Apr 12 - I thought I had today figured out ahead of time. Several information sources, including yesterday’s tour guide, confirmed that there was a speedboat to Sibu leaving a jetty east of town at 8:30. We get there by Grab at 8:00, and the lack of activity immediately alerts me to a problem. I am informed that the speedboat has not run since Covid. This is a real bummer, as it would have taken half the time. We get back in the taxi and head to the central bus station, all the way across town the other way. Get seats on a bus departing at 10:00.
This is our first official long-distance bus ride in Sarawak. When we arrive, a tout was at the taxi right away, asking us our destination. But it didn’t feel like the classic tout situation, where they steer you to one particular bus line where they get a commission. Rather it was simply a matter of getting the next bus, and the tout did not have his hand out for tips.
It is over seven hours to get to Sibu. We ghost the Indonesian border several times, in an area where it traces along a low ridge line just south of us. The road, like that to Lundu a few days ago, is under construction but largely finished except for the bridges. The surfaces are new but we lurch from one side of the divided highway to the other, depending on which side is ready for traffic. Plenty more interesting road cuts here, with bedded sediments tilted, and sometimes folded.
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Raining heavily as we enter Sibu. This city was founded by the omnipresent James Brooke, who built a fort here to defend against attacks by the Dayak people. Later, when life was more stable in the region, a large number of immigrants came from Fujian, China. This gave the city the character it has today.
Our hotel is in the heart of downtown, a few blocks from the Rajang River. It is already late, so all we really have time for is to find a restaurant. We chose a Chinese place, upscale. The table server is endlessly curious about what we are doing there.
Malaysia (Sarawak)