Category Archives: Travel

Monsopiad Village Revisited

Leave a reply

Actually I had blogged about Monsopiad Village last year. You may check out the photo gallery and 360 degree virtual tour if you haven’t. In short, Monsopiad Village is a 300-year historical site about the Kadazan legendary hero and headhunter, Monsopiad. You will see 300-year old human skulls, ritual items, long house, handicraft, etc. and also learn about the history, live and culture of Kadazan community. This cultural village is managed by the descendant of Monsopiad.

In fact, I always think that Monsopiad Village is one of the best tourism spots in Kota Kinabalu area. You are not only invited to see the thing, you are also given many chances to experience it if you like to. For example, drinking the Lihing rice wine, playing the traditional games such as blowpipe and walking stick, making handicraft, participate in bamboo dance, and eating the sago worm (if you dare!). In case you are curious, I ate cooked sago worm before in Sago Festival at Kuala Penyu. It tastes like sweet coconut milk but the skin is like rubber, hard to chew.

The reason I visited Monsopiad Village again was because they got a costume exhibition there this month. As usual, they got friendly and knowledgeable guide to show you around and answer all your questions. The weather was bad. But surprisingly, the guide said the rainy day was a good news to them coz it would bring in more visitors. This is because the tourists cannot go to beach and island during rainy day, so they will come to the village. She was totally right. Very soon we saw plenty of foreigner tourists walking in.

Since I was there, I decided to take some photos of their cultural dances before I left. I found that they changed the dance a bit and made it more interactive and exciting. See the pictures below and guess what happened to the girl. Don’t be scared ok. They purposely acted fierce just to speed up your heart beating. They are very friendly people. Nobody was hurt and shocked in the performance. I won’t tell you what did they do. Want to know? Visit the village then.

Lastly, if you want to visit Monsopiad Village, you can find more information in their official web site. The village is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM. Please note that they got fixed schedule on guided tour and cultural dance performance.

Lundayeh Festival, Sipitang

24 Replies

There was a Lundayeh Festival from April 21 to 22 in Sipitang. Lundayeh is one of the indigenous groups of Sabah. To be precise, they are the indigenous people of Borneo coz they have been living in Sarawak, Kalimantan and Brunei, before the states and countries drew the territory borders. In Sabah, there are about 10,000 Lundayeh people, concentrated in Tenom, Sipitang and Long Pasia area.

Lundayeh was also headhunter in the past. The “Ulung Buayeh” (cutting crocodile monument) ceremony, which you can see in my photo gallery, was to show the bravery of the headhunters. The crocodile represents their strong and aggressive enemies. Nowadays, Ulung Buayeh is performed as opening ceremony of important functions. The VIP will place a sword on the neck of crocodile status to symbolise the cutting.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Lundayeh Festival >>

The Lundayeh Festival got 250 participants from Malinau (of Kalimantan, Indonesia), 40 from Sarawak and 10 from Brunei, so it is more than just a small regional celebration. The festival was considered very well done. The programme was good, packed with lot of cultural performance to show the unique culture and beauty of Lundayeh. I am sad to know that Sabah government didn’t allocate any funding to sponsor such an excellent event. Their festival is not even listed on the Sabah Tourism calender.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Lundayeh Festival >>

The highlight on the first day were the longest “Nuba Tingaa” (Nasi Bungkus) line and Lundayeh traditional wedding ceremony (got cancelled). Nuba Tingaa is the traditional food of Lundayeh. It is just rice that is cooked til it becomes very smooth, fine and soft, then wrapped in the leaf. I went to Kaban Village to see them align more than 6,000 Nuba Tingaa together to form a 308.95M line, recorded as the longest in Malaysia Book of Records. Best thing was – everyone, included me, was invited to eat it after the record is officiated. Too bad, I was too busy taking picture so I didn’t try it…


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Lundayeh Festival >>

Lundayeh Festival offered me the best opportunity to take photos of Lundayeh people. If you look at the picture below, you will find that their costumes could be very different. The costume of Lundayeh Sarawak is very bright and colourful, with complex motif (like Dayak). The costume of Sabah Lundayeh is plain and simple, with black and white as main colors. The Lundayeh from Sarawak calls themselves “Lunbawang”. Despite the difference, they all speak ONE language.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Lundayeh Festival >>

Most of the events were held in Dewan SFI, from morning until midnight. There was no bus at night. Fortunately, their people were very kind and helpful and sent me back to my hotel. I hope I can write an article about this festival soon and send it to the newspaper, so more people will learn more about them. In the cultural night, there were many dance and song performance. The Lundayeh’s Suling and Bas band is also famous. The main attraction were the Puteri Lundayeh (kids) Beauty Pageant in first night, and Ruran Ulung (adult) Beauty Pageant in second night. I have uploaded over 90 photos for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy~


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Lundayeh Festival >>

Trip to Sipitang

1 Reply

Bus from Kota Kinabalu to Sipitang is available at the bus terminal next to Wawasan Plaza, at 8AM, 12PM and 4PM. The ticket costs RM13 and the ride takes 3 hours. This was the second time I went to Sipitang. Last year I was there for the Gasing and Tamu Besar Festival (GATA 2005) and stayed in a scary hotel (FYI, it was TBB Hotel). Nothing much change to Sipitang, only the old wooden shoplot next to the beach was demolished.

