Beautiful Bintulu's Water Front

Recently, I had an opportunity to visit Bintulu, a fourth largest town in Sarawak. Bintulu is a major industrial area which is located about 650 kilometers from Kuching and about 215 kilometers from Miri.

Bintulu has one of the longest water front along its river as well as its sea front.


View of the Bintulu's water front. Several anglers waited patiently for their baits to get fruitful results. After spending some time along the area, it seemed very difficult to get any fish along the area.


Another view of the water front facing toward the river.


View of the water front facing toward the open South China Sea.



A lonely fishing rod waiting for its reward.




Another role of the water front is as a flood mitigation measure.




The water front is an ideal place for recreational activities such as jogging or brisk walking.



For those who are really adventurous, they can try paragliding at the water front area.



Sunset at the Bintulu's water front area.

New Low Cost Carrier Terminal

The current Low Cost Carrier Terminal LCCT terminal in Sepang will soon be converted into cargo terminal once the new LCCT terminal is completed by the year 2012. I am looking forward to the new terminal since it will be connected to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) terminal via Express Rail Link (ERL).

Also the new terminal can handle more flights and also can accommodate more parked vehicles.


Picture of buses parking in front of the current LCCT terminal. Soon it will be part of history.


Passengers boarding the Air Asia Flight at the current LCCT terminal.

Essentials for Rural Folks

IMG_2038
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Water and electricity are two essential items which would not be easily available for rural folks staying far away from national power grid. To overcome the electricity scarcity, a solar system can be utilized as shown in the picture. The solar panel is connected to a battery used to store the solar energy into electricity.

For water supply, the areas can be supplied using rain water which are harvested throughout the rainy days and the rain water is stored in the big water storage tanks as shown in the picture.


Water storage tanks used for storing rainwater to be made available to the rural folks.

Simunjan Town

IMG_2004e
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

The following picture shows one of the famous coffee shop in Simunjan town center. The shop was establised since 1979 as indicated by the name of the shop. It seemed that the shop is frequently visited by Simunjan folks.

Sadong River Ferry Crossing

Sadong River is one of the largest river in Sarawak. To build a bridge crossing the river might be too expensive considering the small traffic volume using the facilities. The only alternative is to use ferry services as discussed in this blog. The ferry service is a vital link to access road linking Simunjan, Pantong, and Sebuyau area.

From Kota Semarahan, it takes only one and a half hour trip to reach Simunjan using the Kota Semarahan-Sadong Jaya highway via the Sadong River ferry service and also Semarahan river ferry service.

Alternatively, it took more than three hours to reach Simunjan using the TransBorneo highway via Serian.


Row of stalls selling essential items at the Sadong River ferry crossing (on the Sadong Jaya side). Visible in the picture is a couple of toilets if you need to ease your self. But the toilets only open very late during the day and the entrance fee is 20 sen. The toilet depends on rain water for its water supply. So, you can expect what happen during dry season and you better be prepared for the worst. Visible in the picture also ferry waiting for vehicles and for your information, the ferry will not move until the ferry is at full carrying capacity. Meaning to say that the departure time is dependent on the number of vehicles is waiting in the queue.




View from inside of the ferry. The ferry is large enough to carry several lorries.





There is no toilets in the ferry, it is up to your own courage to relieve yourself if you need to.




The majestic view of Sadong river. The current is very strong and the river is very big but as big as the Batang Lupar river.




View of ferry terminal at the other side of the river.





Another view of the Sadong river.





Inside view of the ferry.




View of the ferry terminal at the Simunjan Side. Turning right is the direction to Simunjan whereas turning left is the direction to Sebuyau area.




View of the ferry terminal at the simunjan side.




View of the ferry terminal at the Simunjan Side.




Anotehr view from the ferry terminal.




You can replenish your stocks by purchasing the relevant items from the stalls beside the road.




One of the ferry is crossing the river in the direction to the other side of the river while another ferry is going to this side of the river.


View from the ferry.


Another view from the ferry.




One of the flood light on the ferry for night trip because the ferry operate from early in the morning until 10 pm at night. In case that you are late, you have no choice but to find some where in the area to stay for the night.




Ferry passengers while waiting for the ferry to arrive to the other side of the river.





Vehicles waiting in the ferry.


View of one of the two ferry crossing the river.