Kota Belud's Annual Market - the Tamu Besar

Last weekend, a group of us went to the annual Big Market (Tamu Besar) in Kota Belud, a small town about 45 minutes' drive north of Kota Kinabalu. It's great going to the weekly Sunday market at any time - but this Big Market has an even livelier atmosphere and provides the background to the inevitable speeches, cultural performances and the selection of the young woman who represents the spirit of this event.

What caught my eye this time were the wrappings that were being used - such as folded and boiled leaves, some tied together and others fixed with toothpicks. They are all like magical bundles - what lies inside? And they feel so different from any of the wrappings we're used to dealing with. Then there's the golden glow of the batter that covers the freshly fried bananas draining over the wok. What could be more appetising!

I also enjoyed the lovely patterns made by the items on display - such as the drinks on sale with such 'interesting' colours that you even hesitate to try them! The bundles of local cigarette papers are beautifully done, as are the limes and rambutans displayed on the inevitable bit of newspaper in front of the woman selling them. The ikan bilis (or dried anchovies) are another tasty item on sale everywhere - great with cabbage!


The Kota Belud market is used to receiving a lot of visitors, so taking photos is not unusual. There are different reactions to it, of course, with some people preferring not to have their picture taken and others asking you to! The faces are etched with a life that we can hardly imagine and yet the smiles are all somehow the same! The different styles of head coverings are always a source of interest and I particularly like the traditional woven hats that are still worn a lot, although mainly by older women.

The highlight of the Tamu Besar is the display by the Bajau horsemen which is on the Sunday afternoon. The Bajau people form one of the larger groups of indigenous people in Sabah and most are Muslim. They have a tradition of keeping ponies and decorating them in a kind of mediaeval livery on special occasions. This year, to honour the 1 Malaysia theme, everyone who was riding also carried a full-sized flag. It was a wonderful sight! Children were put on the horses for the first time and little boys also tried on the traditional headdress. The horses looked incredible with even their ears covered - and many with a string of bells around their necks that sounded terrific as they moved around. As with the head coverings at the market, the men's headdresses can be done in a variety of ways, but they all look quite regal - even when the wearer gives the 'v' sign or the thumbs up in the picture!
The Tamu Besar was advertised as a two-day event so we decided to stay overnight at the Kota Belud Travelers' Lodge, which was fine. Very nice people working there. Not much happened on the first day, but that gave us time to wander around and try the many snacks that are on sale around the parade ground. The main events are held on the Sunday morning and afternoon. The speeches and cultural dances are held at the market place and then the display by the Bajau horsemen - and the buffalo races! - take place in the parade ground, a central field in the middle of town.

If you have any questions or comments, please send them to us at: jude@astsabah.com or ron@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

Malacca - design, colour, history, food

Griffin and I have just made a short trip to Malacca (Melaka), in West Malaysia. It is a place with a long, interesting history that includes Malays, Chinese, Indians, Portuguese, Dutch and, inevitably (somehow) British influences.

Perhaps it is the intermixing of all these cultures that has lead to such interesting decorative elements in Melaka - starting with the handmade beaded slippers that are made for Nyonya weddings (both the bride and the groom might wear them), as well as for other special occasions. In the photo, you can just glimpse the graph paper on which the design has been drawn. It is attached to the cloth and then each bead is hand sewn over it. Very beautiful work and with lots of wonderful designs.

Then there are the tiles found outside a lot of the old houses in the centre of Melaka. The ones for walking on are, of course, plainer and more utilitarian-looking than the ones that run along the bottom of the front wall of the house in various lovely colours and patterns.

If you stand back and look up, you are likely to see some very interesting ornamentation around the windows as well. Something like Melaka rococo? Such a fantastic combination of elements from both the west and the east.

Notice the vertical bar on the open window used to move the louvres up and down to regulate light and the breeze.

Not all the older houses in Melaka are well preserved but those that are provide a feast for the eyes. The usual house front is very narrow - about 21 feet - but this is made up for with the length of the house which can be up to 200 feet! The skyline created by the roofs of the houses was reminiscent of Hanoi in Vietnam. Wonder what created this kind of building? Taxes on the width of the house perhaps?

These particular houses are along the Melaka River that runs through the centre of the old town and creates its own special atmosphere, with people loitering on the bridges and lights glimmering in the water at night.

Melaka is also justly famous for its food, including the Nyonya cakes (the Nyonya people being a Malay-Chinese mix) and the rice porridge. This is eaten for lunch, rather than breakfast, and the basic rice soup is sharpened up with the addition of lots of extras, including small salted fish, eggs, pickles, fried onion, boiled chicken - in whatever combination you like! There's a huge cuisine in Melaka that we only just touched on. You could spend ages working your way through all the delicacies on offer. There seems to be an endless variety of cakes alone!

