Sarikei

This was how it happened. Some people were doing some construction work on the road leading to town. In order to avoid the (minor) congestion on my way to buy some food on Sunday, I decided to take a detour. The lane I took actually connected to a dual carriageway. In order to get to town, I was supposed to make a U turn upon reaching the first set of traffic lights. I missed it.

Suddenly I found myself driving towards the airport. “No worries. I’ll just double back once I reach the airport roundabout,” so I thought to myself. However, when I reached the roundabout, I decided that perhaps I should go forward instead of making the 180 degree turn back to town. After all, I’ve never seen ‘what’s out there’.

Before I know it, I was on the Batang Rajang bridge and as I headed further forward I found myself on my way to Sarikei.

Sarikei is a little town about 90+ km from Sibu. It took me a little over an hour to reach and by the time I arrived in Sarikei it was already slightly after three in the afternoon. The road initially consisted of a dual carriage way (I guess in Malaysia we can call it a ‘highway’). However, after the Julau roundabout, it became a normal two way road. I must say the quality of the paving of these roads leave a lot to be desired. On the way it appeared that the main population of these parts are Chinese. There were not many longhouses along the way, unlike the road to Mukah.

Since I was driving alone and there was hardly any radio signal along the way, I spent most of the drive talking to myself, debating the merits of eventually getting a Myvi vs a (intracranial bleed inducing) Yamaha XJ6, the merits of an induction cooker vs a gas stove, and other such intellectually stimulating discussions. Of course the extent of how ‘intellectually stimulating’ such discussions can be is itself debatable considering I only had myself to talk to.

When I arrived there the town was rather quiet. Maybe because it was a hot Sunday afternoon. My first impression was that it looked and felt like most other small towns in Malaysia. Which is perhaps a polite way of saying that it was a rather boring generic place...

Sarikei is a small town. About the same size as Mukah maybe. The Rajang River flows by this town and apparently the main things that they produce around these parts are pineapples and pepper. I went to the market which sits across the road from the main ferry terminal but there wasn’t any pineapple left.

When I asked the burger lady from whom I bought a ‘Special Manjan Burger’ (beef and chicken burgers plus a frankfurter sausage and egg) about where I can get some aunthentic Sarawak pepper, she replied that I can get those in Kuching (huh?).

So after having my ‘Special Manjan Burger’ by the river, I began my journey home. Interestingly, there were in fact two roads leading back to Sibu. While the initial route was via the airport, the other route followed the Hulu Lanang Bridge into Sibu. There was a toll (for which I had absolutely no idea) for using the Hulu Lanang bridge but it appeared that this route was shorter and more comfortable compared to the one I took earlier. It cost RM3 for the toll.

Sometimes just having someone to talk to makes all the difference

Overall, my ad hoc journey to Sarikei was not particularly fun especially since I couldn’t get my hands on neither pepper nor pineapple. Maybe I should just get them from Giant...

The Black Pepper Board’s office is situated just outside Sarikei. Heck, even the Traxx FM advert says that Sarikei was supposed to be famous for its pepper