Maggi Ketam Pauh Sembilan

As Salam..

Never judge a book by its cover. Curiously, this adage is applicable with eateries. When not equipped with a guidebook, or hearsays from locals of a really delectable eatery, consider the number of cars or motorcycles in front of the eatery to guide you to a good one. The hypothesis is, the more cars or motorcycles parked in front of an eatery, the better the food will taste. That was way too hard. Just seeing the shear number of people filling a place should give you a rough idea on the level of popularity of the delicacy in that place.

OBH has been asking me to try this "maggie ketam" in Bachok, in fact, twice. Maggi is actually a brand of an instant noodle in Malaysia. Ketam means crab. This instant noodle, where one can easily prepare it at home must be very special! Why, there are crab meat in it, something exotic and rare for town folks. Not to let him down by turning down the offer, we headed for this place on our gastronomic journey right after he landed at the airport. 

He warned me, "it is in the middle of nowhere" and "don't expect it to be grand and expensive looking". I understood. This is Malaysia. As long as the food taste great, unusual, and have nuances of being special in it, forget about how the diner may look like. 

Not being anticlimactic, I was once brought to a place in KL, supposedly offering the best food in town, where it is always full with diners, nightly. I was told, even though the price was slightly pricey, it was worth the amount and the taste. Better, customers can even request for a slight modification to suite their preferences. I was shocked when brought there. The place was not even in a proper shape to say the least. It looks makeshift, old rudimentary brown wooden stall with chairs and tables laid around it, alfresco, encroaching the main road. The plastic chairs and tables had creases which were already blackened with dirt and mold. The drain was blocked with old stale food with layers of grease coming from the kitchen of this "famous" stall. The stench was unbearable - to me at least. Taking a look at the kitchen, the cob web could be clearly seen intertwining the corners of the shack. The zinc roof above where the meals were prepared, were grimy and rusty. The place too was not lit up well. I can't help but wonder how patrons could see what they were eating. Yet, my hosts were enjoying away on their Mee Kepah, untroubled by the stench emanating from the drain below. Sordid. Not displaying my utter pejoratives, I can't help but helping myself to the meal. That would be my last meal in that squalor premise. Future invitations will be a no no.

Surely, we need to be selective in choosing the proper place to eat. Cleanliness comes first.

Back to our gastronomic adventure, this diner is located in Pauh Sembilan. If you come from the direction of Pulau Melaka, it is located just after the bridge. It can't be missed. The colourful flickering of the word "ketam" on the wooden building looks like fireflies arranging themselves to form alphabets in the darkness of the night.

 More pictures of the facade below.

Ketam is the main ingredient here. Maggi ketam, mee goreng ketam, nasi goreng ketam, nasi padprik ketam; nothing is without ketam. Opting for a "healthier" dish, I chose Mee goreng ketam. Here it is. Interestingly, the crabs appear warrior like, guarding the noodle in the middle. It was garnished with sliced cucumber. Another plus point, the fried noodle was generously filled with thumb sized fresh prawns and squid.

The size of the crabs were whopping and it was quite fresh. I did not expect such huge portion to be served.

Mini sized mallet and clipper were provided to aid you to crack open the hard shells to get to the succulent flesh. Eating crabs is really hard work.

Back to the theory that we proposed earlier, probably, the types of vehicle too can be included as a factor to decide if the place will provide good food or not. We hypothesized that the flashier and the more expensive the types of vehicle parked at an eatery, the better the food is. On our way out, we saw a Merc and an Alphard parking at the side of the diner. The owners must be inside crabbing away.

It was a fulfilling dinner. The total price was RM 66.00 inclusive of 4 different types of drinks. Another hypothesis, since we were sticking out like a sore thumb, too obviously an orang luar, hence the pricey tag. A rough survey in other foodblogs, the Ketam noodle (be it maggi or mee) costs about RM17.00 to RM 25.00 per dish.

A rough guide, 8/10 for food, 7/10 for geniality and 6/10 for cleanliness. Will I come back in the future, I would say yes, unless there is another Maggi ketam nearer to my place. For OBH, this second visit of his says as much on his inclination to the place.


This place opens after the Isya' prayer.

Sarawak Elections 2011

I am taking some time off to pen some thoughts and observations on the current situation on the state elections. When the mind should be focussed on work that has to meet the dateline at the end of May, I can't help but to respond to the distractions around me. Get it out of the system and get it settled.

