Sabah : Rungus Long House

Stopped by to visit the Rungus Long House on the way back to Kota Kinabalu from Kudat.

Can you notice how long the house is? and it is actually not captured from its end, means it is actually longer than what you can see in the picture.

The story lies behind this Rungus Long House is that the Rungus people used to stay in this long house but now it is not occupied by any of the Rungus anymore. Every small part of the long house consists of a small room accommodates for one family. When the child of the family got married and have their own family, they will build a home next to it, another section of the long house built with a small room again, and there, the long house grew longer and longer. This is how they built the family in that long house. It actually sounds very sweet to me when I got to know that as the family get to stay together after marriage. There, they have a big and happy family, they could meet each other everyday and they definitely knew each of their family members. Unlike modern days now, people tend to move away and build their home somewhere away from where they used to grow up. Most can’t even meet once a year. Some even can’t recognise their own family members. This is actually quite saddening. But thank god, at least nowadays we still have internet to keep in touch which makes the distance closer. But, it’s still rather pathetic. >.<

Picture from Laihui’s cam. I like this pic very much. Don’t know why, it somehow gives a feeling of family =)

 

 

This is Gong. Errr, some musical instrument?

Pictures at the rooftop:

Everybody looking down.

Everybody looking up =)

Some art craft are done by the Rungus people along the long house and sold at cheap price.

Look at the necklace made of spherical tiny things that I wore. Haha… Too much? LOL. It is called Igiu (I think it’s the Rungus language). They are the seeds of the tree. According to our tourist guide, it is getting rare to find this Igiu, not much left for sale too, it is believed to have some aura to keep the demonic soul away. So, all of us got ourselves Igiu, hoping that we would be blessed and protected. And we cleared all the Igiu available. LOL. I’m gonna put this in car if I own mine in future. For now, the Igiu is protecting me by hanging on my bag. Heh! Another 3 Igiu gotta give away to my beloved friends, one for AhHeng, one for Sue, and another one still pending.

Next stop : Bee Farm – Gombizau Kampung Madu, also along the way back to KK. Nothing much, just some bees and honey. So I’m going to skip that part. Just show you another sweet picture of the girls at the bee farm. =)

With love.

To Kudat : The Tip of Borneo

Here was the first evening we spent in Sabah. Burning hot sun, crystal clear sea, cloudy azure sky, everything appeared in such an idyllic scene.

Photo taken from Tanjung Simpang Mengayau

Let’s see a geographical image taken from internet source to have a better view of where exactly were we that time. Beach and Sunset, GO!!! (Sorry, no bikini )

Ran towards the beach, and couldn’t help with series of camwhoring. We saw nobody on the beach, except us. Reason: Because it was 4pm! The sun was burning hot! Let’s see what great photos we had at this coastline.

My sweet friends: ChuiHua, KyYing, LaiHui, ME, Lorraine

When I said CRYSTAL CLEAR.

 

A good chunk of time, I wish I can freeze the moment =)

 

View from the Tip of Borneo, worth for your three hours travelling on the bumpy roads which get your neck and buttock dancing all the way. I was astounded by the rocky cliff at the tip!

 

Sunset at the lingering junction – the meeting point of South China Sea and Sulu Sea. Awesome!!!

(P/S : There was some Music Fest Concert going on that day and they closed down the pathway towards this tip though the pathway doesn’t even hinder or link to the concert! So, we reasoned with the concert personnel. Slight argument went on, they couldn’t even show us the permission of closing down the place and they asked us to pay RM30 for the concert if we wanted to enter for sunset! Totally unreasonable for it is a public place and the visitors need not pay any single cent to enter for sunset normally. No prior notification regarding the prohibition was made online or else where, or else we could have turned up the other day! So, we wondered if it is a fraud of the organisor’s to deceive the public money by means of  the music fest. Indirectly, they made the concert a compulsory for all the visitors who wished to have sunset. After some argument, they allowed us to enter but only for 15mins, and the sun set at the 20th minutes, so we only get to see the gorgeous scene through the bushes. Sorry for the poor sunset photos displayed here >.<)

The very first time for several of us to see a sun set at the horizon. <3 See the sun disappearing, like an egg yolk, and it all happened within 5 minutes!

