The Esplanade is Sibu's front door. It runs along the Rejang in the centre of town, past lawns and palms, the express-boat terminal and the swan statue that has become the town's emblem — Sibu calls itself Swan City, and the birds turn up on everything from roundabouts to municipal letterheads.
What makes it worth an hour is not the landscaping but the traffic. The Rejang is Malaysia's longest river and Sibu is its port: express boats load for Kapit and Song, timber barges work downstream, and the whole upriver economy passes the promenade railing. Evening is when the town comes out to walk it.
