Group 4’s second day (04.11.2009, Wednesday)

The surrounding was filled with fresh air. It’s our second day of our Sarawak trip. The wakeup call was 7am today. After a few minutes of briefing of what we are going to do before lunch, we head for breakfast at the long house. Today’s breakfast is kind of special as, it will be our last meal at the long house. After that, meals will be at somewhere else as our accommodation has changed which is to Merdeka Palace Hotel. It is one out of the three five stars hotel in Sarawak. It rained heavily after we had our breakfast. But thank GOD, it was only for awhile.

We put on our thinking caps on finding the way to not get the luggage wet when they are being transported to the bus from the entrance of the cultural village. After breakfast, we visited, ‘Kampung Telaga Air’. At the kampung or village in English, we learned how to make the traditional Sarawak kuih called Kuih Penyaram.An old lady taught us ways on how to make the kuih. The kuih is simply nice and sweet. Everyone was given a chance to fry their own kuih.

After that, we walked around a few distance away till we reached a hut where it is specially for creating boats. An old man explained to us his experience and ways to create a boat. It roughly takes around 2 months to create a boat. He has more than 30 years of experience the lowest price of a boat is around RM2800.Bigger boats needs more helps which simply means that he needs more man.

After the long explanation on how to make boats, each group was assigned to different house to explore the fishing mans’ house and to also feel the atmosphere on how is it like to live in a kampung house. We had a half an hour friendly talk with the owner. He showed us around his house and his ‘instruments’ that he uses for fishing.

We were then brought to a jetty to have our fishing activity. None of the SKY caught a fish. How sad. . We then had lunch at the kampung site. Although the dishes were quite simple, all of us indulge it fully. Maybe because we were just too hungry. We then had a 1 hour ride to the Cat Museum or what Aunty Lin told us; ‘Musium Pusak’. Though the museum was quite small, the statues and pictures displayed were great. Posters and pictures of cats are just everywhere!

After a half an hour visit at the cat museum, we head for another long ride to the Kek Lapis factory. Kek Lapis Dayang Salha sells unique taste of kek lapis. They have blueberry, durian, watermelon, white chocolate, walnut, almond, Cadbury and many more flavors. They were just irresistible! We are even allowed to order our kek lapis and have them delivered to us by Friday. So that our friends and families in Singapore can taste it in a fresh condition.

We then head to our hotel and had a 3 hour rest. We had to be in the lobby at 7pm so that we can have our dinner. Everyone gathered at the lobby and without further delay, we bought the bus and head to Top Shot Seafood Restaurant. Of course, we had seafood for dinner. The dishes are SUPERB!! We chilled for awhile and the ladies and gentlemen *ehem went separate ways to shop for light snacks.

By now, all of my team mates should already be sound asleep and its 0100am. Here I am doing the summarized version of day 2’s reflection.IM STILL AWAKE.HAYATI IS STILL AWAKE.

WITH LOVE;
Huda, Syahidah, Irfan, Nabil, Taufiq& Hayati.
Good night and sweet dreams. <*^_^*>

Group 4’s first day (03.11.2009, Tuesday)

As this is our first trip to Sarawak without our parents for most of us, the only feeling that we had was excitement. We felt that we are free like a bird being released from its cage. We had friends and teachers not to forget, tour guides too to accompany us throughout this learning journey. We reached Sarawak around 1010hrs and settled down at the Cultural Village around after noon. By the time, we had lunch at the Cultural Village. Lunch was delicious and tasty! The dishes served were different from what we had in Singapore.

We had a one night stay at the Cultural Village in the Iban Longhouse. With the extra informations from Aunty Lin, our tour guide, we now know that there is over 33 languages and more than 28 races in Sarawak. We visited 7 different longhouses. They are, The Bidayuh longhouse, Iban longhouse, Penan hut, Orang Ulu longhouse,Melanau tallhouse,Malay town house and lastly,the Chinese Farm house. Other than that, we watched how a lady around her late 40s did a traditional cracker called the ‘Love Letter’. We also watched a dance performance performed by the villagers. The moves were totally awesome! In addition, we’ve learned that once, the Orang Iban practiced head hunting. Trying out the warrior’s blowpipe was one of the try-out activities.

After the tiring and sweaty day, we had a short rest, followed by dinner.Then; we had a dance session with two senior dancers. We’re taught the Bidayuh dance. The boys and the girls had different steps. After a few rounds of practicing which just gets better after each round, we (both boys and girls) danced gracefully while the teachers took snap shots and videos. We end the day with lights snacks and hot drink for our supper.

WITH LOVE;
Huda, Syahidah, Irfan, Nabil, Taufiq& Hayati.
Good night and sweet dreams. <*^_^*>

Day 2 - Part 2 frm Miss Haz's camera

at the cat muzium.

students enjoying a traditional kampung meal at kampung telaga ayer.

the girls fishing at the jetty.

Day 2 - From Miss Haz's camera

we learnt the art of traditional boat making.

we went to a local malay fishing village on our second day called kampung telaga. the students had a chance to do a whole lot of activities! this is haziq making a local malay kuih!

this was where we had our meals during our stay at the longhouse. miss haz and her group of girls! forever YOUNG!

Day 1 - From Miss Haz's camera

we stayed at the iban longhouse. this is the communal area of the longhouse. the kids were learning how to do the traditional dance here.

check out how beautiful mount santubong is. our longhouse is located at the foot of mount santubong.

this was where we stayed at for the first night. located at the foot of mount santubong.

At Changi Airport prior to departure.

From Merdeka Palace Hotel - Sarawak

Nama berita? (That's 'apa khabar' or 'how are you' in Sarawak dialect)
So I finally managed to get internet access from the hotel we are at! Sadly, the internet service is not free hence the kids cant update daily. They will only get a chance to do so tomorrow night after the respective group leaders have consolidated all their reflections. We are having a ball of a time here in Sarawak! I shall not steal the limelight from the students; lets leave the story telling to them. For now, I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

With love,
Miss Hazliana / Cikgu Haz & team.

Pre-trip vaccination

Pictures of the 3E boys who braved themselves for the vaccination and held back their tears. :P