Do you know your root?

Well, I do. Even though not 100 percent.

I am from Sibu, a very ulu place in Sarawak where people there live on trees, ride elephants, hunt wildboar for food, wear loin clothes, use smoke signal because we don't have telephone (we use the DiGi yellowman molecule in the smoke to send the signal), take bath in the crocodile-infested river, swing from tree to tree to friends house, etc as mentioned in the travel brochures.

*rolls eyes*

Well, Sibu was named after the native rambutan because a lot of Buah Sibau (native rambutan in Iban Language) could be found in this place once upon a time. In the 19th century, Sarawak was infested with Chinese Kheh or Ming Nam business people. History comes to live when you witness the barter trade then. Oh, wait, it was the history! *slaps self*

Then in 1901, a Cina apek called Wong Nai Siong brought a troupe of Foochows from the mainland China to invade Sibu and claimed the landmark of the history of Sibu. This apek cina is from the Ming Ching District of Foochow City, China. He came to Sibu because he wanted to cabut from suffering the totalitarian government of Ching Dynasty back then. So, he sapu those who wanted to free themselves and run far far to Sibu.

He brought about 3 batches of Foochow people to Sibu which totalled up to more than 1100 people - some brought along akik inik laki bini engau anak (grandfather, grandmother, husband, wifey and kids in Iban). They worked here and most of them settled down. They opened up Sibu from a delta of the Rejang River and to cut the long-winded story short, transformed it into what it is today.

So, Sibu today has gone through a lot of changes and development thanks to the Sibu Municipal Council for their effort to make Sibu a great place to live in. Sibu has a lot of Foochows. Out of 10 people you randomly pick from the street in Sibu, 10 of them would be Foochow. LOL~!!! Even though there are a lot of Foochow dialect, two main Foochow dialects spoken in Sibu are: Ming Ching and Kutien. After living here for more than 2 decades, I still cannot distinguish which is which. Hahaha~!!! Because they sound the same to me.

Kutien: Ni kuo toi?
Ming Ching: Ni kuo tuong?
(Where are you going?)

Oh, and I'm half Foochow (from mom's side - she's Kutien Foochow) and not-so-proud to be one because Foochows in Sibu are LOUD, stingy, egoistic, etc. (Oh, I can condemn them because I'm half-Foochow. HAHAHA~!!! Don't like it? Sue me lor) Summore, Foochow businessmen in Sibu are filthy rich AND arrogant! They don't like new ideas and will make helluva lot of noise when forced to make changes. They will keep complaining and complaining until actions were taken. Therefore, human resource department in companies in Sibu are damn smart. They hire Malay girls as the operator in their complaint department which is a wise call because they could drive these arrogant people up the wall with their stupidity. Enough said!

Did I mention that Foochow businessmen are rich? Two cars per household is not enough. You can see a lot of fancy cars on the roads in Sibu even though no BMWs could make it to our shores. You can see the Milo tin Kancil, coffin-like Kenari, century-old Saga, modified Iswara, Xmas tree-look-alike Wira, Waja, Perdana, Gen2, Atos, Sonata, Getz, Corolla, Vios, Camry, Altis, Alvanza, Prado, Civic, Jazz, City, country, et cetera including ah beng-like modified Kancil or Kelisa with skirts, left wing, right wing, renewed exhaust, turbo engine, tinted glass, and blinking neon lights that put Christmas tree to shame, heavy mega bass stereo system which plays Jay Chow songs in techno version. (YUCKS~!)

Those are some of the interesting things you can find in Sibu. You name it, we have it. There are a lot more of Sibu for you to explore and discover. You will not be disappointed.