Bako National Park, Kuching-Part 1

This took place exactly a month ago during the Gawai Dayak Holiday. Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrated by the Dayaks (Ibans and Bidayuhs) in Sarawak every year on the 1st of June. Read more about Gawai Dayak here.

This year it falls on a Sunday, so we got 2 extra off days on Monday and Tuesday. Since it coincided with the boys' school holidays, we decided to head for Bako National Park (Bako NP). The Park is one of the nearest national parks to Kuching.

It is only about 45 minutes drive from home to Kampung Bako, the gateway to Bako NP and where the Bako NP Terminal is located. From Kampung Bako, we chartered a boat which took about 30 minutes to reach the Park's head quarter.

On the Way to Bako National Park

Bako National Park Terminal at Kampung Bako.
Paid for the entrance fee and chartered boat here.

Our stuff - mostly food stuff :)

Henry at the boat jetty/terminal.
This will be his first time on a boat.
Several times we were here before, we just stopped by
to look at the tourists and boats.
Wondering when we would finally take them for a trip....haha

Getting ready for the short boat ride. Life jackets are available.
**Camera man balancing act...

The happy faces!!
The boys' first boat ride.

View of the Bako River Mouth and Mount Santubong.

Here we are, the Park's Head Quarter

The Forest Lodge and Other Facilities

We checked in to a two-bedroom Forest Lodge for the night stay.

Our Forest Lodge, Type 4, 2 bedrooms.
A bit old and run down.
The wooden floor makes lots of noise as you walk.

A short (5 minutes) plank walk to our Forest Lodge.

Our room, three beds and a wardrobe.
Keep all windows and doors closed at all time to avoid unwanted guests.

Bathroom and toilet. Reasonable. Water piped from the city.
Without hot water of course.

This are the other type of Forest Lodge - bigger.

Chalets in the jungle.

A newer Forest Lodge Type 4 which is closer to the head quarter.

During high tide, boats can take you to this jetty.
Otherwise, we disembark at the beach, at knee deep water.

Trail Map for visitors to plan for your walk.

More details on the trails and the amount of time required for each trail.

The Beach

Not many people at the beach the next morning.

The boys don't dare to go to deeper water, so they just play at knee deep water for a little while.

Me, I prefer to stay dry, under the shade and be the camera woman :)

Some nice scenery from beach.

The only other group of people at the other end of the beach.

Sandy but slightly murky water.

Look at the boys!
They are just standing there and looking. Hai yai yai.....

To be continued....

Happy Father's Day 2014

It is rather last minute.
Father's Day is just around the corner.
Was looking at the following and wondering if I should or should not.
I don't mind the camera for myself though - belated Mother's Day...hehe.
The father/fathers would be very happy with any of these :)

A movie would be good.
Everyone can enjoy together.

This one is good if we were two weeks earlier.
But there will more to come :)

So, there goes.
Whatever it is, Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in the whole wide world.

One of the Bazaars of Sarawak - Siniawan Bazaar

As usual, I am a bit behind in posting. We stopped by this place known as Siniawan Bazaar last March.

There are many similar Bazaars in Sarawak. Siniawan is an example of the early Sarawak towns where time seems to stand still.

I find it very interesting to explore these Bazaars. Interesting because sometimes, you'd find some very interesting items in the shops which you wouldn't find in the city or other places :).

Unfortunately, most shops were closed when we were there.

Anyway, do enjoy the pics.

Made up of two rows of two storeys wooden shophouses.

The main street decorated with red lanterns and flowers.

Siniawan Homestay, coffee shop on the groundfloor.

Only few shops were open that day, including this vegetable shop.

Well kept and decorated five foot way - pretty.

Just an interesting nostalgic little wooden shop.

Siniawan is located at the bank of Sarawak Kanan River.
On the opposite side is a village.
Pay the boatman to bring you across - there is no bridge.

Other than that, you can reach Siniawan by road.

Kuching - Bau Road

Every Friday and Saturday night, Siniawan Night Market would be on.
We were there during the day,
so I only managed to snap picture of the advertisement...hehe

Looking forward to explore more of these bazaars in future.

Yearly Event - Tomb Sweeping Day

Its the time of the year again. We celebrate this in early April every year.
This year's Ching Ming Festival or Chingming or Tomb Sweeping Day or Ancestors Day or Cheng Beng falls on the 5th of April. Wow! So many names to it ya.

Anyway, this is the day/time where we visit our ancestors grave sites, sweep, wash, clean, clear (grasses) and offer food, fruits, drinks (tea and wine) and paper money, paper clothing, paper bags, paper shoes, paper jewelries, paper handphone, etc. etc.

Like previous years, we always celebrate it a week earlier to avoid the traffic jam. As usual we came the day before to do the clearing and cleaning. The next day we brought the food and praying materials which will be burnt for the ancestors just before we leave. Here are some pics to give you some ideas of this celebration.

We left early morning around 7:00 am but still got caught in the jam.
Smoke in the background from burning of joss sticks and paper offerings.

Still caught in the jam.
Can't tell the difference between rows of cars and rows of tombs :)

This is our "outing" spot.

Food, fruits, rice, soup, wine, tea, kuih, noodles.
All the favorite of the dear departed. 

This year we decided to bring the boys along.
Their first time and its like a picnic.

Hot hot day!

While waiting for the dear departed to finished their meal.

Panoramic view - about half of the cemetery.
Click to enlarge.

This is at Nirvana Memorial Park, near Bau.
Looks like a park/garden.

Click here for more on Ching Ming.

Religious Parade - Shen Ong Kong (Diety) Birthday Celebration

We took the boys to the dieties' parade in celebration of the Shen Ong Kong's birthday last night.

It was held downtown Kuching, along Jalan Padungan.

This celebration is held every year.

Since there are not many parade in Kuching, this is an opportunity not to be missed especially for the boys.

The parade was a showcase of decorated colourful floats, dragon and lion dances, beautiful princesses/performers, figures of deities on lorries, on four wheel drives, sedan chairs, etc.

Here are some of the photos to show you a part of our culture :)

Excuse the picture quality - taken with handphone camera.

One of the decorated cars

One of the dragons

Lion dance, praying

Opps! Backsides only

This lion is performing on top of the truck

Close up

Happy lion :)

Cute tricycle

Diety on truck

Pretty performers and costumes

From the 'underworld'

From the 'underworld'
Some seems to be under trance and looked very fierce

Devotees and crowd following the parade while we the spectators lined the roadside

Have a great weekend!