On my recent trip to Brunei, I nearly had a heart attack.
Yikes! Good thing that nice gentleman of an officer pointed it out to me - just under 6 months on my passport. Spotted just in time too.. in a couple of months I'll be travelling again!
Is this some new hobby ?
Empty-field-gazing.
No.. this is what you do (if you are clever) in the 2 hours they give you to come back for your passport..
Anyone who has to renew their passport at Terminal 2 (you will see the immigration sign just before terminal 3), Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS), Kampung Baru Subang, knows that there is nothing much to do, during the waiting time between submission of forms and collection of the renewed passport.
Not fun.
Too lazy to drive home to PJ, we decided to explore ye old subang airport area..
Wow.. boy were we glad we did!
What luck! We chanced upon the morning market...
We noticed that eventhoungh this area looked rural and kampung-ish and all... the people were pretty comfortable, in that each family seemed to own a minimum of 2 cars! This one we spotted own 3! Plus a makeshift garage as well.. how cool.
Anyway , introducing Kampung Baru Subang! Nice place to kill 2 hours!
And restoran KFD.. as in KFC's brother. lol.
What can we say... though the place was packed.. the duck and siew-yok was so so.
The charsiew did not hit the spot either...
The entire portion for two, costs us RM8.
We decided to explore the area some more....
A Burmese restaurant! Oh darn..we should have eaten here instead. The place looks clean and the aroma of something sweet, on the boil, is intoxicating.. we spoke to the nice, friendly owner and he told us that there is a huge Burmese population in Kampung Baru Subang..
Next time, we may come back to sample his cuizine!
Everywhere you turn, there is lush, gorgeous, fresh produce.
Eggs, straight from the farm. Introducing.. the WET MARKET.
The term wet market alludes to poor lighting, poor air circulation, floors that are always wet and slippery. Add the smell of fresh fish, herbs, freshcut poultry, and vegetables and viola.. you have a stinky, pulsating environment that any prissy city gal would steer clear of.
erm.. but not this one.. The Kampung Baru Subang market is airy and open.
It doesn't smell at all.
The wet market is a powerful place to be!
The aunty is yelling at me in an indecipherable language,and pointing at the weird sea creatures, scallops, mussels, squid, cuttlefish and fish heads.. the uncle is putting on a show for me and gesticulating wildly at me in cantonese " SHOT ME! SHOT ME!" .
What an exhibitionist.
A born performer. Madman. He cracked me up.
Obviously, no one speaks English here, so I had to communicate with my pathetic, broken cantonese and my girly charms.. harhar. When it came to telling me the price, they typed in the numbers on their calculator .. thinking I couldn't count in cantonese. What la these people... so action one.
I mean.. what do i look like..? a tourist? Pfft.
Uncle.. posing again. This man kills me. Honest.
A supermarket named HERO.
This is the JERING.
This next section is written in MALAY. Our indigenous language. Read on for the interpretation.
"Buah jering bernilai tinggi dalam perubatan tradisional terutama untuk mengubati batu karang. Ambil tiga biji buah jering, ditumbuk halus bersama sedikit halia sebelum direbus dengan lima gelas air. Bila mendidih, biarkan sejuk dan minum airnya secawan sehari.
Jering yang dikenali sebagai Pithecellobium jiringa dari segi saintifik dan berasal dari famili Leguninosae. Jering juga berkesan untuk merawat penyakit kencing manis. Bila memakan jering, kulitnya jangan dibuang sebaliknya direbus dengan air hingga mendidih. Bila sejuk minumlah secawan sehari pada setiap pagi.
Buahnya pula dimakan sebagai ulam tetapi jangan dibuang kulit airnya kerana bahagian itulah yang berkhasiat untuk mengubati penyakit kencing manis.
Selain daripada buah, kulit pokoknya turut dapat mengubati kencing manis. Caranya sama seperti menggunakan kulit buah jering iaitu merebusnya hingga mendidih dan diminum secawan sehari pada waktu pagi atau malam."
In other words, Jering is of the genus species
Pithecellobium jiringa, of the family
Leguninosae. This gorgeous little fruit is used in the treatment of GOUT. It is normally pounded then boiled. All the parts can be used for medicinal, healing properties.
The extract is good for gout, the skin is good for treating diabetes.
Needless to say, i bought a whole bundle. (The amount of meat we eat, we should be prepared for gout.. you think?!)
Some other interesting paraphernalia we saw, walking back to the car...
"Essentials for Robbing a bank in 5 minutes!" ;P
Pushing 2 hours. Almost time to go back to SAAS for my passport.
But not before a quick pit stop ... still dissatisfied with the duck.. we just had to try something else to placate our stomachs.
Man in the Stall! We want!
The stall is situated on the corner, at the top of the street where the morning market starts (there's no other way to describe it as there is no sign).
The wantan mee was pretty good. For RM3.50 .. it was affordable and tasted fresh and juicy. The noodles were done just the way we like it!
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Well, well, 2 hours wait for the passport was not such a bad thing after all.
If you are in the area, we strongly recommend you check Kampung Baru Subang out :)
