Things I’ve missed about home

I’ve been home in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah for about a whole month now. That’s the longest I’ve been home since I started working in Singapore in 2009.

Before coming home for this long stretch, I was confused about where home was for me. In Singapore, I had a rented place, a job and friends but in Sabah, I have my family, my old bed and friends too. You see why it’s a bit confusing for me to pinpoint which exactly was home.

But after 4 months on the road and coming home, I’m glad to say where home is. It’s temporarily Sabah, and specifically my parent’s place. Eventually, I will still need to get out of here and find a job.

Until I do move out of the country, here’s a list of things I’ve missed about being home (in Sabah):

Clothes dried in the sun

There’s a branded softener that even has a scent with the word “sunshine” in it. That’s how popular the indescribable scent of sun-dried clothes is.

At home, we have a backyard where we hung our clothes. When there is a lot of sunlight in the day and you collect the clothes at the right time, the clothes feels soft and has a strange chemical-like smell. (Or maybe that’s just our soap…)

Back when I was in Singapore, I didn’t have a lot of space to hang my laundry. In the tall rise HDB (Housing Development Board) flats, I either hung them inside or outside where most of the times the clothes are shaded. Wind-dried clothes just aren’t as good as sun-dried ones.

While travelling, my only option for laundry was to handwash them in the hostel bathroom sink and hang them from the laundry rope I tied to the under-bad planks of the upper bunk. The clothes dried reluctantly in dorms but I still wore them because they were my only 5 (or is it 6?) garments I have with me.

Only twice in the entire trip did I “splurge” in laundry when I sent them to the cleaner’s in Arequipa. I even had to shop for the cheapest laundress. When I spilled my laundered clothes onto my bed, I was delighted at how clean they were and I might have waltzed with my jeans for a bit.

Good Chinese food

I always thought that I was very open about food and wasn’t a food snob when it comes to how “authentic” a dish is. But right before I was flying to Hong Kong, I started vividly imagining all the Chinese food I would get to eat. I would space out on the bus or even at a restaurant and see plates of rice with crispy pork, noodle soups (Peru doesn’t do good noodle soup).

While the food choices back home aren’t as much as in Hong Kong, I enjoy eating all the food that are familiar to me and visit new places.

Driving and having a car

In Singapore, I didn’t need a car to travel. The public transport is so perfect that I didn’t even have to take taxis much. I love that part.

However, not every place I went to during the trip had good public transport so I walked a lot. A lot. I didn’t rent any cars on the road because I cannot afford to splurge when taking buses are a lot cheaper and safer.

Here back home, we need a car to get anywhere. I’ve forgotten how nice it is that you don’t need to walk a whole kilometer because you don’t have door-to-door transportation. I could get used to this.

My parents

I didn’t get to see a lot of my parents when I was working. A phone call here and there doesn’t really match seeing them face-to-face.

Recently, I think I’ve been seeing them a little bit too much because we are starting to get on each other’s nerves.

Oops.

Do you live away from home? What do you miss about home? Share them in the comments below!

Read other posts on YQtravelling:


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I’m on Runaway Juno representing Kota Kinabalu

I interrupt our regular post schedule with a BIG announcement!

I’m on Runaway Juno’s Runaway to Sister’s City this week, talking about my dear hometown: Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, Malaysia.

If you are interested to learn more about Kota Kinabalu, here are some primer (actually, almost all of KK posts here):

For my regular readers who do not know about Juno, you should check out Runaway Juno blog now! (OK, maybe after reading the rest this posts.)

A few of my favorite Runaway Juno posts are the one where she talked about how she took a giant leap and also discussed things that I would (cowardly) rather sweep under the rug.

Until next travels! Stay safe.

#FoodFri Banmian from Kota Kinabalu

When people ask me what food I miss most from home. I can rarely give an answer.

Saying “Seafood” is too easy. Who doesn’t love cheap seafood?

So instead of a real answer, I will show you one of my favorite dishes from home.

This noodle dish is called “ban mian” which roughly translates as “plank noodles”. I think the “ban” or “plank” signifies how the dough is chunky…I think.

A regular bowl of banmian (which is available in Singapore as well) has a pork-based stock, doughy noodles, pork, salted anchovies and some vegetable.

But not all banmian are good. It depends on the stock and the noodles. Some soup are so bland that my tears are probably tastier. Some noodles are undercooked or overcooked.

At my favorite banmian shop, everything is mixed in perfect harmony. The soup is tongue-scaldingly hot and the noodles chewy. The meat that accompanies it is always tender.

I do miss my banmian from home.

#FoodFri See food, seafood in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Hi folks, I’m still in Hoi An, Vietnam, now until Sunday. Instead of showing you what I’ve eaten for the past two days, I plan to reveal it all in one go after the trip as part of my Glutton in Somewhere food series.

So today, I want to share the different seafood I had while I was back in KK at the end of last month. I didn’t do a Glutton series for Kota Kinabalu because the food was too familiar for me to cheer about.

KK is a seaside city and there’s plenty of seafood to go around. My favorite seafood is probably prawns but they’re a bit more expensive than crabs so I don’t eat prawns too often. I also suspect it’s because I don’t get to eat it so often that I like it more.

Mom usually brings me to this other seafood place when I’m back. But this time, they changed location to somewhere nearer my house. This new eatery opened while I was in Singapore so I never visited the place.

We had crabs (the seafood, not the STD).

As well as some challenging seashells.

kk-seafood-001 — She eats seashells by the seashore

On another day, my sister brought us to a roadside eatery for coconut and clams. (An odd combination, I must say.)

The clams were barbequed and quite yummy. But the chilli is what brings the yumminess to another level. Even I as a non-chilli eater liked it (but didn’t have too much of it).

So the next time you are in Kota Kinabalu, remember to stuff yourself with seafood!

Check out more yummy food from Asean

8 reasons you should visit Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

BootsnAll has a post on why you should visit Southeast Asia. I want to bring you deeper into SEA.

Welcome to Kota Kinabalu.

I was born and raised in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah. I’ve always been fiercely proud of being a Sabahan. In fact, I think myself as a Sabahan first, a Malaysian second.

Where is Sabah and where is KK (pronounced keh-keh in our local accent)? It is in the northern part of Borneo–the third largest island in the world. The second largest state in Malaysia.

Continue reading “8 reasons you should visit Kota Kinabalu, Sabah” →

Shopping for vintage clothing in Kota Kinabalu

If you are planning a trip to Kota Kinabalu (or KK–pronounced “keh keh” locally instead of “kay kay” the non-local way–for short), you probably would have sun, sea, mountain in mind instead of vintage clothing.

OK OK, I’m stretching it a lot when I say vintage, it should be second hand clothing.

Continue reading “Shopping for vintage clothing in Kota Kinabalu” →