Venice of Sarawak

Sibu really deserve the title of "Venice of Sarawak". It has been flooded a few times already in 2009 (and this is just January). Today, the flood is probably the worse for year 2009.

Water can be seen everywhere.

In front of Wisma Sanyan

SJK Chung Hua badly flooded. Luckily the school has not started yet due to Chinese New Year long break

The flood cause the police to control the traffic and divert some of the cars to the safer paths. During flood time in Sibu, traffic law can basically be ignored.

Some roads are not submerged by the water and the local folks need to have those knowledge to avoid the flooded areas.

A lot of businesses in the town are badly affected. The water had entered their business premises and probably damage some of the properties.

Some premise owner create a make shift barrier from newspapers and paper board to prevent/minimize the water from entering their premise.

Sibu post office and its surrounding areas are badly affected.

Some parts along Jalan Kampung Nyabor are badly affected. It's virtually a water world here and total chaos. The water level here is almost at knee level.

Somehow some people still brave enough to drive through their vehicles across the water. I would not do that as it might damage some parts inside the vehicles.

Anything wrong with this pictures? I find it amazing how some Sibu folks still able to stop by the flooded coffee shop and have a drink/meal

The park next to old SMC building

Jalan Lanang is also flooded although efforts to raise this road a few times since last year

Jalan Pedada is almost submerged in water. No vehicle would dare to navigate through this stretch of road. The water level here is almost at waist level.

On certain area, rescue boat had to be deployed to evacuate some residents from the low lying areas

Flood around Jalan Tan Sri

This is the source of the flood. The overflown Rejang River. The high tide occur around 9-11am today, coupled with incessant rain at Kapit and Sibu. The root cause of the flood should be the shallow Rejang River due to siltation over the years as the corrupted politicians/leaders do not take any effort to dredge the river.

How on earth Sibu can be a tourist destination if the flood keep beleaguer the town?

Behind Sibu Central Market

Nearby Sibu Town Square

It has been flooded in Sibu since Day 1 of the Chinese New Year. Will this mean more floods to come in the year of the ox?

To tell the truth, I am sick and tired of the floods in my hometown already. I lost count of the floods occurrence last year and it seems like it is happening more frequent in the last few years. This never happened when I was still a kid/student

Treasured Award

I received "Treasured Award" today from Nanaybelen. I am honoured and happy to received this award from her.

Many thanks Nanaybelen!

RCL Professional

RCL brand shuttlecock is not available here in Sarawak and Sabah and this will be my first review on RCL branded shuttlecock. Special thanks for Mr. Ang from Tatt Seng Sporting Goods Sdn Bhd in Penang for supplying a few RCL shuttlecocks for me and my group to test it out.

RCL Professional cost RM45 per tube in West Malaysia and I believe it is a decent price if it performed well.

RCL shuttlecock had a unique green stripe on its cock as compare to other shuttlecock in the market. The RCL brand inscription can be clearly seen on the green stripe at the cock.

RCL Professional sticker at the base of the cock.

RCL Professional and RCL Titanium (which I will review soon) shuttlecock almost had the same sticker design and one might have difficulty to differentiate them. If observed closely the "RCL" word for the Professional is in yellow while the Titanium is in light brown.

It's time to put the shuttle to test. This is how the RCL Professional looks like after a pulsating and rigorous double game (15 points system). Notice none of the feather had detached. However, the circular arrangement of the feather stems had distorted a bit. In the end, the shuttle lasted one and a half game.

RCL Professional flight performance is good. It won't go out easily at the base line with a light tap from the net, unlike the other cheaper shuttlecock I reviewed before. I was able to direct my shot accurately while using RCL Professional shuttlecock. Another point to note is although the circular arrangement of the feather stems had been compromised, the shuttlecock still performed normally with minimum "spinning" effect.

I was satisfy and surprised with RCL Professional performance and endurance. With the reasonable price tag, I am sure going to purchase it if it is available here

Betong Rest Stop

Before I continue with my Batang Ai experience, I just like to highlight a rest stop along the Sibu-Kuching trunk road.

Betong rest stop is about 180km from Sibu. Roughly it is a 2 hours drive from Sibu. Betong Rest stop is just next to Betong Petronas Station.

I usually stop by at this rest stop to relax my strain muscles after a long drive and a visit to the loo. They charge RM0.30 for the loo.

There is a convenience store, food stalls and surau here.

There is this round structure at the centre of this rest stop. I don't really know what its primarily function is but it is sure a nice place to sit and rejuvenate myself before continuing my journey.

Batang Ai Dam

Batang Ai Dam is located in Lubok Antu, Some 233km from Sibu town. The dam is operational since around mid 1980s.

This is the road leading to Lubok Antu (about 40km) after taking a turn at the junction at the Sibu-Kuching trunk road.

The view of the Batang Ai Dam is truly spectacular. However the road here is kind of narrow and one should try not to park their vehicle inconsiderately. I notice there are a few small paths (only accessible by walking) along the road which might give a better and closer view of the dam

The dam has 4 turbines of 25MW each.

Behind this dam is a huge reservoir area and a resort, the Hilton Batang Ai.

This is what I believed to be the river diversion after passing through the dam's turbines