Siew Yok – Roast Pork with crackling

Roast Pork, called “Siew Yok” in cantonese, is so readily available in Malaysia that there really is no necessity to learn how to cook it. I am also not a good cook and not even the most discerning foodie and so I’m probably the best person to share this recipe. Basically, anyone can do this if they wanted to. I used a recipe by Mrs Fairly Yee but I have experimented so many times with different meats, ovens, temperature and size of the pork, conditions of the skin, that I am able to add tips that I believe will be very helpful. So we got into learning how to cook siew yok because it’s hard to find it where our children are currently living in the USA. So this was really out of “necessity” :p

NOTE: The first 6 photos in this recipe are the best size of pork to be used. I added these photos to show the marinating process. PLEASE DO NOT CUT THE PORK INTO STRIPS AS IT IS BETTER COOKED WHOLE. The 7th photo is what I actually cooked on the day I took the photo and what was available at the butcher was just the pork strips, so I had to place them together in a pan. 

RECIPE CREDITS: This recipe was created by our friend, Ervinn Siew’s aunt, Mrs. Fairly Yee, who has an entire book of her favourite recipes published but circulated privately. I do not have that book.

1. GET A REALLY GOOD PIECE OF PORK 

In Kuala Lumpur, most people talk about getting it from a butcher in Taman Tun Dr Ismail market. I have never been there but have tasted siew yok made from his meat. I feel that the one I get from Daily Choize at 21 Jalan Radin Bagus 5, Sri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur; Pearl Pork (珍珠肉) is better.  This is supposedly free from beta agonist and antibiotics. Both of us think like that there is absolutely no boar taint after cooking. This is also a lot more tender although you pay the price for it.

So I normally buy one or two pieces of pork, marinate it immediately upon arriving home, then place them into a zip lock bag and throw them into the freezer. That way I can have roast pork anytime I fancy. I have had frozen meat left in the freezer for up to 3 months without any issues.

2. What you need

For Marinating :

a) Chinese cooking wine;

b) Salt and soy sauce;

c) 5 spice powder;

d) Pepper (optional since there is peppercorn in 5-spice powder already);

e) Garlic – cut into long strips. You will need a minimum of 8 strips. Photo 1 shows the cut garlic strips.

For first part of cooking:

a) Salt (fine and coarse);

b) a sauceplate of water;

Equipment:

a) Turbo Broiler oven – I have used a normal free standing convection oven, a big fan assisted oven and the humble turbo broiler and the best result is from the turbo broiler. I think the focused, concentrated, and evenly distributed heat in a small area works best;

b) 2 Oven Trays of the same size;

c) Tray stand and tray handle.

3. PREPARATION:

i) Wash meat and immediately pat dry with kitchen paper towel;

ii) Ensure the skin is clean of hair;

Photo 1 – Ingredients for marinating

iii) Turn the meat around (skin facing down) and scour 2 lines about 1/3 and 2/3 of the width. Do not scour right up till the end – you can see the lines clearly in photo 3 below.

iv) Rub salt, five spice powder, pepper, soy sauce, and chinese wine over the meat. Try not to get any of the ingredients especially the five spice powder onto the skin. Best way is to place ingredients onto the palm of your hand and rub onto the meat a bit at a time. This also ensures even marinating. Go easy on the salt and five spice powder. How much you use really depends on your taste.

v) With a paring knife, make a hole at sides of the meat and push in 1 slice of garlic. Repeat around the meat. Minimum should be 2 holes per side. For a big piece of meat, I also insert into the scoured areas. Refer to Photos 3 and 4. Some people ask why not just marinate the entire meat with chopped garlic instead. Well, I figure that the garlic will then be burnt.

vi) Once done, wash hands, then hold meat up with the skin facing up, use a kitchen paper towel to wipe clean and dry. Then place into a zip lock bag and you can leave it in the freezer till you are ready to cook. If you are cooking the following day, just leave it in the fridge. Remove from plastic bag and leave UNCOVERED in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 5 hours. This is to help dry up the skin. Be careful not to leave it for too long as the skin may be over dried (Fridge burn). Remove from fridge at least an hour before cooking so that the meat is at room temperature.

