Sarawak Snapshots: Traditions, Textiles, and Tribal Tales

We drove past Kuching to Santubong to the Sarawak Cultural Village to spend the day with Ann, Bianca, W, Athanasius, Constance and A.

On the drive, Heidi managed to see a couple of long-tailed macaques, but there was no space to stop on the side of the road for a photo, so Linda snapped this through the windscreen.


The drive out to the village had lovely scenery again.

The village is located next to the coast, so we went for a quick wander to check out the coastline as well as a campsite that was right beside the beach. It had the gate as its entrance, so of course had to grab a shot of it.


Ann had a friend who worked there, so she managed to get us a discount on the entrance.

The first thing Linda and Heidi did was line up for the Cultural Show of a few of the ethnic groups on display in dancing, music and activities.

The welcome dance with all of the cultures represented onstage

Iban was the first - during the dance the male dancer picked up the wooden mortar with his mouth.

It was then the Bidayuh

Next was Melanau, where they danced playing Alu-Alu (the stick dance game)

And then one of them climbed on top of one of the poles and was spun around!



It was then the Orung Ulu's turn, where the male dancer showed us the use of the pipe dart to pop balloons



He got the first balloon on his first shot


He took a few shots to get the next... but entertained us all the while.


He then got a member of the audience to have a go ... you decide whether this was rigged or not - she got it first time (and was brilliant doing the traditional dance).


The last group was the Melayu


They finished with all of them back on stage for the finale


After the show, we then explored each ethnic group's houses, where they had them set up as they used to live.

The first building was the Rainforest music house that was filled with all of the different instruments made and played by the various ethnic groups.


The Bidayuh - Catherine and Ann's ethnic group

The Iban, which is W's father's ethnic group

Necklace making


Bianca asked if they would do a short performance for us and they obliged.



The Orang Ulu house - Lucas's ethnic group



Fried glutinous rice treat







The Penan is a group under the Orang Ulu



We had to have a go at the blowpipe
















They demonstrated the Alu-Alu game - where they get faster and faster until you give up or fall


They asked if anyone in the audience wanted a go, and no one put their hand up, so Heidi had a go.



The Melayu house


Watching the making of the Love Letters cake. We then bought some to try



It was lovely having a rest under the house



The last group was the Chinese house




Cousins



On the way home, we met Cassandra at a food court for an early dinner


Ann then bought Mum and me a treat - Banana Fritters with cheese - topped with condensed milk - sounds strange but was surprisingly yummy



Another lovely sunset on the drive home


Ann then took us for a drive on some new roads in the Kampung that we had not been on, and we drove past this traditional Baruk (her late uncle's house)


It was then Athanasius' turn for presents



Comments

  1. Ron B29 June 2025 at 17:46

    What a wonderful day. So many different ethnic groups. I loved the Cultural Show. Well done Heidi with the Alu-Alu game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heidi McKellar30 June 2025 at 08:20

      Thank you 😊 Yes we learnt so much about the different groups.

      Delete

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