Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wong Nai Siong Memorial Park and Heritage Walk

Sungai Merah is also where Wong Nai Siong Memorial Park is located. This park is to commemorate the contribution of Wong Nai Siong to the people of Sibu. A century ago, the Foochows begun arriving here with Chinese scholar Wong Nai Siong at the invitation of the White Rajah to cultivate food in Central Sarawak to feed the swelling local population.

The first batch of 72 Foochows arrived in Sibu in 1901 through the arrangement of Chinese scholar Wong Nai Siong. Although agricultural activities were unsuccessful in the initial years, the settlers perservered. They started to prosper when Rev James Hoover (there is another memorial park for Rev James Hoover in Sungai Merah), a Methodist missionary, brought in rubber seeds from Singapore

A Heritage Walk had been constructed along the river passing through Sungai Merah and Wong Nai Siong Memorial Park form part of the Heritage Walk. This is an overview of the Heritage Walk. The layout board is rather faded and should be replaced.

Behind the memorial park is a round square called the "Landing Point". I guess this is the spot where the Chinese immigrant first landed.

Across the road, there is a small arch, called "Sungai Merah Gateway". Sungai Merah means "Red River". According to the legend, the river (Seduan River) once flow across here used to be red in colour.


The most prominent structure at this heritage walk is the Lovers Bridge. Built across the river and connecting the two pathway along the heritage walk.

Since it is called Lovers Bridge, many couples will walk across the bridge at night and enjoying the surrounding view at night.

This is the view from the Lovers Bridge

In the early morning or evening, some folks will jog around the pathway. It's nice to walk around and chairs can be found along the pathway.

This is what they called Pirates Esplanande. It's just wooden plank and 2 masts behind the ship's structure.

This shed is called Peddlars Pavilion. I wonder why it is named such a way. There were youngster gambling there when I was there.

The Riversteps is the access point to a boat to navigate along the river. It is also nice just to sit on the steps and enjoy the river flow. It's usually high tide at night and it is easier to berth a "sampan" or speed boat here. Note some construction work at the background. Looks like more new shop houses will be built surrounding this heritage walk

The river beautification is an ongoing process as highlighted by this notice

For a heritage walk, I notice there is nothing much posted around here to highlight the history behind the place and etc. The Wong Nai Siong Memorial Park is mostly made up of Chinese wordings which some visitors might not understand.

11 comments:

Wengss said...

Very nice photos.

confessions of a medical student said...

agree.. pictures very nicely taken... :)

TNH said...

when i go to sibu..it seem that there are no place to visit at all..but from your blog i still saw some nice place that worth to have a look..

mencobahidup said...

foto yang bagus bang cuma terlihat agak mendung.Oh iya salam kenal ya.Kalau bisa nanti tipsnya dari bandara atau pelabuhan.Oh iya kalau nanti visit ke blog akau langsung rundown kebawah dan klik menu hyperlinknya

escape said...

landscape is beautiful old but it retained its charm.

Anonymous said...

nice photos. sg. merah is my regular place for lunch etc... had laksa there once. but not nice :P

Ivana said...

what an interesting lover bridge..

confessions of a medical student said...

Seduan River must have been bloody red~ :P
i thought there might be some story to the red-ness of the river.. like a war, and ppl bleed in it... or a water melon feast and ppl threw watermelon in it, or something.... haha!

EJ said...

Interesting name for a bridge... lover's bridge...

Have a riddle for you in my house, pls have a look on it and tell me what you think..

Anonymous said...

gorgeous collection of photos.... Very good description too! thanks for the tour!

pusangkalye said...

looks like you got a lot of memorial parks in your area. good thing people give much importance to such....