Orang asli villages pulling in the tourists

Orang asli villages pulling in the tourists
BY Nik Naizi Husin
Friday August 25, 2006

MUADZAM SHAH: Visits to orang asli villages are so popular with foreign tourists they have been included in the itinerary for the homestay programmes here.

State Arts, Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Women’s Affairs Committee chairman Datuk Maznah Mazlan said the orang asli in Kampong Kedaik, Kampong Tanam and a few other surrounding villages still carried out traditional activities like fishing in ponds, streams and making blow pipes.

She said foreign tourists loved to follow the orang asli fishing or observe them making blowpipes and sometimes even tried to do it on their own.

She added that they loved the food they got during their stay here.

School children from Toyogawa Junior High School - who had participated in a homestay programme in Muadzam Shah in Pahang - trying to play the gamelan. On hand to help is state exco member Datuk Maznah Mazlan (in blue baju kurung).

“The lemang periuk kera (glutinous rice steamed in the monkey cup plant) is among some unique local food that is available in Muadzam Shah,” Maznah said on Tuesday after meeting 23 Japanese visitors who had participated in a homestay programme here recently.

The 18 students from Toyogawa Junior High School, aged between 11 and 16 years and accompanied by group leaders and officials lead by Masakatsu Maru, spent five days at the village.

Muadzam Shah homestay programme co-ordinator Abdul Khalib Abdullah said 11 “foster parents” had taken care of the group throug-hout their stay.

Abdul Khalib said the homestay programme started to get foreign tourists in 2001, attracting mainly repeat as well as new visitors from Japan. - The Star.

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Going it alone - Travel Tales

Going it alone
TRAVELLER'S TALES

Alexandra Wong tells us why she would never take a tour again, after surviving a self-planned trip to Australia and backpacking solo in Kuching.

Mark warned me not to expect your typical tour itinerary in Melbourne. I suspected as much that we weren’t going to do the usual koala and wombat routine.

”I’m showing you the real Australian lifestyle!” he said.

But, the Royal Botanical Gardens? He brushed off my misgivings airily.

“Trust me! I’ll guarantee you two hours isn’t even enough.”

Duly warned, I traipsed into the Royal Botanical Gardens, clutching parasol and a hatful of reservations. That day, I learnt something new about temperate countries and their inhabitants’ obsession with flora and fauna.

Over there, parks are mostly luxuriant, lovingly maintained expanses of verdant foliage and luscious blooms, worlds apart from their ill-tended counterparts in Malaysia. Not two, but four hours later, I had to be dragged out kicking and screaming. My flower caper made me a lifelong believer in Mark’s travelling mantra: throw out the guidebook with the bathwater.

By the time I graduated to my own solo backpacking trip to Kuching, I was determined to take the path less beaten. I skipped the tourist cliches and asked the locals about their personal favourites.

I took the town bus instead of the cab if the route was accessible. I forced myself to go up to strangers and ask for assistance.

Of course, old habits and misconceptions die hard. During my early days, I clung to my pepper spray like a chastity belt, and wore my unwieldy moneypouch to the toilet. Never mind the encumbrance, I’d been spooked by too many stories of single women falling prey to sexual predators in strange, foreign lands.

It took a while before I relaxed enough to realise that it was completely unnecessary to eyeball every stranger like they were a potential rapist/mugger/pickpocket.

“When you’re travelling alone, you have to risk talking to people,” said Bario, a Bavarian sound engineer who stayed at the same hostel as I did. “More often than not, most travellers are decent people like you and me.”

Armed with hobbling Malay but aided by plenty of local insight, not only did he discover the best place for lobak, lemon-style fried pork, Sabah greens and kung-po chicken feet (a few streets away from the Borneo Bed & Breakfast guesthouse), he also found the trail to Bario. (You take an 18-hour bus ride and then hop onto an 18-seater Otter plane.)

