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!