case #1
patient: doktor, saya selalu lapar la
me: oh ok (maybe polyphagia in DM). you makan sikit ke banyak tiap tiap kali?
patient: sikit sikit aje doktor
me: berapa banyak?
patient: setengah mangkuk nasi.
me: berapa kali you makan sehari?
patient: sekali aje.
me: tentu la lapar...macam mana you mau saya tolong you!?!?
patient: hehe....boleh kasi sikit duit ka doktor
case #2
patient: doktor, mata saya kabur la
me: berapa lama sudah?
patient: 3bulan sudah
*checks visual acuity: right eye 6/36, left eye 6/42
me: you mungkin perlu pakai cermin mata sudah
patient: ADA doktor!!! tapi masih tidak bagus. sudah 10 cermin mata saya beli tapi masih sama lagi.
me: wah 10 ah...kedai cermin mata mana you pergi?
patient: tidak, beli kat pasar malam aje
case #3
patient: doktor saya demam kuat la....
me: berapa lama sudah demam?
patient: sakit kepala ada, pening kepala ada, sakit tulang....
me: berapa lama sudah demam?
patient: makan pun tak de selera, rasa mau muntah muntah adooo...habis lepas....
me: saya tanya demam berapa lama sudah????
patient: bila saya mau berak, keras tahi saya tau doktor. kena terah erng erng erng (patient demonstrating how he is straining) adoo sakit burit (backside) saya doktor...
me: oi saya tanya demam you berapa lama sudah la!!!
patient: lama sudah
me: berapa lama?
patient: oohh lama la doktor
me: yalah saya tau lama, tapi berapa lama???
patient: oooohhh kuat lama doktor.
me: (head boiling already) lama itu berapa lama la?!? satu hari ke! satu minggu ke!!! satu bulan ke!!!
patient: ahh...apa lama doktor?
me: you punya demam la!!! berapa lama sudah?!?!?!
patient: saya tak de demam doktor.
me : HABIS TADI YOU AWAL AWAL CAKAP YOU DEMAM KUAT KENAPA!!!!
patient: saya mana ada cakap saya demam.
me: habis you datang sini untuk apa????
patient: hehe...boleh tolong beri panadol ka doktor. kat rumah sudah habis.
the next thing to do was to find a tattoo artist. there were a lot of recommendation of tattoo artist here in song as well as in sibu and kapit. this was going to be my first tattoo. i sure as hell didn't want any regrets about it once i was done with it. so i wanted the best that was available here. one name that stood out was robert mayau. a local iban, who has made his name in the international scene as a tattoo artist. he has been in the business since 1978 and has his own studio in kapit. he has travelled to numerous tattoo convention both locally and internationally. so i set an appointment with him. had to book him almost 4 weeks in advance cause of his busy travelling schedule. 
the one thing that worries me the most was the pain involved in doing a tattoo. the thought of getting your skin repeatedly poked with a needle was scary. and plus to that is the fact i have a seriously low pain threshold. so the pain factor was the single biggest fear. i actually thought of loading myself up with pethidine or tramadol before doing it, but decided against it cause the drug might make me drowsy. dont want to fall off the express boat and into the rejang river. the other fear i had was how my ultra sensitive skin would react to the ink. i was afraid, the allergy reaction would be so bad that i would have to amputate my entire upper limb destroying any chance i have of becoming a surgeon. thats me being over melodramatic. but once you are determined to get your ink, the fear takes a back seat.
on the day of the appointment, it was raining heavily. i was so tempted to call it off but i eventually got up and together with my friend harris, we took the express boat to kapit. once in kapit we had hearty breakfast and the proceed to robert's studio. there we were joined by daniel, another friend of mine in kapit. the studio resembles a very small confined office. the walls were covered with certificates, news articles about him and pictures of tattoos he had done.
the most painful part is actually when your tattoo is being outlined. the needle actually goes in deeper hence causing more pain. i was told the machine can be adjusted into 3 different depth level depending on the skin thickness. i got medium depth. imagine if i got the deepest depth. i might have gave robert a left hook onto his face. 
after the outlining part, when he started to shade the pattern the pain became more bearable. the pain was still there, but not as intense as before. you just get used to the pain after sometime. since my face was no more contorted like a Picaso art piece, i was able to talk and joked around.
we stopped for 10 mins for robert to get his puff and for me to finally relax my biceps and triceps. this was how my arm looked like half way through the tattoo session. it was red and swollen from the trauma it was getting. i guess it was some sort of allergic respond as well to the ink. but welt soon settled down.
now it was time to colour it. that was fast and even less painful. he used a combination of 4 different colours for the tattoo design. i was surprised that there was even white tattoo ink. it is used to 'cut' other colours to give a shedding effect to the tattoo.