Things Bintulu # Tamu

Sunday is a great day to do shopping at Bintulu's 'tamu'. At the 'tamu' ( local jungle produce market) one can get very exotic about things. Try eating 'sago worms', tiny fresh water turtles, frogs, rare jungle herbs and ferns, shoots of rattan climbers, bananas of all sizes and varieties, mangrove crabs, wild pigeons, ripe and unripe wild fruits...the list is endless depending on the seasons, geographical location and accessibility to the rural countryside.
Thus on every Sunday the sellers' repertoire is forever wondrously changing. This Sunday was no exception.

You need to skin off the frogs before consuming them in styles of your liking. Grilled, curry or deep fry.


The thick skin of rattan shoots are peeled off exposing a soft core that are best served roasted or sliced into smaller pieces as cooked vegetables in curry, boiled or salad. Most popular rattan species harvested for its shoots are what the local Ibans here call 'Upa Lalis' ( Plectocomiopsis geminiflora)

These huge bananas ( Musa sapientum L.,)called 'Pisang Tanduk' literally meaning ' Banana Horn' in Malay, are not eaten raw but are normally sliced and done as banana fritters

(Note:In front of the jungle produce seller are yams.)

Banana fritters from 'pisang tanduk' are my favourites for afternoon tea.

Chewy Narcotic

A row of 'Pinang 'Trees ( Areca Catechu) with bunches of orange oval fruits.

In rural villages of Sarawak the sight of tall palms over topping the village landscape is a common if not typical scenery. Rural folks plant coconut and betel palms for their fruits. The betel nut palm is locally known as 'Pinang' and there is even a state in Malaysia that derived its name from the betel palm i.e. the island of Pulau Pinang ( 'Penang' in colloquial English), sometimes also known as 'The Pearl of the Orient' among tourism circles.

The betel palm ( Arecha catechu) is native to this part of the world including Indonesia. The palm is single-trunked and topped with a cluster of terminal fronds. Below the bases of the fronds are branches of the ripe fruits in colours of yellow, orange or red. To collect the fruits requires the skill of an experienced climber because the trees can reach a height of 12-20 meters high.

The fruits are sold ( see inset) as jungle produce items at many a local jungle produce markets throughout Sarawak. For landscaping purposes I feel that more betel nut palms should be grown in urban parks or open spaces in Sarawak. Presently they are being sidelined in favour of expensive imported palms, which I think is most unwise. Its narrow crown and slim trunk demand very little space and therefore suitable to be planted in small urban residential gardens. Furthermore its roots aren't too adventurous and yet withstand extreme wind velocities. I prefer to plant them in a small group of threes or fives forming a 'groove-like' composition.

CU of the betel fruit exposing the white-fleshed nut in the center, which is edible.

The Malays or native ladies of Sarawak ( my mother included) love to chew the nuts as a mild narcotic. The oval fruits is cut into half and the nut sliced thinly before it is chewed together with lime and betel pepper leaves ( Piper betel). There is a rich cultural tradition of consuming the betel nuts and betel leaves that survive to this day. The practise of consuming them is prevalent in marriage ceremonies, traditional healing rituals and many casual social gatherings.

From ripe seeds Pinang trees are easily propagated and the palms bear fruits throughout the year.

Sri Aman Stopover

Typical skies during the journey- cloudy and sunny.

This afternoon I'm blogging from Bintulu. We arrived here last night after a 10 hours drive from Kuching. The weather throughout the journey was fine, cloudy and encountered only one short burst of afternoon rain after we left Sri Aman. Inul and Daisy were behaving extremely well this trip and took time to sleep for the most part of the journey. The air-conditioning in the car helped much to calm their nerves and kept them comfortable.

Inul by the front seat

We took a lunch break at Sri Aman. There we saw a couple of traders hawking fresh vegetables and fruits under shade of large angsana trees.

One of my favourites fruit vegetables is this local cucumber variety grown mainly by the Ibans. A small basket like the one on the left cost RM 2. I prefer most to cut them into small pieces and mix them with small slices of chicken meat and cook them as soup.

Other things we bought here were freshly harvested grains of black rice which is best prepared as porridge.

Day Trip to Miri

We went to Miri this morning and returned late at night around 10.30 pm for a day trip. The picture above shows a section of the jungle produce market at Batu Niah, a half- way stopover. Seasonal fruits are plenty today ranging from durians, rambutans and dabai among the top players. Here the traders are mainly the womenfolk from various ethnic origins like the Ibans, Kedayans,Chinese, Malays ( mainly localised Indonesians) and Melanaus.

Ong Tipuk in Season at Bintulu Tamu

Last Sunday ( 20/7) while doing my weekend shopping at the local jungle produce market ( Tamu) I came across a trader selling these sweet sour fruits called " Ong  Tipuk "  by the local Melanaus of Bintulu.  The fruits are about 2 cm long and are seasonal.  A small bowl of it ( the white bowl in the picture below) costs two Ringgit Malaysia.

Next to the white bowl on the left is the flower spike which is peeled to show the tiny fruits and even tiny seeds as shown below.  Well it is easy to eat these fruits.  By peeling off its skin, the tiny seeds held together by a slimy substance are ready to be chewed as they are very soft to the tonque.

The Tipuk fruit is of the Zingiberaceae family ( Ginger family ) and to the best of my knowledge belongs to the Hornstedia species.