Sibu Tales : Plank Walk and Motor Launch

"You cannot go to the town if you are still unable to walk on this kind of plank walk," uncle Pang Sing used to tell us jokingly.

Indeed think of the logistics. The boat berthed at the jetty moves all the time with the waves, and the plank moves too. Sometimes the plank is even at quite a steep slop when the river water is "high", very much higher than the heavier jetty. Only at low tide will the plank be at a lower angle when walking is much easier.

This kind of plank walk is for both passengers and wharf labourers who carry goods to the boat.

And this method of boarding a boat is as old as the Foochow Settlement of Sibu (1901).