There was a Lundayeh Festival from April 21 to 22, at Sipitang’s Dewan SFI, which is about 8 KM away from town. The taxi wanted to charge me RM15 one way, so I decided to take the mini bus in front of the Sipitang market. That costs me only RM1.50. But the mini bus will only move when there are enough passengers. Have to wait.

Sipitang is a place where you can find something not commonly seen in KK city. For example, I found the frog purse above. It looks so real. I was impressed and took picture of it. Then the hawker told me that it was made of real frog skin (only the eyeball is faked). She said the vendor caught the frogs in the padi field, injected some chemical to harden their skin, so they could use the skin like leather. Quite hard to sell too coz most girls don’t dare to touch it. So disgusting… I bought one for RM9. But whenever others see this frog purse, they would cry, “YAM KUNG (kesian) loh! The frog died in such a horrible way.” I feel a bit regret now..

Another interesting stuff is the headhunter sword of Murut people. I don’t know why I can’t find it in KK. Probably it is too expensive, about RM300, a lot more expensive than the Bajau’s parang and knifes, which cost between RM60 and RM200 only. But nowadays, headhunter sword is mainly used in performance only. I also liked the batik banner from Indonesia. The Dayak fierce-face motif is so cool. But it costs RM120…

The things below looks like dumpling right? Actually they are salt wrapped in leaves. The people collected the salty water from salt spring. Then cook it to vaporise the water, to leave only the salt. There is no sea in the interior area, so that’s how they got the salt.

On the first day of the Lundayeh Festival, I wanted to go to Kampung Kaban longhouse to see the longest “Nuba Tingaa” line (nasi bungkus), made to be listed in Malaysia Book of Records. But the village is 16 KM away, with gravel and uphill road, so there was no bus going there. Taxi would charge me RM30 one way. Luckily I found the Vice President of Persatuan Kebudayaan Lundayeh Sabah (PKLS). He was very kind and pleased to take me with him. I ate quite a lot of dust, but fun anyway.

Lepa Queen

Regatta Lepa + Water Festival, Semporna

3 Replies

I was in Semporna from April 14 to 16 coz of the Regatta Lepa. “Lepa” means “boat” in the dialect of east coast Bajau. Semporna’s Regatta Lepa is one of the most popular and colourful annual tourism events. All the hotels there were fully booked and I saw more foreigner tourists than any other events.

The territory of Bajau people is not only limited to the land, as we see in Kota Belud’s Tamu Besar. The Bajau at east coast, someone calls them Sea Bajau or Suluk, is good at sailing too. I consider Bajau got the most colourful culture in Sabah. They like to use bright colours in their costumes, handicrafts and even boat (lepa). In this festival, they decorated their boats with colourful flags, trying to win the first place in Beautiful Lepa Contest.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Regatta Lepa >>

After you see my photo gallery, you will understand that why I was willing to “risk” myself sleeping on the street (coz all hotel room fully booked). It was a fruitful and rewarding trip. I took nearly 700 photos in 2 days. Don’t be shocked. Usually I take multiple pictures of the same object, with different angles, timing, distance, camera setting, etc. At the end, I would only like one (or none) of them.

The Lepa boat has existed for several hundreds years. It was mainly used as a public transport in Semporna district, to transfer passengers and goods from island to island, village to village, between Borneo, Sulawesi and Suluk. Now we usually see lepa in wedding ceremony and special occassions such as National Day, celebrations and festival.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Regatta Lepa >>

There were more than 50 lepa, each represented a village, participated in this regatta. The colourful boat is not the only thing that makes this event so interesting. Every lepa got its own dancers and band. As early as 8 AM, they already played the gongs and drums, the dancers were wearing colourful traditional Bajau costumes and faked long fingernails, performed on the boats. Just imagine 50 boats made loud noise together. It was so grand and lasted until evening. You may check out my video clip (Format: Windows Media Video, Size: 7 MB, Length: 3:30 minutes) to get the idea.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Regatta Lepa >>

Needless to say, I was as excited as a kid, busy taking photos of the lepa and dancers. I particularly like seeing the little girls in their colourful costumes, so adorable and look like doll. I was there for whole day, so I knew they got two set of clothing, one for morning, one for afternoon. They were very cooperative. Everytime I just did a simple eye contact, they would smile and look at my camera.

