Hey Steemit peeps!
So around last month I had a flight to Sibu! Wondering where's Sibu? It's located at the central region of Sarawak , Malaysia. Sibu is mainly populated by the Chinese especially the Fuzhou Chinese ethnicity. Other local ethnic indigenous groups such Melanau, Malay, and Iban are also present, but unlike other regions of Sarawak, they are not as significant. Timber and shipbuilding industries are the two major economic activities in Sibu.
For us crew, this place is well known to be haunted and boring cause there's nothing much to do there plus we have a long layover here! I had an awesome set of crew! So being all touristy we decided to visit the Sibu Central Market! Sibu Central Market is the biggest indoor market in Sarawak. As we were strolling around the morning market, we stumbled on to this lady selling sago worms :D
For those of you who are not familiar with sago worms, it looks like this!
Known as Butod locally, Sago Grub or Sago Worm is a delicacy, as well as the most disgusting food of Sabah. Junk food always look good, but it does ugly things to your body. Sago Grub is the opposite, it’s an ugly but nutritious food. However, it’s a test of bravery to put this wriggling bug into your mouth. Butod is the larvae of Sago Palm Weevil, a species of snout beetle that consumes sago palm during its infancy. Sago Grub can grow fatter than the little finger and looks like a giant maggot. This creamy yellow colour and fat worm is rich in protein!! Surprising right?! It is also a hot selling item in local market. UNBELIEVABLE? Believe it!
I decided to try it! Surprisingly my supervisor decided to try it with me while the others just got disgusted and ran off somewhere. We payed around rm20 for this basket of worms..there were 20 worms in a basket..
But it was covered in mud and wood shavings so we decided to buy it back to the hotel, wash it and taste it!
Being a city girl I was so amazed at it! It was my first time touching such a worm!
Anyways we just continued walking around the market...and saw this!!
They sell chickens wrapped in newspapers?! And placed the live ones beside the dead ones..how sick is that?! Mental torture for the poor chickens...
We had some food at the food court before heading back to our hotel with our new pets that is about to be chewed and swallowed into our bellies! Sounds a bit cruel when I put it this way..yikes! So as we were on our way back to the hotel, someone decided to play poker to pass time and a few more couldn't wait to watch us taste those worms. So my supervisor came up with this idea where losers had to eat one!! In that case everyone gets to try it!! Brilliant idea!!
Well we did so..and it was so funny how everyone reacted! All the screaming and shouting and barfing! It was hilarious! Altogether it was an enjoyable day! Those worms actually tasted like avocados!! Just a little more gooey!
Anyways, by dinner time, we got ready and went out to look for food to eat. I had a really strange allergic reaction? It started off when I took a hot shower and I came out as usual. Suddenly as I lay on my bed I started feeling very heated up followed by itching and the next thing I realised was that I was swelling up!! I met up with my set of crew and we headed to the restaurant. During dinner I was pretty annoyed. I was the only one that had the allergy! So frustrating. I quickly bought some anti septic powder and powdered myself from top to bottom. Luckily the swelling went away when I woke up the next day!
So that was my adventure in Sibu! Despite the allergy, I'm glad I experienced eating the worms, I get to see so many things happening around the world like the different cultures from different parts of the country, I get to make new friends and all in all it was a great trip with great people! What an eye opener!
Thanks for reading Steemit peeps!