I seldom talk about the political condition of Sarawak. In that sense, Malaysia too. Lots of development have formed in the last decade on the political front of Malaysia. I am not too sure if I should proud of it, or if I should be ashamed of it. At times the issue played at hand are fiddle-faddle issues, not worth of consideration or even discussion in the august house.

The 10th state election is looming. Campaigns are running high now. Parties from both sides or in some constituencies, multiple parties are busy garnering support that will transform into votes come this Saturday. As of today, the postal votes are coming in.

The cyberspace too is at full steam covering the campaign progress. Young voters will naturally have to make the decision whether to believe or not the content of the web. Realistically, if you are on the ground and have been around in the constituency long enough, you will be able to gauge the truthfulness of the stories or spins the web has been churning out. No doubt, the web has its own power in wooing the support of netizens on the ground.

On TV , radio and the newspapers, huge portions of  segments are allocated to cover Sarawak, whether political or not. Sarawak is under the spotlight now. Again, promises are dangled up to the people, like the chicken carcass they put up on the line for the crocodiles to grab in Jong's crocodile farm. The exception is that, the carcass is tangible, while the rakyat needs to assess all the promises that has been done in the past 5 years.

An opinion from a friend, either sides, whoever takes on as state government, it will be the same, nepotism, cronyism and what nots. The main difference is, who can develop the state and stabilize all 27 races for a more united Sarawak  while doing all this subtly. The powers that will arrest the progression of the state from its current rate will be opted out.

This is the time to exercise our rights. When we have been expecting the elected leader to walk the talk, we too, have the power to walk our talk. If one has been away from the land of the hornbill, then this is the time to go back home to cast your votes. Yes, with our own money. No sponsorship what so ever as some would accuse you of. Remember, it is bribery and politics should be as clean as possible from this social malignant. Then again, people would quote, "politics are dirty". It is dirty when people want to dirty it. That is immensely discussed in other conjecture.

Already, 2 sms has filled in my inbox.

Salam Reformasi! Saya See Chee How, calon Keadilan Batu Lintang. Saya berjuang untuk kesaksamaan & keadilan. Mohon sokongan anda utk membawa perubahan. T Kasih.

30 Tahun dibawah Taib Mahmud, Sarawak telah menjadi negeri termiskin disebabkan oleh rasuah dan kronism. Berubahlah Sarawak! Tolak BN Drp See Chee How.

They obviously know how to get to voters through telcos. Lets decide this Saturday!

Civic Mndedness

Neighbours comes in all shapes and sizes. And even behaviour.  Their different approaches to certain "neighbourly" agendas makes us think if their actions deserve some advice, critics or even adaptation for our own good.

At times, some of the neighbour's doings result in a respond of disbelief in myself. Probably, what that had just happened is something new and unusual to the belief system already established in myself. The system that was based on my previous childhood neighbourhood. Or even my own cultural and family belief.

Probably, a Muslim-Malay family may find it sensitive for a Chinese neighbour to release their cuddly little puppy in the open in the evenings. Or stepping in the little puppy's poo a little too revolting and disgusting, that while washing away with one part soil water and 6 parts of clean water is adequate, one may opt to dispose the footwear off. The Muslim Chinese family may be less offended, for they understand that it poses only a small problem and ways of getting around this trivial matter is numerous. Most importantly, the Muslim Chinese family understood that their prayer to the Almighty is not affected in anyway, for the main pillars of prayers have been met.

In the opposite, the Chinese family living in the cul de sac of the neighbourhood may find it irritating when a Malay neighbour barricade the only outlet with chairs, tables and tents in preparation to celebrate the newly wed over the weekend. There goes the weekend, stucked in the house, not being able to go out. To the Malay family, this is once a lifetime event for the new couple, and such, they deserve a grandeur laden ceremony. Never mind the jam and difficulties it may create to others. Never mind if the blaring music playing the dangduts and Hindi love songs that penetrates each and every house in the neighbourhood creates a throbbing tension headache to its occupants. For all it matters, it’s a party and a feast. Of course it will be loud and noisy!

Where is our understanding and tolerance in this? No doubt, that it requires both sides to understand each other, looking at things at each other's shoes.

These are unique in the diversity of Malaysia. Despite, there are some things  that does not require any tolerance at all.

