From Sibu, express boats, long and narrow, rather like wingless 747s, depart regularly. They head down-stream to Sarikei and Kuching, and upriver (ulu) to Kapit, and also past the treacherous Pelagus Rapids to Belaga. Tourists mingle with an assortment of other passengers : Chinese merchants taking their wares to distant longhouses; river and inland officials (usually Iban) going about their business; the odd longhouse dweller returning home after a visit to the big city, or schoolchildren who attend school in Sibu but return to their family longhouses for holidays.

Because of extensive logging, express boats now run to several of the major tributaries of the Rejang - a marvellous network that enables visitors to get around at little expense and with great ease - a situation much changed from the heady and hilarious days of Redmond O’Hanlon’s explorations in Into The Heart of Borneo. Other, much earlier travellers had to do it all the hard way, by hiring boats themselves. Although expressboat prices are fixed, hire of longboats is expensive (even for locals) and heavily dependent on the water level, weather, time of day, river currents and how willing the boatman is to hurry his journey to fit your schedule. For foreigners, prices will naturally be much higher and a spot of astute but friendly bargaining is in order. Unless you take a direct express to Kapit, the express boat stops along the way at the smaller settlements of Kanowit and Song, from where local express boats can be taken to visit longhouses up these rivers.

On the river, boats and longboats, and timber tugs work their way up or glide down-river on the Rejang. Sarawak’s longest river is also the natural highway for the timber industry, and you may see huge rafts stacked with logs floating downstream. Should one of these hazards become waterlogged, they present considerable danger to outboard motors; with that very danger in mind, the express boats have their undercarriage lined with steel and there is always a spare propellor shaft lashed to the roof.