Hmmmm ... this year's Kuching Festival doens't seem to have any more changes than all the previous years. In fact, it seems even emptier than all the other previous years. Tek and I went over today to check out the food that are for sale there. Sadly, there seems to be quite a lot of stalls that aren't around. The last 2 years, there were a loooottt of "sio bee" stalls. This year, there weren't as many "sio bee" stalls, but then a lot of other food stalls seems to be lacking as well. The crowd wasn't what it used to be as well. There were actually vacant tables around!! And it was around 7pm when we were walking around, which normally is the most packed time during the fest on any other years.
One of the things I normally look forward to during the Kuching Fest is the Thai Restaurant's stall that sells their Thai desserts. I love those! However, this year, I've not seen them around, though the Thai Restaurant stall is around. Their dessert stall seemed to have been replaced by a new thing that hit Kuching (though I've not been to the shop yet) IGLOO. The stall sells flavoured shaved ice. I wasn't expecting much when I bought myself a cup (sorry, no photo available) but I was very much pleasantly surprised. The shaved ice was really really flaky and it melted the moment you place in into your mouth. It is quite a pleasant sensation if you ask me. The flavour that I bought was the champagne flavoured one. I was recommended the green tea flavoured shaved ice which is suppose to be their signature flavour. The colour kinda scared me off ... so I opted for the champagne flavour! It was pretty good!
The other thing that I look forward to would be the sticky mango rice. I had this
in Thailand before and I still think that the one in Thailand is a lot better than what they offer here. Maybe its due to the mango. However, the mango in Thailand seemed to be more succulent compared to the mango here. Hmmm .. maybe I'm just being bias. But then again, the mango wasn't as sweet or as juicy. 
Still, I'd say its not bad. But the rice definitely wasn't as nice. The coconut milk as you can see in the photo isnt premixed into the glutinous rice. Maybe that's why the flavour isn't as rich as those I had in Thailand. In Thailand, the coconut milk is already infused into the glutinous rice. I'm also guessing that the rice that they used might have been cooked with some pandan leaves or pandan essence added because there's this fragrant pandan smell to their rice as well compared to the one that the Thai Restaurant sells which lacks it.
Tsui Hua Lau's stall has been sadly diminished to a pretty small and miserable looking stall compared to how their stall USED to look!! Somehow, this time around, Tek and I weren't just that excited by the festival anymore. :( We both had the LL Banana Leaf Briyani. At the very same stall, I bought this canai thingy which was sold in a very shocking RED colour! I found it a tad too sweet though. But if you happen to be a sweet tooth, I think you'd enjoy it very much. However, the colour does seem a tad shocking @ the very first sight!
Papadom that is given together with the briyani rice we ordered. One order can have one piece!
The "canai" that I told you about which is sweet. But its the colour that's scary!!! So red!!
covered in sesame seed. Nice! Inside of the bun, its filled with bean paste. So it has this sweetish flavour to it. However, theirs a slight salty taste on the outside and the sesame seed definitely gave it some fragrance. the whole "bun" is covered with sesame seed. The dough of the "bun" itself is some kinda sticky dough which has a chewy texture to it. Which I do happen to like. In fact it is quite similar to an entry that I have done earlier on this month about "chewy ball shaped" food stuff that is sold over @ Sin Wan, Jalan Song. The only difference is that the one sold over @ Sin Wan is more chewy in texture, but the one here, is fried I think a tad more intensely thus giving it a crispier feel upon the initial bite into it. The one over @ Sin Wan also has a sweeter taste to the dough used compared to this one. 
The texture outside is chewy. And inside its filled with bean paste. Sweetish. Nice combination all in all. A tad oily though.
Oh...oh.. and there's the Dragon's Whiskers!! Apparently this only available twice a year! Yeah ... I asked the stall owner's before, but they only sell like twice a year! Once during the Kuching Festival and the other occasion will be before the Chinese New Year when the Chinatown (Pandungan) is closed to traffice and opened for people to set up stall! Liddat also can!!!! However, I'd recommend that you try to buy them fresh. Because if they've been prepacked and left there for awhle, the "dragon's whiskers" which is actuall some kinda candy thingy will be exposed to moisture and leaves it sticky instead of the nice cottony texture that it should have. So ask for freshly made ones instead! The insides are filled with peanut bits. Personally, I wish I can just buy the candy cause I'm not too big a fan of peanuts. Well, nuts of any kind. :P
The inside of the "dragon whiskers". The peanut bits filling. As you can see, it does look a tad soggy @ the bottom of the candy already. It isn't suppose to be like that. It should be as how its name says ... whiskery looking!
Mmmm... I like loads of lime juice in my laksa!
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