Photo 2 – Scour lines and how to insert garlic into meat

Photo 3 – inserting the garlic strip into the side of the meat

 

Photo 4 – inserting the garlic strip into the centre of the meat

Photo 5 – Hold up the meat with the skin face up, wipe clean and place in zip lock bag

Photo 6 – Placing marinated pork into zip lock bag, making sure the skin remains dry and clean

4) COOKING 

Please note that this photo below (Photo 7) is a DIFFERENT PIECE OF MEAT FROM PHOTO 6 – This was purchased in strips as the shop did not have a block of pork. This is not the best way to cook roast pork but I tried and it still works. If you have a block of meat, DO NOT cut into strips for roasting.

i) Place meat into any baking pan that will fit the meat and which can fit into the oven. Push meat as close as possible and try to push all excess side meat in so that it is UNDER the skin and NOT EXPOSED;

ii) Use fine salt to cover over the skin. If you are worried about the salt falling to the sides, use a spatula to help as a “wall” beside the meat. Then pat down the fine salt to compact it and add more salt so that it is a thicker layer. This is to protect the skin from cooking too early. Refer to Photo 9.

iii) After you are satisfied that every part of the skin is adequately covered, use some coarse salt on top. This is to prevent the fine salt from “flying off” when the oven is on. Almost all ovens come with fan assist now and it can blow off the fine salt. Refer to Photo 10.

Photo 7 – Place the strips of meat as near to each other as possible and do not allow any part of the meat to be exposed.

 

Photo 8 – Utensils you may want to have

Photo 9 – Cover the skin with fine salt and pat down to compact it, then add more salt to make sure it completely covers and protects the skin

Photo 10 – Use coarse salt as a “weight” to cover over the fine salt so that the fan in the oven will not blow off that layer of salt.

 

Photo 11 – Meat in center of oven

iv) Put a small sauce plate of water under the tray stand. This is to keep the meat moist while cooking.

v) Carefully place the meat inside the oven, taking pains to ensure it is centralised for even cooking.

vi) Cook at 1 hour at 170 – 175C. For bigger pieces of meat that has a lot of fat, I would add another 5 – 8 mins which means the temperature should be 170C instead. Do not be tempted to increase the heat for a shorter time. The idea is to slow cook it so that the fats will “melt in your mouth”. Note that if your meat is not at room temperature, or if it is a smaller or thinner piece of meat, or if you are using a different oven, you will probably get different results. The timer has a maximum of 1 hour, so if I need to add time, I normally add it back to a full hour after 10 mins to make sure I don’t forget.

Photo 12 – 1 hour timer at 170 – 175C

Photo 13 – Meat is cooking! Phase 1

vii) Remove from the oven when the timer goes off. Remove the salt from the meat carefully so that it doesn’t “stick” onto the meat or you will get a VERY salty piece of roast pork. If you do not want to use the excess lard from this first cooking, just remove the bigger pieces of salt and then just brush off the remnants.

viii) Carefully remove the meat from the tray and place into the second clean tray. Observe the level of the skin. Most of the time you will have to place something underneath to raise part of the meat. The more level the meat is, the better the crackling. Refer to Photo 16

Photo 14 – Removing salt completely from the skin and sides of the meat

Photo 15 – Using tongs and a brush to flick off the fine salt

 

 

Photo 16 – Place cooked meat back into another pan for crackling the skin – you may have to place a small spoon underneath to ensure the skin is evenly exposed to the grill

viv) Place back into the oven carefully and again, ensure the meat is centralised. Temperature will be at a maximum of 250C. Set the timer to 10 mins but keep watch. Adjust the meat the moment you notice a pooling of oil on the skin because of unevenness. Keep readjusting the position of the tray if necessary. If the crackling is even and completely done, remove immediately from the oven and leave to cool down on some kitchen paper towel to absorb excess oil. I suggest you do not cook for more than 15 mins for this part even if not all the skin has crackled. Prolonged grilling will cause the crackle to be too hard. You can see from Photo 19 that this particular piece had some parts right in the centre that did not crackle but it’s better to have that than to have the entire crackle hard as stone.

Photo 17 – Into the oven for round 2 – 10 mins at full 250C

 

Photo 18 – Watch with expectations!!

