Borneo Skrang Lodge Village homestay Betong division

Borneo Skrang Lodge Village homestay Betong division

Homestay in a longhouse? Well, almost. Now you can stay in a lodge next to the native Iban Mejong longhouse in the Betong district in Sarawak, Borneo Island. Borneo Skrang Lodge, a village-style lodging house in situated on the banks of the Skrang River which is not accessible by road, only by a 45 minute longboat ride which include passing by the Jeram Kura Kura waterfall.

Photo of Sarawak native dance belong to teanitiki

As guest at the Borneo Skrang Lodge, you will be invited to the Iban Mejong longhouse to witness the native Iban cultural performances which include the ngajat dance

Photo of Sarawak native dance belong to teanitiki

Guest at Borneo Skrang Lodge can also opt for a visit to the Wong Tengkura waterfall by a 20 minute longboat ride, or go jungle trekking or fishing. The Borneo Skrang Lodge business manager is Nixton Tuton who said they intend to also offer kayaking on the river and camping along the river in the future.

What is the Lion Dance?

Ornately decorated lion heads with bright wide eyes bob and dodge their way among the crowds at Chinese New Year’s Parades worldwide.  The lion expresses joy and happiness and is used to summon luck and good fortune.  Lion dance troupes perform throughout the two-week Lunar New Year celebrations, often going from village to village.  They also grace many other auspicious occasions such as wedding, planting or harvest time, religious ceremonies, or even at the launch of a new business.

Chinese Lion Dance

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Two Styles of Lion Dance: Northern and Southern

The two styles of lion dances differ not only in the type of costumes worn by the lion dancers but also in the types of movements performed.  In the northern style, the lions have shaggy orange and yellow fur and a long mane.  Their movements are very life-like, oftentimes using their legs to prance dramatically.  In the northern style of dance, the lions typically appear in family pairs: two adult lions and two young lions.  Lion dancers are most often performed by students of kung fu.  So, the dances can also be very acrobatic including stunts like the lions balancing on balls, lifts, and leaping through the air requiring the dancers to be very fit and agile.

Lion Dance: Northern Style

The Southern style costumes feature a lion that more closely resembles Nian, the fierce horned monster that inspired many Chinese New Year traditions  The Southern Lion’s head is shaped more like a dragon and has a drape.  It can have two or four legs.  When performing, the Southern Lion thrusts its head to the sound of drums, gongs and cymbals.  The Lion Dancers must precisely coordinate their movements with those of the instruments.  The most commonly used colors for lion dance costumes are red for bravery, green for friendship and goodwill and gold for a lively, dynamic spirit.

Lion Dance

Lion Dance troupes may also be joined by their friend, Buddha, who carries a fan and teases the lion, enticing him to lie down, roll and jump.  If you see them at a parade, notice that the Lion Dancers walk in a zig-zag pattern because evil spirits are believed to walk in a straight line.  But, no matter which style, the Lion Dance is artistic narrative and the inquisitive lion expresses these emotions during the dance—joy, anger, sadness, fear, suspicion, greed, mischief, and curiosity.

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Search for the Greens

During the Lion Dance, the lion will also embark on a “search for the greens”.  The greens, typically, is a head of lettuce is sometimes suspended from a ceiling or doorway and the lion dancers must perform a lift to reach them.  Once the lion has eaten the greens, the greens are thrown toward the audience to represent wealth and good fortune.  Inside the lettuce, or greens, the lion may find a red envelope with money.  This offering is a symbol of good luck and a reward for the lion for chasing away the evil spirits.

Search for the greens

our visit to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

our visit to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

Last Saturday morning we were up bright and early for our visit to the Semenggog Wildlife Centre and while there we were hoping to see at least one Orangutan. We were more than happy as we managed to see eight of them in the wild. Well perhaps the centre would be considered semi-wild as they are being rehabilitated into the wild, though are free to roam in the jungle area. Most days they return to the Ranger for feeding at about 9.00am and 3.00pm. Our guide mentioned that we would be lucky to see them as often they gather nuts and fruits for themselves, which is what they are being trained to do too. There are many farms in the region where the Orangutan are able to 'steal' the produce.

On wet days the Orangutan also stay away from the centre. The following information on the wildlife Centre is available on the SouthEast Asia Travel website.

The Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is located about an hour south of Kuching in Borneo's 1613-acre Semenggoh Nature Reserve. Since 1975 the center has been accepting animals either orphaned, injured, or rescued from captivity and reintroducing them back into the wild.

The Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is not a zoo; unless quarantined, the animals are not kept in cages and are free to roam about the thick, green forest canopy.

The following two images show the first Orangutan that I saw:

 

Rather than just attracting tourists, the primary goal of the wildlife center is to actually rehabilitate animals and get them back into the wild if at all possible.

The endangered orangutans are the primary reason that people visit the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, although the rangers do work with other species including crocodiles and hornbills. The center offers an increasingly rare opportunity to view orangutans in a natural habitat; many orangutans in the refuge are considered semi-wild and rarely come back to the rehabilitation center.

Orangutan means "forest people" in the local language; the name fits well given the primates' superior intelligence and human-like personalities. In 1996 a team of researchers witnessed a group of orangutans making sophisticated tools - and sharing them - for extracting seeds from fruit.

Orangutans are native only to Borneo and Sumatra and are considered extremely endangered. Of the estimated 61,000 orangutans existing in the wild, a little over 54,000 live on the island of Borneo. Female orangutans typically produce only one offspring every seven or eight years, hence the dwindling population.

Seduku - the "grandmother" at the Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre - was born in 1971 and has given birth to several offspring. Ritchie - the alpha male in the refuge - weighs over 300 pounds and was rescued by a journalist. Most of the orangutans at the center are named and the rangers can easily identify them with a glance.

While the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is doing their best to preserve orangutans in the state of Sarawak, the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is doing their part in Sabah.
 
In an effort to protect both the orangutans and tourists, the center no longer allows people to walk through the refuge on their own.

 

 

 

 

we didn't have to walk far into the dense jungle to see these beautiful animals, perhaps just 250 metre's.

 

 

Matang Wildlife Centre

Matang Wildlife Centre

at 17:44

This is the 1st time I went to the Matang Wildlife Centre at my own hometown. This is the 2nd Wildlife Centre I've been, out of duno-how-many wildlife centres we have here in Kuching.

I went with my uncle and his family, just an hour trip touring around the wildlife centre, but the travel distance was like, about half and hour or so, from the town. And there, like any other wildlife centres, we saw...

The crocs




Oh deArS...


Hedgedogs


Orang utans

This fella, is pretty huge. Well, everything is huge about this fella - look at the HUGE face, palms and feet. And even the way it walks, u can feel the weight. But anyway, it's the pose it did for our shots that made us so sweat.

See how it enjoys its life...

And we also saw this fella with another of companions fooling around with each other. Man, they really are active - climbing here and there, jumping here and there. And this shot here, well, certain area in this pic shows how I know the gender of this fella. Haha. But not good to expose the 'lil fella' to the public. No one likes it too though. :)

There are other wildlifes like the leopard cats, eagles, hornbills, sunbears... but those shots I took weren't nice..

And not to forget some shots on the nature...

Anyway, the lesson of the day is, enjoying ur life as much as possible like this orang utans here. :)

The Sarawak Regatta is an annual boat race happening at the Sarawak River in Kuching.  It is held in conjunction with Kuching City day, but dates from as early as 1972.  The regatta itself has been a major tourist attraction for Kuching City, and has participation from all over the world with records showing over 320 teams participating in each year’s race.

Borneo Auto Fest (BAF) 2012

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This event has passed.

Borneo Auto Fest also known as BAF is the first ever biggest car expo in East Malaysia which will involved the Super Bike, Bicycle and Car Club. BAF event will be held at a great and beautiful scenic at Batu Kawa Newtownship @ MJC. Apart from the expo, we have hundreds of booths promoting car accessories and audio system. We also have a few car dealers promoting their products as well. Apart from that we have a food bazaar and flea market to make the event more colorful. We have a Competition such as audio system and car modification will take place on the entire 3 days. And we have an invited professional judges come along the way from the West Malaysia to judge the competition.
BAF is mainly organized by AUTEK and FEST EVENT and co organized/by Majlis Perbandaran Padawan. We are looking foward to this event and to make sure that this event will reach to the international level in time to come. We are expecting at least 5000 crowd per day to enjoy the entire event and 500 competitors to compete in the competition as well. There will also be bikers/speed biker, bicycle riders to have their own activities as well as invited artiste to sing for the event.
The main objective of this event is to further enhance and boost the local market in car audio and accessories sector. It is design to attract more and more people in the society to know what BAF and at the same time we want to boost our market as installer and as a brand dealer. Apart from that, this event is created to improve and gather all the audiophile in the society to be together and improve the relationship. And we want to create a public event that benefits both the society and the company.

