Thursday, August 28, 2014

Part III : Mari-Mari & Sunset

Hello all :)

Yup, that's right. Will be sharing with all of you on part 3 of my Borneo Getaway :)

On the second day, we visited the Mari-Mari cultural village.

FYI ; Mari-Mari means come-come in Bahasa Malaysia :)

Basically this cultural village shows you the different ethnic groups in Sabah such as the Bajaus, the Muruts, the Lundayehs, the Dusuns and the Rungus. 

It's definitely an experience because you not only see it with your eyes, you also get a taste of their food.

Parents with kids who are studying Sabah & Sarawak for their Sejarah Form 1 lesson, send them for this  and be rest assured that they will ace their sejarah paper!



For example, the Dusuns are famous for their rice wine which contains 15% alcohol.

It's actually quite good if you ask me.






Isn't she pretty? :)



So before the tour started, our tour guide, Tina gathered us together & explained some rules.
After that, she said "Okay, so for Tina's group, we need a leader. Who wants to be the leader?"
A group of ladies from the Philippines stared at the three of us and Tina looked at me.


Oh no.... Don't look at me.
This is when you start noticing everything else except the person staring at you.
The trees, the pimple on the person next to you, the ants...


Okay, how about you?, Tina said with a smile on her face.




Which explains......


this.


As for the Muruts, this is how you say hello when you visit the village :)

The leader of the village (shirtless man in the picture) will greet you. He will then ask you a few questions like your name, where you come from and your reason for visiting the villlage.

As opposed to usual handshake we give, the Muruts place their hands on each other's shoulder.



After 2 hours of touring & discovering, they served us iced lime before we settle down to watch a few performances by them :)





By the time we reached our hotel, it was 3-4 pm and we were thinking of things to do on our last night in KK.

Xher Rael messaged her friend who is from Sabah himself and he suggested for us to watch the sun set at Tanjung Aru. (Thanks, Calvin!)


Tanjung Aru was pretty far from the hotel and we were thinking twice if it was gonna be worth the taxi fare but thank God for super friendly and nice taxi drivers! :)
















Saw this father taking pictures of his daughter earlier on.

A few minutes after that, the family (wife joined) were taking selfies in front of the sunset using the DSLR.


They looked like they needed a little help as both were carrying the daughter who was in the middle of both of them while holding the DSLR, hence I decided to offer to help taking the family picture for them :)




Found out that this family is from China. Even though it was merely a simple act, I was glad that I could help :)



The water at Tanjung Aru isn't as clean as the islands like Sapi but the sunset is definitely something worth staying for.

There are a few bars just along the beach so you can actually order a drink and watch the sun beautifully setting before your eyes. 



Our last night in KK could not have ended anymore beautifully :)



Before I end this post, I would like to thank a few people.. (Get your tissues ready, people)

To my amazing mom & dad, thank you :) For allowing me to go for this trip and trusting me. I am tremendously blessed to have the both of you  in life. 

To Xher Rael, thank you for planning some parts of this trip which has brought so many memories

To Annie, thank you for driving us around in Sarawak & constantly feeding us with good food. You really know how to take good care of the people around you

Last but not least, thank You Jesus for giving us good weather, keeping us girls safe throughout the whole trip and opening up my eyes to things which I have not expected. This trip wouldn't have happened without You. 




Aaaaaand that's a wrap, people! The borneo getaway update is finished! *does the victory dance.