Teresang Market Kapit Town
 

Teresang Market Kapit Town

Pasar Teresang

One of the interesting places in Kapit is Teresang Market where fresh jungle produce are often available. The market is located in the centre of Kapit town. This market serves as a focal point for many up river travelers to sell their goods or buy produce home.

Here, many different mix of people of different origins can be seen, just like the numerous vegetables of the local varieties and fruits. First time visitors should make it a point to drop in here as during fruiting times, many local fruits not seen in the major towns can be found here. Locals frequent the market for its good choices of pastries and other home made goodies.

The best shopping experience can be obtained by visitors is in a place named Pasar Teresang or Teresang Market. It is opened since dawn and is located in walking distance from the passenger express terminal. It is also known as wet market by the locals.

There are lots of fruits, vegetables and other food selling in the market. There are fresh jungle produce too.

These jungle produce are hard to find in other costal towns and cities.

Local ingredients that are used by them in the everyday life can be found there too, they are 'tubu', 'riang' and 'rompo'.

All these fantastic ingredients are used to enhance the flavor of local dishes. Besides raw and fresh food, there are handicraft and art craft selling around in the market with affordable and reasonable prices.


Hock Leong Tieng Temple 加帛福隆亭大伯公廟

The Hock Leong Tieng temple is one of the oldest heritage buildings in this town.

The Hock Leong Tieng Temple, he added, which was built by the early Chinese settlers in 1889 also served as an important place of worship for the Chinese community here.

The temple that stands overlooking the river is one of the oldest heritage buildings in this town and is maintained by the Tai San Ten Association which has been in existence even before the days of the Japanese occupation.

“It was founded in 1935 and this association serves the Hokkien and Hakka clans that have come together with history spanning more than a century,” he explained.

“It was registered 60 years ago and we celebrated our anniversary three years ago,” he added.

2015-04-18 SAT 07:35

 


Kampua Mee 乾盤面 Kapit Rm3.00

 


PLACES OF INTEREST AND LANDMARKS in KAPIT TOWN 加帛

Fort Sylvia - Kapit Museum

This Musium houses a fine collection of ethnic arts, handicrafts and sketches and water colors of life along the mighty rivers.

Hock Leong Tieng Temple
Pasar Teresang (Wet Market)

 Pasar Teresang

Kapit Waterfront
Regency Pelagus Resort

KAPIT ACCOMMODATION 加帛住宿

 


Kapit Waterfront

Kapit Waterfront

Kapit Waterfront sees a hive of activities every December during the Christmas and New Year period with thousands of holiday makers and locals stopping at the Kapit jetty to proceed to longhouses or return to their workplaces.

Kapit is the administrative centre of the Seventh Division and serves as the gateway to Baleh and Belaga.

In the absence of road infrastructure from Kapit to other parts of Sarawak, the mighty Rajang River and its numerous tributaries provide the only means of easy and cheap transportation

Express boats ferry passengers from Sibu to Kapit and from Kapit to Baleh, Bakun in Belaga, Punan Bah and Nanga Melipis along the Rajang River.

To travel along the tributaries to the longhouses which are home to over 60,000 people, longboats are deplored which at times have to be pulled through the choppy shallow water.


2,239 kilometre-long
Pan-Borneo Highway

The Pan-Borneo Highway was built in 1986 to link the two East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

It begins in the district of Sematan in Sarawak, and passes through Kuching, Serian, Sri Aman, Sarikei, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Limbang, Lawas, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau.

From Sibu one can take off from the main route of Pan Borneo Highway and travel by boat on the mighty Rejang River passes through Kanowit, Kapit to Belaga the heart of Sarawak

Sri Aman Town is off the Pan Borneo Highway

Between Sabah and Sarawak, the highway passed through two halves of  Brunei.

As of today, the Pan-Borneo Highway is 93 percent completed, with a remainder of a 50-kilometre missing link from Kalabakan to Serudong.


