Pekan Bekenu, Miri

A week before the recent Raya Haji, we were looking for ideas for more interesting places and small town to discover within driving distance on a day trip around Miri on Sunday. We packed all the kids stuff within 30mins on deciding to go out, drove around aimlessly around the city to look for an impromptu idea, but ended up in Merdeka Mall! Duh, of all places..

Pekan Bekenu's Landmark, the Palm Fruit

So the next Saturday prior to Raya Haji, after the leason I learnt from the previous week, I started asking my Mirian colleagues to recommend a good place to drive to 'just to check out some fresh local fish or vegetables'. Our tea lady recommend Pekan Bekenu as it is not very far and I should checked out their Pasar Tamu.

We went to Pekan Bekenu on Raya Haji (15 October 2013), which is about 45mins drive from Miri city via the Bintulu-Miri coastal road. When we reached there, I was dissappointed to find out that the Bekenu Wet Market was closed. Of course, the fishermen were Malays, silly me, sure they need the holiday.

Anyway I did not go back empty handed as there were still some vegetable and dry condiment seller at the Pasar Tamu next to the wet market. I bought daun sabong, green chilies to make this dish and also bamboo shoot to be stir-fried. All will be featured in my Sarawak Ethnic Cuisine blog.

We hung around abt 2-3 hours more in the pekan and had our lunch at a nearby seafood shop. Nothing much to see, but interesting nevertheless. Hopefully next time if I were to come here, I can get to visit the Wet Market.