Nature and Life..

Gold Arawana's photos collection on Nature and Life...

River and Life...one of my major interest.

Young and energetic...For the nature, we see that the eldest always creates path and support the younger to the top...

Because power, young and beauties is just temporary.....

The nature has their own "signatures" to proud off..

Looking for engineering solution?

Maybe the nature have the best answer...

Where you start is always not important as where you finish

Food is life... For Asian countries means "Rice is Life"

Too much foods also not good...

Life is always full of challenges and thorns...

But most of us choose to live among the thorns...

Lada (Pepper) - Kebanggaan Sarawak...

...dan kebanggaan yang telah dilupai??

Lada (sama ada lada putih atau hitam) adalah rempah ratus yang hebat, dikenali ramai oleh chef-chef terkemuka di seluruh dunia sebagai rempah yang mempunyai cita rasa tersendiri. Baberapa tahun dahulu, Lada merupakan tanaman komersil yang utama diusahakan oleh penduduk Sarawak terutamanya yang tinggal di tanah tinggi. Dengan kewujudan dan kepesatan pembangunan tanaman komersil lain yang memberikan keuntunggan yang lebih cepat dan menguntungkan, lada semakin dilupai... Atau pun mereka tidak mempunyai tanah lagi untuk mengusahakannya?? Faktor-faktor lain:

(i) Harga tidak menentu, harga murah dan tidak berpatutan berbanding keringat dan baja yang diperlukan
(ii) Kayu belian yang digunakan sebagai pancang semakin pupus? Tapi difahamkan kayu lain dapat digunakan sebagai alternatif
(iii) Negara-negara pengeluar lain semakin banyak seperti Vietnam dan India yang menawarkan harga yang rendah

Kebun lada yang kecil di tepi jalan dari Sri Aman ke Betong...

Dan ladang kelapa sawit yang dominan di kiri dan kanan jalan-jalan utama di Sarawak...

Sebuah kebun lada terbiar...tanda-tanda bahawa penghasilan lada sebagai tanaman komersil utama Sarawak, dan suatu masa dahulu sebagai kebanggaan Sarawak sudak mengalami keruntuhan zaman kegemilangannya.

Mungkin Lembaga-lembaga terlibat perlu berusaha lebih...

Gold Arawana's Collection....

Gold Arawana is not a journalist or a professional photographer, but he has thousands or millions of words to say, and another thousands or millions of opinions to point out. However, most of the time he just speechless...because he is just nobody to anybody...Some says that photo is meaningful than thousands of words.....and this is one way to express his feelings...

Parenting on "HUMANitute" ... Always try to follow advices and experiences of the eldest...

Or you will lost in this lost world...

COTTON is normally white...

They were originally white too...

Some are HOMELESS....because they have nowhere to stay...

And some are abundant their home...because they can stay anywhere

Skodeng....thanks to the advance technologies...

But do not misused the technology to "skodeng" others doing his private business...

Malaysian parable says; "Patah tumbuh, hilang berganti"

But most of the times we need to "cut off" and control the "grow".... or otherwise they will keep growing, extra growing and extra-ordinary growing like this "forest rain", and it will be out of control. It is just my personal opinion, anyway....

LOCAL DELICACIES (MUKAH UMAI)

Gold Arawana on local food that you must try...

For those have visiting Mukah, or on the planning stage to visit Mukah, your visit is not yet completed until you try the special local food called “umai”.

Umai is made of raw fish, pounded together with norm ingredients such as onion, chili and lemon. Sometimes, grind peanuts are added. Another old version of umai is to serve it together with another local food called sago.

Those familiar with Japanese “Sushi”, Umai is just a sibling of that type of raw food. Except the way it serves, the preparation of the fish is almost similar. Fish used are normally known by the locals as “pirang”, “puput” or some are using “tenggiri”. In new version of umai, some says that cuttlefish and prawn can be used as well.