 

Photo 19 – Remove from oven to cool down before cutting

 

ENJOY!!!!

Photo 20 – Pour and store excess oil from the baking tray into a glass jar to be kept for future use – this is great for wantan mee!

Some say he is Malaysia Best Clown, Children comedian – Ventriloquist

Looking back to my early days as an entertainer brought back many precious memories. Entertaining as a Clown, Magician, Puppeteer and Ventriloquist in Malaysia has brought much joy to many young lives. Some say that I am the best puppeteer, ventriloquist and clown in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Selangor and some say Malaysia. I think so too! Hahaha!

Father’s Day with Uncle Allan

Hoi An, Vietnam – Accommodation at Ha An Hotel

After a very long break from blogging, I felt I really should do something about this travel blog I started so many years ago. The wonderful time I had in Hoi An was an added incentive. I wanted to share the beauty of the wonderful place and people. At the same time, I wanted to offer some tips to my fellow Malaysian travelers so that you wouldn’t be shortchanged.

We managed to get highly discounted air tickets from Air Asia when they introduced Danang as a new destination last year. My base fare was less than RM20 per pax (one way) but with additional luggage, seat and other fees, we dished out about RM200+ per person (return); still a fantastically good deal. A year prior to this, I thought of visiting Hoi An but the thought of flying to Ho Chi Minh City and then transferring to another airline to fly to Danang put me off. When Air Asia stated the direct flights to Danang, I was so excited!

Hoi An is located about 30-45 mins (by road) from the Danang International Airport. One of the first things I learnt was that Hanoi (North), Danang (Central) and Ho Chi Minh City (South) have totally different wet and dry seasons. Its very important to research the best months to travel. I’d say the middle of Feb is probably the best time; with the rainy season over, but the heat of summer not started yet.

We were there from February 20th to the 24th, 2012. 5 days and 4 nights may be 1 night too long unless you plan to have your clothes and shoes tailor made. 

You have a choice of staying in the vicinity of the old town or near the beach at Hoi An. Of course some people opt to stay at Danang and take a day trip to Hoi An. 

We decided to pamper ourselves at the Ha An Hotel, a small boutique hotel and had no regrets. The cost was USD55 per night if we paid cash and a bit more if we used the credit card. This hotel is one street away from the market and tourist area of the old town, thus it is quiet and peaceful enough. Exactly our cup of tea.

When you arrive, you don’t wait at the reception for them to finish their paper work. They seat you comfortably, offer you a welcome drink, fresh towels for your face and hands, biscuits, and fruits at this beautiful patio just outside their restaurant on the right wing of the hotel. So you register in comfort 🙂

The hotel is not big, but warm and comfortable. Made this trip with our good friends, Andrew and Yvonne.

The left wing of the hotel houses a spa. Didn’t try it out though.

Non-garden view rooms are not big but the service is really good.

So what do I mean by good service?

Well, for one, they have 4 bath towels, 4 face towels, not including the normal floor mat, etc. So they change the towels for you in the morning, and at 4pm, they come around again. We were out, and had used the towels in the afternoon after lunch. I took great pains to hang them up properly but they changed the towels again!

They also switched the air conditioners on so that we would have a cooled down room when we returned. Most hotels want you to switch everything off, so this is a first for us 🙂

Coffee/Tea cups, as usual, with the coffee and tea bags……

But something new are the crockery, cutleries, wine glasses, wine opener, knife, and peanuts everyday 🙂

There’s also the daily refill of our fruit basket, (which accounts for the knife) and two cookies a day. Now these may be really small matters but it makes a lot of difference in our perception of their service.

Then there is the WONDERFUL buffet breakfast every morning!

To be honest, whatever Vietnamese food you want to try at the restaurants outside are available at hotel for breakfast!

The spread includes Vietnamese and Western food

This is also the first hotel I’ve been to that has MILO!!!!! hahahahah, I’m always bringing my own Milo wherever I go cos I can’t drink coffee or tea. We also ended up ordering ginger tea, ginger drink, etc. All part of the buffet.

So USD55 per pax? Really worth it!

