Kapit
This beautiful, relaxing little town dating from the White Rajahs and still sporting an
old wooden fort, Fort Sylvia, built by Charles Brooke, will be your stop on the journey
up the Rejang. To anyone from outside it is just a sleepy riverside village tucked into
the rain forest but to up-river people it is the "big city" to which they come to buy,
sell and exchange goods as well as for entertainment - there are two cinemas.
There is not a great deal to do or see in Kapit though the waterfront and the market are
interesting and the Chinese temple works up a sweat on the big drums some evenings but it
is the terminus for the "Kapit Express" launches from Sibu and the place to which you must
come to obtain the permit to traveling between here and Beluga.
Sibu
Sibu is the main port city on the Rejang River - Sarawak's longest and largest river. Situated
some 60 km up-river from the ocean, its bustling waterfront sports all manners of craft from
motorized dug-outs to ocean going liners. It is here that the raw materials of the interior -
lumber, gravel, minerals and agricultural products - are brought for export and manufactured
goods from the outside world for distribution along the Rejang and its tributaries.
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| Sibu pottery |
Pottery production |
As far as the traveler is concerned, Sibu is the starting point for a trip up
the Rejang to visit longhouses which are scattered along its entire length.
