I went to Kapit a while back for a 2D/1N stay. Kapit is a town 3 hours from Sibu by express boat. There is no other way to reach it – you can’t drive there and you can’t fly in either, the river is the only route.
This is a uniquely Sarawakian feature, there are a lot of random towns that is connected only via Rejang River and lacks the proper highways or road connections to civilization.
The funny thing is that you have to fill in a form detailing your name and IC number so they know who’s on board. This didn’t exist before, it was the high profile express boat capsizes and accidents resulting in multiple deaths that initiated it.
I meant human deaths, not livestock. π You can find lots of interesting cargo onboard, including live chicken!
Interestingly, they don’t overload the express boats anymore too. This makes it a lot safer compared to previous journeys. Previously, there would be people *on top* of the boat, hanging on to the side rails.
We arrived in Kapit 3 hours later and had to disembark.
You do this by walking along the side of the express boat. I’m used to it coz I’ve done it when I was a kid, but new people might find this disconcerting since the river is just beside you.
Kapit is a very small town. You can walk around town in a matter of minutes and that’s what we did. We passed by Kapit Town Square on the way to our hotel.
We stayed at Star Hill Inn, one of the best hotels there.
I took a room and my bro Eddy took another room.
The hotel is in a shoplot, as you can see from the view.
One of the highlights of the trip was eating roti canai goreng. This is a distinctive Kapit invention, they literally fry the roti canai inside a wok of boiling hot oil. Ingenious, and very tasty too.
We managed to have some time off the next day and went to see what was going on in Kapit Town Square. It turns out there’s a lot of games of chance, like an indoor funfair of sorts.
I took a spin as well. You pay RM 1 for a can of soft drink and put it at a color of your choice. You get a 1 in 6 chance of winning equal odds e.g. you win 2 cans if you wager 2 cans.
This works by throwing a tennis ball into a receptacle with 6 possible colors which matches the one on the table. You get unlimited tries, there’s no penalty if you miss or if the ball bounces back up. You simply try again until you get the ball into a color square.
Behold! These are the high rollers of Kapit!
Seriously though, these whales are betting cartons of 24 cans at once. We thought that was quite funny.
I also managed to get some wild jungle durians to bring home. This is a native durian called durian isu. It’s very different from regular durians, it only has 4 segments. I’ll do a comprehensive review during the weekend.
We had a quick lunch of Maggi instant noodles at the wharf the next day before we departed…
…and caught the afternoon express boat back. It was a really fun overnight trip with my bro Eddy. I haven’t been to Kapit in such a long time!
ahh..the last pix. the double decker. am sure only generation like us appreciate that too…
Yeah, I took my better half to see it when she was here. π
It’s a floating grocery store, many people are surprised to see such a thing. It can only exist in places like Sarawak, with a long river and towns with no other access point so the river is the only route in.
Glad you enjoyed your short stay in Kapit. Nothing much but there is something you find there that you cannot find any other places.
A isolated town, away from civilisation, seperated by a mighty river.
Yeah, it’s an awesome place! π
Kapit town is quite small but the people are friendly and the food is good. We had lots of tapah fish there too, very fresh and delicious.
Lovely snapshots, makes me wanna go one of these days to check it out. Starhill eh? How much per night? Hotels are kinds expensive there, considering that it is such a little town. Over RM100 a night for the shophouse lot Greenhill. π
The hotel was also about RM 100 per night! π
It might be slightly higher or lower, it’s definitely the best one in Kapit though. Very new and the rooms are very clean,
3 hours by river – that seems like a long time to me. Don’t know whether I will get motion sickness or not. Kapit is so quaint – like a walk back in time. The deep fried roti canai is worth trying and I can’t wait to read your review of the durian isu.
Yup, it’s 5 1/2 hours return! π
The trip back is shorter coz the boat is moving with the river current. The trip to Kapit is longer by 1/2 hour coz we’re going against the river flow. Oh, it’s sooo long that I haven’t finished writing it! I’ll get on the durian isu right away.
What a remote place but I find it peaceful to live there.
You only ate maggi me that means nothing much to shout about the local food there.
The games of chances are quite typical, just like in the villages of Thailand.
Thanks for sharing about Kapit.
The food is pretty good! π
However, we were with other people during lunch and dinner so I didn’t take photos. It was a dinner with some bankers, the fish there is very fresh. Kapit is the source of tapah and empurau, two very delicious types of fishes we get in Sarawak.
LOL…yeah can see all sort of things that they bring into the boat.
They really like the can drinks so much over there? Can see some are looking at you when you snap photos.
Haha! Yeah, you can only reach Kapit by river. π
Thus, people bring all sorts of stuff there. There’s even a floating grocery store (it’s actually a huge boat with two decks, downstairs is the store, upstairs is sleeping area for the crew) servicing it. These boats depart from Sibu loaded with everything from Milo to diaper and sell it in Kapit and other areas upriver.
I think they just are attracted to the gambling aspects. It’s not a town with a lot of things to do.
That rooster’s head! LoL!
It’s 12.58am and I am looking at your Maggi pic. It makes my tummy rumble. I had a light dinner.. I’m fighting temptation now. >_<
It’s interesting eh? π
I always wonder how the rooster survives the journey and whether someone else might accidentally claim it when they reach the destination. Possibly not, since it’s such a small town and everyone likely knows one another.