Serian, Sarawak

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The town is very famous for its durians, which are popularly believed to be the best in Sarawak. This has prompted the Serian District Council to erect a giant monument to this "king of fruits" right in the middle of the market square. However, other monuments like the tiger and the buffalo seems out of place. There is no tiger or buffalo in this district. The town is very well connected to its rich hinterland both by road and by water and thus one can find all sorts of jungle produce available in the jungle produce market but lately, most of these produce were brought in from Kalimantan, Indonesia as the price are cheaper.

The district population (year 2000 census) was 84,800. About 65% of the population are Bidayuh. The other main ethnic groups are Iban, Chinese, and Malay.

Geography

There are many waterfalls found in the Serian District Sarawak. The most famous is the Ranchan Waterfall, located about 5 kilometers from Serian town and is easily accessible by road. The other one is "Simuja Waterfall" which was badly damaged by logging if you would visit it. It is located some 7 kilometers away from the town and but not accessible by road. Visitors have to park at the roadside of Serian-Sri Aman trunk road and then have to hike 1-2 km trail.

The border village of "Tebedu", recently renamed "Bandar Mutiara"just to make it sounds better, is located some 50 kilometers away from Serian town, but within Serian District. Nothing special there, just passing few villages and a legal entry check-point between Malaysia and Indonesia.

"Kampung Krusen" is one of many "modern" Bidayuh kampung (longhouse village) in Serian District. It is located about 10 kilometers from Serian town. Most of the inhabitants in the 150-door kampung are Roman Catholic as they were converted some 50 years ago by the Mill-Hill Missionaries. The so called longhouse is practically gone and so every year, come the 1st of June, the Gawai Celebration will bring the young and old, the kampung folks and the visitors to celebrate the festival until the wee hours and badly drunk in a local hall. Sadly, the true tradition of Gawai is slowly masked by the "Joget Lambak" style by the young.....Visitors can hardly hear the sound of native gongs, the "birayun" by the elders and most traditional outfit or costumes were sold at a very low price by the Chinese traders as artifacts. Long gone the real Gawai....long gone the rice wine....all replaced by cheap, tax free beer or smuggled such as stella atois, bear, tiger, you name it, its all easily available during every Gawai season, almost everywhwre in Serian town at RM35-RM60 per carton of 24cans.

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