Exotic Sarawak cuisine

SEPARATED by sea no more, you can now have your palate delighted by the most authentic of Sarawakian indigenous cuisine until Nov 27 at the Makan Kitchen, DoubleTree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur.

Launched on Nov 8 by Tourism Deputy Minister Datuk James Dawos Mamit, the Exotic Sarawak Festival features an extensive range of the state’s mouth-watering traditional cuisine prepared by two special guest chefs.

Chefs Antija Dawen and Binyas Suem, both Bidayuhs, head the kitchen in preparing some 30 traditional specialties from their family recipes.

Among them are nang duah kian pansoh (seafood with local spices cooked in bamboo), nasi ujan (Sarawak-style rainbow rice), koming kari (Bidayuh-style lamb curry with potato) and nang galah rebus serai (freshwater prawns cooked with lemongrass).

The feast also includes Sarawak’s popular street food – laksa Sarawak, kolok mee and mee belacan.

Both the guest chefs from the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching wanted the cuisine to be as authentic as possible.

“We flew almost a tonne of ingredients all the way from Sarawak,” said Chef Antija.

They used the best ingredients to ensure that patrons get to relish in the essence and enjoy the authentic taste of the street foods.

“The belacan that we used to make the mee belacan is the kind that you can only get in Bintulu and Miri,” said Chef Binyas, adding that they have chosen the freshest and the best belacan which cost a whopping RM50 per kilogramme to prepare the savoury street favourite.

A pastry chef back home, Chef Binyas said he is honoured to have been invited to cook for the festival.

Chef Antija explained that while the many appetizers, mains and desserts they are serving here are considered specialities in the peninsula, they are in fact “what our parents serve” on a daily basis.

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Many Bidayuh areas are tourism goldmines

KUCHING: The Bidayuh community was yesterday advised to earnestly look at historical sites in their areas through tourism lenses.

Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos stressed that history should be shared and the Bidayuh should make an effort to do this by tapping its potential to generate tourism dollars.

“I believe there are many historical sites in Bidayuh areas. They are our assets and strengths, and we should promote them as tourism products to earn money.

“So, the community must take the risk and venture into the tourism sector,” Dawos said during a visit to Kampung Sentah in Siburan.

The village, which is more that 200 feet above sea level, is believed to be earliest setttlement of the Bidayuh Biatah community.

Dawos, who is also Mambong MP, said the village boasted many historical values and tales which could be promoted and shared with tourists the world over.

He added that he would continue to assist local tourism activities and programmes, and disclosed that his ministry gave the state RM28 million last year.

This year, a total of RM25 million has been given to the state thus far.

Dawos, however, said he was unhappy that the Bidayuh community had not been active in the tourism sector.

“I would like to see more Bidayuh getting involved in the tourism sector, and I am more than willing to help,” he said, pointing out the industry roped in some RM56.6 billion from foreign tourists last year.

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Visitors flock to Gawai Tourism Open House

THE recent inaugural Gawai Tourism Open House at Kampung Annas Rais in Padawan attracted more than a thousand visitors — both local or foreign.

The event was jointly organised by the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage on September 3 and launched by Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk James Dawos Mamit.

A lot of activities were lined up for the day and both domestic and foreign tourists alike were impressed with the traditional and cultural programmes put up by the Bidayuh community.

The activities, held at the Kampung Annah Rais longhouses, started at 3pm and ended at about 2am the next day.

One of the highlights was a traditional Bidayuh dance performed by the womenfolk from Kampung Semban in Ulu Padawan.

The Gawai Tourism Open House was aimed at promoting the homestay programme in the village to help boost the local tourism industry. There are presently 13 homestays in Kampung Annah Rais, according to the organising chairman Edward Kurik.

He pointed out that the Gawai Tourism celebration was to promote the Bi-Anah culture which includes Anah Rayang, Semeru, Sadir, Simuti, Dunuk, Bisira, Sibakar and Tepoi.

“We showcase the local cultures that are related to the tourism sector such as cultural performances, playing of traditional musical instruments and traditional games,” Edward added.

