Sunday 6 January 2013

Saratok, tik, tok

I used to think jet lag was a myth propagated by people who secretly wanted to boast about their travels, but for the last week I've been a zombie, psychotic with tiredness yet unable to sleep.  Sue and I occasionally meet up in the living room at two in the morning to catch an old episode of a Jamie Oliver cookery programme or a sniper competition.  If only they could combine the two.

We had been away from Saratok for five weeks and now everything seems strange again.  The day after we arrived I sleepwalked into Everise, our local supermarket, to be greeted as a long lost friend by one of the assistants who urgently directed me to the storeroom.  "Tiger beer" he said proudly, indicating a pallet load of blue cardboard wrapped twenty-four packs.  His logic was clear - a pink man coming to the store on New Year's eve must be in need of beer.  I staggered to the check-out with a case while smiling dutifully.  Then I witnessed another mystery I've yet to get to the bottom of - at the check-out the price of the pack was marked down from the 167 ringgits on the label to 67 ringgits.  This always happens to me at this supermarket on the rare occasions they have cases of beer, while in the big towns the price is typically around 160-170 ringgits.  At the other supermarket in Saratok they simply mark up beer at a low price, 45-70 Ringgits per case.  I'm guessing that because of its remoteness Saratok has arbitrarily declared itself a duty-free zone, but I'm scared to ask in case I open up a can of worms.  Maybe it's a special beer-addicted pink persons' discount?

By the way, every town in Saratok, maybe the whole of Malaysia, has its own symbol, which is usually represented on a large piece of urban sculpture somewhere prominent.  Kuching has a big statue of a cat and Sibu a swan, while Sarikei has a pineapple.  Opposite is a photo of Saratok's symbol.  I think it's a catfish on crutches trying to make love to a prawn.  The nobbly thing at the bottom that looks like an HIV virus is actually a durian, the vile smelling but tasty fruit popular throughout southeast asia.  Somehow it seems to capture the spirit of Saratok.

13 comments:

  1. hye. im from Saratok.. im proud to heard that my home town become ur blog entry... keep up a good work... if u miss saratok u can join our fanpages on facebook.. https://www.facebook.com/groups/302920558838/?fref=ts .. keep in touch..

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  2. Welcome to the saratok..u should see the fort renee and 1 of the big history..local people say telaga hajah halimah.. :D

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    1. Hi Abdul, hi Isz,

      Happy u like my blog entry. I arrived in Saratok in December 2011 with my wife Sue. Here until August 2013. We like Saratok, it's a nice town.

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  3. Btw the nobbly thing u called it durian actually not durian sir,it palm-oil fruit(kelapa sawit) ^_^.have a nice days in Saratok.which football club in Italy do u support sir? ^_^

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    1. Sorry Asrul it looked like a durian to me but palm oil fruit makes more sense. I don't watch football. Thank you for the good wishes.

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  4. We glad to heard that..hopefully one that i can visit ur hometown that u mention similar like Saratok Town..can u post a bit about ur home town in ur blog entry ?

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    1. I will add a page about my hometown in Italy and post the link in a few days. The town is called "Locorotondo".

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    2. I have now posted a bit about our hometown at the blog page below. I have also compared it to Saratok.

      http://lococontadino.blogspot.com/p/locorotondo-and-saratok-february-2013.html

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    3. thanks sir.. such an nice place to visit .. hope one day i can visit italy.. coz i love to cook and Italian food.. even though sometime a bit difficult to find italian food ingredient in Sarawak.. hopefully u will enjoy ur remaining time in Saratok..

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  5. welcome to Borneo :)

    http://pinkbubblegumprincess.blogspot.com/

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  6. okey. have fun in Saratok town sir.. hope i can meet u in person to say how much i appreciate ur effort writing about our place..

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  7. Thank you everybody. Nice to meet you all.

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