The arched roof on Jalan Channel is a useful first clue: Sibu Central Market is a large working building, not a row of souvenir stalls dressed up for visitors. I would start downstairs rather than head straight for breakfast. The rows of produce counters explain why this address matters to Sibu; the meal upstairs makes more sense once you have seen what comes through the market below. [image: 1791243315969-130941995-resized.jpg] Pangalau / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2023 photograph, unchanged. The present Central Market was completed in 1996. It brought the former wet market and the Lembangan native market together in one complex opposite the express-boat passenger terminal. That change is more interesting than a claim about being the biggest market: an everyday town shopping stop and a trading place for indigenous produce were brought to the same address. You can read that purpose in the mix of vegetables, fruit, poultry and handicrafts, rather than looking for a ceremonial monument to it. I would give the ground floor the unhurried part of the visit. Jungle produce and local vegetables are not decorations for a cultural display; they are things people buy. Iban vendors and the wider mix of traders make the market a place where Sibu's different food traditions share the same practical space. Availability follows the day's supply, so treating a particular fruit or forest ingredient as a guaranteed attraction would miss the point. [image: 1791243316647-138294972-resized.jpg] Wee Hong / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · September 2023 photograph, unchanged. There is one detail that is hard to mistake for another town's polished food hall: live chickens sold with their bodies enclosed in newspaper tubes, their heads visible above the paper. The packaging is a distinctive local trading practice, not a performance arranged for a camera. It is worth noticing because it keeps the connection between an animal, a purchase and a household kitchen visible—something neatly packaged supermarket poultry removes from view. That also sets a real limit on the recommendation. Anyone uncomfortable around live poultry may prefer to avoid that section. I would not turn the animals into a handling activity, and I would ask before making a close-up photograph of a seller. These are working counters with customers to serve. [image: 1791243317332-170497228-resized.jpg] Wee Hong / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · September 2023 photograph, unchanged. The second part of the route is upstairs, where food and drink stalls sit alongside clothing and other merchandise. Downstairs is the buying; upstairs offers somewhere to pause over breakfast. I like that two-level sequence because it prevents a market visit from becoming just a hunt for a famous bowl of noodles. Kampua can be part of the morning, but the stronger reason to come is to understand how ingredients, trade and meals occupy the same building. The older interior photograph below is from 2008, not a promise about today's stall arrangement. Together with the 2023 views, it helps show the long-running role of the open trading floor. The building has been maintained and sections can change; individual stalls should not be treated as permanent exhibits. [image: 1791243317674-16109910.jpg] Benjy8769 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 2008 archival photograph, unchanged. For a first Sibu trip, I would use this as the morning anchor of a town-centre walk, then continue towards Tua Pek Kong Temple and the riverfront. Add the Heritage Centre only after checking its opening day. The market is worth an intentional stop for someone interested in food supply and everyday Sarawak, but I would not make a special journey from Kuching solely for it. If your ideal outing is a quiet, air-conditioned gallery or an evening souvenir-shopping circuit, choose a different anchor. Find it on Jalan Channel, Sibu: Sibu Central Market on Google Maps. The market trades daily from early morning, around 6am, but that does not mean every section keeps the same hours. I would arrive in the morning for produce and breakfast, keep about an hour flexible, carry small cash and drinking water, and wear shoes that cope with wet-market floors. Follow any temporary barriers rather than assuming every aisle is open. The most useful souvenir may be a better understanding of what Sibu buys for an ordinary day.