Serikin Market - Sarawak Attraction

Serikin Market - Sarawak Attraction

 

Serikin is a tiny little village near the border of Sarawak with the Indonesia. It is takes about 1 ½ hours drive from Kuching City. During the weekends traders from across the border and nearby areas come to offer their wares and produce. They hawk authentic Indonesia sarongs, household items and food ranging from farm produce such as vegetables and fruits to seafood and meats. Along the way are also makeshift roadside markets selling anything from antiques to wild ornamental plants, exotic orchids to equally exotic fruits, local kueh to all types of pulut and fragrant locally grown rice sometimes recently harvested.

 

 

We reached there around 7 am and the parking place is still empty. The parking charge is RM2.00.

You might think that the Serikin weekend market is just like any other weekend markets like our Satok market. Well for me I found that most of the things at Serikin market tend to have Indonesian flavour especially the sarong – colours and designs are of Indonesian character.

 

Being there is surreal - As vendors try to sell their goods, potential customers have to navigate not only through thick crowds of pedestrians but also traffic weaving in and out of the small lane.

 

It's the atmosphere, the stalls and the goods being sold that give the impression that you have been transported back in time to when things were simpler.

An LV fan? Just pick one at the cheapest price ever! Sigh.

 

The prices here are very much cheaper, and haggling is part of the custom.Along the borders of Sarawak and Kalimantan lies the town of Serikin. This particular border town would have remained insignificant if not for the 'Serikin Market,' offering everything from everyday household items to more exotic items such as leeches and gecko/lizard.

 

Famous lizard looked like "tokek" (just wild guess) are also sold here in a plastic container. I thought that they are only toys only then realized when I saw they moving. Believe it or not, the price can reach few thousand MYR as they claimed to heal critical disease like cancer & HIV.

 

Every weekend the border village of Serikin in Bau District near here comes alive with the bustle of traders offering all kinds of wares and shoppers hunting for a bargain. The village, which lies close to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, is well known for its market among locals, tourists and Indonesians. The traders at the market are from Indonesia, usually crossing the border on Friday afternoons to set up their stalls for the following day.
Generally there are more people on Saturdays than Sundays, and the most common items sought after are mats, mattresses and vegetables. The market started in 1992. At that time, Indonesian traders asked the locals to help them sell their goods. Now the Indonesians themselves come over to sell their goods.

Beautiful embroided cloth for Muslim women used for pray. Different fabrics eg; French cotton & normal cotton are available.

 

Colourful ready made curtains waiting to be purchased. But, make sure you know the measurement. 

 

 

 

Lots of branded bags. Just name it! 

 

What is amazing about the place is that it is isolated to a certain part of Serikin town. The market stretches out over three kilometres along a narrow road. The road is not closed to traffic, and is usually filled with tourists buses and bargain hunters.

See! They even sell hand made furniture (rattan).  The quality is good and most importantly, negotiable price.

 

 

 

 
 

All types of kitchen wares are also sold at this market. You can see different sizes of pan & pots. Make sure you have paid for extra luggage if you intend to buy & bring back home for you mother.

 

 

As the market is located at the border of Malaysia & Indonesia (at the equator), the weather easily get hotter as it reaches 9 am above. So, if you forget to bring your hat / sunglass, no worries because you can pick any favourite design from the rack.

 

Some of gifts you can buy & bring back.

 

 

 

Nice printed shirts and jackets.   

Junk food like fruit pickles, nuts, chips arranged nicely in the big jars. If you feel like munching while you shop, just pick any of your liking. 

 

At the end of the market, there are sellers who sold vegetables and fruits from nearby village. I can spot sweet potatoes, ripe tomatoes, durian, lemon grass, petai and many more.

 

I guess this is the goat skin but not sure what is the function. Perhaps, it looks nice to be laid on the living room?

 

 


 


 

More fabrics... I am sure ladies will be soooo excited to come to the market. Lots of choices & type of fabrics to be selected. Most of the fabrics are brought from Indonesia and with colourful embroidery.

 

Cute purses, bracelet, handphone casing made from Sarawak beads for perfect holiday gift.

 

Rings for men. Collectors will definitely charm with the variety of colour & size.

 

 
 
So the next time you are in Kuching, do stop by Serikin Market (about 60km from Kuching city) to check out the wide variety of goods for sale and to soak in a bit of nostalgia. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin