Long Weekend....

I’m sure many people are looking forward for a long weekend which will start to-day (Friday) especially for those in Sarawak . Many are taking the opportunity to travel around be it locally or go somewhere outside Malaysia.

Vesak Day Year 2010 falls on Friday, 28 May 2010.

Vesak day is celebrated by Buddhist around the world, and in different manners all over the world. Though some countries occasionally use different date for this festival, most would fall on this same day.

Gawai Day or Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrated in Sarawak on 1 June every year. It is both a religious and social occasion. The word Gawai means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak is a collective name for the native ethnic groups of Sarawak: the Iban, also known as Sea Dayak and the Bidayuh people, also known as Land Dayak. Thus, Gawai Dayak literally means "Dayak Festival". Dayak would visit their friends and relatives on this day.

Happy Gawai Day & Wesak Day to all Malaysian or popular known as 1Malaysia.........

Malay Woman in Tudung.

KUCHING, the capital of Sarawak, is a fairly modern city and it is striking to see the difference between the wealthier city people, many of whom dress like westerners, and the people from the country areas (mostly Malays) who dress in a more traditional and conservative way. The woman below looks like she has come into the city from one of the outlying villages (know as Kampongs in Malay). The headscarf she is wearing is called a tudung but in the west it is better know as a hijab.

The Malay woman .

Bergendang or Bermukun and Joget.

Among the Malays, Melanaus and Kedayans of Sarawak, the "Bergendang" ceremony is kept very much alive. The photos above(taken this evening) shows a "Bergendang" performance that is held at the Kuching Waterfront. Guess what? Anybody is welcomed to participate in the dancing, young and old. Visitors to Sarawak can pick up the dance steps very quickly. But the real fun begins when the ladies playing the drum ( named " Mak Gendang" = Lady Drummer) and singing the "Pantun" ( a four-line verse poetic message) gets response from the men. The men reply back in pantun-style the message or question embedded in the "Mak Gendang" pantun. Thus this answering and replying of pantuns continue for hours on end. Today the " Bergendang" is very much part of a wedding celebration activity and held mainly during the night in many villages through out Sarawak.

Uncovering The Hidden Truth.

I am not a journalist ,but just a simple man with camera in Kuching and Kota Samarahan.Let say I am a citizen journalist -that's I wanted to try.But I am not a good writer.Anyway lets my photo shot say a words.

Most of the time I do a candid shot here but sometime I am not.I start by conversation with the people I wanted to shoot ,people I don't know and ask permission for a photo shoot.Of course,generally their are not comfortable having their photo published but I have to explain politely to them.

A group of Bangladeshi ..factory workers in Kuching,Sarawak.

Local news report including NST online.Read this article 'One month to educate employers on Foreign Workers'

2010/01/05

PUTRAJAYA: For one month beginning today, the immigration department will educate employers nationwide that it is an offence to deploy foreign workers as frontliners.
Those who fail to cooperate will face the wrath of the law, said department director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman.

He said the education process would include providing brochures, dialogue sessions with employers and meetings with organisations involved.

Speaking to reporters here today, he said employing foreigners as frontliners was an offence under the Immigration Regulations 1963, adding that the department had not approved any request to put foreign workers as frontliners, except for security services.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman said the department would not hesitate to act against employers who reaped benefits by avoiding higher levies when hiring foreigners to work.

"This will only incur losses to the government," he said. - BERNAMA

Indonesian workers ...work in wood & timber factory in Sibu Sarawak.

I decided to pay a visit to Muslim Food Court in Kuching & Kota Samarahan ,the moment I stepped into a food court I see a unique, a small World in colour,life and culture. I stumble upon a roti canai & Murtabak cook.My conversation with the cook disappointed me ,the cook is from South India and know very little Malay & English.But anyway he agreed of being photographed .Most of the workers here is from Indonesia and Indian.

Workers from India at the food court in Kota Samarahan.

After that I decided to meet up a group of Indonesian workers .

For many years ,Kuching has become the heaven for foreign workers.Most of them come from place like Bangladesh,India and Indonesia.Some of them have permits while some don't.There is also a general indentity attached to all these workers.For instance those men from India are placed in Indian Muslim restaurants.Indonesian men and Bangladeshi are placed to construction,plantation and some in shopping mall.

My World Tuesday-A Day Trip to Annah Rais Village.

For virtual tour to other part of the world just visit the home page

HERE

 

Annah Rais belong to the Bidayuh tribe with over 80 families living in the long house.My research is that it had a written history of 175 years and unwritten of 500 years with 8 generation of Bidayuh who lived here.

Annah Rais Village is not far from the Sarawak/Kalimatan Indonesia border as I can see our Malaysian Immigration & Custom office is located there.

A Bidayuh maiden will serve  you a welcome drink  with  their local rice wine "TUAK".

Enter the Village & the long house.

 

Traditionally,the long house is one unit where many families occupy their own space in the divided only by manimal bamboo partition

 

The Head House.............

 

The Skull.........

Just don't miss the HEAD HOUSE...this is must visit house if you are at Annah Rais Longhouse .Perhaps 100 or more years ago head hunting was a common practice.They say the more head you collected meaning you are the most powerful person.

The villagers use traditional sugar cane crush to make sugar cane juice.

Annah Rais Village Hot Spring........

After the long house tour I went to the hot spring which is another 5 minutes drive from the village and followed by 3 to minutes walking through the jungle.

