Lachau Town
Iban Craft Market of Sarawak
Lachau Town is a small town along the main highway to Miri .
The town is a tourist stop over on route to the original Iban longhouses near Lubuk Antu or Batang Ai (Where the Longhouse Hilton is located)
Sarawak has only one main highway (Highway 1) connecting all the main towns from Kuching to Miri and continue to the State of Sabah.
Lachau is after Serian. The town is nothing special, but for the traveler and tourist, Lachau is an important stop for a break on the way to visit the Iban Longhouse.
The small town has only three rows of shops.
The town closes after 4pm.
The Iban people in the area would bring their wares to barter trade with the local shopkeepers.
The shop lots in Lachau are run by the Chinese and are general grocery stores. Some are coffee shops cum restaurants.
You get your general groceries here and is usually frequented by the local Iban people.
The Iban people would bring hand crafted items to barter with the shopkeepers for general goods. Items are usually hand crafted parangs (swords), warrior shields, statues, weaved baskets and antique Iban items like Gongs, Jars and Jewelry.
Iban artifacts being sold here are much cheaper than the craft shops at the Waterfront in Kuching town.
Iban of Kalimantan would cross over the border with wares and visit Lachau to barter trade. In return, the shopkeepers provide them a place to stay before they make their way back to Kalimantan via foot. The Kalimantan Iban would trek over 4 to 6 hours across the border by foot with the basket of wares.
Indonesia's Kalimantan border is just a 2 hour trek from Lachau and is the nearest border to Sarawak.
Some shops in Lachau are specialize in barter trading with the Iban people with good variety of goods here.
Items available are miniature sized statues of tribesmen and various animals. They come in small, medium and large carvings and some are well finished.
Hornbill Bird carvings. Locally known as the Kenyalang, these intricately carved birds also come in a few sizes.
Lachau is about one and a half hours drive from Kuching
Longhouse Tour package usually stop here. Packages like the Hilton Batang Ai Longhouse Resort would also make stops here.