In the collage, you can see the varied opportunities there are in Melaka for photo-taking. It's a very picturesque place and the museum there gives a very full overview of Melaka's most interesting history.

If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch with us: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

Trying to be selective!

The Pesta Ka'amatan is now at an end - we'll have to wait another year for the next Harvest Festival. It's a wonderful month of celebration - and a real problem as far as photos go! I took a lot and just can't decide which ones to show you.

So have a look at these pictures that were all taken at the Heritage Village which is part of the Sabah Museum. During the first week of May, in particular, there were lots of activities going on in the traditional houses that are built around a lovely pond and up a hillside.

One of the moments that made me smile was seeing a woman fishing in the pond! She looked completely at home. (Top left) There was a house especially for weavers, embroiderers and beadmakers and they sat quietly getting on with their own work. Cloth, embroidery and beads were for sale. (2nd left top) In a replica of an old Chinese house, there were a couple making pots and carving them. It was lovely to see the young woman using the old pot as her model for the one she was working on. (3rd left top) And everywhere you went, you bumped into people wearing their traditional dress - so modestly and so proudly at the same time. (Top right) In a lot of houses, there were groups playing music and dancing, sometimes for visitors and sometimes for themselves. I tried using the local type of castanets that one group was using - not as easy as it looks - but a terrific sound. (Bottom right) And there's something elegant about the headdresses that sway as the wearer moves! (Bottom middle) Sometimes people just sat and watched what was going on - the same as I was doing! (Bottom left) In this second collage, you can see one of those elegant, totally confident older women you would love to get to know. (Top left) And there were a couple of friends who decided to sit outside, away from the air-conditioning, for a while. (Top middle) Then a beautiful pair of children who were very involved in the dancing and being taught carefully how to maintain their traditions. Just getting dressed correctly is something to learn! (Middle) On the right is a close up of the necklaces the young boy was wearing and the gold decorations on the front of his shirt. (Right) From the young to the old - we saw an old man do a very energetic dance, with foot stamping and arm waving! It was a privilege to see him. The younger people with him explained that he was the oldest person in their village to do this particular dance. (Bottom left) And finally, there's the humorous guy - he was sitting outside to have a smoke and you just wish you could talk to him and have a laugh together. (Centre bottom)

Pesta Ka'amatan - the Harvest Festival month - the month of May in Sabah. What a great time to be here! The high points of the festival are in the first week and the last two days of the month.

If you have any questions or comments, do write and let us know. Send a note to ron@astsabah.com or jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

May - Harvest Festival Month in Sabah!

Pest Ka'amatan is the Harvest Festival Month of May which stems from a tradition centred around rice and thanking the gods for a good harvest. This year the celebrations started in Papar, a small town about 40 minutes south of Kota Kinabalu.

The main ethnic group in Papar are the Kadazan. They were dressed in their finery for this day, looking wonderful from top to toe! Both men and women wear basic black velvet that is highlighted with gold buttons and braid. It looks stunning! You can see also that some women have frothy white blouses showing at the neckline and top their dress off with very finely woven hats that have fluffy decorations on top. Their hair is tied up in a scarf under the hat. The men wear a regal-looking headdress made from a square of hand-woven cloth that is rolled and folded into shape.

One of the wonderful aspects of these cultural events in Sabah is that everyone is involved - town folk and village folk, young and old. The children are involved in playing gongs, drums and bamboo flutes, as well as taking part in the dancing. And while it isn't unusual to see mixed groups of men and women playing gongs, this was the first time I had seen an all-woman gong team!

The festivities of the first week continued back in KK with a 'cultural extravaganza' put on by the Sabah Tourism Board (among others). This year the theme was 'Mystical Sabah' and the show was fantastic, involving 600 performers! My camera couldn't possibly do it justice!

But as well as that, there was a handicraft and food showcase where there were fascinating displays and demonstrations of local handicrafts from all over Sabah. The word 'demonstrations' isn't really accurate as these talented men and women were just carrying on with the work that they had brought from home! In the picture above, you can see one of the Papar hats being made from plant fibre. The woman making it is apparently the last one from that area who knows how to do it - but as people in Sabah are very aware of the importance of preserving and handing on their cultural traditions, I am sure that someone else will be learning. The fineness of the weaving in these hats has to be seen to be believed!
The woman on the left is embroidering a head cloth to be worn by a Rungus man. These are wonderful pieces of work as they are double-sided, in this case with yellow on one side and the usual black on the other, and richly worked.

Sitting next to her was a gong-maker from the same area and behind him you can see a completed head scarf.

These are only a few of the incredible artisans you can see in Sabah. On our tours, we go to a variety of Rungus villages north of Kota Kinabalu where there is a 'One Village One Industry' project and you can see these crafts being developed on a daily basis.