After the festival was over, the heat was still on. I saw a “Lepa Car” Competition in the stadium when I was on the way leaving the town. So funny… You may check out the photo gallery for more pictures.

Trip to Semporna

6 Replies

My last destination was the regatta lepa (Bajau’s colorful boat) + water festival in Semporna from April 14 to 16. I was really pissed off. It was supposed to be a comfortable and exciting trip.

I had booked a room in Semporna one month before the event, but when I got there, the hotel told me, “No, there was no room reserved for you. And our room was all full.”

I was very very very angry. I had left my phone number to them earlier. If they need deposit, why they never called me?

I knew I was in deep shit already. The Semporna Water Festival was the peak season, the accommodation might be fully booked. I really wanted to go so I decided to take the risk. The worst scenario was to ask a local if I could stay in his house. After nearly 9 hours of traveling by bus from Kota Kinabalu to Semporna, I arrived Semporna around 5 PM. Of course the first thing I did was to get a room for overnight. I went to over 10 hotels, inn, resorts… and got the same answer, “All room was full until April 16.” The sky was getting dark. At last I came to a lodging house. The owner also said the same thing, full. Then I said, “Really? I could take storeroom. Got or not?” (You see. So hopeless already. I even won’t mind to take haunted room) He looked at me and replied, “I still got a room but it was very small. You wanted to take it?” Well, guess I had no choice then. It was really small (and smelly), enough to fit in one bed and a small fan only. All for RM20 but for one night only. The following night I slept on the chair in that lodging house (RM0. FREE!). Basically, the whole night I hugged my camera like teddy bear, worrying that they got stolen. Practically only half of my brain slept, other half was in alert state. Terrible…

Well, I only can tell you that all my photos is full of blood and sweat. For the Lepa Festival alone, I was exposed under the sunlight for 2 days. I am very patient. I could stay at a site for whole day to make sure I won’t miss anything. Very stressful to my body coz I didn’t sleep well. If possible, I will blog and upload the photos of Lepa Lepa (Bajau’s colorful boat) tomorrow.

Semporna is a town near to the sea. Just like other small towns, the locals are actually quite friendly. I think the main tourist attraction is the Semporna Ocean Tourism Centre. They got “floating” restuarant, inn, etc. The concept is quite similar to Gayana Resort. The whole structure is built on the sea, so you can see corals, seaweed and ocean life from the walkway. On Sunday, there are hundreds of locals gathering and hanging around there. Semporna is famous for 3 things, (1) Lepa Lepa Festival, (2) Seafood, and (3) Diving at Sipadan Mabul Islands. I will talk about lepa lepa tomorrow. Hmmm… I wonder if there is any poker room around for me to pass my time.

Ghost Island (Pulau Batu Hairan)

11 Replies

I think many of you had heard about a “ghost” island (known as Pulau Batu Hairan in Malay language) emerged on 15 Apr 1988. This island just rise up from the sea floor, remain above the sea for a short period, then it would sink and disappeared. It is next to the east side of Banggi Island, roughly at latitude 7 degrees and 16 minutes north, and longitude 117 degrees 20 minutes east, about 70 km northeast of Kudat town. The pictures below were taken in May of 1988 (I don’t know the author and source). As you can see, the island is full of corals, very beautiful. Don’t know whether it will come up again. Really want to go there to have a look.

The island was initially small in size, but after a few days gradually grew to approximately the size of a football field. After two weeks, the island was estimated to be about 60-70 metres in diameter. The island is roughly rounded in shape and is about 2-3 metres in height (taking into account the fall and rise of the tide).

According to Dr. Felix Tongkul, a famous geologist, the birth of the new island, so-called Pulau Batu Hairan due to mud volcanism is closely related to the geology of the northern part of Sabah. The island was caused by a mud volcano or mud extrusion, evidence of which is abundant on the island and is a common occurrence on mainland Sabah, especially in the Dent Peninsula.


The book “Sabah Museum And Archives Journal” (1990, Vol 1, No.3), published by Sabah State Museum, also has a 6-page article titled “Pulau Batu Hairan – The Birth of a New Island” that explains the formation of this ghost island in detail with diagrams.

I took the photos of this article and post it below. You can click each of the picture to view it in bigger size:

According to the nearby villagers, this island first appeared as early as 1941 (year of pacific WWII, a bad omen?). If you are lazy to read the long article, FYI, the conclusion by geologists is – this mysterious island was pushed to the surface by mud volcano activity (abrupt explosion of trapped undersea gas).

