Kuching Escapade Feb'2019

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 This posting revives this blog for the year 2019.
On 8 Feb'19 I arrived Sarikei town after a brief stop-over at Bintangor.  At Bintangor I enjoyed the 'Suman Payak', Satay and Teh Tarik before proceeding the journey to Sarikei. Stayed the night at Sarikei and on Saturday left the town on the way to Kuching.
I checked out the Sarikei Central market and found some Illipe nuts sold at RM 2 per small basket.

Illipe nuts sold at the Sarikei Central Market.

Sarikei Central Market

Sarikei Central Market

Sarikei's charm

Dawn view near the express boat terminal area

Express boat berthing at the wharf...

It's not often that I have got a chance to stay overnight in Sarikei.  But waking up early this morning  I checked out the river front to catch the early views of dawn.  The express boat terminal was quite but gradually saw activity after 6.30 am when the boat passengers start loading their goods on top and inside the fast speed express boat.  Sarikei is a small administrative town that has managed to retain its old charm despite many developments around the town that incessantly push away the old shophouses into oblivion with newer models.  This visit was exceptional because despite its iconic pineapple for which the town is normally associated, the durian fruits ruled the day.  Durians were sold along  the shophouses five-foot ways and  temporary durian market established nearby the express boat terminal.  This year is a very bountiful durian season for Sarikei and durians could be bought very cheaply like RM 1 per piece for a reasonable sized fruit.

Sarikei waterfront at dawn

Five-foot way

Bountiful durian season

Old Sarikei - view of Jalan Repok

 Sarikei today - view of Jalan Repok

Durian stops

Temporary durian stalls by the Sarawak trunk road, erected during the durian season

 The end of year is a time of fruits festival in Sarawak with the Durian lovingly called 'king of the fruits' forever claiming its welcome place in the hearts of Sarawakians as the year is about to roll over.  Traveling along the Sarawak trunk road from Bintulu to Kuching (600 km long) is not really a pleasant trip with many winding and narrow roads that are and in many places continuously under repair or re-construction.  It is a never ending sour sad story for Sarawakians and reflecting much of the 'raw deal' episode of the Malaysia Agreement that Sarawakians have to live by even after 50 years of independence in Malaysia.  But with the end of the year, Sarawakians turn jovial and a happy lot with the durians becoming the centerpiece of conversations anywhere with anybody anyhow.  In Sarawak there is the added plus that you can find all sorts of durians here which cannot be found in Peninsular Malaysia like the 'Nyekek' (Durio kutejensis) , 'Tutong' (Durio dulcis), "Munyit" (Durio grandilorus) and the 'Isu' (Durio oxleyanus).

Selling durians at Sibu central market - vendors of all races meet to sell various durian species from their own gardens in an atmosphere of festivity, racial harmony and happy end of year seasonal bonus.

"Isu" or Durian Umot (Bidayuh) - Durio oxleyanus

Durio zibethinus - this is the more popular and easily available type of durian sold at many towns in Sarawak and also along the rural countryside stalls

When the Durian is in season, other local fruits like the black 'Dabai',red 'Kundong' or hairy Rambutan join in the end of year party.

Typical Iban longhouse along Sarawak trunk road where durian trees are grown nearby the longhouse in fruit gardens that face extinction due to the onslaught of the new golden crop - oil palm trees.

The contention of a 'raw deal' in the Malaysia agreement - poor quality roads for Sarawak compared with expressways in Peninsular Malaysia.
But this sad sour story is brushed aside at the end of the year with the durians making Sarawakians a happier and satisfied lot...

Year in year out, the pricky question of a raw deal is happily forgotten for the 'heavenly' taste of the the durians.  Sarawakians are a patient lot. Thanks to the durian - forget the pricky part, just enjoy the thick buttery flesh.

The Jering tree

The Jering tree ( Pithecolobium lobatum) is fruiting well at the Kambatik eco-farm. What is interesting is the fact that this tree while heavily fruiting is starting to show off new flowers at the same time.  Thia is the first time I notice this phenomena.

