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| Typical Sarawak country road, from Kuching to Bintulu |
With this 46th trip to Bintulu our accumulated distance traveled stands at 53,800 km. As usual on board this trip was Inul, fospa and fosma. We left Kuching at 9.30 am and this time around the trip took us a little longer time because of the rainy season or monsoon which brings in much rain throughout Sarawak for at least a duration of four months starting November. Soon after leaving Kuching fospa had a short break at Serian for morning breakfast. Thereafter it was an uninterrupted journey if not for three pit stops i.e. at Sri Aman for lunch, Sibu for refuelling and Selangau for dinner.
At the town of Sri Aman we had our lunch in the car while fospa and fosma ate at a cafetaria in the center of the town. Fospa had a hearty meal of rice with fish and vegetables of the 'Cekur manis' (
Savropus androgynus) with the local pumpkin or Labu merah fruit (
Cucurbita moschata) (See picture at inset).
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| We had lunch inside the car at a cool and heavily shaded car parking area in the town center. |
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| Fospa had to put the orchids inside the car to prevent damage to the flowers . |
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| Sri Aman town |
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| Vegetables and fruits at the tamu or jungle produce market |
We rested for about an hour at Sri Aman to check out the jungle produce market or locally called'Tamu' and for lunch. Two items that were of interest to fospa were the 'Engkala' fruits ( inset shows the round green and unripe fruits of the Engkala) and the shoots of the 'Lalis' which is a rattan species is shown below.
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Shoots of the 'Lalis' - Plectocomiopsis geminiflora, a rattan species which is cooked as vegetable.
At the top of the picture is the stem of the rattan climber not yet unbarked. |
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| Rain most of the way because this is end of year monsoon period. |
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| Cantin at Selangau pit stop |
From Sri Aman to Bintulu we encountered heavy rains and thus the time to arrive Bintulu took a few hours longer. We arrived home at 9.30 pm in rain and darkness but the journey was a safe one.
