... Bintulu — Fostering Adventure

Bintulu, Malaysia

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Highlights of Bintulu

After cruising roughly 600km further along the coast of Borneo overnight, we arrived in another port city, Bintulu. The capital of the Bintulu district, this port is the busiest in all of Sarawak. The city evolved from the simple fishing village it was in 1969, to now being the centre of energy intensive industries like LNG, distillate synthesis and a combined cycle power plant. All thanks to the discovery of oil and gas reserves off the coast fifty years ago.

The area is also heavily invested in oil palm and forest plantations, palm oil processing, wood waste processing and concrete manufacturing.

Bintulu has an interesting consistency about it, which is contrary to what we are used to here in Canada, that being the weather. There’s essentially no seasons to speak of, as the monthly temperature, humidity and hours of sunshine are roughly the same year round. This is incredibly beneficial for economic prosperity since there is no time of the year that negatively impacts the operation of any business.

Arrival At The Port

Our entry into the port happened sometime before 8am, and the thing that struck us was the notable absence of the welcoming committee. No music, no dancing, just a few tour buses waiting on the dockside. Despite this, the ship’s compliment were all eager to get ashore and start exploring the area.

Even in a modern port there is still the need of old school methods for unloading ships.

A welcome billboard is a sign of a port that caters to tourism.

This port is one of the tidier ones that we visited on this trip. Everything was very clean and well organized.

We couldn't tell if this lumber was incoming or outgoing.

Most of the ports we visited were industrial oriented. So tour buses etc. had to work around the commercial activity.

The port was small compared to our home port of Vancouver, but this one also had many containers stacked up and awaiting disposition.

When we arrived in port the container facility was unoccupied and waiting for its next ship.

The container gantries were either very well maintained, or quite new. They weren't even dirty.

The gang plank was deployed and all ready for use.

Info for passengers leaving the ship.

The queue of passengers waiting to get off the ship for their activity of choice.

The bus operators killing time while they wait for their passengers.

Off to explore the area

The facia detail on the temple was extraordinary.

In this port the day started early since the buses departed at 8:30. So an early rise, quick five course breakfast for fortitude, and then off to the cabaret area of the ship to get our bus assignments.

Our tour would take us to the Kuan Yin Tong Temple, Bintulu Market, Bintulu Mosque and the Bintulu Longhouse.

Kuan Yin Tong Temple

Surrounded by three western churches, Anglican, Methodist and Catholic, it is the only Chinese temple in the area and is only a few kilometres from the town centre. The temple is richly adorned with quality carvings, stonework, gardens and lush paintwork. While we were there there was a performance of dancing lions and loud music with banging drums and cymbals.

Exiting the port property for our morning of exploration.

There was lots of new construction throughout Bintulu.

A billboard advertising the development.

No rush hour here. Notice that the vehicle drive on the left side of the road.

Even on Borneo they have high tech services for internet connection.

We assume these houses were built on stilts to deal with potential floods.

Another major development in the area. This one looks enormous.

Arriving at the Chinese temple.

The red lion greeting people as they arrive at the temple.

He followed them around like a puppy looking for a biscuit.

There were lots of dragons and murals inside the temple grounds.

Amazing detail. Something almost always found on temples.

A small pagoda was situated on the grounds near the gardens.

The temple main building was very impressive indeed.

A golden lion was lurking all about the main plaza.

Not quite sure what the person was doing in front of the lion.

He spotted us and started giving us some personal attention.

The lion came up close to give us good look-over.

Once he had checked us out he started looking for others to investigate.

The stone sculptures were very intricate and impressive.

More dragons guarding the temple.

Large carved stone vessels were conveniently situated for worshipers to place their incense sticks in.

More lovely detail located on the ceiling.

The main worship area inside the temple.

The main temple bell in a place of importance at the front of the temple.

A side view of the main temple building.

A cute painting of pandas displayed on the side of the building.

Malay Fishing Village And Bintulu Market

We drive past Kampung Baru, a small Malay fishing village on the Kemena River, en route to the Bintulu Market. Upon arrival, we took a short guided stroll through the market, which features exotic fruit and local delicacies.

We passed by the small Malay fishing village located on the river.

The dwellings were built from widely sourced building materials, and put together in the best way they could.

The boats were conveniently tethered underneath the owners home.

Some of the huts were decidedly less sophisticated.

The boats they used came in various sizes and styles.

More two wheeled transportation.

We passed by this well protected school.

We saw young students, but couldn't determine if this was just an elementary school, of covered all grades.

Passing though a commercial area on the way to the market.

This sign shows a likeness of the structure we passed. It must be part of the local government council.

An impressive clock structure located in the town centre.

More commercial buildings near the town centre.

There were plenty of lush trees located all through the city. Not surprising considering the climate.

We finally arrived at the Bintulu Market.

The market was very large and provided a plethora of products, many of which we had no clue what they were.

Bintulu Longhouse

Brief visit to an Iban Longhouse enroute. The Ibans were long ago feared for their headhunting activities. Many Ibans still live in wooden longhouse on stilts which is divided into individual rooms called “bilik” for each household. A communal area called “rual” for villagers to meet as well as perform their traditional ceremonies.

The Iban longhouse, a residence of the people of this cultural group.

The sign says, "No Smoking Area. If convicted, you can be fined RM 10,000.00 or prison for 2 years."

One of the residents in normal clothes, and a handsome couple in traditional dress.

It was unclear if the residents dress like this all the time, or are just doing so for the people touring their facility.

The dress is quite beautiful, as are the people themselves.

The building has a very long outside deck, with benches for sitting outside in cooler hours.

This is the long common area, and the doorways along the left wall are the entrances to separate family suites.

A clear view of a dwellings entry door.

The sign speaks of the Sumök Children's Orphanage, and best we can tell, some actions and fines relating to them.

This appears to be a water filter of some sort.

Laundry dries outside alongside the large parking area.

Back at the ship and leaving port

Returning to the ship in time for a late lunch, we then had the afternoon to relax and reflect on our visit to Bintulu.

Back at our ship in time for lunch.

There's always a few that would rather soak in the pool than learn about the area we are visiting.

The port is quite modern and can handle large ships as well as small.

One of the harbour tugs used to push ships into the docks.

As we left port the container gantries were hard at work unloading another ship.

A sizeable breakwater had been installed on the seaward side of the wharf finger.

A tanker ship alongside the petroleum loading infrastructure.

The pilot boat follows us out of port so that they can take our ship's pilot off after we have cleared the outer marker.

Another breakwater on the outside of the port facility.

An LNG ship coming into the port for loading.