Visiting Mukah Town, The ex-Sago factory chimney

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Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia, is a coastal town which serves as the administrative center of the Mukah District in Mukah Division, Sarawak. It is located by the South China Sea, about 2.5 hours by road from the city of Sibu.

That day I went to Mukah for work and travel, its was the first time that I visit Mukah. It was a one hour flight from Kuching to Mukah, with a DHC-6 twin otter 19 seats plane.

The Mukah airport is just like the Limbang old airport, its a house looking airport, with a canteen, a checkin area, and a waiting area. See the man in the mirror, that's me :)

First thing that I did when reach there was to eat the kolo noodles, this is like a habit. Whenever I visit a place in Sarawak, I will definitely eat their local made kolo noodles. So by far the most tasty noodles is from Sibu.

In the town area, mostly are Chinese people doing business. And surprisingly Mukah has a lot of Hotels and Inn, I'm not sure that's the tourist attraction for this place, but the local people told me that the hotels are always full. O_o"

The district council build the wet market, and I like the floor design. Very obvious now I know that this is a fish market.

The Sago palm thrives in the peat soils of the Rajang Delta. In the 19th century, local cheiftains grew rich from the labour of farmers who extracted the starchy pith of tall palms manually. Sago factories streamlined this process. In the early 20th century the price of sago flour fell sharply. The Mukah factory closed, leaving behind a 20 meter tall brickwork chimney.



The Batang Mukah Bridge, one of the most notable structures of Mukah. But unfortunately I do not have the time to go visit that bridge. All I went is just roam in the Mukah Town, the airport and the bus station are very near with just 2 - 3 KM away from the town area.


Ok Captain, fly me back to Kuching...

When going back to Kuching, it was another hour of flight. I cannot sleep in the plane cause the turbine sound was too noisy >.<"

Batu Cave Temple, Murugan Statue, Monkey, and Wilson Chin

I'm in front of the entrance of a Hindu shrine at Batu Cave, this is the Murugan statute. A limestone hill which has a series of cave temple, a total of 272 concrete steps was build to replace the old wooden steps to enter the temple. Monkeys are all over the place to ask/steal food from tourists!

The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people.
As early as 1860, Chinese settlers began excavating guano for fertilising their vegetable patches. However, they became famous only after the limestone hills were recorded by colonial authorities including Daly and Syers as well as American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878.


Batu Caves was promoted as a place of worship by K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader. He was inspired by the 'vel'-shaped entrance of the main cave and was inspired to dedicate a temple to Lord Murugan within the caves. In 1890, Pillai, who also founded the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Murugan Swami in what is today known as the Temple Cave. Since 1892, the Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai (which falls in late January/early February) has been celebrated there.

Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in 1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its high vaulted ceiling.