The moment I set foot onto the festival grounds, I could feel all the fired up energy running through my veins. On my right, I saw salesmen selling cars from Proton to Mercedez. On my left were vendors selling blouses and skirts. As I walked further down, I noticed several men and women with a mouth-piece next to their lines, talking into the cordless microphone.
"Aunty! Come! come! Come and see this wonderful kuali!" a young man in his 20's beckons the curious passers-by in Hokkien. "It conducts heat extremely fast. You don't even have to wait for 30 seconds before putting in the onions after you pour in the oil."
The young man then proceeds to pour oil into his 'wonderful' kuali and throws in the finely chopped up shallots immediately. Hissing sounds cracked escaped from the silver kuali, followed by loud 'pop' sounds.
"See! Isn't this great? With this, you can cook more meals in less time. You can even enjoy your favourite Cantonese TVB Drama in the evenings. Now, you don't have to wait one hour just for the chicken to simmer. Food get cooked faster, your children get their stomachs filled earlier, and you will enjoy longer naps too! Preserving your youthful looks!" continues the young chap.
He has such sweet , honey coated lips that almost all the species of the female gender approach his stall. Some approach him with a sceptical look, some who take his word for it and enquires its price, whereas some just want to enjoy an entertaining demonstration.
"Wow!" I thought to myself. "This certainly reminds me of my childhood in Lumut." In the 1990's, we used to have a Pesta / funfair every year. The part that I looked most forward to were the rides in the ghost house, merry-go-round, and throwing hoops at the game booth, hoping to win the cute puppets that were on display.
As we walked further on, we came across the entrance to the garden show. The air was cooler here. Smaller crowd, more water. On both sides of the lane, were ponds and waterfalls, filled with flowing water. The water makes a swishing sound and plonks down right beside me. A few drops of water sprang onto the bloor, bounces off and lands on my jeans, right below my knee. Red, green and orange neon lights shine through the pool of water beside us. This place looks so cheerful that I just can't believe that we are in the midst of being attacked by H1N1 virus right now.
"Come! Come! Let's take a picture here!" Amelia enthusiastically calls out.
Her parents and I stand next to each other, with the man-made waterfall as our background and bright lights illuminating through the darkness. Amelia happily snaps away.
Soon, we hear loud singing from the stage nearby and hurries over to the open stage. We see a 3 youngsters, dressed in skirts which are 6 inches long, stunning black blouses, dancing to the a popular Mandarin tune on stage. The team's synchronization doesn't appear to be good, but considering that they are amateurs and lack proper training, it certainly seems fine to me. They do deserve a loong round of applause. Up next, a lady in red captivates the audience with her rendition of Mandarin oldies. When she reaches the climax, she sings her song to an extremely soprano pitch and holds the note for about 1 .3 minutes. When she stops, everybody claps, some giving her cat-calls too!
When the performance is over, we took a stroll n the garden. Looking up, I saw a design of an indigineous guy holding an armour in his hands! I loved it. I don't get to see this anywhere in Peninsular Malaysia, except for Kuching. Usually, we just see bunga mawar, or hibiscus, orchids or bougainvillea. I was awfully impressed. See! One more thing I love Sarawak. It is unique, through and through. I think even if we have stayed there for 20 years, surprises will still spring up when you least expect it. 
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