Season of pink and white poui blooms in Bintulu

A row of Poui trees along the Tanjong Kidurong Highway.

Its the season of pink and white Poui blooms in Bintulu right now. These large flowering trees were introduced to Bintulu about 34 years ago. Many don't realise that the first seeds of these trees came in a brown envelope in 1985 from Singapore.

There is a letter written by Arthur George Alphonso ( ex- Director of Botanical Gardens, Singapore) attesting to this story.
Please follow this link to see the letter and other stories about these beautiful Poui trees that came in to Bintulu by post.
...>>>>http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/search/label/Poui

and here...>>>>http://mybintuluhistory.blogspot.com/…/bintulu-trees-by-air…

(Note: This is a re-post from my FB, 12 May'19)

Memory down Keppel Road

Walking by the Town Fountain this afternoon, memories of the place suddenly flood my mind. I was fortunate to have lived for most of the time before it was made into a modern icon. In the 50's I used to play the wooden playground equipments there - see-saw, swings etc.. Used to pass the place at night after buying things from the wooden shophouse without fear even as a tiny kid cycling back home to our government quarters about 200 meters away. In the 60's as a school kid we joined in parades and watch the town's folks play basketball at one corner of the park. A tiny lucky number of us kids learnt roller skating on the concrete pavements there, Many concerts, fun fairs and trade shows were held there too. The place was called King George VI Memorial Ground back then and was the biggest park the town could afford in the 60's. Come the 70's when the first boom arrived , the memorial ground became suddenly very active and full of activities because many more people sought employment in the growing town. Activities dwindled in the area in the 80's when more open spaces and parks were developed outside of the town or in new satellite townships.
Today the place looks beautiful and serene without its nostalgic busy past. What is busy today is outside the park with cars endlessly passing around the place.

Please follow this link to see more stories of the place in another blog as in here...>>> http://bintulub4now.blogspot.com/…/King%20George%20the%20VI…

Seen are a group of teachers from SMK Bintulu (previously Bintulu Gov't Secondary School) having a photoshoot during Teacher's Day, 1976. At left of picture is Keppel Road.

(Note: The above is a re-post from my FB, 21 May'19)

Flowering Angsana trees

Cruising into the heart of Kuching city, I was greeted by the beautiful golden yellow flowers of the Angsana trees (Pterocarpus indicus). These trees are huge and assist to ameliorate the urban temperature by its cool shade. But at times these trees exhibit massive tiny flowers that envelope the green crown and its a real beauty to experience the golden yellow carpet on the ground. These flowers exude a strong fragrance that is short-lived. I took some really beautiful showing of these trees in Bintulu sometime ago and please follow this link to see its splendour....>>>http://alltheplants4.blogspot.com/search/label/Angsana

 (Re-post from Facebook, 2 June'19)

Once there was a roundabout

Combo picture to show R1 before and a recent satellite image of the same area

Roundabout One

A visitor to Bintulu in the early 1980's - 1990's would be familiar with the pace of rapid development in roads infrastructure to meet rising traffic and population of this newly booming town.  Roundabouts were once  a novel and regular feature that dotted the road map of Bintulu.  In the mid 80's - 90's I was kept busy with the landscaping of three major roundabouts around town.  These were Roundabout 1, 2 and 3.  Up to a certain point roundabouts do serve their function well and beautifully.  The construction of these roundabouts entail lots of planting space for landscaping.  Furthermore the whole landscape is enhanced by the presence of traffic islands adjacent to the roundabouts that were also given landscaping touches. At the point of writing (2 Sept'14) all these roundabout have been replaced overtime.  These pictures which I took while implementing the landscaping works do tell the story of how beautiful Bintulu was with these properly landscaped and maintained roundabouts and traffic islands.  Today I  have taken the liberty to update with  google earth satellite maps the sites of the three roundabouts.

Combo picture to show R2 before and a recent satellite image of the same area

Combo picture to show R3  before and a recent satellite image of the same area

I have written quite a fair bit on these roundabouts in another blog of mine. Checkout the story of Roundabout Two here and Roundabout Three here . In retrospect it is much to the prevalence of these beautiful roundabouts that Bintulu has earned the identity of a beautiful town besides its miles and miles of shady and fully landscaped roads.  I felt good that in my time the groundwork for proper landscaping of the town was laid down early.

Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!

 (Note:  On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

Images of Bintulu today

Bukit Orang road, 12 May'13

Main Bazaar road, 12 May'13

Bill board to welcome Gawai Dayak festival, 12 May'13