Bintulu's Hardest Wood

It is called the 'Belian' ( Eusideroxylon zwageri ) .The locals here have no doubts to its longevity and resistance to insects attack or rot. Pressed further they will say that their lives revolve around it. Belian timber are made into roofing tiles or shingles, floors, jetties, house posts, fences, steps and stairs, walkways, pestles and mortars, weapons, canoe hulls, telephone and electricity posts, stakes for pepper vines or piles for civil construction. It is so useful to the peoples of Sarawak that it is prohibitted to be exported. At this sawmill ,you can buy or order to size the timber from as thick as 30 cm to as thin as 4mm, normally the size used for roofing shingles. The belian timber is heavy and therefore will sink when placed in water or river. But when submerged for say half a century or more like the ones used as posts for village houses along Bintulu river, they are not subjected to rot. Strange but true.

First Facts of Bintulu - First Garden Gazebo

This is the best picture I have of the first garden structure built at a public space and for public amenity in Bintulu in the very early years of the 1960's. The structure was probably built in 1960. The roof was made of tiles and post of belian hardwood. The floor was tiled with mosaic . This public amenity was well frequented in those days and around it were other public amenities like the see-saw and swing. The garden lawn was planted with cow grass ( axonopus compressus) and the most interesting feature was that it was planted with trees. One particular tree that still remains to this day is the yellow flame  tree ( Peltophorum pterocarpum) ( Please see picture below) which is fortunately preserved in the re-making of the park and its surrounding area which is underway now.

To the left of the yellow flame tree was a swing, which I used to play with and towards the right would be the public structure or gazebo. In 1961,  I was 10 years old. Thus this tree is more than 45 years old now.

The center of attraction of the park today is this fountain. However, there are no rest or garden shelter built  like it used to be before.

Farm road wet as a river

The above scene is typical of Bintulu these days. Since my arrival here last Friday, it has been raining everyday, if not in the day it will surely rain at night. This morning while on the way out to fetch my worker I was met with heavy downpour that made the earth road slippery and negotiating up the steep hilly slope a tricky adventure. But I managed only because I used a 4x4 vehicle.

For Sarawak, the months of November to January are referred to as the 'Landas' season or the rainy monsoon season. The term monsoon was made popular by Arab traders who found that two monsoons a year come to tropical Asia bringing in solid downpour of rain in different places at different times. In Arabic 'musim' means season.  For example the North Easterly winds that blow through the months of November till January will result in torrentious rain for Sarawak, Borneo, Sumatra and Java. While the South westerly winds will wet the areas of India, Thailand and the western parts of Peninsular Malaysia. 

Strictly No Durian

That's me taking a picture of the notice which says it all. On location shooting: At a hotel in Bintulu.

Driving Through Heavy Rains

While nearing Bintulu town on our journey back after an overnight trip from Miri, we drove into heavy rains for about two hours. Below are pictures of our car driving through the thin and thick of a heavy downpour.  November's weather is of the extremes. Dry and hot one day and the next day the rains may pour endlessy.

Feather-leaved Palm Living in Water

From  the feathered-leaved palm tree and the conical roofs across is a distance of about 300 meters.

I clicked this shot today as I was sending my worker back to his village from work at my farm.

The two yellow boats on the left are deep sea trawlers and on the right are smaller coastal fishing boats.

This river is called the Kemena River and as a small boy I used to row a tiny boat to reach this side of the river ( foreground) with my brothers to collect firewood from the sawmill which were all free for the taking.  Our family used to live on the Bintulu town proper side of the river (where the conical roofs  are) in the 60's-70's.

The conical roofs take the shape of our local 'Terendak' , a working hat used by Melanau men and woman for shade against the sun and rain. The blue conical roofs are the wet and dry markets, whereas the green one in the far background ( towards the left) is the 'Tamu' or jungle produce market.

The peculiar palm tree in the foreground is our kind of riverside tree. It grows submerged in water. Called the 'Nipah' in our local Melanau dialect, it grows abundantly along both sides of the Kemena River for kilometers up river where the brackish water at high tide is saline and at low tide fresh.  Often people refer to it as the Mangrove Palm because it is prevalent in mangrove salty marshes or tidal mudflat areas.

A CU View of the Nipah Palm ( Nypa fruiticans)

A Candid Camera Shot

A candid shot indeed. The motorcylist rides a motobike without helmet. While driving does sms. And on all counts serious for the fact that the motorbike he's driving has a 'P' plate meant for learners who should avoid doing any traffic offences. In reality however I was trying to click on the tall tree called the 'Malay Apple ' tree or 'Jambu Bol' tree ( Syzygium malaccense ) that stood tall by the road. This tree is also referred to as the 'mountain apple ' in Hawaii or in their local tonque as 'Ohia'.