One Half of Me (01)

I am a Bidayuh, and I am proud of it. Having said that, please do not ask me which Bidayuh village I am from because I cannot answer you. Why? Though I am 100% Bidayuh, my parents are from different tribes of Bidayuh – Dad is from the district of Bau (Singghai- Daun) while Mom is from Serian (Tebakang). Additionally, they speak a different dialect and being raised by a home-maker, I grew up speaking Mom’s dialect, which is Bukar sadong, and totally different from Dad’s dialect. So yeah. I do not have a village per se because I was born in Kuching and Kuching is officially a city, NOT a village.









along the Serian-Tebedu road, you will notice such scenes as this (this is near Kgp Kakai)



Serian is a small town about 40miles from Kuching. Every other weekend, my family and I would drive there to spend the weekend with my parents; Mom and dad decided to settle in Tebakang when Dad retired. They are officially landowners now, not civil servants.







the Serian lake at dusk











Serian is famous for its durians (Dad has a durian orchard) so the Serian District Council erected a monument to this ‘King of Fruits’ at the roundabaout approaching the town.




my daughter knows that we are reaching Tayong's (granny's) house when we reach the roundabaout and the gigantic durian...




When back in the village, the whole family would attend Sunday mass at St Teresa’s Parish church. After mass, we would converge at a local coffee shop for kolo mee, laksa and porridge before heading home.

Some places of interest at Serian includes the Ranchang waterfall. I have not been there since the 1980s so I really do not know how it looks like today, or even how to get there. But the waterfall is nicely done by the council.








the bridge from the water's view









picture taken from the suspension bridge











In Serian town, they have only one fast food restaurant – the KFC. My nephew Abe works there and some nights, we get to eat fried chicken for free!

















The Serian market is another place which one should visit. I am not a market-person but when I go to the market there, I am assured of finding many an-interesting things. For Hubby, the pork market is a not-to-be-missed because that’s his favourite food.






Hubby is such a regular than Uncle Khong gives him discounts on his purchases...



Another interesting fact is that Serian is only 15mins drive from the border town of Tebedu and the Malaysian/Indonesian border. I must say the road there by-pass Mom’s village but we get the occassional Indonesian vehicles stopping by once a while.












the road going to Tebedua and the border is an up-hill journey. Dad alwasy say,"To go to Tebedu, just head towards the limestone hills." (as seen on the picture)



So that's the Bukar-Sadong side of me. The next time, I will enlighten all on the Singghai side of me... if I have enough info to share all.