They are not listed on normal hotel websites, so just go directly to their website and make a booking there. The skeptic in me made me call them just to ensure our booking was in place and was pleasantly surprised to be attended to by someone who spoke reasonably good English AND had knowledge of our booking!

So we have booked two rooms for next Jan when we go again, and because we are booking so early, they promised us the same rates for the same rooms, hahaha!

May 1st, 25 years ago…..

I walked into the school hall like any other school day, except it wasn’t.

I was all dressed up and felt like a princess – I was getting married, and at my alma mater. It was the perfect choice. We had so many guests that our church hall would not have been able to contain them all. That, plus the fact that my husband is unashamedly radical!

Honestly, I was quite taken aback at his suggestion. I guess I am a square peg in a square hole. You can be sure there were a lot of “buts” from my side but Allan was his usual “Why not?”. Yes, why not indeed? Radical plus practical won the day. The hall was big enough for all our guests (more than 500), the parking was adequate, the canteen was ideal for the reception and the columns….oh those gorgeous columns for the photographs! I’m not sure, but it might have been that last bit that won me over 🙂

So it was 25 years ago, I walked down the aisle to be married to Allan Yong, my soul mate, best friend, father of our children and partner for life through the grace of God!

As we celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary this year, I decided to keep my promise to Sow Yoong to get this article out. Yes, finally, procrastination lost!

I am proud to proclaim that I am the only BBGS girl who got married at her school and I am so thankful to have a husband who was radical enough to suggest it!

My earlier performances at the school hall – I’m the girl in pink, 1st from the left

There were quite a few other performances in this same hall, but my biggest performance of all….

Was on my wedding day!

Wonder what happened to that big school badge that used to hand above the stage?

It was legal alright, and I have the papers to show for it

Decorating the hall the night before. It was very hands on with us making the cut outs of doves and the letters.

Full house in the hall

This was one time I walked past the staff room with no fear nor felt the need to keep quiet!

Ok, I’ll admit we didn’t have time to decorate the canteen nor hide the pots and pans away, but I can assure you that we are much more meticulous and organized today at event management.

See what I mean about the columns?

Allan and I want to write about how God has been so good to us and we had planned on getting it done for our 25th anniversary but I don’t know if we will be able to get that done this year,….. well, there’s always the 26th anniversary 🙂

Day 3 – Lake Toba – Leaving beautiful Tabo Cottage for the Tele mountains

This picture will give you an idea of where we were on Lake Toba. We crossed over on the ferry to the north east part of Samosir island to a place called Tuk Tuk.

Our adventure with the magic mushrooms finally ended by dinner time. Our group was served dinner at a pavilion. Dinner included delicious home made pumpkin soup, fish, vegetables, chicken with …… arhhhh….. MUSHROOMS! It was a simple but delicious meal in a gorgeous setting. Although I love mushrooms, I just could not make myself take one that night – it was just too soon after our earlier escapade!

It was wonderful just sitting there, chatting and relaxing; taking in the beauty of the place.

The next morning, we decided to stay longer at the hotel and cancelled the trip to the waterfall.

Although the lake was beautiful, it definitely looked less brilliant compared to the moments when we saw the lake through the eyes of the “magic mushrooms” trip, hahaha!

Did I mention that there is free wifi at the Tabo Cottages?

Breakfast was a fusion of western and eastern food. I particularly enjoyed the homemade buns.

My mom had a bathroom that made her take her bath in a hurry!

We finally left the hotel at around 11am. About 10 minutes after leaving, a call came from the hotel – we had left our laptop bag WITH the laptop at the hotel. We so blessed to have stayed at a place with honest people.

It is not unusual to see graves strewn all over the place. Each family buried their dead on their own land, next to their homes, some on their padi fields. We were told by our guide that this was the wisdom of the elders. Apparently the Bataks like to gamble. Having a grave on the land was a safeguard against anyone trying to sell his land to settle gambling debts.

As you can see, some of the graves looked better maintained than their own homes!

The white patch on the mountain is the hot spring.

