Kayan Burial Hut (Salong)

In the not too distant past, the Kayans of Sarawak used to inter ( bury) their dead in special burial huts called " Salong".  Today while visiting the Sarawak Museum grounds, I had a closer look at two tall Salongs, made from the hardest timber of Sarawak called the 'belian'.  Both  are at least 10 meters high and have been brought to the museum gardens from their original locations hundreds of kilometers away in the interior regions of Sarawak.

There was one that is constructed as a single pole and another as a double pole. 

( Inset is painting of a Kenyah warrior with his head trophies)

Single Pole "Salong"

Double Trunk " Salong"

This double trunk "Salong" was originally erected more than 150 years ago on the banks of Long Segaham, above the town of Belaga in Sarawak.  This burial hut was ordered to be built by the chief of the Kayan tribe in Belaga to inter his young daughter named Lisan.  It was reported that it took five craftsmen plus many helpers and five years to complete the carvings on the solid 'belian' tree trunks.  In 1973, the "Salong" were  presented by the people of Belaga to the Sarawak Museum.

Close Up of the "Salong" or Burial Hut

Above is a picture of the Sarawak Museum's original building dated 1891.  Over time the Museum authorities added more buildings, offices etc., to house more collections to cover archaelogical and anthropological  artifacts, artworks, etc., Today the Museum is a must visit place for tourists or local visitors to Kuching.

Orchids at Satok Flower Market

On every Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning when the weather is fine it's pleasant to be at the Satok flower market. The flower market exists only during the weekend when the shopping crowd gathers for the best bargain on food and other domestic essentials that are the prime appeal to the shopping experience here. And the flower market is just another delightful add- on to the shopping fiesta which originally started on Sundays but over the years has moved slightly forward due to popular demand. At the flower market new plants varieties are regularly showcased by nursery owners around Kuching. Today I was extremely impressed by the rich and spectacular collection of orchids available for sale. You can have a good idea of the many varieties by clicking the video below.( Note: The quality of the video may not be excellent. Guess it must be my nervous hands and too eager feet. Anyway , hope you'll enjoy it :))

Close up of 'Normah Orchid' above was taken at the Padawan Wild Orchids and Pitcher Plants Centre sometime ago.

Waterfront Scenes

Today as I walked along the Kuching Waterfront area I noticed the new DUN building ( Dewan Undangan Rakyat) surroundings are slowly being tidied up and grassing works are underway to control erosion and beautify the river bank . I guess upon completion, this building will be another tourist attraction for Kuching city. The building will house the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly - a law making and local governance body that ensures that the practise of democracy is kept alive and functioning in Sarawak. However the area around the building seemed lacking in any tourism -related facilities and presently is best viewed from a distance.

The tourist buzz is much lacking these days. Is it due to the global slump? River boats are parked by the pontoons but there are very few tourists to join the boat ride. The scenes looked economically eerie for today.

Kuching Cannas

Kuching is a unique. For one it has two city authorities. The Kuching City North and Kuching City South both having one City Mayor each. Today I took a drive to the Kuching City South Building which is coloured blue as in the above picture. What delighted me was this wide row of cannas that is planted at the central road median leading to the building which is the headquarters of the Kuching City South administration. This is easily the longest stretch of cannas planting in Sarawak. It is about 200 m ( two hundred) in length. In my travels throughout Sarawak this planting plot is the longest I've seen for cannas so far. Three colourful varieties are planted here -Yellow, Orange and Red.
Cannas are native to tropical regions like Malaysia and South America. Cannas live exuberantly in the really hot sun and heavy rain partly due to its having soft and succulent stems requiring lots of water to keep the stems erect throughout the day. They are planted for their bright and large coloured petalled flowers that are a wonder if planted in big masses. However it is very important to remove spent flowers or stems as they might appear messy and not pleasing to the eyes. Being perennials they don't last too long probably 1-3 years with intensive care. Thus planting beds need to be refurbished with new manure and retilled to achieve best results.

The above shows two views of the central median with cannas as the center of attraction. Seen above are two other species that provide shirting to the canna beds. Firstly the golden leaves of the Golden Dewdrop ( Duranta repens) and the red coloured leaves of the Bloodleaf ( Iresine herbstii) both of which are low maintenance plants and suitable for open sunny locations and a survivor to heavy pruning.