Preparation of the fish is not that easy as skills and experience on using sharp knife needed to cut the fish into smaller slices. The ingredients are normally prepared separately based on the taste of the buyer. In Mukah there are two types of umai, “Umai jep” and “umai campur” the different could be seen on the type of ingredient used and how it is serve.

A packet of raw fish currently retail for RM 10.00 which is about 100 grams, and the ingredients retail RM 3.00 per packet for “umai campur” and RM 5.00 per packet for “umai jep”.

One final warning, the best umai is made of fresh fish. Hence, please inform the hawkers, that you need special preservation if you are about to bring it in long journey and ask on their advise. They are friendly and helpful indeed!

Preparation of Mukah Umai....

A packet of raw fish, retail at RM10.00 for about 100 grams or less.

Ready-made ingredients, retail at RM3.00 per packet (Umai campur) and RM5.00 per packet (Umai Jep)

Raw fish... It needs skills and experience to slice the fish into thin slices....

Grind peanuts... it is not a compulsory ingredient

Aji-No-Moto... Can put extra for your own taste..

Onions and Chillies... This are compulsory ingredients

Mix them together....

Dont forget to put this...

Squeeze on the umai and dont forget to separate the seeds...

Mix them together and it is ready to serve... Enjoy..

Mukah Wet Market is open daily as early as 6.00 am.... Mukah Umai is available at almost all food premises and restaurants in Mukah....

River and Life (Batang Igan)

Gold Arawana on his trip from Sibu to Dalat by speed boat through Batang Igan...

Igan ferry, one of the landmark for Igan. Igan ferry is one of the longest crossing still available in Sarawak..

Speed boats parked at Sibu wharf. Second from the left is the one brings me to Dalat... With the bad road condition from Selangau to Mukah (due to road upgrading works), speed boats became popular for travelers to Mukah. Just pay RM20.00, take about one and half an hour to witness the relationship between river and life, will be a good experience for travelers......

For the operators, I try to calculate their income on it. RM 20.00 X 20 persons or more = at least RM 400.00 per trip. Not bad ley....That means that they could earn at least RM 1,600.00 per day!

My speed boat just pleading away from Sibu wharf and the photo shows the old wharf formerly known as "Pulau Babi". Don't ask me how it gets it names....funnylah. It is not even an island.

Life is always good for the town folks... but some are not. Thumps up to this young parent...this river might be means everything to this small family...

Batang Igan Bridge... The road that will connect Tanjung Manis to Sibu.

Timber-based industries are common along this river. Travelers even can see hundreds of them along the river. Other than providing job opportunities to the locals and gear up the state economy, they also provide major contribution to the spoiled of river ecosystem.

Timber-based industries cannot be blamed as sole contributor to the river pollution. The settlements along the river are also one of the contributor.

Batang Igan being known and developed for its potential for ship-building industries. Creating another job opportunities for the locals...

At downstream of the river, the river even full of wastes and the folks nearby have to suffer...

Unfortunately, my journey was not up to the Kuala Igan.. This canal named Kut Canal which I am not very sure on the existence either it is a natural river or a man made canal. However, this canal provides a shortcut for the river users to go to Dalat.

Pleading out of Kut Canal is another major river in Mukah....Batang Oya... The bridge named Jambatan Dalat is now under construction. Believe me or not, once the bridge completed, travelers can go direct to Brunei from Dalat in a few minutes! I means to Kampung Brunei....

Dalat Town is on the far view of this photo... My previous publish about Dalat Town could be read on my Travelogue folder.

Beautification works for Dalat Waterfront is under construction... It hope that it could rejuvenate the tourism potential in Dalat...

Keep in mind that Sarawak blessed with thousands kilometers of rivers. By comparison to those live in deserts where fuel is much cheaper than drinking water, we should be proud of, appreciate and pay our full respects to them. Keep on polluting and no awareness to protect it might cost our life in danger. Aware on the potential hazards, government have put up so many campaign but I am sorry to question either it is really works? This should be another issue to think and discussed further..