 

Kapit

Places of interest in Kapit


Updated : Monday, June 27, 2016

Of the numerous riverine towns in Sarawak, Kapit is almost immediately synonymous with Iban cultures and traditions, so much so that the town itself is often the hub of such interests. This association is easy to explain as the town is a stronghold of Sarawak's largest ethnic group, the Iban who makes up more than three-quarters of the people in the town and even more in the surrounding hinterland. The town is about 140 km upriver from Sibu along the nation's longest river and reachable by express boats that ply the various destinations daily with different departure times and stopovers. Of the interior towns in the heart of Borneo, Kapit is the biggest and main administrative centre and today, the river is the only way to get there as air route to the town has been suspended. Hence traveling to Kapit is always an adventure as the fast express boats zip past numerous longhouses along the river with the dense jungle on either side.

Originally Kapit was set up to bring peace to the troubled region during the reign of Charles Brooke as the Iban and other tribes were constantly fighting each other there. It was a garrison town with a fort built for the purpose of ensuring that the Ibans would not venture up river to fight with the other tribes and it grew in strength from that early period. Today, Kapit is a modern town with almost all the amenities expected of an administrative centre, including hospitality industry, business sector and timber trade apart from its huge reserves of coal which is now being slowly mined for industrial activities. The town is itself a vibrant mix of old and new as local inhabitants and people from surrounding areas often make Kapit their main trading centre which explains the busy traffic at the wharf area.

Kapit town is primarily made up of the stretch of shop houses and other buildings running parallel to the Rejang Waterfront, a new addition to boost the image of the town. Government administrative offices and private institutions like banks and hotels, restaurants and retail outlets make up the bulk of the buildings here and most are often within walking distances of one another. For farther located buildings, local vans are available to transport people there. Considering that the entire town of two rows of shop houses were completely destroyed by allied bombing during the second world war, the new constructions and buildings speak volumes of the resilient of the town and its people. For newcomers, the fastest and easiest way around is just to ask any of the friendly locals for directions and even for finding the best places for , food and entertainment.


Kapit Museum

Easily the most accessible place in Kapit, the museum is housed in the town's Civic Centre building. Here, the main exhibits are collections of the history of the people of Kapit, including the various ethnic groups who form the main groups of the living population of the town. It also gives a brief history of the early settlers in Kapit, including the Chinese immigrants who came as laborers and farmers before turning to other business ventures.


Fort Sylvia

Fort Sylvia stands out immediately for visitors to the riverine town of Kapit, especially when disembarking from the express boats. The once mighty fort was built by Charles Brooke, the Second White Rajah of Sarawak in 1880 to check the warring Ibans from going up river to fight with the other ethnic tribes. Like most forts of the era, the fort was built at a strategic point along the rivers and these forts were meant to house the Rajah's troops and prevent warring tribes from engaging one another as their movements along the river could be clearly seen by the forts' lookouts. Originally it was named Fort Kapit but changed to Fort Sylvia in 1925, after Charles Vyner's wife Renee Sylvia.

Memorable events of the fort include the hosting of peace keeping ceremony between the warring tribes in 1924 and later converted to accommodate the District Office in the early 60s as well as the District Court House later. In 1973, it was turned into the Residents' Office when Kapit Division was formed. Today, the building has been declared a historical monument and has reverted into a museum operated by the Tun Jugah Foundation with numerous artifacts like photographs, documents, heirloom jars, cannons and others from the by-gone eras.


 


St. Mary Immaculate Conception Church

This church that sits on top of a hill overlooking Kapit town, is one of the most beautiful and uniquely designed Roman Catholic Churches in the division. Built adjacent to the old church, it was completed in 2002 and can easily accommodate 1500 faithful at any one time.

The roof has three distinct layers; the lowest set of roof is designed in the shape of a native shield, the highest roof is in the shape of the Bishop's Mitre representing the church's authority while the middle set of roof joins the other two roofs together showing inter cultural binding. The whole building is supported by twelve pillars, signifying the twelve apostles of Christ with the main entrance facing east, traditionally symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus while the other four wooden gates represent the four corners of the world, namely. North, South, East and West. On the top part of each of these wooden doors is a native weaved cloth called 'pua' with the middle part showing a cross while its lower part consists of a mat.

Most of the decorations inside the church are unique wooden carvings, with one showing The Last Supper' that was imported from the Philippines. The wooden benches inside the church are arranged in semi-column facing the altar located at the middle of the building. These wooden benches are sponsored and therefore named after the catholic communities from the respective areas or longhouses sponsoring them. Naturally, the church is the centre of activity during Sunday mass and ideal time to visit for those from outside the town.