A China Story

Entrance to the Carpenter Street with a unique 'Room on top of the Stairs'

We went around the 'China Town' area of Kuching yesterday to window shop for book shelves in particular the well known Carpenter Street - resident to the very early commercial carpenters of Kuching. Well, nearly the whole of downtown Kuching is a big 'China Town'. It was and is still now.

The Chinese has a strong grasp of all trades in the Malaysian economy ( 80%)and Sarawak is no exception. Thus 'China Town' enclaves are everywhere in Malaysia.
Traditionally when the Chinese set up shop in Sarawak, they lived, work and play within the close quarters of their shop. Walking around any China town one sees a microcosm of China - a nation of shopkeepers. Business is so intertwined in Chinese culture that this entrepreneurial spirit was what the British admired about them and the main reason why they imported them from as far away places like China to Sarawak in the nascent days of populating and developing the state. But that's all history. Now the Chinese form a distinct component in the racial makeup of Malaysia. There is however an interesting twist to this preoccupation with business. For many reasons the Chinese in Malaysia do not like to have big families and their reproductive ratio is low compared with other races. Thus we see in Malaysia the trend that by 2030 the population projection is 80% Malays( plus other native races) and 20% Chinese. On another level, I read often that due to the same low reproductive ratio, Singapore( having Chinese as the dominant ethnic group) soon will be having more foreigners than local staying within the tiny island state to the ratio of 1:2.

A colourful side lane to the Carpenter Street. Here old shop houses are increasingly modified to capture the growing tourism business. While furniture shop are still around newer business establishments include bed and breakfast lodgings or inns, handicraft or souvenir shops, travel agencies, gold and jewellery shops.

The old quarters of Carpenter Street. Narrow lane like above is typical of Carpenter Street and is reminiscent of the days of 3-in-1 concept of work, stay and play . This off shot lane is called 'Upper China Street'

A Complex Story

Public space around Court House cum Administrative complex, 1948

Old Court House Complex and surrounds, March 2009.

The time lapse between the two pictures above is about 60 years. It surprises me today how intact the buildings, monuments and spaces at the complex area are after such a long long time. My interest in this complex story started in Bintulu a few weeks ago when I was flipping through some old photo albums kept by my father. He was a young man in Kuching around 1948 when the above picture was taken.

The Court House Complex has a very long, colourful and significant story since it was developed starting in 1868 and over the years till 1924, many new additional buildings were added. During the Brooke's and then the British colonial rule, many functions of the government of the day were held here. It was the seat of government, native court, judicial court, Council Negeri meetings ( i.e. local government meetings) , public clinic and even functioned as a hospital. When Sarawak achieved independence, the complex was home to the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly meetings starting in 1963 right on till 1973.

The Clock Tower was added in 1883 to the porch at the entrance of the complex. The complex buildings are very colonial in style with massive round columns, wide verandas and balconies, brick walls and pitched roofs using 'belian' shingles. In front of the Court House Complex is a Memorial dedicated to Charles Brooke, the second white Rajah of Sarawak. The memorial was unveiled in 1924. It has a marble relief of Charles Brooke's head and above it the old crest and coat of arms of Sarawak.

Today the Old Court House Complex is being re-used as the State Tourism Complex. Tourists can easily obtain brochures,maps and many Sarawak tourism related literature here for free. Besides that it does have exhibition hall, an eating outlet and souvenir shop.

Above is a view of the Kuching waterfront area from the Complex, showing the new Sarawak State Legislative Assembly building ( with gold coloured roof) in the far background nearing completion.

Part of a building block within the complex in the background is converted into an eating outlet called 'The Little Lebanon'.

There is another interesting connection with this complex story to Bintulu. It was on the 8th of September 1867 that the first ever Council Negeri meeting ( i.e. local government meeting) was held in Bintulu and presided by Charles Brooke. Thus making Bintulu the birthplace of 'modern' democratic practice in Sarawak.
Thanks to the British, democratic principles and practises were introduced early to the peoples of Sarawak.

How's the Sky?

At around 6.30 this morning the sky glowed shortly after the sun began to rise behind the mountains at the back of our house. It indicated to me that today the weather would be very hot and sunny. I guess today would be a good time to take pictures of the sky.

