Had a short working trip to Sarawak, one of the stops was Sibu. In Sibu, I will usually stay at TanahMas Hotel, to me the best thing about the hotel is not it’s breakfast , but the proximity to the Sibu Sentral Market and the Tua Pek Kong temple. In half an hour I can walk leisurely from the hotel to the Tua Pek Kong temple, have a sniff of the sea and incense and make my way back to the hotel in time for the next appointment.
That morning, I left the hotel at 7am, took a 3 minutes walk to the market –Pasar Sentral Sibu. I heard that you could start your marketing at 5 a.m ! ( or maybe even at 4 !) . The early bird catches the worm? I suppose at 5 a.m, the worms will still be in a daze and could be easily caught.
A very practical way to transport poultry .
They came in all shapes and sizes, each for RM10. They didn’t make any noise ( not when I was there anyway), it must be rather comfortable in that newspaper cocoon 
The ducks were not spared too
Saw a stall with a big basin of…..turtles. I asked the owner what are these used for ( cringing inside that these creatures might end up in a soup bowl somewhere) , and she replied that the Chinese will buy these and then set them free at the temples. Phewww..when I asked to take a picture of her wares, without any hesitation she said yes and put her hand into the basin and ‘adjusted’ a few of the turtles so that they faced the camera, she even lifted the heads of a few of them to perk them up for the photo shoot.
Each turtle will be sold for RM10 and quantity discounts can be negotiated lah.
Not sure what these were ? I asked the man what they were and being a forgetful slob, I forgot the name the uncle mentioned. 
Do you know what these are and what are they used for ? looked like an acorn ? ( not that I have seen an acorn and I think acorns are not so colourful lah) 
Saw a stall that sells everything ! canned sardines to canned pork, mirrors to hair dye, brooms, mineral water, sauces , soap powder, tooth brush , you name it , the stall might have it ! anyway, I asked permission to take a picture of the stall and the auntie can’t seemed to understand my mandarin, lucky for me she had a customer and the customer explained my request in the hockchew dialect . The auntie gave a shy laugh , walked briskly to the back of the stall and posed. ( and to think I only wanted a picture of the stall) . I took a few shots and show her the images , resulting in more laughter( auntie) and a few pats on the back (mine) . 
The market is a two storey building, I am not sure how many stalls are there, it’s huge..
There were also a large number of stalls selling dried seafood : dried prawns ( small, medium, large, extra large…), salted fish, ikan bilis, dried sotong and other dried stuff from the sea. Nemo too ?
After the market, I continue with my walk to the Tua Pek Kong temple…one of Sibu’s landmark..
I have been to the temple a few times but never really noticed the raintree
Interesting history of this 100 year old tree …
Before heading back to the hotel, I stopped at one of the shops to get this bread/biscut- which is a Sibu specialty, it’s like hard bread , there were no filing. Texture was kinda coarse and hard , and it can be chewy , but it does have character and make an interesting munch especially when you bite into the fragrant sesame seeds.
Another Sibu landmark, the shiny dolphins riding on waves ( do they have dolphins in Sibu ? I need to check that out !)