Hock Leong Tieng Temple

Hock Leong Tieng Temple is the only Chinese temple in this town and locally known as Tua Pek Kong' in Kapit. Located at the centre of the town overlooking the mighty Rejang River, it is unmistakable to any visitor. Behind it is the sole Chinese primary school in Kapit district and next to the temple towards the upper side of the Rejang River is Kapit District Council's market. Market Teresang while next to it at the lower section of the river is Kapit New Bazaar.

Based on the history of the temple, it dates back to the year 1898 when it was built by the early Chinese settlers in Kapit, marking its 110 years of existence this year and hence, one of the oldest heritage buildings in the division. To the Chinese community, wherever they settled down the construction of a Tua Pek Kong is a must to serve as their guardian and a most important place of worship.

When fire broke out in Kapit way back in 1940s, the temple was spared from the fire and miraculously the temple was also left untouched by the Japanese and Royal British Army bombings during the second world war.

The building materials used for the construction of the temple were shipped all the way from mainland China, a journey that took months in the early days. In fact, it was said that the construction of the temple was carried out by expert workers from China too! The pictures and photographs found inside the temple were donated by the local Chinese community while some were also purchased from mainland China as well.

Upon entering the temple there is an offering altar while the main altar is located towards the inner part of the temple facing the guardian of the temple, the Tua Pek Kong itself.

The pillars of the temple are beautifully painted depicting dragons with their tails at the bottom and the heads at the top of the pillars while the walls are painted with pictures of the guardian of the temple including the 12 animals under the Chinese Zodiac signs.

Due to its strategic position, the well-maintained temple has become a centre for attraction for tourists in Kapit. The management of the temple committee is headed by one of Kapit's Chinese community leader, Kapitan Yong Thu Fook.


When wandering around the market in Kapit, you might just spot black olives (buah dabai), the freshly plucked local fruit that is a favorite of many About a few centimeters long, the oval-shaped fruit with firm skin has a single seed inside. Usually steamed or briskly cooked, the olive's natural taste is maintained and its richness is unmatched by any others.

Another local fruit much sought after is the green longan. Sweet and delicious, the light fleshy part of the fruit is covered by a thin, rough skin with a big seed in the centre. Unlike the imported variety, this longan is smaller in size but it makes up for that with a much superior taste. Locals seem unable to have enough of it as when new shipments of the fruits arrive, they disappear in a short time.

Moving on to wild fruit, one of Kapit's specialty is the hairless rambutan, a species that is found in the forest. Known locally as buah ma dunggul manok, it has a soft skin much like the cultivated species but the taste is a little less sweet. The fruit is also seasonal so if you happen to spot any on sale at the market, try some.

For seafood connoisseurs, a must try is the local fish, Empurau. It is the most expensive fish on the menu in restaurants here and only served for special occasions! The flesh is smooth and light and the taste is great whether it is steamed, fried or cooked with other ingredients. For some, the fish's fried skin is the highlight of the meal as it is considered heavenly.

The wild boar is another local favorite among the residents as the meat is considered superior to the domestic variety. Hunted around the orchards and farms where it can be quite destructive, the wild boar is usually sold to locals of the town and also quickly snapped up. First time encounter can be quite shocking as the carcass is cut up and sold together with the skin, hair and everything else! Fried with ginger, the meat taste good and some even prefer to go for barbeque.

Next local food is a dish consisting of frog legs! The reptile's hind legs are considered a delicacy and usually much sought after by those who love the fine, tender flesh and this is certainly only for those who wish to sample food on the 'fear factor' side. Look around and see if any customers are having any where you have dinner and if you are up to it, then you can certainly order some to try.

For further information on Kapit, please contact:

Resident's Office, Kapit Division
96800 Kapit, Sarawak. Malaysia.
Tel: (6) 084 796963 / 796425 Fax: (6) 084 796932
Sarawak Tourism Board
Tel: (6) 082 423600 Fax: (6) 082 416700
Visitors' Information Centre Sibu
Tel: (6) 084 340980 Fax: (6) 084 341280


Uploaded on :   June 27, 2016 12:44:20 AM

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