‘Family is not an important thing. It’s everything’.– Canadian-American actor, Michael J. Fox
Dear friends, time indeed flies! I have now returned to Kuching after a three-day family vacation in Sibu.
One important lesson I’ve learnt from the trip, which is aimed at creating lasting family memories, is that three days are too short for a family vacation.
But my niece, Ah Hong, disagrees with me. “Auntie, we have seen everything we wanted to see about the town on our last trip a few years ago. A three-day trip is just nice!” We arrived in Sibu on March 7 and departed it on March 10.
Although the progress of the Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak (Phase 1) Project is 99.98% with ten of its eleven work packages fully completed and progressively opened to the public and we had a smooth ride in a Perodua Aruz, we took about four hours and half to reach Sibu town.
Along the way, we stopped twice for coffee and toilet breaks; the first stop was at Sungai Tenggang Pitstop while the second stop was at a PETRON Pakan station.
Before returning to Kuching on March 10, we had our breakfast at the Sibu Central Market first. Our return journey began at 9.20 am and we stopped at Serian town at 2.30 pm for a toilet break and to shop for some local vegetables.
We arrived at the house of my former sister-in-law, Neng, in Kuching at 3.30 pm. The journey home took slightly longer because it rained after we left Serian and our driver, Ah Choi had to drive slowly.
Could the journey also be slower because it carried one extra passenger when it returned to Kuching? You see, my elder sister, who lived in Bintulu, joined us in Sibu for the trip back in Kuching.
I had arrived in Sibu with five other family members in a Perodua Arus driven by family friend, Ah Choi on March 7.
Among the family members were my youngest sister, Ah Lan, her daughter, Ah Hong and her son-in-law Zhi Wei. With us were also Neng and her granddaughter, Ohyen.
While in Sibu, we had our breakfasts and dinners mostly at Farley Food Court near Farley Supermarket at Jalan Salim because it was near to the house that my niece, Ah Hong, had rented for our three-day vacation.
The house, an intermediate double –storey terrace house had three bedrooms with many beds, a big living room, a kitchen, two bathrooms and toilets and backyard for drying clothes.
It also had a fridge, a kettle and a rice booker. But its only cooking pot and frying fan could not be used –they were rusty!
The whole house was also quite dirty and looked as if it had not been swept and cleaned for a long time. Luckily, Neng was a good housekeeper.
I am amazed by the transformation of Jalan Salim in Sibu. When I was a school girl around 50 years ago, Jalan Salim was considered an outskirt area characterised by rural surroundings and smaller roads.
Historically, it served as a peripheral road connecting to rural residential areas, agricultural plots, or longhouses, located far from the main town centre in the 1970s and 1980s.
Today, Jalan Salim is part of a rapidly developing part of Sibu, now featuring dual-carriageway highways (Jalan Salim-Stabau) due to increased traffic from surrounding residential and commercial expansion.
The area has seen significant growth in infrastructure, transforming into a bustling residential and commercial zone.
It is now managed by the Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC), which oversees regions extending from the urban centre, further highlighting its historical role as a transition zone between town and rural areas.
It cannot be denied that Sibu town is expanding fast. When we were there recently,, there were cars and other form of transport everywhere and finding a parking space was a big problem.
Ah Hong’s main reason for visiting Sibu this time was to visit my father’s (and her grandfather’s) tomb in the Hainan Cemetery at Sungai Merah.
We went to the cemetery on the second day of our stay in Sibu. Looking for the cemetery was easy but finding my father’s tomb was hard.
My father, Liong Poh Chuang, died in 2002. So much water has flowed under the bridge and so many new tombs have been erected at the cemetery that it took us a while to locate the old man’s tomb.
At Ah Hong’s side as she paid homage to her grandfather and informed him about her marriage was her Singaporean husband, Tziwei. The couple married late last year.
As part of the cultural or traditional rituals aimed at honouring the deceased, Ah Hong and the other family members burnt joss paper and offered my father’s favourite food, fruits and drink.
After that, we went to the Farley Food Court for drinks and also visited the nearby Ramadan Market.
I bought a small packet of ‘Bubur Pedas”, a traditional, savoury Sambas Malay porridge popular in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Sarawak and often eaten during Ramadan.
A nutritious, aromatic dish made from toasted rice and grated coconut, it was packed with vegetables like ferns, spinach, carrots, and sweet potato, spiced with lemongrass, galangal and turmeric.
At the market, some traders were also selling ‘Buah isau’ or Sarawak Green Longan or simply ‘Isau’ and ‘Buah keranji’, commonly known in English as ‘Velvet Tamarind’.
Known scientifically as ‘Dimocarpus longan ssp. malesianus var. malesianus’, ‘Buah isau’ is a native Bornean fruit similar to longan or ‘mata kucing’ but features a thicker, crispier, and sweeter flesh inside a green, bumpy rind.
‘Buah Keranji’ (Scientific name: Dialium indum or Dialium cochinchiense), is a small, grape-sized Southeast Asian fruit with a hard, dark brown/black velvety shell, containing a sweet and tangy orange pulp.
My younger sister, Ah Lan, bought some ‘Buah isau’ which cost RM15 a kg and also some ‘Buah Keranji’ which cost RM10 a kg.
Our driver, Ah Choi, also bought six local durians, which were sold by some native folk, for RM70.
That day, it indeed native fruit galore for our family members. It had been a long time since we ate these unique, seasonal and indigenous tropical fruits.
A day later, we also came across these fruits at the Sibu Central Market and bought some more.
We also had the opportunity to visit Sarikei and Bintangor for half a day with my best friend, Mee Lan and her family, before we returned to Kuching.
I will talk about these visits in my next column. Until then, take care, my friends.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune. The writer can be reached at adelinel888@gmail.com.