If given a second chance for a sunset at Tip of Borneo again, I’m definitely in!

Kudat sunset is a MUST HAVE itinerary for your perfect Sabah Trip =)

Padas White Water Rafting

The biggest highlight of the trip : Padas White Water Rafting where 15 of us dug out our gut for this daring thrill. All girls and only one guy out of the 15! Steady? Woots! Rock the raft! I love my coursemates! They are all independent and courageous girls, where new era girls should be. <3

So early in the morning 6.30am, the agent came pick us up at our cabin and we travelled all the way from Kota Kinabalu to Padas, which took about 3 hours journey. Train is the only transport to get ourselves to the ultimate destination. So we boarded the diesel train at beaufort station. The train is not the typical modern train, can hardly believe that there is such an old conventional train functioning in Malaysia, thought KTM is the lousiest. LOL. But the train boarding was rather interesting as it crossed the rural outskirts of the town areas with the view of tropical forests, rubber estates and villages along the river. The train stopped intermittently throughout the route, I guess it is so to get the engine fired up again for its next few miles. It is a pleasure experience beyond the developing generation.

Wooden doors at the end of the coaches, connecting one coach to the other. The doors were opened all the time and people can cross over to the next coach even if the train was moving !! But few dare to do so. LOL.

 

Wooden platform in the bush where the train stopped for passengers.

 

 

Scenic view along the gorge of Padas River, the river where we rafted vigorously.

 

My rafting team and the beloved handsome instructors, photo taken at the endpoint of rafting, Rayoh :)

 

So, after light refreshment and briefing, we started our nerve tingling rafting! The rapids is classified as Grade IV, the toughest grade of the rafting available. O.o The only advice from the guide – Amin was : DON’T PADDLE LIKE CHICKEN, OR ELSE YOU BYE BYE!!

Pictures will tell you how Grade IV paddling looks like. >.< Shooting rapids include Headhunter cyclone, Cobra Rock, Roller Coaster, Jacuzzi Pool, Washing Machine and so on. The names describe the rapids that we crossed over at different distance apart.

Let’s start with pretty pictures first XD

Roll roll rolling bot…. ….. …..

And we sang “海浪滔滔我不怕”(Translate : I don’t afraid of the surging waves)…=D

 

Are you sure???

Check out the rough waves! Part of he boat didn’t even touch the water, the paddle couldn’t even reach the water! This is called exhilaration! =)

Different stunts on show. (The photos are following order, as exactly like the actual movement)

Stunt 1:

Keep splashed by water like slapping by the waves without any mercy.

 

Stunt 2:

 

Stunt 3:

You can hardly see the raft anymore.

 

Stunt 4:

Somehow, like a tsunami! LOL. And we screamed like hell but to no avail.

So what? We still survived the hits. Bravo! Hah!

Some difficult stunt was not captured. Flying Fish stunt, where all of us were required to crawled to one end of the boat, making the weight fell at the back side of the boat and the boat was then push forward along the downstream. The raft could have overturned at anytime if the balance was not well managed. A breathtaking stunt that get the thrill pushed to the max!! One word: FUN !!!

Don’t think that’s easy. Look at our poor friends’ raft here:

Only two people survived the hit! The rest all submerged. One with the legs saying hello. Haha.. Don’t you laugh! Try it yourself =)

 

Posing at the camera, while the guides paddling real hard with full masculinity expressed! This is the way to attract girls, guys, please learn. LOL.

 

Natural expression of human at the time of war. LOL.

 

I doubt that if ChuiHua still could see the river clearly? All of her pic are with her eyes hidden in the helmet!!! CUTE max! LOL.

 

Aftermath, tired look.

 

A group picture ends the trill with forever memory engraved.

Kindly contact our outgoing humorous guide for a good deal for the rafting:

Borneo Ultimate Sports Adventure Tours Sdn. Bhd

Modi Shari @ Amin Black

H/P : 016-811 1055

Hotline : 019 851 1225 or 013 856 7730