At the Kuching waterfront I was delighted to see two structures against the clear blue sky. In the foreground the two white roofing structures of the godown amphitheatre framed up the golden pinnacle of the newly constructed Sarawak State Legislative building in the far background. A simple picture composition using straight lines and curves.

Before I left the Kuching waterfront area, I decided to stop by at the junction of Main Bazaar and Temple Street. Here I took a picture of the Chinese Temple which was built in 1876 according to some accounts. The Chinese worship deities. One prominent god is called the 'Tua Pek Kong' among the many pantheon of Chinese gods. The above temple houses the 'Tua Pek Kong', a genial figure normally carved with red cheeks, flowing white beard and white eyebrows and looking paternalistic on his followers. The temple is a popular tourist attraction these days since it is situated within the tourist belt and within walking distance from the major hotels. Against the blue sky a new hotel nears completion at the far background.

The Idyllic Astana of Sarawak

The Astana

Across the Kuching waterfront stands this majestic colonial building called the 'Astana'. I took this picture yesterday while having a walk along the waterfront area. What captivated me was this group of deep sea fishing trawlers that were berthed nearby, unable to carry out their activities due to the dangerously strong north easterly winds that bashed yearly the coastal areas of Sarawak during this time of the monsoon season( November to February).

Historically, the 'Astana' was home to all the rulers of Sarawak. Today it is the official residence of the Sarawak's Head of State who is also referred to as the Governor or more appropriately in the Malay word as 'Yang Di Pertua Negeri'. In those days, without the benefit of today's concrete technology, the pillars are made of square bricks like most pillars or columns of colonial buildings found in vast numbers around Kuching city. The 'Astana' as it was and is called was first home to the second Rajah of Sarawak ( Sir Charles Brooke) when it was completed in 1890.

Subsequently it was used by British Governors after Sarawak was handed over to the British Colonial government by the Brooke's ruling family since 1946 . When Sarawak formed Malaysia in 1963, it became iconic of Sarawak's state sovereignty within the federation of Malaysia. It still stands pretty to me at a distance from the Kuching waterfront. The still waters of the Sarawak River that meanders by it gives a classic post card view in idylic setting.

The roofing material of the Astana is made of the hardest timber species of Sarawak called the 'Belian' ( Eusideroxylon zwageri ) similar to the roofing shingles of this colonial building which is still standing and situated roughly opposite of the Astana, at the Kuching waterfront area.

Kuching Sights

After lunch we decided to have a quick tour of Kuching city. Our faithful blue 4x4 Ford Ranger brought us to Petrajaya which is a very modern township to the north of Kuching city. Here the highways are big and mostly dual carriageways and well planted with huge trees and flowering shrubs.

Within the compound of the State Library where I borrowed 6 books ( maximum) I came across a flock of Chinese egrets.  Before these birds were migratory and used to visit Sarawak when winter approaches in China.  However for the last two decades they decided to call Sarawak home.

Next we stopped by at the Kuching waterfront area, a popular destination for foreign tourists and local visitors alike. The scale of the about to be completed new State Legislative Assembly Building is immense compared to its surroundings. It looks like a building taken out from the pages of a fairy tale book.

There was a light shower when we were at the waterfront and decided to stay longer by having our afternoon tea by the river.  Here we had tea with fritters made of bananas,vegetables and taufu.

Then went shopping for handicrafts at the handicrafts bazaar that ran parallel to the Kuching waterfront area. This bazaar is within walking distance from all the major hotels in the Kuching city tourist belt.

Finally we stopped over at a bonsai show and sale fair on our way back home. Hundreds of bonsai were displayed. I am not really keen on keeping bonsai but I do like to see them for the fact that I love plants.

I understand that bonsais are good for your eyes.  This is especially so when you do the pruning everyday in the early morning hours.   The cool colours of the leaves and your eyes focussed on the greenery are soothing for both eyes.  Do this everyday and I was told your eyesight will improve.

On a more interesting note I recalled why the Japanese like bonsai. It is that their desire to simply and understand the world in a condense form thus making it a lot easier to 'control 'or articulate the world. Like the bonsai the universe is shaped in a form that is compact and tangible , for example- compact cars, smaller notebooks, small handphones, tiny walkman sets or MP3 players etc..They do say 'Small is Beautiful'.

Bonsai, anyone?