Now back to where we last left about the Penan people. Well, this time instead of taking the back of the Penan man doing his fishing, let’s view it in another different angle.

Ahhh well, according to him, that’s how they used to dress but as modern civilization started, most of them started wearing jeans and t-shirt now. Well, time changes a lot of things. As Penan is one of the few smaller tribes, they don’t really have a longhouse (maybe they do) but usually they live in huts. Let’s move on to the next place of interest.

Rumah Orang Ulu (Remote People House) is what I can say, woah~~~~ look at the height of the house. In the cultural village, it’s the tallest structure for a Rumah (house).

Some historic backgrounds of Orang Ulu

Orang Ulu basically are meant to consist of a few ethnic roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in Sarawak, with a population ranging from less than 300 persons to over 25,000 persons. So basically it’s a group of different tribes.

Well, so being WEIRD ONE I have got to explore this majestic place and go up the special stairway instead of the simple stairs made for normal people. Well, I ain’t normal people, I am WEIRD am I.

Just look at those steps, Woah, dearest Princess Yen has taken an excellent shot of me going up to the entrance of the Rumah Orang Ulu.

Oh forgotten to mentioned, at every tribal house, there is a checkpoint where we have a passport and get to put a stamp on it. Surprisingly, if you’re going in as a student, you won’t get that passport. So how does the passport looks like? We will showcase the passport before you eyes.

The Back and The Front of the Passport

More about the passport later, I must say it was a splendid way from up here viewing the entire Sarawak Cultural Village from here. What’s to do here? We get to explore the place and it’s just like another longhouse, but this time there are props for us to play.

Look at Yen go with the musical instrument. Well, I wanted to shoot more and more of the antics of her playing until she suddenly does this.

No taking my photos or I’ll beat you up with these sticks. Then I stopped.

Finally time for a commercial break…. opps this isn’t a TV channel. Time for a toilet break and we have the tallest toilet ever built for tourist like me. What??? Got such thing? Have a look.

Toilet on stilts!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA NOT!!!

It’s the Rumah Melanau. Well, now that you’ve seen most of the houses, you wondered why were they built on stilts? Surprisingly I just deduced it, one it’s to keep away from wild animals. Another one is to keep an alert from enemies. Well, like I mentioned on the previous post, Iban used to be a headhunter tribe. Those days, it’s the strong to survive.

When we finally reached the bottom of the Rumah Melanau, it’s time for stamping again on the passport. Now you’ll know what I am talking about. It’s a stamp like any other stamp. DONE!! Princess Yen stamped on the passport (I don’t need to do all this!! Hehehe)

Another long house, but this time the view of a healing hall in the Rumah Melanau. Well, to ward of evil spirits and others. A background on the Melanaus, they were traditionally fishermen as well as paddy and sago farmers. Some were skilled boat builders.

By the way time for some relaxing photos taken from the Cultural Village to relax the eyes from all the brown and greens. Let’s have a look at a certain flower which I don’t know what species it is.

Blur?? Yup, it’s meant to be blurred. Especially for readers to adjust their eyes from looking at all the constant brown and black and green colors of earlier photos.

Finally it’s time for the other two to be visited. It’s the Malay house and the Chinese house. Surprisingly, I can’t really take anything special about these 2 houses as most look like modern houses. The reason the Sarawak Cultural Village was built so that people will know about the different ethnic group living in the lands of Sarawak.

As the day started to grow dark, it’s time to finally touch the ball for it’s good luck.

By doing so it’ll give you tonnes of luck and the Power of The Ball.

LOL… Forget that I said that. I just created that up. Basically it’s just one of those ornaments and somehow we both got interested in taking pictures with balls. (Errrr… that sound mighty wrong)

Finally after going through all those ‘Rumahs‘, I have finally collected all the stamps. I felt like a kid able to collect things while visiting these traditional houses of people in Sarawak. Then I just have to act cute.

Pitiful face, Cute leh…. =P~~~~~ (I is can SYIOK SENDIRI)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Here’s the continuation of my Kuching visitation. Now where to next? Of course, it’s the Sarawak Cultural Village and one of their attractions is the cultural dance being held in the theater. Was lucky to go in early as I’ve gotten one of the good seat to sit on.

Dance Dance Dance!!!

