I was in Kuching, Sarawak for a quick visit last week. We had so many things to do, so many places to visit, but so little time to spend. Luckily, we managed to squeezed in a short visit to Sarawak Cultural Village for about 2 hours. It was a short visit, but we gained a lot from the visit itself.
Frankly speaking, the journey to the Sarawak Cultural Village from the Kuching Waterfront took us about 30 minutes, probably because we were using the bus, so it took a bit longer to reach there. Next to the Sarawak Cultural Village is the Damai Beach Resort. So, if you're veer think about having a chill out on the beach, as well a little spice of the culture, you may bunk yourself in one of the rooms in the resort. Upon our arrival, we were kindly greeted by the staffs, fully dressed in Orang Ulu traditional clothing. They gave us the Sarawak Cultural Village stamp on our arms upon entry. We went as a group of students, so they charged us just RM15.90 for the ticket. Lucky us!
The village has about 7 types of traditional houses, each represents the different ethnic in Sarawak.
The first house that we visit was the Malay house. I love the design of the house, and today, we seldom see houses with such details of carvings and building designs. However, we didn't have the time to go inside for a look. But, I will next time. Heee~
We also managed to visit the Melanau longhouse. The house was built with strong poles of the good quality wood to support the house. Below the house, we tried to had a hands-on experience with the aluk, which were used in the paddy process. The aluk is often used in the Melanau's cultural dance too, the Alu-Alu.
This is my partner for the whole short visit to Kuching. We had too many laughs and too many gossips en route to our destinations. I loved her company throughout the trip, she's very easygoing and funny too. Oh, we are classmates too! The picture was taken in front of the Orang Ulu longhouse. This particular house is very fond to me because I am an Orang Ulu too, and visiting this kind of place makes me feel like going back to my hometown.
On our way into the Orang Ulu longhouse, I found out that the planks for the stairs were a bit old and I got myself paranoid of the planks breaking into two. To get into the house, we may enter either from the front or the back of the house.
Another reason for me to like this place is because there were so many monkeys around the house. They behaved well, except when it comes to food. Haha.. My friend in the photo above has been trying to get a closer photograph of her and the monkey. Along the 15 minutes being in the longhouse, this is the closest she can ever get to the monkey because everytime she gets closer, the monkey might think that she was offering food.
This is a photo of me holding a tool to process the paddy. The pole was made of a good quality pole and it was heavy so that it will be more effective to function.
This particular painting on the wall is very popular among Orang Ulu. This is because it is related to the idea of the "Tree of Life". The "Tree of life" contains the elements of the traditional Orang Ulu, in which they believed that the nature, has lives and must be honoured.
This is the view in the Iban longhouse. There were things hanging on the walls and the ceiling. All these hanging materials were also related to their beliefs, etc. In this longhouse, we will be able to try out a few Orang Ulu clothing and gears too.
We managed to arrive on time for the cultural show! These are my friends who joined along in the trip.
The performances were fun and engaging. Every session ends with the curiosity of whats next.
Overall, it was a fruitful trip. I learned a lot, especially about the cultural identity of the different ethnics in Sarawak.
If you want to know more about the Sarawak Cultural Village, drop me some comments. So how about you? What's the best cultural place you every visited?
I was in Kuching, Sarawak for a quick visit last week. We had so many things to do, so many places to visit, but so little time to spend. ...
