The Inferno Aftermath @ Kampung Dato Sibu

The inferno on 19th June 2013 (Wed) at Kampung Dato and Kampung Hilir Sibu had razed around 100 wooden houses.  There are total of 653 people from 107 families had been registered as fire victims in the tragedy which was believed to have started from a vacant house in Kampung Hilir. The inferno then spread towards the direction of Paramount Hotel with the "help" of strong winds.

[Photo taken from Borneo Post Online]

I visited the place on the 3rd day after the destructing event and discovered that Kampung Dato's scenery which I believe all Siburians are so used to see almost entirely erased from the view!

The aftermath from the disaster is really horrible and sad!!

There were still some smoke could be seen even after 3 days of the tragedy.

More photos on the inferno:
1. Inferno razes 100 Sibu houses

The New Permanent Stage @ Sibu Town Square

Sibu Town Square now has a new, grand and permanent center stage that costs almost 2 millions of Ringgit Malaysia.

According to state's Minister of Local Government and Community Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, the new stage was built to replace the general stage that has no facilities. Over the past years, Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) had to spend over RM100,000 to construct the temporary structure every time if there is any major event held on the place.

According to a report in New Sarawak Tribune website,  the stage is 40m in width and 24m in breadth, covers a total of 900 square meters floor area. The construction started on 1st October last year and completed on 30th May this year.

Facilities being incorporated into the stage are male and female's changing rooms with toilet facilities, audio video control room and distribution panels, utility room, VVIP restroom, the backstage and a large stage floor.

 

The stage will be equipped with the latest state of art lighting technologies with hydraulic operating system as well as excellent acoustics system.

Some said the stage looks like a Swan spreading her wings, what say you? Well... for me... I personally feel if you insist to relate the stage with a swan as Sibu is called "the town of swan", ok... that's accepted.

Anyhow, the new stage will be playing its role for the first time during the upcoming Borneo Cultural Festival which will be held in less than 2 weeks time from now, 28th June - 7th July 2013.

Reference:
1. New Sarawak Tribune: Sibu Town Square will have new stage in May
2. The Borneo Post: Town square’s centre stage 84 pct completed

Sibu Town Square Phase 2 Riverside Park Demolished

The riverside park located at Sibu Town Square Phase 2 had been demolished recently to give way to Sibu Town Square Development project by Fullyard Sdn. Bhd. According to the information, the development project will include two blocks of 25-storey high-end condominium, an eight-storey budget hotel, a six-storey office tower and plenty of shop houses which estimated to be completed in 3 years time.

I bet most of the Siburians are not aware/expecting about this demolition until recently they went to the place that they used to go for recreational activities and only discovered the beautiful park is in the process of clearing.

I believe that before this most people only aware that the mega project will involve the river fillings area in front of the riverside park and never expecting the park to be sacrificed.

In my archive, some of the beautiful scenery of the park (taken in 2009) and it'll soon be a history!

If you are interested to know more about the development, please try your luck with the following links:
1. http://sibutownsquare.com/
2. https://www.facebook.com/fullyardsb

ZenQ Desserts @ Medan Commercial Center, Sibu

Taiwanese style milk tea and desserts stores are springing up like mushrooms in the town of Sibu recently. First, we have Easy Drink Easy Go as the pioneer of Taiwan style beverages business in Sibu. Then WikiTea, Buolomi, Each A Cup, RQ Tea Bar, Share Tea and etc followed the business trend closely one after another.

Recent added to the list.... there are Easy Drink Easy Go Mesona, BlackBall and ZenQ Desserts. These franchise are mainly focus on selling Taiwanese style desserts apart from varieties of drinks.

Just visited ZenQ Desserts @ Medan Commercial Center Sibu yesterday with colleagues. It's the newest and latest addition to Taiwanese style desserts shop in Sibu which started the business just couple of days ago. As we are bunch of typical "kiannai" Sibu people, therefore we decided to give it a try while it is still fresh and "chi"!

The store selling wide variant of beverages ranging from desserts of Grass Jelly series, Red Bean series, Barley series, Sago series and Shaved ice series to cooling drinks of Freshly Made series and Ice Tea series.

As it was my virgin visit to the store and my first trial on Taiwanese style desserts, I have no idea which to order looking at the long list. However, as the weather was hot that day, the shaved ice series caught my eyes. After a long thought, I finally decided to try ZenQ Shaved Ice while most of my colleagues were attracted by Mango Sago which was one of the recommended item on the menu. Another one ordered ZenQ Signature Grass Jelly.

Mango Sago was a big disappointment for all my colleagues who ordered it. From its Chinese name 芒果西米捞 （Mang Guo Xi Mi Lao), everyone was expecting a dessert with Mango fruit's flesh in it. However, the outcome was totally out of their expectation. No Mango flesh in the dessert but only Sago rice and a scoop of ice cream in a Mango flavored beverage. It's RM6.90 per serving.

[ZenQ signature Shaved Ice]

My ZenQ signature Shaved Ice was a big surprise! It came out as a super big bowl! Everyone was extra excited when seeing it. It contains 9 pieces of Q Yuan, "Pearls", Grass Jelly (a.k.a. cincau) and light milky flavor shaved ice!

[ZenQ signature Shaved Ice]

The shaved ice portion is really big! It is cooling and refreshing and best to have during big hot day! It is time consuming to finish up the entire bowl of the shaved ice. So if you are planning to spend longer time while chit chatting with family and friends there, I recommend these shaved ice series! ZenQ Shaved Ice is priced RM6.50 per bowl.

[ZenQ Signature Grass Jelly]

ZenQ Signature Grass Jelly has similar ingredient as ZenQ Shaved Ice but it has Crystal Noodles in addition and the base of the dessert is not the milk shaved ice, but 3 scoops of special flavor base ice. Customers can choose their own base ice flavor from Grass Jelly, Matcha to Natural Soya flavor! It is RM7.50 per bowl.

Any of the dessert series you ordered are customizable by adding extra toppings into them depend on individual preference and creativity. Some of this toppings cost you RM1.00 and some are RM1.50 each.

There are a lot more on the menu that worth to "explore". I bet I'll visit again the store for this reason in the future!