In this dance show there is also a few scenes where volunteers are brought up the stage and one part of it is like the one below.

So shall I cut your hand for my food later? No~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wonder what she’s smiling about when her hand is going to be cut off. Well, it’s a play after all. But mind you, the blade is really really sharp. Of course, in East Malaysia, when I visited both Sabah and Sarawak, it will not be enough if there is no blow pipe demonstration. One thing about it is that the one doing this is great at shooting from a long distance. There’s a balloon situated about 10 meters away and he shoots it successfully.

What a guy!! Daniel The WEIRD ONE salutes.

Finally after all the cultural show, it’s time to go out and do some exploration on all the tribes and locals of Sarawak. Well, that’s why I came here. But bear in mind, if you’re not from East Malaysia, you have to pay RM60 to enter this cultural village. PAIN~~~ as in monetary issue. If you’re local, it’s RM45. If you’re student, it’s RM15.

So where to next? Get to visit a few places like the Chinese Farm House, Malay House, Melanau Tall House or turn right to visit the Bidayuh Longhouse, Iban Longhouse, Penan Hut or the Orang Ulu Longhouse? Decisions, finally decision made, it’s time to go right.

First stop is Bidayuh Longhouse. How to go there? They’ve shown the way.

Have to go there by crossing the bridge, which they called the Bidayuh Bamboo Bridge. So got to pose. I look weird, it seems my neck is stretching. I have a longgggggggggggg neck.

Princess Yen got a better pose than me. Wahhhhh… nice.

Well, then onward till we reached our destination which is the Rumah Bidayuh. By the way ‘Rumah’ means House in English.

Seems so normal? But wait till you look what’s inside.

I had my try on the rice grinding thingy, which I posed and it look absolutely fake. What did I meant by saying that?

This was what I meant. Failed!!! Next person….

Ehh, lucky I was grinding the rice, Princess Yen was riding a bike on the grinder. Hehehe.. *ouch* I sensed a pinch

Finally next stop, The Rumah Iban. For the information, the Iban is the largest tribe in Sarawak encompassing about 85% of the people there. Well, they used to be a headhunter tribe until modern civilization came. Anyway let’s get to the current new tribe and visit. As it was raining a bit earlier, the sky was a bit dark. Thus we also ran as fast to the Iban House.

The Iban Longhouse, Princess Yen in the middle of it. One can actually stay in this longhouse with a substantial amount of fee though. Shot with a 50mm and ISO about 800.

Well, longhouses doesn’t really look like that, but due to commercial purposes, had to be pleasing to the eyes. Where to next? Let’s visit some minor tribes which are the Penan.

Since then, it’s the Penan Hut. Others have longhouses, but the Penan seems to just have a hut. What’s there though? How does a real Penan dresses?

Yes, a Penan man setting rod for fish to be eaten. Such simple clothing. Wonders what will happen if I dressed up like that.

Sorry to disappoint though but there are more places to visit in Sarawak Cultural Village and yes, it will be covered shortly in the next post. Huh? That’s fast. Not really, just that I am tired and wanna sleep soon. Till the next one. By the way, do spread awareness of the beauty of nature and culture if you have it.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Is time for Travel Malaysia series. Well, this time is all about the Cat City. Way back in 2009. Yes, I have so many backdated posts to do, from Tibet to Kuching to etc etc etc. Now let’s say hello to the GIANT WHITE CAT in Kuching City in Sarawak, East Malaysia.

Giving the cat the greetings is what one should do if they ever go to Kuching. Well, at least it shows you’re at Kuching. Might even bring you luck and after that you can fly back to Genting Highlands for a casino.

Unlike other times, this time, there would be more exploration of the outskirts of the capital city of Sarawak, visiting nature. Where to? Let’s head on to Fairy Cave.

Selamat Datang (Welcome) Fairy Cave is situated about 45 to 1 hour drive from Kuching town. Well, but where’s the cave? It’s free of charge. But unlike other caves, it’s also a bit creepy. Well, why do you supposed they call it the Fairy Cave?

The entrance to the cave is now safer to go in. With steps to go into the dark dark entrance. Now wait, how do I know all these things? As title suggests, all thanks to my dearest princess who brought me for some sightseeing. Well, considering that I am in a LDR (Long Distance Relationship), it wasn’t easy and I do get to travel here to meet her.