If you have chance to visit Sarawak , don't miss this little adventure ..just e mail me at uncleawang at G mail dot com.

Urban Squatters in Kuching.

Squatting was also common in Kuching  City and many squatting occupied their unauthorized sites for a decade.Their generally located on open government land or on unused private land.The presence of foul odour  and other unpleasant features did not stop me from visiting a 40 years old Encik Ismail  who had lived in squatters for a decade.

Ismail house is built one small step at a time and he say sorry for the interior appearance of his kitchen in a typically ramshackle.

The unpleasant features at the squatters.

Photo Documentary-Town Development..

Photo snap on 12/12/2009

The last Malay Kampung(village) in Sibu Town...as seen from the Sibu waterfront .

As for this ruins like local kampung houses, whether its last occupants are refusing to leave or waiting "patiently" for its last day to come, I really don't know. But I was just stunned by the scene - its 'human life' has amazingly outlasted its both economic and physical life...

My World Tuesday-Sarawak Regatta.

Sarawak Regatta is Kuching’s top boat-racing event, and has 15 different race categories. Traditional Chinese dragon boats, along with other colourful models, are paddled through the waters of the Sarawak River along Kuching Waterfront. The Sarawak Regatta is an annual event held at the Kuching Waterfront at the Sarawak River. This year Sarawak Regatta will be held from 31st July till 2nd August 2009.

Join the crowd for a weekend of watery boat races, sweaty paddlers and enthusiastic crowd which thronged the banks of Sarawak River in the wee hours of the morning to watch paddlers battling their strengths and skills amidst the shouts and cheers.

Watch out for the crowd’s favourite races and the ‘must watch events’, where the ‘Bidar’ boat races take centre stage. Adding to the variety and excitement are the ‘tambang’ boat races, jet-ski races, kayak races and the traditional water sports events. The highlight of these races will be the King of the River title for His Excellency’s the Governor’s Challenge Trophy. The tourist category of a 15 paddlers team and 20 paddlers International category are available to foreign tourists to compete in the race.

A wide array of side events such as tourism, handicrafts, science and technology exhibition trade fairs, cultural and food extravaganza, are an added attraction for this year Regatta. These will certainly bring in more crowd, more excitement, more thrills and spills to the Sarawak Regatta 2009. It will definitely be an event you will not want to miss.

VISIT KUCHING,Sarawak & that's my world tuesday to visit other world just click

THAT MY WORLD

Most of my photos below are taken yesterday(27 July 2009) Monday.The events are special regatta in conjunction with the visit of VVIP.

Watch out for more pictures next week...HOPEFULLY.

My World Tuesday-Gawai Dayak Festival.

More photos from other parts of the world by visiting this home page MYWORLD

Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrate only in Sarawak on 1 and 2 June every year and it a public holiday for Sarawakians. It celebrates the end of the rice harvest and is traditionally a time for the community to come together after the hard work is over.

During the celebrtion Ngajat dance is perform to welcome the guests.

An excerpt from the Wikipedia: Gawai Day or Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrated in Sarawak on 1 June every year. It is both a religious and social occasion. The word Gawai means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak is a collective name for the native ethnic groups of Sarawak: Iban, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, and Lun Bawang among others. Thus, Gawai Dayak literally means "Dayak Festival". Dayak would visit their friends and relatives on this day. Such visit is more commonly known as "ngabang" in the Iban language. Those too far away to visit would receive greeting cards. The mode of celebration varies from place to place. Preparation starts early. Tuak (rice wine) is brewed (at least one month before the celebration) and traditional delicacies like penganan (cakes from rice flour, sugar and coconut milk) are prepared. As the big day approaches, everyone will be busy with general cleaning and preparing food and cakes. Christian Dayaks normally attend a church mass service to thank God for the good harvest.

Daily Photo-People of Sarawak.

Sarawak is truly multi-ethnic in nature. The politically dominant Malay Melanaus comprise 20 per cent, the commercially powerful Chinese comprise 30 per cent and the rest is made up of 26 non-Muslim indigenous communities collectively referred to as Dayaks ,Iban,Kelabit and Kenyah.

The ethnic barriers are broken down further by the high percentage of mixed marriages registered estimated at 30 per cent of all mixed marriages in Malaysia annually."

So what about the spiderman ..what is he doing there ?????.

I deal with something in my photographs.I once thought was much too personal.Then I realized that's this is nature of the work I do.I don't do good photographs anyway......!!.

My World Tuesday-Farming Fiesta.

My World is having Fiesta,the farming fiesta and to visit others world you can go to this site.

MYWORLD-TUESDAY

The fiesta is celebrate at Danu Lake that is about half an hour drive from Kuching.Above is collage image of Danu Lake.

The colourful art of Bidayuh ethnic.

The Pesta Berumuh of the Bidayuh ethnic in Sarawak,a show case of Bidayuh culture,heritage and art.This festival was an occasion to honur forefather's who left legacies in the form of fruit orchards,vilages and native customery right land to the community.

It is also a time to celebrate the farming cycle and draw new interpretations and lesson from its spirit,philosophies,approaches,methodologies that can be applied in to-day's world.

Pesta Berumuh ,beyond rice farming was also an occasion to commemorate their traditional.culture and heritage.

Wearing traditional attire,costume and art of Bidayuh .

The festival attract more than 15000 visitors including foreign tourists.

Collage image of the crowd at mini stadium at lake Danau to witness the celebration.