More later! If you have any questions or comments, please let us know at: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

The Murut Festival in Tenom - April 09

Plan your holiday in Sabah to include the Pesta Kalimaran of the Murut people - the third largest indigenous group here! It is held in Tenom every year in April. This year it was over the weekend of April 3-5. What an event! It was visually stunning - a kaleidoscope of colour. People were having a good time and there was a strong sense of vitality.

Going to a festival like this reminds me why I love Sabah so much. It's that 'Sabah style' with everyone being so welcoming, hospitable and inclusive. We were always being approached to introduce ourselves and people wanted to explain what was going on, especially on Sunday when they had the 'wedding' ceremony. They made sure we always had something to eat and drink and somewhere to sit. And where else could you ask your local MP to fill in a few minutes by singing a couple of songs to the huge audience?!?

The cultural performances included a gong competition, dance display and bamboo dance competition. There were interesting and informative displays, showing arts and crafts, as well as the clothing of the 7 different Murut ethnic groups. There was also a variety of stalls to look at and a range of food and drinks for sale. And even a ferris wheel!

The whole festival was professionally done and very well organised with events starting on time and introduced by very competent mcs. They even threw in the odd comment in English for the foreign guests - us!

Every year at this festival, they include a particular aspect of the traditional culture. This year it concerned the final dowry payment made by the husband's family to his wife's family. The couple get married after the dowry has been agreed, but the payments may happen in instalments and take years - even until grandchildren have been born! Nevertheless, when the final payment is made, it is a reason to have a feast. The gifts are accepted, speeches are given, songs are sung, the gongs are struck, the rice wine is drunk - and everyone has a great time. The payment can be in the form of cloth, ceramic jars, wine and strings of beads, for example.

It was the first time I had seen rice wine in the traditional tall jars, with the bamboo straws to drink from. The expectation is that you will drink until the level of the rice wine drops to the next red mark - an enormous amount to drink! I couldn't do it - even though the wine was delicious - but there were others who certainly could.

If you have any comments or questions, please just send an email to: ron@astsabah.com or jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Brenda's overnight trip to Tenom

I recently spent two wonderful weeks in Sabah. During the first week, I took the Food Tour offered by Adventure Study Tours and in the second week, I did several of their day trips. These included an overnight trip to Tenom, a two and a half hour drive south-east of Kota Kinabalu. This was an opportunity to see a different part of Sabah. To get to Tenom, we needed to cross the Crocker Range, the mountains that lie north-south in the country and include Mt Kinabalu. We went over an amazing road with wonderful views back towards the sea and with hair-raising road elevation inclines of up to 19 degrees. Fortunately Jude has driven this road a number of times and can do it without overheating the car!

Once we entered the valley on the other side of the mountains, we passed lots of padi fields that were at various stages of growth, some seeming to have just been planted, while others were ready to harvest. The journey took us through villages in which we could see traditional wooden houses on stilts.

In Tenom, the hotel we stayed at was perched precariously on the side of the mountains and has outstanding views back along the valley. From my hotel room window, I was able to watch a rainstorm come along the valley to Tenom. The storm clouds were beautiful!

Besides making the trip to Tenom itself, we wanted to visit the Sabah Agriculture Park with its huge array of fruit trees and many different plants, including an amazing collection of hybrid and native orchids. We spent a number of hours on two days, with a knowledgeable local guide, walking through the park, tasting fruit, learning about almost everything we looked at and taking innumerable pictures of plants and flowers. One of the highlights of the park is the restaurant. It is so beautifully situated, it's hard to describe! Just look at the picture of the scene we were looking at as we had lunch.

We went back to Kota Kinabalu on another new road for me, going through Tambunan and passing the Rafflesia Centre but there weren't any rafflesia in bloom - unfortunately. (Rafflesia is the world's largest flower.) The road went through rainforest as we crossed back over the Crocker Range and, as could perhaps be expected, it rained all the way! As far as I was concerned, this only enhanced my 'rainforest' experience.
This was the last day of the very active two weeks I had in Sabah. There is still so much to see that a return visit is definitely needed. Next time, perhaps the rafflesia will be in bloom, maybe I'll get to the islands, and to Sandakan and ...

Brenda Morgan, Calgary, Canada

If you have any questions about Brenda's trip or Sabah, please don't hesitate to write to us at: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!

Going to a Lotud Wedding - by Brenda Morgan

How fortunate I was to be here in Sabah for a real Lotud wedding! The nephew of the Manager of the Linangkit Cultural Centre (see the blog below Preserving traditions - a family venture) was getting married and I was invited through my connection with Ron and Jude. I had chosen to do the Food Tour with Adventure Study Tours and was lucky enough to be included in the wedding as well.