We need to maintain the cleanliness of our house's compounds. Sweeping the compound is an effort on our part to uphold this rule. The religion teaches us too that cleanliness if part of iman. How much is our understanding of this? Does it apply only to us and not to others? After being done with sweeping, the rubbish is packed and disposed off properly into a bin. The bristle end of the broom is dusty and laden with cob webs and dried leaves. It is automatic that we hit the bristle end of the broom against something hard in rapid succession to rid off the dirt. In our conscience, while doing that, we do not intend to make a mess of the neighbour's compound with our own waste products. What I saw today was shocking enough. It was against all sacrosanct principles of cleanliness and neighbourliness that we have been taught or  are teaching our children. This Makcik, has got the guts to rub the bristle end of the broom against the neighbour's fences. This results in the dirt to fall into the other neighbours compound.

In a not too distance occurrence, another makcik was caught to wash her dirty mat in public. Except that the dirt from the linen flowed deliberately into the neighbour's compound. How sweet. She flipped her dirty mat over the bricked fence and flowed water on it, while scrubbing. Naturally, the dirt from the mat flowed into the neighbour's compound.

Sometimes, I wonder, if they have lost all civic mindedness.

The drain too is clogged with muck. No wonder, the leniency that we, the homo sapiens have given to the aedes aegypti to complete their lifecycles results in the never ending story of dengue. "We have paid for the taxes and quit rents, so they should be doing their work cleaning up the drains", one retorted. In this aspect, where have we put the teachings of the Quran and hadith as the main source of reference of Muslims?

Islam is the way of life. But have we applied it beyond the prayer mat and the borders of the mosque?

9 types of wastages

Wastage means a lot of things to many people. Most of the time, the perspective of wastage is associated with financial loss. Wasting time included, as time is money. Often, we were warned by our parents and superiors not to be wasteful.

"Finish up your food, do not waste any"

"Switch off the fan, do not waste electricity"

"Reuse the other side of the paper, do not waste paper"

So much, that, it has wired into our neural networks. It is a good habit to be instilled in the young. But, at times, it has to be put in the correct place and time. Adhering too strictly to it leads to stinginess, without us realising it.

The venerable Imam As Shafie described wastage as spending inappropriately or incorrectly.

Today, I picked up something which was interesting from the Friday sermon. There are other forms of wastage that we should prevent ourselves from committing. Some of us may have been applying it in many ways of our life, under different perspectives. The imam who mentioned about abhoring wastage today rebranded the concept of wastage into a different package. Rebranding may not be accurate, as it may have been there for centuries but lacks "promotion".

A Muslim scholar by the name of Ibnu al-Qayum al-Jauziah described that there are 9 types of wastage frequently made by humans. Here, I list them. It opens up a new perspective on the meaning of wastage - non monetory type.

First: Wastage of knowledge that is not used to good deeds.

Second: Wastage in submission to Allah SWT, when it is not done with sincere heart.

Third: Wastage of wealth when it is spent on things which are useless and not in the blessings of Allah SWT.

Fourth: Wastage of the heart when it devoid of the love to Allah SWT.

Fifth: Wastage of our body when it is not use to submit and prostrate to Allah SWT.

Sixth: Wastage of love when the focus of love is more towards others, other than Allah SWT.

Seventh: Wastage of time, when time is not managed properly.

Eigth: Wastage of the mind,when it is not contributing meaningfully to the religion, and

Ninth: A wastage of our zikr or remembrance to Allah SWT when it has no profound effect onto our hearts.

If we can avoid ourselves from the 9 types of wastages mentioned above, then we are on our way to a better life. We have the knowledge that we need to recycle to reduce waste  products. Our land fields are choking to the brim. In no time, we are going to live next to a land field. Yet, we still do not separate the recycleables from our trash. This coincides with the first type of wastage that was mentioned.  Another example, we know that if we litter, it will dirty the streets. Yet, we still teach our children to throw things out of the window from the moving car. Worst, those who litter knew that cleanliness is part of iman.

We spend more time on facebooks unproductively, such as snubbing others or updating our status to quietly brag,  when we should be reading beneficial materials or do some writing. This coincides with number 7. And, when we talk ill of others, when we still maintain our zikr and 5 times a day prayer or, have been to hajj and umrah, then, number 9 fits the description well.

Lets hope that we will not be drown in this wastefulness.