Birthday numbers

I'm just popping in to write about the days surrounding turning twenty-seven. My littlest baby cousin was born a day before my birthday. I took photos of seventeen-day-old baby Hannah with her parents aka my childhood friend since I was nine. I read at least twenty-six books in my twenty-sixth year. I have been living in Kuching for a full year. I learned more about how to communicate with more than thirty-five different students at work. I still feel inadequate and sorrowful often but with a little bit more resilience built in through brokenness, God's grace, and the encouragement of those who love me constantly and steadfastly. I am still working towards my goal of reading a-hundred-fifty books. I just started another three-hundred-sixty-five photo project to record each day of my twenty-seven. I am finite, but God is infinite. Lord, I will trust in You.

Birthday adventure in Kuching Old Town

This is my third year celebrating my birthday with Nick around. Last year, we explored London for my golden birthday. This time, we found ourselves in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak—my home state.

Kuching old town has all the things I love-nostalgic and historical buildings that look pretty in photos, yummy local food and coffee/tea, nice trees and cats!

The day started with laksa with aunty and Josephine. Then, Nick and I ventured off to India Street in search of the wall arts that are dispersed around different lanes in the old town. We were fascinated by the old signs of the shops, traditional shops, and by the colourful buildings.

 Peering through the corner to see what we may find there

Try reading the words on this yellow building. Nick tried reading it in Cantonese and it sounded funny, and we were not sure of which side to start reading it from.

 Signs that are barely hanging in there

After taking some photos, we walked towards the old courthouse and found a nicely curated space that is filled with beautiful furniture, artworks, a café, a reading room, and my favourite—friendly cats.

After having fun with the cats, we found a monument, the square tower, and headed to the riverside.

As the weather got hotter, we quickly went into the souvenir shops for shade. Nick tried the kek lapis for the first time.

 

It was time for a break from sight-seeing so we stopped by Black Bean Coffee to have iced coffee and to talk about life, God, and goals. The Sarawak coffee here is surprisingly yummy and Nick fell in love with iced kopi-o.

Carpenter Street

 Old-school stationery shop that has a tiger cat guarding its welcome.

 Wandering into side lanes...

Dropped by the textile museum but Nick was not so fond of the human figures so we moved on to the Merdeka Mall to enjoy the air-con.

Then, we went in search for more street arts and Kai Joo Café, which I had found on the internet previously. Kai Joo Lane is a quaint, tiny lane branching off from India Street and at the end of it is the café. 

The café was the perfect spot for us to relax and talk after a full morning of walking around, and we were the only two customers there during that time. I had the rooibos tea in their illustrated mug and Nick enjoyed his refreshing pandan and lemongrass quencher.

A friend whom I shared the amazing Europe trip 6 years ago asked me on facebook if I had a good day on my birthday, and if it is anything like the days we spent in Germany. I was not hesitant to answer yes, indeed, it was as good as exploring the towns in Germany. :)