We finally crossed back to the mainland and headed to the Tele mountains. It is a very scenic drive. The only set back is the badly maintained roads

The bridge crossing over to the mainland

You really should not miss going to the Tele Mountains. I would suggest that after visiting the place, you BACKTRACK to Samosir island and go back to Medan via Parapat instead of going on to Brastagi. The roads after Tele mountain is terrible. This stretch here on the way to the mountain is bad enough but it gets WORSE after that! There are stretches when we were traveling at 10kmh. At one point, I saw a signboard saying “51km to Medan” but my joy was short lived as it took us more than 2 hours to travel that last bit!

A view to savor, but DO head to the mountains early. The place gets really misty after 2pm. Our guide told us that nobody wants to drive on these treacherous roads after 6pm.

We had a nice cuppa at the little shop behind us

One of the joys of homeschooling is that Andrea gets to go for holidays anytime we want.

How a Malaysian Chinese Family celebrates the Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year 2011

We are Malaysians, were born and bred in Malaysia. Our forefathers came from China many, many years ago and settled here. Although we only know of Malaysia as home, we practice many rich and meaningful Chinese cultures because our parents taught us what they learnt from their parents. In the same way, we want to pass these precious practices to our children and our children’s children.

One of the things that we really enjoy doing is to shop during for new clothes and shoes for the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year. This tradition probably meant a lot more for our forefathers many generations ago. Most of them were poor and could only afford a new set of clothes once a year and they would try to get that for their children even if they could not afford it for themselves. Of course it is a tradition that is conveniently kept by us now, especially if we love shopping! We try to get something for our children every year, so they are very blessed indeed.

The eve of the Chinese New Year is a very important day as all the members of the family returns to their parent’s home. The gathering together of the clan is a joyous occasion. There is a great dinner that night. Allan and I will go to the market a day before and start preparing for the meal by 3pm. Every year my mom will join us and we try to invite some others who do not have their families in Malaysia. Allan is a great cook and I am great at washing up and setting up 🙂 I think we make a great team!

Allan’s famous “pak cham kai” – “white chicken”

Good food makes people happy!

 

Another very important culture we maintain at home is the giving of ang pows which is done with a tea ceremony. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, our children will serve us tea and give us a blessing. We then give them an ang pow (money packet) and give them a blessing in return. If your family has never done this, you should try it.

Just before the tea ceremony

Andrea preparing the tea

Serving tea to dad

And then to mom

After that, we leave home to visit family and friends. We visit those who are senior in rank.

The delicious “siew yok” at one of my uncle’s home.

 

Enjoying my Bak Kut Teh – all the way from Klang, no less.

Sweet desert

My mom and my grandaunty

We only buy new clothes for the new year – my uncle buys a new car for Chinese New Year!

Trip to Lake Toba – Part 2 MAGIC MUSHROOMS!

 

Day 2 – Samosir

The next morning, we left the hotel early as we wanted to make sure we were on the 8.30am ferry. It takes an hour to get across. The tour guide wanted us there early so that the vehicles would be in line to get on the ferry.  We were entertained by a few young boys who would dive into the chilly waters for a some coins. Watching them made me feel sad. It was a lot of work for mere cents. The only comfort I derived was that they were earning an honest living and were getting good exercise in the process!

He keeps the coins in his mouth

 

Our first stop was to the Batak village of the king, Raja Sidabutar, in Tomok. The 3 main kings who were entombed there had different characters and stories. The first king was a gentle man whose face was depicted as such on his tombstone. The second king was a hard man. His tomb stone included a carving of his hard features and that of his best friend below him and his ex-girlfriend behind him. Both the first and second kings were animists and were entombed in stone as they believe the spirits of dead men were everywhere, including within stones. Their body guards and warriors were buried in smaller tombs next to them. Within the tombs are a mixture of the skulls and bones. The 3^rd king became a Christian and ordered that his body be buried in the earth to follow the teaching that men is made from dust and will return to dust.

Shopping after that entailed haggling for discounts. You should ask for about 60% off and end up with a 50% discount.

Economy is 51% farming

The second Batak village was the one belonging to Raja Siallagan Ompu at Ambarita. Here, we were told some interesting facts. The Bataks stay together in one big room on the first floor. Rice and other harvest products were stored on the top floor and animals were kept in the basement. When the children reach puberty, the girls were sent to another house with all the rest of the single girls in the village, and the boys, likewise. Every house had a staircase with 5 steps, signifying the 5 generations staying together in the village/house.

