Kuching and The Rainforest Music Festival

Back in July 2009, my trip back to Malaysia coincided with the Rainforest Music Festival in Sarawak.

With guests from Denmark and Sweden, I organized our month long trip and threw in almost a week in Sarawak. We flew with Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching. The tickets costed about MYR300 each.

The first part of the trip was at Annah Rais. This followed by 3 nights at the Damai Laut Resort which  is located right next to the festival venue, The Sarawak Cultural Village. With Mount Santubong as the backdrop, both the resort and the venue are fantastic places to sit out and admire Borneo.

We bought two daily tickets out of the three available. This gave us a free day from the festival, either to take it easy at the resort or spend a day in Kuching city.

After a 45 monutes drive from Annah Rais, we arrived at the Damai laut resort around lunch time. Lunch by the pool at the resort was OK but the service was extremely slow. After lunch, we walked past the resort's chalets to the cultural village (10 minutes at most). Within the cultural village, there is a lake in the middle and surrounding it, various ethnic houses.  The crowd in the afternoon consisted mainly of event organisers and sales persons at the various booths. Some visitors were like us, checking out the place.

There were music workshops at the various ethnic houses. We bought a beer and went for the one with a workshop on wind instruments. Some wooden stairs brought us to a big airy hall. A line of musicians sat at the front of the hall. There were representatives from Kenya, Scotland, Australia, the US, Venezuela  and Malaysia. When this was finished, we headed towards another house where a local was playing the Sape, an instrument I like a lot.

As the day got too hot, we went back to the resort and took a swim at the pool. After a buffet dinner at the resort, we returned to the village for some concerts.

This year, the festival organizers built two stages to save time on performers rotation. The sound system was obviously not good enough for such a big open venue. Yet, the musicians were very good, albeit a weird mixture. There were performances from Canada/China, Malaysia, Hungary, Poland and France. It was kind of funny to see patches of whites in masses (masks due to H1N1). What can I say? We, Malaysians, are a paranoid and chicken bunch.

Behind the stages were the lush tropical trees and the bright shining moon. My special moment was when the chinese orchestra played in the tropical wind and the moon shone above.

Day two was spent mainly by the poolside at the resort. We found that there is a second, more private pool near our rooms. So we tanned, swam and drank by the pool for most of the day. Later in the afternoon, some of us took the coach and visited Kuching city.

Kuching, which literally means Cats, is a much more beautiful city than I anticipated. The sense of spaciousness and charm makes KL feel like the ugly sister.

People are very friendly and a lot more polite than KLites. This was consistent with my experience with East Malaysians as a whole. They seem so much more cultured. After a brief walk around the river (the esplanade), we spent some time at the Kuching Museum. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the museum. And it was free! One wonders why our national museum is so much less attractive. Where has the money gone?

After the museum, we walked towards India Street and found many stalls opened. There were drinks, food and spices. When we were sitting by the esplanade and waiting for lunch to be served, my sister taught me the Japanese five finger poses. Very goofy but so fun! I am tempted to post the pictures but my life could be at stake!

Our final day in Sarawak was spent again, part at the festival and part at the resort. I can honestly recommend this resort as the best accommodation if one were to go for the festival. It's so so convenient.

I am currently reading a book titled "Sylvia: Queen of The Headhunters".

An interesting read which provides a good insight into olden days Kuching under the rule of the Rajah's (Brooke).

Doing the tourist thing at Kampung Annah Rais

In July, I played both a host and tourist in Malaysia.

Wanting to know more about my country, I jumped at an opportunity to stay with a Bidayuh family for 2 nights in the rumah panjang (long house). Traditionally, the longhouse is one unit where many families occupy their own space in the house divided only by minimal bamboo partitions. In modern times, I guess the concept of privacy has sipped into the minds of the Bidayuh.

The Bidayuhs here are land Dayaks. It was not too long in the past that some still practised head hunting (yeps..nothing to do with HRM!). In fact, part of the village tour includes a stop at the "head house". With the death of half of the four shamans and a conversion of one to Christianity, most probably this practice will not be preserved. Although I am told that some sea dayaks still practise cannibalism in Borneo.

Annah Rais itself has been in existence for over a hundred years. Many of the young villagers left to work in Kuching, the capital which is about 45 minutes drive away. Although many move back later in life, the villagers started offering outsiders homestay packages to generate income and preserve their way of life and culture. Hence, I do not mind the tourist prices at all. 

One of the things I learnt after staying here for so long is the concept of value for money. In Annah Rais, we paid about DKK 400 for full board 3 days 2 nights including guided tours to a hotspring, waterfalls and night cultural activities. In Copenhagen, I get dinner, a sulky waitress and no service. Not to mention the 25% VAT. What is the government's value-add in this process that it amounts to 25%?  Makes me wonder.

Most villagers at Annah Rais are independent farmers. When we were hiking around, there were the sporadic lone farmer cutting down trees. After of which, they would burn the soil to enhance fertility. They do this one big patch of land at a time. The villagers know the nature around them inside out. At the longhouse, most if not all things are made from bamboo. Different types for different purposes.

Everytime we past villagers on the way, they smiled but were very camera shy. We were told the rules of the longhouse. It was obvious that the younger villagers came up with the homestay idea as some older villagers were not so keen to open their home to outsiders.

On the first day we were there, it rained heavily in the afternoon. Our host's grand daughter, a litte girl about 4 years old, went and play in the rain. She waived for me to join her. After a while, I gave in. So there we were, playing in the rain, laughing. It was a magical moment in every sense. The sound of our laughter, the rain hitting the bamboo, the long long endless of bamboo soaked, the host family sitting in a corner watching us. Then the girl's father came to her with some soap. He shampooed her hair and send her out to the rain again.

Being a city person, I felt a sense of liberation. In KL, parents would be forbidding their kids to even go near the rain.

In the trips out to the waterfall and hotspring, we were shown how to make bamboo chicken. The guide put pieces of chicken into the piece of bamboo about 1.5m long, stuff it with different plants from around. There were wild ginger, lemon grass etc. Then he lits a fire and place the bamboo on top. Rice is also cooked inside a bamboo.

At night, we learned to play the pratua'ng, the Bidayuh's music instrument made wholly from ..yes..you guessed it - bamboo. Even the strings are from bamboo. The sound is very soothing. Our teacher was to perform in the Rainforest Music Festival's opening the next day.

The second night, other guests joined us for some traditional Bidayuh dance. Most of the pieces were about celebrating fertility of the land.

As a city girl, I also enjoyed seeing the fruit trees. I love tropical fruits. In fact, it is one of those things I miss at most when I am here in Denmark. I miss eating tropical fruits fresh. Not from Føtex, not from Irma.

One of my danish friends was shocked to find pineapples growing from the ground. Ah well, I was really excited when I first saw an orange tree in Greece. So I shouldn't give the fella a hard time.

The other thing I miss is being able to swim outdoors. Danes laugh at me when I say the water is too cold in the summer. Well, they should try it in Malaysia where the water and land temperature does not differ 10 degree celcius!

All in all, I would really recommend people going to support Annah Rais. The hosts are caring, friendly and have integrity. I left my belongings in the house and nothing ever happened to them. When my friend misplaced something, she called them. They looked high and low and even call us back to follow up afterwards. She had placed it in one of her bags and found them later.