A German tourist named Alexander said as a first-time visitor, he was impressed with all the cultural activities planned and would definitely tell his friends and relatives about them when he returned home.

“I’m impressed with the dances, music and musical instruments. The people are very friendly and my friends and I will bring home fond memoraies of their warmth and hospitality,” said the Frankfurt native who stayed at one of the homestays for a few days to enjoy the scenery and environment, including the Annah Rais Hot Springs.

Alexander’s views were shared by his friend, Gemma, from Barcelona, who said she never expected to have an experience “like no others” during her visit.

“Thanks to our tour guide who recommended this nice place and wonderful event, we really had fun watching the cultural performances.

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Sarawak State-level Gawai at Annah Rais Sept 3

KUCHING: State level ‘Gawai Celebration’ organised by Tourism Malaysia (Sarawak) and Ministry of Tourism and Heritage will be held at Kampung Annah Rais in Padawan on Sept 3.



The organising chairman Edward Kurik said the celebration was the second time ever aimed at promoting tradition and culture of the Bidayuhs in Padawan.



He said the festival more popularly known as ‘Gawai Tourism’ will also provide opportunity for tourists to see and understand first-hand the unique culture of the Bidayuhs and their traditional dances and games.



There are a lot of things that tourists can learn from this experience, he said yesterday.



Agencies involved in the event are Padawan Municipal Council and Village Security and Development Committee of Kampung Annah Rais.



He explained that there would also be a cultural exchange programme involving residents of Kampung Annah Rais when they received the visitors from Kampung Semban, during the celebration.



Those from Semban, a traditional village, will also display their own brand of unique culture which may be a bit different from those of Annah Rais, he said.

Continue reading at: Sarawak State-level Gawai at Annah Rais Sept 3

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Gawai Dayak Best Celebrated At The Longhouse

KANOWIT (Sarawak) -- The longhouse is the place to be when the Dayak community in Sarawak ushers in the annual Gawai Dayak harvest festival at midnight tonight.

Most of the 5,000 longhouses and villages across the state will reverberate with rejoicing as the community of Iban, Bidayuh and others, making up 40 per cent of the state's 2.4 million population, begin the celebrations.

The community will usher in the festival with a toast of the "Ai Pengayu" or longevity drink, which is usually the "tuak" made of fermented glutinous rice.

This will be preceded by Christian prayers by some and the traditional "miring" and "bebiau" ritual offering by others, seeking God's blessings for a better harvest, health and fortune for the coming year.

The toast is a highlight of the Gawai, said longhouse chief Mathew Sembilan anak Asap, 63, from Nanga Tada here.

"In all longhouses, each family will contribute their "tuak" and an assortment of tidbits for the gathering at the "ruai" or public gallery of the longhouse.

"Of course, before the feast begins, the chiefs or their deputies or elected representatives will make the traditional speeches, offering well wishes," he said.

After the "Ai Pengayu" toast, the feasting and revelry will go on until dawn. Fire crackers and fireworks will be let off as the people feast on chicken, fish and pork and curries as well as the "kuih lapis"(Sarawak's famous layer cake) and the traditional "kuih chuan" and "sarang semut" biscuits.

"To enjoy the festival at its best, the longhouse is the place to be. This is the reason why folks from far away will make a beeline for their homes in the last week of May each year," said Mathew, a former RTM Iban journalist.

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Bidayuh community told to get into tourism industry

KUCHING:The Bidayuh community living along the Puncak Borneo highway area should take advantage of the highland’s beautiful surrounding by partaking in the tourism industry.

Making the call, Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit stated that last year, tourism was the second biggest industry in the country generating a total of RM56.5 billion through visiting foreign tourists.

With the country targeting to generate a whopping RM168 billion through the tourism sector in the year 2020, the Mambong MP asked the people to think for themselves how much of that amount would be generated in the state. As such, he advised the rural community to join the bandwagon and promote their area to enjoy the lucrative income that the industry has to offer.

“The government is establishing many strategies to develop the tourism sector. Being a deputy minister myself, I would ensure that many of those projects would be focused in the state.

