Cultural Village (English)

The museum’s management truly chose an appropriate slogan: The living museum.

Cultural Village is an open-air museum near Damai beach at the coast, which exhibits the traditional houses of the most important local ethnic groups. Some representatives of the respective ethnic group live in these houses and perform dances and other traditional rituals for us and other visitors. They wore different costumes and used various kinds of music instruments. One of these instruments was a nicely decorated, tiny guitar.

All the long houses were very interesting and their inhabitants delivered insight about the tribes’ every-day life. The houses and the exhibits are in good conditions and the corresponding signs are informative. It is irritating that a long house is called long as you rarely find these buildings in an oblong shape. I would guess that this name is derived from the very long central corridor, where the inhabitants meet for community works and meetings. There are rooms for each family on the left and on the right of this particular corridor. The long houses are usually elevated to prevent animals from eating food and things like that.

The people in the houses also produce handicrafts and food, such as traditional cookies. We could witness the production procedure from the rough material to the final product.

In one of the houses we were also allowed to try our hands at the blowpipe. It seems as if you need to have huge lungs and a lot of power for it, but actually it’s very easy and aims with high accuracy. Of course the native hit the bull’s eye: a coca-cola can.

In the afternoon we had to rush from a longhouse to the central theatre to marvel at the general dance performances. One group after another showed their skills. Finally the dancers encouraged the audience to join in singing the famous Rasa Sayang-song.

I would have loved to stay longer in this marvelous museum. I would also love to spend a week in a remote longhouse far away from any modern civilization. This is difficult to day as most natives have developed and adapted a modern life-style. It’s a big business in Sarawak to organize trips for tourists to longhouses.

Jong’s Krokodilfarm

Wiederlich! Ich stehe im Eingangsfoyer von Jong’s Krokodilfarm am Rande Kuchings. Auf einer grossen, verstaubten Tafel sind zahlreiche verblichene Fotos von gefangenen Krokodils aufgehangen. Weitere Fotos zeigen Kinder, die aus dem Darm der getoeteten Krokodile herausgeschnitten wurden oder einzelne Koerperteile eines Menschen, die aus dem Maul des Kadavers ragen.

Ich frage mich, was diese Tafel dem Besucher zu vermitteln versucht. Vielleicht: Geh lieber raus, Krokodile sind gefaehrlich! Oder: Krokodile sind boese! Sie fressen von Natur aus nur Menschen.

Mit Ungewissheit betrete ich den ersten Raum mit Terarien. In mehreren winzigen Betongefaengnissen finde ich ein Schwanzloses Krokodil (damit wird auch geworben), Warane und andere Tiere. In einer Reihe von quadratischen, grauen Gehegen liegen dicht beieinander nahezu hundert Krokodile.

Dann wird es allmaehlich freundlicher. Wir kommen zu einem grossen Seerosenteich. Daneben faengt ein Rundweg durch den angrenzenden Dschungel an. Vom erhoehten Holzplankenweg haben wir gute Sicht in die einzelnen Gehege mit den einheimischen Gavialen und Suesswasserkrokodilen. Wir haben uns haeufig erschreckt beim Anblick eine dieser riesigen Dinosaurier-Echsen. In diesem Teil mitten im Urwald fuehle ich mich weitaus wohler.

Nach dem Rundweg lassen wir uns in einer Snackbude nieder und warten auf die nachmittaegliche Fuetterung.

Die Krokodilfuetterung ist unspektakulaer. Nur die Fleischstuecke, welche an einer Seilbah ueber das Gehege und die Koepfe der Tiere hinwegfliegen bringen ein wenig Stimmung in die ganze Sache. Es faengt an zu regnen und zwar stark. Wir machen uns auf den Rueckweg. Heute Abend werden wir im Haus der Grosseltern unserer Chapterleaderin zu Abend essen.

Fairy Cave (English)

My host family took me and the other students to the Fairy Cave, one of two caves around Kuching, which have been made available for tourists.

The Cave is located some 30 Kilometers away from Kuching in a limestone massif. We climb an unsightly concrete tower to the entrance of the cave. Three climbers are hanging on the vertical wall of the mountain, tethered to their ropes.

Unlike many caves I’ve seen this one is not illuminated by any lamps. The first ascent into the huge cavern is dangerous, because of sharp stones. My left leg hurts because of a huge blood blister, which I suffered after playing badminton barefoot.

Inside the cavern we can walk around on the concrete walkways, but we also use the chance to advance into the dark part of the cave. Sunlight penetrates the foliage and enters the cave through a wide opening.

This cave is also an important religious place for Chinese. Some stalagmite formations are decorated and surrounded with tens of hundreds of joss sticks causing an intensive smell.

The trip to the fairy Cave was nice, but I wouldn’t go there again as this cave doesn’t boast anything interesting, like bats or special stone formations.