Our guide, (below), a Batak himself

The criminals and the King with the body guard

Before the Bataks embraced Christianity, they were animists and believed that the spirit of the dead King resides in the tree they planted upon his death.

The criminal is placed in stocks whilst awaiting trial. He is placed beneath the King’s house.

We were taught the Batak greeting “Horas”. Why are the doors so small? Well, the size forces you to bend your head and bow. Then you greet the household with the word “Horas”.

Place of execution

Gorgeous colors

Children here are carefree. It’s fun time after school, no private tuition, music and dance classes to go to :p

 

The MAGIC!

Our adventure with the magic mushrooms started at lunch. We went to the only place that served magic mushrooms on Lake Toba. Our lunch was BBQ fish and pork. After we finished lunch, the magic mushrooms cooked in an omellette were served. We were told that one portion is for 2 people but it was too late because Mark and Yin Mei had already eaten one omelette each! We headed for our hotel, the Tabo Cottages, a beautiful place owned by Anto, a local Batak and Annette, a German. The place is beautiful and well managed.

After 30 minutes nothing had happened yet, so Mark said, “There is no reaction at all”. Not long after that, Allan started smiling to himself and laughing! All of us laughed at him and enjoyed watching his reaction. Not long after that, a few others started feeling limped and a bit woozy. The slightest thing made them laugh!  I was still fine and started walking back to my room. A while later, I started laughing uncontrollably at the slightest provocation! I realized something was up and decided to do some research on the internet. By now, I was feeling totally light headed and my limbs felt limped. It took a lot of effort to do my research. Keeping focused was very difficult.

Long story cut short, here is a good read about magic mushrooms. There are certain “rules” like not taking it on an empty stomach, nor taking it when you had too much to eat, or you might feel nauseous. Then there is the “don’t eat too much”. Sigh! We broke all the rules….

http://www.thegooddrugsguide.com/mushrooms/effects.htm

So, we went on a “trip” by accident. I’m including it here because noobs like us need to be warned that it is not just “Jamu ketawa” as we were told. We thought it was just something that makes you laugh a lot, like helium gas makes people’s voices go funny! Imagine what would have happened if we had hired motorcycles to ride and started hallucinating? Since we asked for the magic mushrooms, the restaurants owners probably thought we wanted to go on a trip although we knew next to nothing about it. Our daughter, Andrea told us, “No, I’m not going to eat it, I’m underage, this is like a drug!”. Unfortunately, we neither believed nor took her seriously because of her history of being fussy with food!  One lesson learnt – we will take her more seriously in future!

 

The grilled fish is good! It’s fresh water fish from the lake.

Finally – the magic mushrooms cooked in an omelette. They looked deceivingly innocent.

Here’s where the trouble started…

The restaurant is just outside Toba Cottage,  a beautiful place. We could easily sit there for a day just gazing at the lake and not be bored.

The beautiful Batak house for anyone to go up, sit and gaze at the lake.

No, this is not a result of the mushrooms. It’s what clowns do!

THIS is the result of the magic mushrooms…..

………. and this……

……..and this……

Could not stop laughing

Next phase is intense lethargy coupled with euphoria

Trip to Lake Toba – January 24th – 27th 2011 Part 1 – Parapat

After a hiatus of more than a year, I thought that I should really revive my travel blog.  In between now and then, we have been blessed by our trips to a few other places but most of all, to USA to attend our daughter’s graduation. I will write on that trip to and try not to procrastinate. Right now, I have to write about this particular trip, because of some really strange and amusing stuff that happened. It’s all about MAGIC!

The road from Medan to Parapat was narrow but not rough

Scenic road

Most of the Bataks are Christians, so you will see many churches along the way

 

One thing the families here have in common – almost everyone has a satellite dish – TV’s a big thing here!

 

Day 1 – Medan and Parapat, Lake Toba

This was our company’s annual trip/dinner. We took the first flight out. It’s a good idea to fly into Medan early because the road trip to Parapat is a long one. We stayed a night in Parapat instead of going directly across to Samosir because the tour agent arranged our itinerary as such. Parapat is not as peaceful as Samosir and the water at this part of the lake is not as clean. When you get to Samosir, you will feel that you want more than 1 night there. If, I had not been so busy, I would have seen to the entire trip myself and not stay at Parapat, which I feel was not necessary. BUT then again, if I had arranged everything myself, then the strange MAGIC would not have happened.

