Belaga, a splendor lost

The interior town of Belaga about 165km by road from Bintulu
and 155km from Kapit by express boat if any still runs
seems to have lost it's past splendor no thanks to the Bakun Dam project
which cause the relocation of some 15,000 people
from 15 longhouse upstream of this town
to Sg Asap village but due to better road
and availability of jobs in nearby booming oil town of Bintulu
probably more than half have shifted there.
  Building a road to Bakun Dam bypassing the town
was probably one of the biggest blunder done by the planners
and worse still leaving it without any excess road to the new road
except by the logging track.
Now with the impounding of the dam going on
express boats from Kapit have stopped running for almost a year
thus cutting off the cheapest means of transport to the outside world.
With Murum Dam on the way,life will not get better for folks here
unless a tarred road to outside world is build soon.

The locals complained of smelly river water which is probably caused by rotting vegetation in the dam.

The meeting point of Balui and Belaga river.

The gate into the timber road,the only access road to Belaga.

and the conditions of road usage.

The elevation profile of the road from Belaga to Bintulu.

Land clearing and open burning for the new paddy season
is the main cause for the haze
during my visit in August.

John Belarik checking his 4WD  during  one of our pitstop (in the bushes)
and it cost RM 50 for this dusty 4 hours ride from Bintulu
(~100km tarred road and 65km offroad),
not bad considering the hash conditions the vehicle have to endure.
His normal schedule:-
Belaga to Bintulu (7.30am)
Bintulu to Belaga (2.00pm)
waiting point is beside Li Hua Plaza.
contact no:
0198172738
0198167957

Floating fuel stations of Belaga.

The waters of the Batang Balui have receded to historical lows
since the impounding(filling) of Bakun dam started.

A welcome sign to the town.

The waiting area for the express boats at the jetty,
it have been almost a year wait for one to arrive
and i don't think they will in future
with boats not being able to get through
the Pelagus rapids,soon with Murum Dam up
we could probably walk across the river.

A helipad nearby the jetty.

The only bank in town and surprisingly they have free WIFI in the town area.

You can have a hotel for yourself only here
in Belaga.

This row of shop facing the river was once crowded with people
 before they started building those dams.

Local favourite,'ayam sabong'(fighting cock) trying to protect his hut.

A rusty diesel engine block by the river banks.

Exhaust pipes at the local SESCO diesel power station,'kenyalang'(hornbill) styled.

A weather station in town,i hope they include flood water siren
now with 2 dams upstream life can be quite dangerous.

The landmark of the town, a hornbill on a totem pole
not a very good fungshui in this part of the world
considering the hornbill is normally used to decorate graves
while the totem pole or kelirieng is used as burial pole.

An evil looking cloud over the hills opposite the jetty,
someone told me of a burial ground on the hill.

A rare find in the interior,a malay village of Brunei decent,
whose descendants came to this trading post as spice traders
probably late in the 18th century.

The wooden bridge to the Kampung Melayu Belaga.

The local district office.

Belaga District Office



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