Abah and I were in Sibu over the weekend. My bro-in-law drove us from their place to KLIA seeing as it was a ridiculously early flight (ETD 0720) and landed in Sibu less than two hours later. It was a small airport undergoing expansion and upgrading. We declined an offer of a lift (thank you kind stranger but I don’t like to trouble people) and took a cab to our hotel. The airport is about 26 km away from the town centre and we passed some Iban rice paddy fields, Iban settlement, housing areas before nearing the town centre. We left our luggage at the concierge and set off for the nearby central market for some mid-morning meal (the upper floor of the market is the market’s hawker centre).
After our light meal, we walked to the nearby Rajang River. It’s such a shame that the mighty river is chai-coloured – we were told it was clean about three decades ago but the activities upstream have permanently changed the colour of the river. We sat down for a while at one of the wharfs and watch passengers boarding boats to their respective destination. After a while, I got tired of watching and suggested we headed back.
As we still could not check in, we sat on some benches in the pavilion opposite the hotel. I then wandered off on my own to explore the town centre. Then I joined Abah and we headed off for lunch. It started raining as we were finishing our lunch.
After lunch, we headed to the hotel, got the room cards and went up. We rested before going off after dark to find dinner. Now, Sibu is a predominantly Chinese town and it was a bit difficult to find halal food in town especially after 7 pm as most halal stalls are already closed. The Malay/Melanau village is some distance away (and I wasn’t sure if we could find any eatery there anyway) so we returned the place where we had lunch and had dinner there. We did venture to the night bazaar but they were selling mainly apam and fried noodles which didn’t appeal to me.
On Saturday, we went to the market for breakfast. Then we hired a cab to take us around the town. He brought us to The Swan and some posh housing area (there was a mansion built for the late Agong there) next to the Rajang and around. Our final stop was the market where I bought some local durians (they were very pricey!). Then we went to the hotel to rest before venturing out again for lunch. I also collected some layered cakes which I had ordered on Friday to bring home.
Dinner was takeaway from Sugarbun and I settled down to watch Arsenal play Blackburn at Ewood Park (got my heart broken into pieces yet again. Damn you Arsenal. OK, if I must state some positives: 1) Two of our new boys, Gervinho and Arteta, scored; 2) Chamakh finally managed to score after months; and 3) Apart from the matches against Udinese and ManUre, that was the first time where we managed to score more than 1 goal. But overall, it was a horrid second half and I was so, so annoyed and this lasted well until today. Damn you Arsenal! So much for it being ALANS!).
After our light meal, we walked to the nearby Rajang River. It’s such a shame that the mighty river is chai-coloured – we were told it was clean about three decades ago but the activities upstream have permanently changed the colour of the river. We sat down for a while at one of the wharfs and watch passengers boarding boats to their respective destination. After a while, I got tired of watching and suggested we headed back.
As we still could not check in, we sat on some benches in the pavilion opposite the hotel. I then wandered off on my own to explore the town centre. Then I joined Abah and we headed off for lunch. It started raining as we were finishing our lunch.
After lunch, we headed to the hotel, got the room cards and went up. We rested before going off after dark to find dinner. Now, Sibu is a predominantly Chinese town and it was a bit difficult to find halal food in town especially after 7 pm as most halal stalls are already closed. The Malay/Melanau village is some distance away (and I wasn’t sure if we could find any eatery there anyway) so we returned the place where we had lunch and had dinner there. We did venture to the night bazaar but they were selling mainly apam and fried noodles which didn’t appeal to me.
On Saturday, we went to the market for breakfast. Then we hired a cab to take us around the town. He brought us to The Swan and some posh housing area (there was a mansion built for the late Agong there) next to the Rajang and around. Our final stop was the market where I bought some local durians (they were very pricey!). Then we went to the hotel to rest before venturing out again for lunch. I also collected some layered cakes which I had ordered on Friday to bring home.
Dinner was takeaway from Sugarbun and I settled down to watch Arsenal play Blackburn at Ewood Park (got my heart broken into pieces yet again. Damn you Arsenal. OK, if I must state some positives: 1) Two of our new boys, Gervinho and Arteta, scored; 2) Chamakh finally managed to score after months; and 3) Apart from the matches against Udinese and ManUre, that was the first time where we managed to score more than 1 goal. But overall, it was a horrid second half and I was so, so annoyed and this lasted well until today. Damn you Arsenal! So much for it being ALANS!).
On Sunday, we left for the airport at 0745 (we had agreed with the cabbie from the day before for him to send us to the airport). It was at the hotel lobby when I saw a work colleague – turned out he was also returning by the same flight! And we even sat in the same row and side of aisle 9he sat next to dad). We landed at 1120 and reached Akak’s at noon. After Zuhor prayers, we left for my aunt’s place in Kepong for Eid celebration. It rained cats and dogs on the way there. We stayed until 3.30 before returning to Akak’s.
Abah and I then left for home. The sun had come out by then and it was very bright all the way home.
Abah and I then left for home. The sun had come out by then and it was very bright all the way home.
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