When we arrived at the Cultural Centre, we were warmly welcomed and taken straight into the area where the bride and groom were sitting on a dais. We were asked to sit on the floor - Ron went onto the stage with guests and local dignitaries and my friend and I sat down with the women in their beautiful traditional costumes. We were immediately surrounded by plates of traditional food which we ate with our fingers.

Meanwhile, the bride and groom were having photos taken with different groups of wedding guests. We were introduced and they asked us to have a photo taken with them as well.

My overwhelming impression was of the hospitality of these people who were going to entertain and feed over 800 guests during the course of a long day! Everyone wanted to know our names and where we were from and there was always someone with us to make sure we had something to eat and to fill our bowls with local brew. This is called 'bahar' and is a type of toddy or palm wine, made from coconut sap, fermented with special bark. We drank it from bowls, rather than glasses, and it was rather bitter with a strong alcohol taste. (The photo of Brenda drinking 'bahar' was taken by Consuelo Cardenas M. The others were taken by Brenda.)

The afternoon included a mixture of traditional and western-type entertainment. Firstly, there were young girls showing off their traditional dance skills to the accompaniment of gongs and drums and then the guests had a lot of fun with karaoke and line dancing. And everybody was involved: the bride and groom, the managers of the cultural centre, young and old - and even us!

The bride and grooom changed into western clothes during the course of the afternoon and then the dancing and karaoke carried on!

The food, the drink and the hospitality continued into the evening in the wonderful setting of the village.

As I think back to this day, my memory is of wonderfully hospitable people who seem to know so well how to have fun in a relaxed and comfortable way - in a really beautiful environment.

Brenda Morgan, Calgary, Canada

If you have any comments or questions about Sabah, please write to us at: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Photo opportunities at a water village

Sabah is an incredible place for photo opportunities and last year I visited a 'kampung air' (pronounced come-pong eye-yah) or water village near Kota Kinabalu that had plenty of superb photo ops. A 'kampung air' is where the houses are built on stilts over the water. Some of these villages are found along the coast, but the one we visited was up a river.

A small group of us went and Pam Sidhu (the one in the pink t-shirt) took most of these pictures. Our trip involved finding a small village that was accessible by road from which we could take a small boat to the kampung that was our goal. It was a pleasant trip along a sparsely settled river and relatively hassle-free. The boatman was really helpful, showing us around the kampung air when we got there and, in fact, at the end of our walk, he took us to his house, where we had a rest and a drink of water. A lot of the kampung air around Kota Kinabalu are settled by immigrants (both legal and illegal), as well as indigenous people. This village was home to the Bajau, a group famous for their fishing.

In this world of houses on water, there are completely different shadows, reflections and light. The houses seem fragile and rickety on their tiny legs, although the boardwalks between them are solid enough.

But, water village or not, life goes on as usual. Washing needs to be hung out to dry, older kids go to school while the younger ones hang around home and flash 'v' signs at visitors and everyone waits for the tide to come back in.

If you have any comments or questions about Sabah, please just send an email to one of us: ron@astsabah.com or jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you.

The Annual Big Market in Kota Belud

In October there is a 'Tamu Besar' or big market in Kota Belud, just a 40-minute drive north of Kota Kinabalu. It runs over two days, instead of the regular half-day Sunday market, and provides a real spectacle, especially on the second day.

Of course, you can't settle down to anything before you've had a drink and a snack and everywhere you go in Sabah, you can find fried bananas and local cakes. Nothing goes so well with a cup of coffee (or a glass of coffee - depends where you get it!). The bananas we had were being fried as we waited and were absolutely delicious - crunchy on the outside and then with that flash of banana in the middle.

And Kota Belud is wonderfully picturesque because it's so traditional. Look at the woman selling tobacco (in the middle of the pictures above). The tobacco is interesting, for one thing, and then her hat is just lovely! There were a lot of women wearing a variety of different hats - but I'm going to save those pictures for another time! We went to the Tamu Besar on both Saturday and Sunday - but Sunday afternoon was the Real Thing. This was when the Bajau horsemen were on display. They are really incredible. A visual feast! There is something so exotic - and somehow mediaeval - about the silk, the colours, the decoration of the horses. Wonderful! This is an event for local people - it's not put on for tourists - and so there are things we still need to learn about it. For example, the 150 or so horsemen did a lot of manoeuvres - concentric rings and that sort of thing - that they had obviously practised. They were directed by two older men and worked around a man who sat on his horse in the middle of the field - perhaps the local chief - who was accompanied by two young boys on their horses - perhaps his sons. As we make friends with people in Kota Belud, we will be able to learn more about this fabulous event - and then let you know!

If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch with either of us: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!