So what is there to talk about Parapat? Nothing much really, except that it gives you the excitement of the first glimpse of THE LAKE! Expect the “ooh-s” and “ah-s” as you take the final bend and see the lake.  We stayed at Niagara Hotel. I’d say that it caters mostly to Malaysians and Singaporeans. Even the electrical socket points are catered for us.

First glimpse of the Lake is exciting

Nigara Hotel, Parapat, Lake Toba

 

Allan & Friends’ Staff

And Us

Nothing much to do at night but there are two pool tables available IDR5k per game – really worth it at less than RM2/game!

Tips to  remember:

1)   Bring enough IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) with you unless you have brand new US dollars. Any US currency that is folded, looks old or of an older sequence gets a lower currency exchange rate. The current rate for new bills is USD$1=IDR9,005. IF your notes are not new and you haggle a bit, you can get about USD$1=IDR8,800.00. For Malaysians, better to bring Ringgit instead of USD. The rate for Malaysian Ringgit is pretty decent.

2)   Some custom officers take their duties very seriously and go through the whole works in processing visitors, which includes finger printing ALL the fingers, photo taking and asking questions – no matter how long the queue is. So your bags may come out really fast but passing through immigration takes up your time.

3)   The seemingly short distance from Medan to Lake Toba is deceiving because the roads are narrow and bumpy. The journey takes a much longer time than anticipated.

4)   If you can help it, AVOID taking the route through Brastagi because the roads are so port hole ridden that it bears on the ridiculous!

5)   In view of (4) and (5) above, please MAKE SURE the vehicle you are renting is in good shape with a good air cond system and has enough power to travel fast.

6)  Set aside IDR75,000 per person for your exit tax. It MUST be paid in IDR, nothing else, no credit cards accepted too.

Be it a dog, a lady or a baby…….

Some of you know that our dog Hyper, was knocked down by a car 2 days ago. Allan was taking the dogs for their morning walk. This lady in her car, came rushing through the narrow side road, obviously in a rush to get to her destination, ran over our dog, Hyper, and then just drove off. A lot of motorists use this side road as a means to beat the traffic jam in the mornings. We can see that most of them are in a rush.

So I think, this is just so typical of us, myself included. We want to get to where we want, what we want, and so on and there have been many times when we don’t really think nor care for those we hurt on the way, as long as we get what we want.

This lady didn’t even stop to make sure everything was ok, maybe because it was “only a dog”?  When we allow our minds to think “its only a ….” we take the first step towards numbing ourselves to the pain of another life. This process in its extremity makes us immune to the pain of another human life. Is that why mothers and fathers can throw their own flesh and blood into the dump, allow insects to bite them alive, allow them to burn from the blistering heat, allow them to die a slow and painful death?

And to those of my friends who urged us to report her, well, we can’t, because Allan didn’t get the number plate of the car. He was too concerned about the dog, and maybe he thought she would be human enough to stop and ask if everything was alright.

I just thought to myself. In her hurry, this lady just drove really fast even though it was a narrow side road. WHAT IF THERE WAS A KID THERE? My dog could easily have been a child walking with his dad in the morning.

The newspapers tell us that some Malaysians are getting so immune to pain and sin that they have no qualms about hurting another human being. One day, its a baby being dumped; oh sorry, my mistake, its BABIES being dumped! Another day, we hear of the senseless death of a 50+ year old lady who died because the guy just wanted her valuables. Then we read of this guy who ran down a girl on her bicycle and then took her into the woods to rape her. The list goes on……

I’m going ahead to put up these pictures of Hyper all although some people might find it a bit grotesque. I just want to send a reminder to all of us. Plan our schedules so that we don’t have to rush, and when we have to rush, we still need to slow down when there is a danger of killing or injuring another life.

Hyper is going to be alright, she will take 2 months to heal because the bone is fractured too. In 2 weeks time, the leg might have to be put in a cast.

This could have been a child……

by Veronica, 27th August 2010