Sibu

By mrnorman

Edit this page

Sibu is one of the few major towns in Sarawak, East Malaysia.

It started as a river town and built on swampy grounds. The timber industry in other surrounding towns brought many Chinese to settle down in this town.

The population is mostly Chinese, and some indigenous Ibans. The most common Chinese dialect spoken here is Foochow.

Entertainment is very lacking. There isn't even a cineplex, and over the last three decades, the number of cinemas has diminished from two to only one today.

What the locals do for entertainment is eat. And many seafood restaurants thrive here seemingly in excess of the population size and local tourism. The river docks here receives a lot of fresh water delicacies from the deeper interiors of Sarawak.

Demand for these fishes far outstrips supply. The little that is exported to West Malaysia are immediately snapped up by major hotels and never reach the West Malaysian public. So do not miss this opportunity if you happen to be in town.

Chinese New Year celebrations in Sibu is also rather unique in all Malaysia. Pyrotechnics is illegal in Malaysia without a license. But more fireworks are discharged in Sibu during Chinese New Year than anywhere else or any other time in Malaysia. It's a confluence of factors such as the many timber barons seeking to out do each other, a strong presence of fireworks smugglers, local parliament representatives who won't rock the boat, and a Chinese majority who hold grudges against local representatives.

Every year, the pyrotechnics will go on for hours and over several nights.


Sibu is serviced with an airport with domestic flights to Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, and other towns in Sarawak.




Edit this page