I was pleasantly surprised to discover a boring and sleepy peaceful town with fantastic infrastructure (the roads are way better than those in Kuching) and lots of greenery. What’s not so fantastic however is the hawker food which frankly is terrible! They are expensive too but so are everything else in Bintulu including properties compared to the rest of Sarawak. I understand that there are one or two decent Chinese restaurants and the ‘Apple’ restaurant we went to was palatable. I was told that ‘the restaurant’ in town is the ‘Marco Polo’ which also serves western food.

While everything is expensive in Bintulu (including the china gals at the infamous ‘white house’) I was told that there’s a place selling the cheapest beer in Malaysia – 5 cans of imported beer for only RM10/-. And wait for this – they are selling it directly across a public toilet where there are even plastic stools provided for you to sit and drink your beer! I was thinking how unlikely this was but on the otherhand, how thoughtful and how convenient to go for a quick piss after a couple of cans. Hmm. While I was there around 9 p.m., I noticed a continuous stream of customers some on foot while others came in cars and motorcycles. To say they are doing a brisk business is the understatement of the year. I regret that apart from this one shot, of not having mustered up enough courage to take a few snap shots of the place nor the rough looking characters drinking outside the ‘loo as the guy who brought me there cautioned that this shop belongs to ‘somebody’ and that the drinkers are indo oil palm plantation workers; most of them illegal. It's better not to aggravate people who may just be looking for an excuse to take their frustrations out on some strange nosy character with a digital camera.

So when you’re next in Bintulu – go visit the ‘loo there for the cheapest beer in town. However I would suggest drinking ‘em at another more conducive environment such as at the seaside which was where I was headed for the very next day!

Labels: Life

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