 Flowers of the Jering

Having a good time this morning collecting the Jering fruits .
I use a long bamboo pole to twist the soft end branches.  The Jering is a well-known local fruit to help out with high blood pressure.  

 Jering fruit when ripe is roundish and has a dark brown thick covering. 

I prefer to eat it raw with the famous Bintulu belacan or shrimp paste pounded with fresh ginger, chillies and anchovies.

No fruit but got flag

A 'politicised' durian tree seen along the Pan-Borneo Highway after Betong.

The yearly presence of seasonal fruits has been missed by a large portion of the general public in Sarawak this year. The wait which started end of November continued to January and there no appreciable signs yet of any rambutans or durians in Sarawak towns. Many seasoned planters have attributed this sad phenomena to the adverse weather or climatic changes ( viz prolonged monsoon rains, global warming) and the destruction of more tropical rain forests throughout Sarawak. The lack of forest wild fruits have forced squirrels and other wildlife to scavenge durian or oil palm trees for ripe as well as unripe fruits to sustain themselves.

On this trip back Kuching, I noticed one longhouse and one durian tree displaying the opposition party flags way ahead of the ruling party. This is a sure sign that the opposition party is serious about Sarawak's coming general elections which technically should be held before July this year.

One recurring and distressing issue among the rural populace is the loss of their customary lands and 'temuda' lands ( viz state lands purportedly under illegal occupation according to Sarawak land code) due to alienation by the government of the day to big plantation companies and private individuals. The total land acreage alienated so far is in the tune of a million acres. This vast land bank dedicated to monoculture of oil palm cultivation have consequently displaced thousands of native rural families and their traditional means of livelihood. It is expected that the existing ruling party will lose some constituencies due to this hot issue. There are many court cases still pending in courts taken up against the government by the locals on unfair acquisition practices with a few winning their cases. The land issue is a ticking bomb and the opposition parties are there to exploit it.

However, Looking at the durian tree it appears that the opposition party is one head above, psychologically speaking, of the ruling party.

Images of Kuching Today

Delicious mangoes

Deep purple eggplant fruits.

Going bananas over bananas

Fruits at the Satok Sunday market.

Images of Bintulu Today

Ramadan Bazaar at Bintulu Esplanade, Bintulu town.

Yellow Durian fruits ( Durian kuning- Malay, Nyekak or Pakan - Iban) Durio ketenjensis.

Petai ( Parkia speciosa)

Coastal scenery along Jalan Temasya, Tanjung Batu, Bintulu.

Green, Green Bintulu.

I am back to the beautiful jungle surrounding of our chalets in Bintulu, something we miss very much in Kuching. We arrived here on the 22nd June around 8.00 pm after a 11 hours journey by road from Kuching city.

The following day I had a walkabout at the farm and was greeted by the fruits of the 'Nangka' ( Jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophyllus) ) that were ripening. It has been about fours years since we planted this tree next to our verandah. It provided shade besides a haven for tree shrews, squrrels as well as birds. The fruits bore marks of being eaten by squirrels. Well, we've been away in Kuching for the last two months and our absence here must have made the squirrels happy with big feasts of the Nangka . We cut open one fruit and the flesh was very sweet, aromatic and crispy. (see inset)

Looking south from our verandah the view was just lovely and very natural. In the picture above the middle ground is filled with scarlet red flowers of the Pagoda flower ( Clerondendron paniclatum) with its typical broad glossy leaves. This is the view when I sit for my afternoon tea by the verandah.

Looking west the jungle remains intact and the island of large trees which were well preserved rose 20-30 meters above our rooftops. Closer to our chalet's back door the long and big fronds of the Bird's Nest Ferns have grown large.

The Bird's Nest fern just outside the back door leading to the garden outside. Below I found the Red Ti ( Cordyline Terminalis) growing luxuriously at the open garden in between our chalets.

I guess I need to cover more grounds at the farm after today and catch up what I miss most of Bintulu - jungle green and fresh fishes.