“There are many tourism potentials that are yet to be tapped in Puncak Borneo. We have the Panchor Hot Spring that would undergo a RM500,000 facelift this year, we have rafflesias growing in the mountains and with the Annah Rais cultural village, all of these could be used to promote tourism in the Mambong constituency.

“This is what all the rural communities can take advantage of by participating as tourism agents,” highlighted Dawos when delivering his speech at the 2011 Bidayuh Biatah Gawai Pageant held a local restaurant at Siburan near here on Saturday night.

Dawos pointed out that if a tourist agent could earn some RM150 per tourist just by bringing them to Semenggok Wildlife Park for a two-to-three hour trip, the rural communities could generate as much income by bringing tourists to their villages.

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In Borneo, City Pleasures and Jungle Adventure

A SNOW-WHITE fortress in the style of the English Renaissance, garnished with crenellations, pepper pot turrets and an octagonal keep, is not quite what you'd expect to find on a steamy bluff overlooking an equatorial river in Malaysian Borneo. But Fort Margherita, built in 1879 by Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah of Sarawak, is just one of the many charms of Kuching, a gracious and kaleidoscopically diverse city of about 600,000 just an hour and a half by air from Singapore.

An amble through its safe, eminently walkable streets will reveal dragon-festooned Chinese temples a few blocks from a 19th-century South Indian mosque; fortresses from the time of the White Rajahs (English rulers of the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1941) a short walk from a high-rise district of hotels and icily air-conditioned shopping malls; and chic restaurants that would not be out of place in London a few streets away from open-air stalls redolent with half-a-dozen Asian cuisines.

The most extraordinary attractions in the Kuching area, however, are natural. Drive an hour or two out of town and you come to tracts of some of the most ancient and species-rich rain forests on earth. In less than a week, you can plunge into an exotic world of primeval flora and endangered fauna, visit -- or live with -- a local tribe, and still have time for urban pursuits -- i.e. eating and shopping. In addition, many Sarawakians converse comfortably in English, making travel a breeze.

I first discovered the sundry delights of Kuching, which is the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak (pronounced sah-RAH-wok) several years ago. My soon-to-be wife, Rachel, was living in Singapore and we decided to escape it for a few days and explore some of Malaysia's other half. In less than a day I was entranced and decided to return at some point -- with a note pad.

When I went with Rachel, we stayed in the center of town, but for this visit I chose a guesthouse a bit off the beaten path. Kuching has several international-standard business hotels, but this place came with a good recommendation, and the fact that the co-owner of the Fairview Guesthouse, Eric Yap, a retired civil servant, offered to show me around was a bonus, especially since many of the places I wanted to go are not accessible by public transport. My game plan was to head to nearby national parks in the morning and explore the city later in the day.

One of my top priorities was to pay another visit to Asia's only great ape, the orangutan, which is endemic to Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Early one morning, after a quick breakfast, Eric and I got into his late-model Honda and drove 20 minutes south from Kuching to the Semenggoh Nature Reserve, whose wildlife center was established 35 years ago to rehabilitate jungle animals rescued from captivity. The 2.5-square-mile area is now one of the best places in the world to see orangutans up close and on the loose.

So far, we were told, 5 of the center's 27 orangutans -- 16 of them born here -- have kicked the habit of dining at park headquarters, but the other 22 often swing by (literally) to partake of the banana manna set out each day. We had been forewarned, however, that there was no guarantee that any of the orangutans -- the world's largest tree-dwelling animals -- would show up.

"Yaaay-ooh!" the park ranger yelled, the second tone lower than the first, as he scanned the forest canopy, "yaaay-oh!" The energetic rustle of leaves in a distant tree was the first indication that an orangutan was approaching. "If a big male is coming, keep distance. He is unpredictable," the ranger warned, adding nonchalantly, "he might attack, he might not." But it was a smallish young ape making his way toward us, clambering from one tree to another, grabbing onto vines and branches with gravity-defying agility.

