88. KUCHING

The East Malaysian state of Sarawak is huge so a revisit to its capital of Kuching would suffice as too much of one state would get boring, best to savour a little at a time.

As always, Mother produces the most beautiful flowers and these from the ginger family are representative of the state as it looks like the hornbill, the state bird. I didn't see any in a natural habitat so they're probably tucked away in some nature reserve, like their orangutangs and proboscis monkeys.

....... and Mother dresses her snake in equally colourful garments. This little guy crossed my path along this wooden bridge. Can't imagine there are ignorant folks who believe what they've been told - that any serpent-like creature is representative of the 'devil'. That would make the Creator evil than.
These folks have never heard or experienced the kundalini serpent fire within them - they would change their mind about snakes if they did.
Ignorant blind leading ignorant blind.....can't help taking a swipe at them......because they could stomp on this little guy if it had crossed their path.

I like their cultural dances for its gorgeous costumes, good looking performers and best of all, the melodious strains of Malay ronggeng and keronchong music. This is now alien to today's Malay youths, even to those older than 40. In Singapore they are performed only by the Peranakan troupes.
Singapore's singing Idols may just make a killing by performing to such music from days of yore which will appeal to the older folks, not just the Malays. Trouble is, these youngsters may not be able to sing it the correct way.
























 



































The tourism body took some flak from its Indonesian counterpart for portraying ads with Balinese dances and that batik art is Malaysian in origin. At this performance, there was a ribbon dance long associated with the Chinese and there was no commentary saying so. So too, a traditional Filipino bamboo dance.

Kuching comes alive every year during the Rainforest Music Festival. The rest of the time it's a sleepy little laidback hollow which I love as its just like my hometown which is now an awful messy city.














 












Sarawak, like many other South East Asian nations, has a large number of indigenous tribes who are today, assimilated with the Malays and Chinese and assorted others, chiefly Filipinos.

























What an authentic Dayak would look like from this poster in its museum...





































The tribes were at one time best known as fierce headhunters. In this longhouse, several old skulls were displayed to show how skulls of their victims were smoked

Sarawak was once ruled by the Brooke family - White Rajahs. There were some nice colonial buildings still standing which are sleepy museums with some dusty, sad looking exhibits which have seen better days

 

We say Istana, they say Astana - same same, but different!

What a typical longhouse looks like which can house several families. Like most Asians, folks here are communal. These 'show' longhouses become backpackers' crash pads during the Rainforest Music Festival.

This I suppose is what a typical interior would look like in a longhouse. Families would share everything, except maybe their partners due to the lack of privacy, but who knows? Tribal people of old were quite uninhibited........















Idylic, rustic village with homes on stilts

 























I really like the hotel. I thought I had booked into a guesthouse but it turned out to be a new boutique hotel converted from a school. It's nice not to have high expectations nor plan too hard or be too fastidious. The surprises that greet me have been pleasant.

My school in my home town looked a lot like this hotel with classrooms on the ground floor and above.

The pavilion in the back is where all the action is during the Rainforest Music Festival. It looks almost Polynesian. Sarawak tribal art does look Polynesian. The tourism dollar is huge and tourism bodies everywhere keep inventing new stuff or converting new into old. Some countries have become really good at this.