Sibu Tales : Beauties and Umbrellas

Photo Credit : Google.

The beautiful girls of Sibu were scared of the sun and they would always carry an umbrella everywhere they went. Pale skin was considered attract and genteel. When a match maker was asked to bring around photos of girls of marriageable age, the potential bride groom would always ask if the girl was fair skinned.

This fair skin perception caused a great deal of stress to girls who had darker complextion.

So a lot of girls would even ride a bicycle with an open umbrella. They needed an acrobat's skill to balance themselves on their bicycles and carry an umbrella at the same time.

Sibu was full of bicycles and cyclists carried their open umbrellas. The problem was so huge that many  car owners were scared to drive in Sibu.

One fatal accident occured when a girl student, on a bicycle was pulled by a bus when her umbrella was caught by the vehicle. She was dragged several meters and was killed immediately.

that me and my unopened umbrella.

Even with this kind of incidents, people continue to carry their umbrellas when they cycle.