Have you ever visited Lachau town which is located in Sri Aman Division along the Pan Borneo Highway?
If you are adventurous, Lachau is one of the small interesting towns you can visit in Sarawak.
If you are in Kuching City, you can drive there as the town is only about one and a half hours away. You can go there in the morning, have your breakfast and lunch and shop to your heart’s delight before heading back to the city.
Lachau is a popular rest stop and shopping paradise for jungle products for the locals and tourists.
The jungle market there abounds with many types of salai (smoked) and salted fish, a testament to the creativity and hard work of the local folk and perhaps those who live across the border.
Smoked and salted fish are popular in local cuisines and can be stored for some time. They can be fried or cooked in broths or with vegetables.
At the jungle market, many wild fruits and native vegetables like Borneo Sour Brinjal or Terong Dayak or Terong Assam can also be found.
Also on sale are Iban traditional costumes and handicrafts including colourful woven baskets made from the ‘bemban’ plants.
Lachau is also an important trading centre for farmers or traders from across the border, namely, Kalimantan.
These farmers or traders regularly bring their farm and jungle products including pepper and rubber for sale in the town.
The abundance of food products being marketed in Lachau at very cheap prices attracted the attention of Sarawak Premier, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg when he stopped at the town while on his way to Sri Aman town in January 2020.
He was surprised that a bunch of rambutans was being sold for only RM1.
“These can be processed into canned rambutans here. And I see a lot of terong asam, which are in high demand in Singapore,” he added.
Abang Johari subsequently proposed that the State Planning Unit (SPU) come up with a plan to set a processing centre in Lachau to process and market the food produce.
I wonder what happens to this plan and whether it has been implemented yet.
