Wah Tat Bank was the oldest bank in Sibu. Founded by Chew Geok Ling and his business partner, Teo Chong Loh. The business started with Wah Tat Money Exchange and Remittances which was the forerunner of Wah Tat Bank. In 2001, Wah Tat Bank merged with Hong Leong Bank to form the Hong Leong Bank Berhad that you see today.

The now defunct Sibu Wah Tat Bank building. Shot taken from the Sibu Tua Pek Kong temple’s pagoda. Click for larger view.

Mary and I were researching on HDR photography for quite a while now, and we finally took the initiative to have a go at it with Sibu town as the subject. It’s been pretty hot and sunny this few days, not a very good weather for photographing, but Mary brought over her dad’s infrared camera and this kind of weather is just perfect for infrared photography.

Let’s start off with some of our virgin works of HDR photos.

Sibu Old Town. The building with a green oval-shaped roof is the Sibu’s Hawker Centre, the biggest of its kind in Sarawak (or Malaysia?). Most of the shops here were built around the 1950s, surviving the World war II. Taken from the Sibu Tua Pek Kong temple’s pagoda.

If you need plywood or timber, please contact me, Alex @ +6013 8380 333, or e-mail me at ezylink@sibucity.net.

Common public impressions suggest that, Sibu is that dull and boring town, sitting by the unattractive milk-tea-colored muddy Rejang River, waiting for time to pass. The town might seemed so, but go further away, in the suburban forested areas, you’ll realize that this is not quite the case. There, you’ll see sawmills, timber yards, plywood factories of ISO standards, bustling and producing hundreds and thousands of cubic meters of timber products every month to feed the world’s hunger for wood.

Sibu houses a handful of global timber conglomerates, namely the Rimbunan Hijau Group, Ta Ann Group, Sanyan Group, WTK, The Sarawak Company, just to name a few, among other big private owners of sawmills and timber concessions. They’re the timber export powerhouse and the primary driving force of Sibu’s economy.

ISO standard plywood industry. At ground level, it doesn’t really tell the whole story of how big this industry is.

Apart from its kampua and kompia, there’s another thing Sibu is famous for, the Diang Miang Ngu. Specifically, it’s Chop Hing Huong’s Dian Bian Hu.

“Diang Miang Ngu”(鼎边糊, similar to Taiwan’s 鼎边銼)- a savoury soup is available at many stalls as a late night supper. A popular joint is in an alleyway by Jalan Blacksmith.

- Wikipedia

Mary’s in town and she had been wanting to taste the Diang Miang Ngu for quite some time now, we both headed downtown to hunt for the classic food of Sibu.

This is Chop Hing Huong. I think it’s over 50 years old. Who can give me an exact age of how old this business is? Not many people know its name, but most people will refer it to as the “Little Alleyway’s Diang Miang Ngu shop”.

Sibu is where the kampua and kompia originated from. Over the decades, the title of the “Best Kompia” had always been in the hands of the auntie at Tiong Hua Road, but in the last decade or so, at Taman Muhibbah, there’s this uncle by the name of Ah Kuok, came up with his own recipe of kompia and it’s attracting kompia lovers from all over the state.

“Kom Biang” (光饼)- a Foochow delicacy made with flour, baked in an oven and eaten either with or without meat and a special gravy. It is somewhat similar to a bagel. However, it can be either in a crisp or soft version. Nice soft kompia dipped in pork sauce can be sought from Tiong Hua road and the Sunday Market at Pedada road.

- Wikipedia

This is the Ah Kuok kompia stall. You can’t miss it once you’ve stepped into Taman Muhibbah food court (just a few blocks beside Delta Mall), with his signature “KL Twin Tower” replica. He claimed that the towers “construction” costs him about RM800+. He draws the idea with his visits to KL some time ago, and came back to built this model for his own shop. Very patriotic of him!

Mary was in town for the Ching Ming festival, I wonder if it’s right to classified it as ‘festival’ since no one is actually celebrating it. Moods were mostly subdued with thoughts of their loved ones from the other part of the world.

Anyway, whenever we meet, food is the top agenda. Pizza Hut is one of our targets this time. I don’t really fancy pizzas, but I really loved their onion bread and roasted chicken wings! It’s been a very long time since I last stepped into Sibu’s Pizza Hut, a lot has changed.

Nowadays we don’t get to scoop our own mushroom soup, everything is brought to your table. Cutleries, food, soup, bills, etc. Back then, it was mostly self-service, even when it comes to payment. But now, you’ll just have to diam diam sit down, eat, pay, stand up, pat your ass and walk away.

We order the stuff-crust seafood pizza set deal that comes standard with the Pepsi drink and the Onion bread.

The onion bread.

We side-ordered the roasted chicken wings. A must have for any visits to Pizza Hut!