At one point, we -- along with dozens of other visitors -- could see five shaggy orangutans clutching trunks, branches and vines with arms that can reach six feet or more. A female orangutan with a baby clinging to the long hairs of her torso descended warily to a stash of bright yellow bananas, stuffed as many as she could in her mouth, grabbed a green coconut in one hand and scrambled up a rope. Soon the last of the climbers disappeared back into the canopy, and Eric and I continued on.

We headed farther south, through a patchwork of dense secondary forests, open fields, houses and small orchards. For tens of millions of years -- until logging companies arrived in the late 20th century -- Sarawak's dense rain forests remained unchanged, but today only patches of completely untouched jungle remain.

Our destination was Annah Rais, a Bidayuh village whose residents -- or most of them -- live in longhouses, a collaborative habitation that serves as a home for the entire community. (The Bidayuh are one of the Bornean indigenous groups known collectively as Dayaks.) In a longhouse, each family retains a high degree of economic autonomy (this is not a kibbutz) but common areas are in constant use for cooking, traditional crafts, socializing and celebrations. If you were making a Dayak version of "Seinfeld," you'd set it in a longhouse.

Continue reading at: In Borneo, City Pleasures and Jungle Adventure
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Community tourism project to raise income of Bidayuh folk

KUCHING: Kampung Timurang, a local Bidayuh village famed for the world acclaimed Rafflesia flower, as well as mysterious limestone caves, are pioneers of a ‘community tourism’ project by the Federal Ministry of Tourism.

Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos said this project is to maximise the potential of Timurang, located along Borneo Heights Road near here, as a tourist destination.

If proven successful, a similar programme will be replicated to benefit the Orang Asli community in one of the states in the peninsula.

“Community tourism is one of the strategies to raise the income of rural people in line with the aspirations of the New Economic Model for high-income economy,” he told reporters after opening the ‘Entrepreneurship In Tourism Seminar’ at the old DUN complex, yesterday.

He pointed out that the idea to set up the project at Timurang was due to the lack of promotions for tourism in the Borneo Heights area, since tourist guides often bring tourists only up to the Semengok Orang Utan rehabilitation centre.

According to him, Timurang has many untapped tourism products, such as being the nearest place from Kuching to view the world’s biggest flower Rafflesia, while its caves are linked to tales of enigmatic Japanese soldiers, who invaded Borneo and landed on our shores during World War II.

“The present bunch of tourist guides that we have are mostly urbanites. But do they know the plants and trees at the village… and can they even differentiate between a Durian tree and Meranti tree? Only the kampung people know these and the stories related to it.

“We want the people in the village to be involved and make money. At Borneo Heights, the landscape is very hilly and mountainous, and obviously this is not suitable for the people to plant oil palm trees. Thus, the community tourism industry is best suited for them, and we will train them for it,” he said.

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Sarawak Cultural Village wins another excellence award

THE Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) has added another feather to its cap by winning an excellence award in the Best Cultural or Heritage Experience category in Expatriate Lifestyle magazine’s Best of Malaysia Travel Awards 2010.

SCV was voted the winner by the magazine’s readers and was the sole recipient from Sarawak among the 74 award winners in 16 categories. The awards were presented in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month.

”We are honoured and privileged to win this award. It will be an encouragement for SCV to continue our good work and remain a key player in the state’s tourism industry,” SCV general manager Jane Lian Labang said at a ceremony to hand over the award to Assistant Tourism and Heritage Minister Datuk Talib Zulpilip yesterday.

Jane said SCV’s blueprint of success focused on creativity, innovation and human resource training to continually improve its visitor experience.

In line with this, she said SCV would offer new attractions next year for visitors to enjoy. These include an arts learning centre called Persada Ilmu with a dance studio, library, information centre, costume gallery and lecture hall; the Persada Alam tea garden where visitors can taste different varieties of local tea while being entertained by interactive performances; and the Rainforest World Music Gallery featuring musical instruments from around the world and live performances by SCV’s resident band Tuku Kame.

There will also be a new Bidayuh longhouse, complete with new “baruk” (meeting hall), which can offer accommodation for more guests under SCV’s village stay programme.

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