Before we (Charles, Esther and me) began our teaching practicum, we made an appointment and met with the principal, Mr Ivor Emmanuel Lim Ho Huat and principal assistant, Miss Lim Siew Hoon. This is an act of formality. We also introduced ourselves to the school authorities. After the meeting, we visited Sematan Beach to enjoy the cool breeze.

Photograph by Charles Cheng W. K.

Esther & me at Sematan Beach

After our final exams and hectic deadlines of assignments, we began our teaching practicum. The first week was observation week. We entered the classroom and observed how teachers taught students in English lessons. This is important as it will give us an idea on how to teach English and what possible scenarios we shall encounter when we start teaching the following weeks.

The roads to Sematan are long, curvy and winding. It took us 2 ½ hours to reach our destination. Sematan is 106km from Kuching. It is 123 km from UNIMAS, Kota Samarahan.

It is very dangerous to drive on the roads when it is raining. And you can actually touch the clouds with your hands because the clouds are very close to the ground level when it rains. It’s fascinating.

If I am really bored, I could just sit down and watch the clouds hover at the mountains when it is raining. And look at how clouds form and disperse. If I’m really crazy, composing a lousy poem about it isn’t a bad idea either.

House No. 9

We are also very grateful to the staffs and teachers of SMK Sematan for offering us accommodation. We stayed in a Malay stilt house. This house is well ventilated, had three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a toilet and a living room. Curtains, mattress, pillows, bedsheets, floor mat, floor rugs, buckets, brooms, dining table, chairs and cupboards are provided.

When we got here, the first thing we did after unloading our luggage and stuffs, is to visit the Sematan Town (Pekan Sematan). It’s a very small town. It made us felt homey. Everything is within walking distance (if we stay at the town). It took us approximately 1 km to reach the town from our school.

This town is usually busy during the weekends because many Kuchingnites will come here to visit the beach for picnics or just savoring the seafood. Sometimes, these people’s actions strike a question mark in my brain. Some of them look like they had never seen the sea or it was the first time they saw the sea. Thus, I sometimes find them amusing.

The jetty is located near the town. The local people love fishing. Many of them like to go to the jetty to fish everyday. There are many fishes for them to fish. Probably fishing is a good activity to extend their social networks too!

I’m not very sure but I heard (and think that it is logic) that it is a shorter distance to take a boat from Sematan to Kuching. People also go to the jetty to take a boat trip to Teluk Melanor (Melanor Lagoon) or the nearest Indonesian town at Kalimantan.

Photographer: Unknown. Copyright of SMK Sematan.

I found this photo named Teluk Melanor in the school’s desktop.

Photo taken of Sematan Town from the jetty in the evening.

We visited Sematan Beach again. (We also saw sand thefts.)

Photograph by Esther L. Padan

Photograph & written by Esther L. Padan

We went to Waterfall No. 1 at Mount Gading. It took us 45 minutes to climb the mountain before reaching our destination.

This is Mount Gading Waterfall No. 1. Waterfall No. 3 and 7 are more beautiful than this waterfall! Each of us paid RM5 (student fare) as entrance fee to the Mount Gading National Park. The normal fare for adult is RM 10.

(Gunung = Mount)

Mount Gading is the highest mountain among the four mountains. Her neighbours are Mount Sebuloh, Mount Perigi and Mount Lundu.

Other main attractions are visiting Waterfall No. 3, Waterfall No. 7, Old Man Rock, Fortress Rock, Sitting Rock, Rock Well and a British camp at the summit.

One unique building I like seeing is this Bidayuh house. I like the architecture. Very unique and natural.

This house is used as the administration office of this park. Hostels and chalets are also available.

There are other waterfalls that did not require climbing the mountain. There are many waterfalls around Lundu and Sematan. The nearest is Sebat Waterfall located at Kampung Sebat (Sebat Village). I can’t remember the names of the other waterfalls. There’s a hot spring called Paku Hot Spring too.

* To be continued.