Suspension Bridge

Many of the suspension bamboo bridges can be seen in Bidayuh areas, especially in Bau District such as Tringgos. Some are awesomely high and many of my friends during my working days did not dare to use them. They are made of long bamboo poles and fastened with rattan.

This one is found crossing Sg. Serin at Teng Bekap, not constructed of bamboo and rattan but a typical model.

Visit to Kampung Sira

The trip to the village was incidental. That morning, 8th November 2009, we went to Teng Bekap, situated at Mile 31 Padawan Road, attending the Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop John Ha in conjunction with the confirmation of more than 90 Catholics. As such making a trip for another 5 kilometers to the village was a bonus, as we had not visited our relatives there for more than three years.

For those who have not ventured to this beautiful Bidayuh village, take note that you need to travel to Teng Bekap via Padawan Road, a short distance from Tapah new Township at mile 24, Kuching Serian Road. The journey itself, though only 7 miles, is most memorable, what with its long winding and hilly road.

The journey from Teng Bekap to Sira passes through Krian village. Care taken as the road is narrow and winding. Reflecting back, I used to travel to the village on foot in 1964 accompanying Rev Fr Harry when I was a pupil of St Michael at Teng Bekap.


My brother-in-law is married to a local there and surprising them with the visit would be a good idea as my son, Mark had not been to the village before.

We had a good time tucking in durians collected that morning by Awen, the brother of my brother-in-law's wife. After the durian, we went to the river to collect two pails of river sand for my soil mix.

Herewith are some pictures taken at the village with relatives.

pic 1-2

a month old grand niece.

cool swiming in the river

river crossing

To Lundu to buy fish & prawns

Yesterday was a public holiday-Prophet Muhammad's birthday so naturally Mark and Jessica were having their day off. Jessica and her colleagues went to Damai Resort for an overnight stay.

I suggested to Mark and Sylvia for a trip to Lundu to which both agreed. After sending Jessica to her Office to meet up with her colleagues, we left for Lundu at 10.00AM, arriving at Lundu at 11.30AM.

Sylvia made a quick check at the fish market, but was told to check again at 1.00PM.

We went to the vegetable market, bought some local vegetables and then had our lunch at the foodstall at the first floor. It was a simple fare of stirred fried mixed vegetables with seafood and fish head soup with pickled mustard.

After Lunch we took a short drive to Holy Spirit Church to take the picture of the Church. I was here last week but missed taking the picture. I needed the picture for this blog.

When we arrived at the fish market, we discovered to our horror that the good fish, such as Threadfin (Ikan Senangin) has all been snapped by earlier shoppers. But our family favourites, udang galah and udang siar were still aplenty and very fresh. My wife made sure she had good selections. There were also two tails of Ikan Pelayak, both were big- the smaller one about 4 kg. We bought half, descaled and fully sliced. We bought along our ice container to ensure our catch wwas fresh.

We decided to make our journey home after buying the fish and prawns, but not before checking the hawkers' stalls at the former ferry jetty. There we bought our favourite local delicacies. I also took a few pictures as show here.

After an uneventful journey we reached home at 3.00PM. Sylvia went staight to the kitchen to sort and prepare the fish and prawns for storage and dinner.