Tag Archives: Sipitang

Lundayeh Festival, Sipitang

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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~


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Trip to Sipitang

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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.