noodles. Also known as mee sapi in Malay. Note that this shop is non-halal. The stall has been in Kuching since my Dad was a wee toddler back in the 50s. It used to be in a little wooden hut before the marketplace was built. Once the marketplace had been set up, they moved there. The stall was started by the father of the current owner. If you notice the Ah Mui picture at the top, the white haired-man is the son who now runs the shop.
How did the noodles taste? Very good but I can taste quite a fair bit of MSG inside it as well. Luckily, they didn’t give us a big portion of noodles else both Dad and I would have had trouble trying to finish it.
Dad : Hmm… how about some sieo bee?
Wena : Oh ok.
Sieo bee is the local version of siew mai @ shrimp dumplings but they use pork meat instead of shrimp @ prawn. Also, a lot of cornflour is used to make it firm and sweet at the same time. Of course, some sugar was also added into it. If one likes the delicate flavour of siew mai, sieo bee will taste very different because of the cornflour inside it. Me, I don’t quite like it as much as I do siew mai. But, once in awhile, it’s okay.
Dad : See that tower base there? Used to be the fire tower. In fact, this whole market area used to be the location of the old fire brigade.
Wena : Wah! Really?
Dad : Yes, before they moved. I used to think that that tower was a watch tower but it was too far away from the river.
Wena : Yeah! That thought also crossed my mind.
Dad : Later on, I found out it was a Fire Tower where the firemen used to dry the canvas hoses! Haha! Probably used it for training as well.
Picture didn’t come out too well because I didn’t have a tripod with me and the tower only showed up when the night mode was turned on. Oh well. Next time lah! Need to get a tripod.
Kuching is a city rich with history and I’ve only heard part of it so far. Perhaps another blogging project in the future. The far future, that is. Must note it all down before it’s too late. There are a lot of old timers around who are willing to talk about bygone days and how life used to be. And don’t be surprised if you see old folks dress in the casual and laidback Asian manner speaking the Queen’s English. Heck, they speak better than I do.
Anyway, have to wait up early tomorrow to have a quick breakfast with Dad before going off to work. Going to have it at Crowne Plaza to boot! Woo hoo!