Well anyway, I was excited to visit this place - to see for myself this small town which had some connection with my late maternal grandfather. Sebuyau is a sleepy coastal town in the Sri Aman Division. This small town is pretty much out of the way from the Pan Borneo Highway - the road that connects Kuching with major towns in Sarawak like Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu and all the way to Miri.
Source : Google Map
We need not travel on the Pan Borneo Highway. We could drive straight to Sebuyau from Kuching - via Samarahan, Asajaya and Sadong Jaya.
Source : Google Map
So that morning, my colleague, W, picked me up from my house at 6.50 a.m. We were meeting the others at Ru Yi Corner at Stutong, behind OneTJ. We wanted to fill our tummies before we began our journey.
(Source : www.waze.com)
The shorter way was via the ferry - the purple route; But we took the pink route that morning, which was longer by about 16.5km. The road brought us past idyllic village houses, pineapple fields, palm oil estates. Pineapple stalls dotted the road side .... and we were actually keen to buy some. However, we did not stop as we thought we could get the fruits later on in the journey ....
Very soon, we reached the little township of Asajaya ....
Very soon, we reached the little township of Asajaya ....
Asajaya had a few short blocks of shophouses like these ...
So colourful!
There wasn't much to see at Asajaya ...we stopped here for a toilet break, and also to cool ourselves down with cold drinks. Then we were on the road again ...
Sadong Bridge
This bridge was only opened in October last year; the 1.48km bridge over Batang Sadong brought us to Sebuyau
Before October 2016, commuters had to cross the crocodile-infested Sadong River via ferry. Though the ferry fare cost only RM1.00, it was no doubt slightly inconvenient as vehicles needed to queue up at the banks to wait for the ferry and water had to be at the right level for the ferry to operate ... Now, the bridge made it much easier for folks to travel ...
All the way to Sebuyau, we could see banana trees flanking both sides of the road! So many banana trees and some coconut trees .... but we did not see any road side stalls selling the fruits! Too bad!
Soon, we reached SMK Sebuyau.
SMK Sebuyau
Here, a fellow teacher was waiting for us. Her name was Siti. She was originally from Johor, and had been teaching at Sebuyau for 7 years already!
SMK Sebuyau had over 900 students, and was a double-session school; there were about 80 teaching staff here.
The buildings were on stilts as flooding occurs quite frequently here, and the teacher told us that the students were allowed to go home early whenever there was flood. I could see mud-skippers and little crabs on the ground ... heh ....
I tried to imagine myself teaching here ..... heh .... I would probably be bored to death.
There was nothing interesting at the shops ... no specialty items, no souvenirs .... hmn ...
We, coming all the way here, were interested in local produce and fresh seafood .... but in fact, we did not see any at all. According to Siti, the fishing boats would return at 4.00 p.m. usually, so she told us to wait till then in case they brought in some bounty from the sea ...
There were no hotels here .... and my friends who were staying overnight were putting up at the Sebuyau District Office Rest House. Heh. The house had 4 rooms, each accommodating a double and a single bed.
an en suite bath
The VIP room was RM60 a night, and the other 3 rooms cost RM50 a night. The rest house wasn't very well-maintained and seemed to be a little dirty, But the rooms were air-conditioned, thankfully.
We freshened ourselves up a bit and went to the jetty ....
I was quite amused to see the old-school "SHELL" sign. No petrol station here - I think petrol was sold in bottles. There were at least 3 grocery shops here ... I heard one of the shopkeepers speaking in Teochew. Before I had a chance to talk to him, he had disappeared into the shop. Heh.
A Chinese temple by the jetty
The sculptures were all damaged .... the hornbill was decapitated, the crocodile was missing its tail, the rhino's back had a big hole in it and the fish was missing its fin ... lol
I was keen to see a crocodile or two .... but heh .... there was none in sight ...
Since there wasn't much to see at Sebuyau, we drove out to the Batang Lupar ferry point ...
It took 30 minutes to go across Batang Lupar! So huge was the river!
The ferry leaving ....
A few of us wanted to leave our cars at the jetty and just jump on the ferry for a ride to the other side of the river bank; but then we were worried that we might not make it back in time; for if the tide subsided, the ferry could not operate. So in the end, we stayed put.
We went back to Sebuyau ... but the fishermen had not come back with their days' catch. The tide was low, we heard, and they could only be expected at a later time, perhaps at 6.00 p.m. Sigh. No seafood for us to source, no fresh seafood for us to buy for our dinner there .... All I managed to buy were 1 tub of pure gula apong and 2 pieces of soursop.
As the sun began to set, a few of us made our way home. Darkness descended quickly and it was pitch dark at most places along the way. There were no street lights, and occasionally we saw lights from the village houses beside the road.
It felt more civilised - or rather, somewhat less remote - after we crossed the Sadong Bridge. At the Asajaya ferry point, we queued up for the ferry to go across to Samarahan. It took RM1.00 and less than 5 minutes. Soon after Samarahan, we saw buildings familiar to us Kuchingites .... and I reached home at 9.40 p.m. The leisurely drive had taken us about 3 hours.
There were many parts of Sarawak which are still very remote, and not very developed. I think that hardly anyone visits Sebuyau since it is by-passed by the highway. Had there more visitors, Sebuyau would have been more lively. There would be hotels and homestays and seafood restaurants and even markets selling the local produce.
I wondered if the folks ever got out of Sebuyau. Where was the nearest bank? How often would they go to the nearest township? I guess they lead simple lives, and are self-sufficient - living off the land and the river and the sea; they have no need for fancy houses, big malls, material comforts, and fast Internet connections unlike me. Heh.
This trip has been a new but a very good experience for me. I really appreciate my friends for organising. As for fresh local produce and seafood, we were disappointed -
Looking forward to the next outing. Mukah? :))
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