Pesta Kalimaran (Apr 1-2), Tenom

8 Replies

You may call it Murut festival. I was staying in Tenom for 3 days coz of this annual event. In general, this festival is to celebrate and honour Murut people and their traditions. Murut is the third largest indigenous group in Sabah, with a population of over 100,000. Murut got 14 sub-ethnics and their costumes could be very different from one another. One of the best time to see them is in Pesta Kalimaran held at Murut Cultural Centre.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

Murut people are famous for three things: (1) Head-hunting (in the past), (2) Bamboo dance (Magunatip), and (3) Lansaran (a spring board). You can learn more about their culture in the mini-museum inside Murut Cultural Centre. To go to Murut Cultural Centre, you can take a mini-bus in front of Sri Perdana Hotel in Tenom. The Centre is about 15 KM away from Tenom town, and the one-way bus ticket costs RM2 (USD0.50). The earliest bus is available around 7:30 AM.

There were two highlights in this festival, namely, (1) Miss Kilamaran Beauty Pageant, and (2) Tilau Wedding ceremony by Murut Tagol. Besides, you can see hundred of Murut people wearing their traditional costumes. The Murut female costume we normally see in cultural dance performance is not so “traditional”. To make dancing easier, the dancers wear shorter skirt, use less accessories and the design is quite simple.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

If you like those cultural stuffs like me, you would be really glad that you came. The Murut traditional costumes can be so colourful and beautiful. The embroidery is hand-made, so you find no two same design. Usually they use nature things such as flowers, wildlife, insect, trees, stars… for the picture design on the dress. One of them even got the wording “Sabah Boleh” on it. The Murut costumes presented in Miss Kalimaran Beauty Pageant were even more impressive. I found that the most colourful designs are from Murut Tagol. BTW, the Miss kalimaran this year is gorgeous. The moment she walked out, I already knew she would win. You can check out the photo gallery. I got some photos of her.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

The Tilau wedding ceremony by Murut Tagol was also interesting. I consider Tilau the biggest wedding in Sabah coz it can take year to prepare. One of the tradition in Tilau is “Agiruandu”, all women dress like man, and “harras” the men who wear women cloth. It is just for fun. They also got “joker” in the wedding. The most important things are to eat and drink. I also tried a bit of Tapai. This local wine is very strong. If I drank too much, I would have danced among them already.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Pesta Kalimaran >>

Tabin Wildlife

4 Replies

“I’LL BE BACK!”
This was what I thought when I left Tabin Wildlife Reserve last week. Don’t get me wrong. I am not going back there to kill animal and shoot wildlife. I want to kill more time and shoot more photos. If you love nature, Tabin will be like a treasure hunt to you. There is always a new pleasure surprise waiting for you in next minute, and you will want more.

Besides Danum Valley, Tabin Wildlife Reserve is another best wildlife watching spot. It is just 44 KM away from Lahad Datu. The transport will take 1 hour 30 minutes. 10 minutes on the usual road, then 1 hour 20 minutes on gravel road. You will see ocean of oil palm plantation on the way. No, there is no bus going there. Taxi will ask for RM250, gila… You already can book the Tabin tour, which costs less than RM200 (USD50) and 2-way transport is included.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Tabin Wildlife >>

Our first activity is to go to the Lapid Mud Volcano. It is as big as a football field. According to the guide, the mud volcano is still active in producing mud, and it becomes higher and higher due to the accumulated mud. They say the mud contains a lot of minerals and it is good for your skin if you apply it. Even the elephants and wild boar know its value and come to eat the mud.

After 30 minutes of jungle trekking (700 Meters trail), we saw the mud volcano. I was so excited and walked quickly to the centre of the mud volcano. Then “pop!”, one of my feet was trapped in the mud. Man… the suction was so strong that it took a lot of strength to pull out my foot. Actually it is very dangerous to run to the centre. The mud on the thin surface is dry and looks hard, but underneath is a pool of deep soft mud. I heard that there was a girl got half of her body sank into the mud. She was so scared and cried for help. Two guys finally got her out of the mud, but her pant was left in the mud. So be careful.. BTW, you really need a spare shoe for the jungle trekking, as the trail is very wet and muddy.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Tabin Wildlife >>

Of course, Tabin is never lack of wild animals. I have taken some photos during the jungle trekking, and share them in photo gallery here. The resort itself is already in the forest so you can see and hear the wildlife too. Unfortunately, many of them flee before I take out the camera. All 8 species of hornbills can be spot here. Too bad I didn’t see any Pygmy elephants.

The staffs advised us to leave everything in our room and lock the door. This is because the monkeys (Long-Tail Macaque) are very naughty and know how to open door and steal our things. If you leave your shoe outside, the next day you would see a monkey wearing your Nike. The chalet is very well-equipped. Got air-con, hot water, lighting, bathroom and big room…

We also had a night safari at 9 PM. We found deer, slow loris, fire fly… It should be more animal if it was not raining that night. This is not a zoo so you will need a bit of luck. Anyway, this was the first time I explored forest in the dark. Still an interesting experience. I should have stayed long enough.

Click Here to see the photo gallery of Tabin Wildlife >>