Once inside, one needs to take care of their body posture. For those taller than me, at times you have to bend your head lower to avoid banging your head against the walls of the cave. Look at the next photo for reference.

Once inside, I looked back at how to go back to the entrance, the steps are way steep and you need to balance yourself before going through the steps. Pity though, however I described it, can’t seem to tell you how it is based on a photo. So those of you planning to do some adventuring should try going there.

The wonders and how it looked inside is superbly wonderful. You’ll get to know why is it called Fairy Cave. There are other smaller entrances, but those places are deemed out of bounds to normal visitors.

Legend has it that it’s called Fairy Cave as there are Fairy that protect these places. Unlike the fairy tales where fairies look harmless and on the good side, the fairies portrayed her are not the same. They are the protector of the caves.

Sometimes you would see remnants of offerings at certain part of the caves. It’s spooky at certain part of the cave. Well, the part further away from the light.

Of course, with me shooting all the way, Princess can’t seem to stand me.

Princess: “Oits… faster take photo then go up le!”

Me : Ahhh.. ok ok… sorry sorry! *shows pitiful face*

There are more steps and more steps to climb and after spending a few hours up there, it’s time to go back down.Here are some formation of the rocks at Fairy Cave close up.

Woah… beautiful and wonderfully creation of God. Just look at those structures.

Time to head out and time to take photos outside the entrance again.

Just look at how big the signboard. Princess was amazed. Well, I was amazed too. What’s this signboard now?

It’s the entrance to the Wind Cave. Another cave to explore? That’s Me and Princess, lovely or not? As my tripod was broken, this photo was took with both of us posing at the welcome board. Then stitching it together once more. Now guessed what was stitched?

By the way, we didn’t get to explore Wind Cave as there wasn’t enough time. So where to next? It’s time to visit some other places.

Time for some feast for the eyes. To look at a scenery full of greens. Won’t you give anything to play in this pool of water? But but but… basically photography can really fool one’s eyes. Why? The water in fact was actually very murky. There are no fishes in it and the smell was terrible.

Anyway, it was a tiring day and what better way than to take photos with my dear, Princess Yen. I am so lucky to know you.

What will be our next adventure? Just stay tune! There are more to come. This blog is active once more.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Small Talk
I a proud to be a Malaysian, but am not proud of certain things like this happened

---

I am a traveler, a blogger, a software developer, but most importantly I am Daniel Chew from Malaysia. The picture sums it all.

No no no.. I am not in Hainan Island now. LoL. Though I would love to visit there some day. As a matter of fact, I am in Kuching doing my rounds and for leisure and most importantly to visit dearest Yen who is currently there. Huh? What do I meant by saying that? You’ll get the picture of it slowly.

There are many places I visited in Kuching. Though that will have to wait for awhile. One thing I am glad is that while in Kuching, even though Yen was sick but she still brought me around Kuching. So “cham” for her that it has to happen. No trips to the beach were made.

I’ve always thought that Kuching is called for it’s name to mean Cat. Yes, in the Malay language, Kuching means cat, but somehow there was like a slight mistake when I saw this bizarre looking thing.

There’s a dragon in Kuching? Yen was so amazed at the big mouth of the dragon, she decided to do her own version. Hee… opps. But indeed the dragon thingy was really intriguing that I got to see it for myself. Why did Yen opened her mouth so big. I decided to have a closer look. What I saw was~~~~ something~~~ WEIRD!

The dragon has a big mouth but a small body. Looks more like a crocodile. What is it actually in fact? I’ve forgotten but I think it was an outlet for water to rush through. Hmmm… Yes, I know I look like a China tourist with that white hat. At least it protected my ears from the sun rays.

I was a fan of old Malaya history during my secondary school days that I took part in History quizzes for my class. Yes, I was interested in History!!! (Actually cause I didn’t want to lose to my school friend in terms of subjects LOL) Coming to Kuching reminds me of the name Brooke. Definitely not Brooke Shields, but James Brooke, Charles Brooke and Charles Vyner Brooke. Though amazingly something else caught my eye, just so happens on a very special day and date, Charles Brooke was declared the 2nd Rajah of Sarawak.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 3% [?]