On our two two previous visits to Sibu, we didn't have a car. So this time we were keen to do some of the Sibu-based outings that need wheels.

First up, the Jade Dragon Temple, about 20 km from our accommodation. We spotted this a while ago, on our way back from Bintulu, so it was nice to take a closer look at what is said to be the largest temple complex in Southeast Asia.

Yesterday was a drizzly day, but the dull skies made the colours really pop. I'll just stop talking, and show you the pictures:














As rewarding as the beautiful views were the quirky ones:





If yesterday could be described as a drizzly day, today was a downright rainy one. We headed bright and early for Kanowit, a little town that sits on the confluence of the Kanowit and Rajang rivers. The closer we got, the harder it rained. It was especially pluvious (it's a word -- honestly) just as we were arriving...



And truly, good food can change your day... On a rainy and quite chilly morning (by our standards), what will absolutely make you feel better is an enormous bowl of rice porridge. This one was really awesome, its steaming hot depths harbouring pork balls, fish balls, chicken, and an egg (oh, and liver, which I fed to Nigel):


Nigel went for the kampua mee special, and raved as much as I did:


I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: The food you get in unpretentious little food courts in Sarawak is really unrivalled for quality (soooo tasty) and price (these two ample dishes cost MYR 13 or GBP 3...)

Anyway, the rain eased off a bit as we were working our way through breakfast, so we set off for a brief walk. There's plenty to see.

Classic old shophouses, five-foot ways, and wooden houses:







A glowing Chinese temple by the banks of the Rajang:



A pretty church:


Lots of interesting stuff on and across the river:




Then there's Fort Emma, site of a double killing back in the days of James Brooke, the first "rajah" of Sarawak:




And finally there's the monument to the police and army forces who died fighting communist insurgents over a period of many years:


Full-on raining again by now:


One piece of advice: Don't decide, before heading back to Sibu, to take your car up Bukit Memaloh... There's no view from the top, and nowhere to turn round, so you have to reverse all the way down the steep and twisty road...

Good day, though, despite the reversing and the rain. We're not far from Kuching, and yet we're in a very different world.