Yes sirree, do things the local way, but I’ll improvise a little: see it with a stranger’s eyes. When you’re new to an experience or place, you’re unburdened by the preconceived assumptions of a local who may be oblivious to elements that an outsider might find novel, and that is a vantage point that can work beautifully in your favour.

While I was at the New South Wales Art Gallery, I was blown away by the profusion of award-winning artwork, but silently cursed the house rules of not allowing photography. After I’d had my eyefill, I wandered into the café which was teeming with art aficionados discussing art (what else) over steaming cups of flat white and café latte.

Ostensibly, it was also the only place where you could take photographs. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a Japanese lady hamming it up at the glass window for her pre-pubescent son’s camera.

I walked over to check out the source of her bemusement. Lo and behold, right smack in the middle of all that genius was the piece de resistance: the window afforded a stunning vertiginous view of the entire city.

One of many quotations inscribed all over the walls summed it up best: Art is not what you see, but what you make others see – Edgar Degas.

The thriving art scene in Melbourne reaches far beyond the venerable walls of its many museums. On his off days, Mark gleefully steered me to the labyrinthine laneways that divide the Melbourne Commercial Business District into neat, easy-to-navigate squares – and also a haven for Australia’s graffiti artists. We spent hours ogling at wall after wall of brilliant murals that would rival any street in the Bronx.

I was very lucky to have Mark (my childhood friend who now resides in Melbourne) squiring me around town. On the days I was left to my own devices, there was still eye candy aplenty to keep me agog. Every morning, I would park myself at one of Temple Street’s ubiquitous sidewalk cafés, and feast my eyes on the denizens that lent the busy thoroughfare its inimitable character.

There was one lady in her 60s sporting dreadlocks and countless neo-punks strutting down in their studded and rainbow-haired glory. Most were unfazed by my bug-eyed stares, while one or two would wave back and holler: “Hey love, how are ya doing?”

While my experiences have taught me to fall back on town-proud locals for recommendations to the sweetest spots, a female friend, a veteran solo traveller, puts her own spin to this thumb rule: “When you’re in a foreign place, better to listen like a dumb a$$ than talk like an expert. People will be more willing to show you the ropes.”

In Kuching, I ended up in the cab of a garrulous taxi-driver who subjected me to a running commentary on Kuching politics.

Although exhausted from the day’s pottering, I still forced myself to pay attention and show interest. At the end of the exercise, he rewarded my patience with a free personal tour of the local bus routes and a discounted ride to the best ice-kacang stall in Kuching.

I’m not asking you to be a phony, just advocating plain old courtesy. Everyone likes to be an expert, but there’s a time and place for everything. Remember, you are supposed to be on vacation.

Now I’m sure this list of to-dos is hardly comprehensive. If some altruistic soul would sponsor me a ticket to go uncover the other 273 travel tips that’s not found here, I’d be more than willing to volunteer my efforts. Any takers? W - Star.

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Homestay way to more rooms

Homestay way to more rooms
By Nik Naizi Husin
Monday August 14, 2006

ROMPIN: The homestay programme held actively in several states could be the “solution” to cater to the influx of foreign tourists in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Kamaruddin Siaraf said the present number of rooms in hotels, chalets and budget hotels would not be sufficient to accommodate the influx of foreign tourists expected next year.

Kamaruddin performing the ‘tepung tawar’ ceremony at Gousmet’s and McGlasher’s ‘wedding.’

“Malaysia is expected to receive more than 20 million foreign tourists in conjunction with the launching of the Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

“We in Tourism Malaysia have planned a host of activities from next year throughout the country.

“Malaysians should now ‘think tourism and get tourism’ to prepare for the occasion,” he said after the launching of the homestay programme in Kam-pung Leban Chondong here on Sunday.

The programme was declared open by Rompin district officer Datuk Azmi Kassim.

New Zealand couple Natalie Gousmet, 25, and Drew McGlasher, 24, participated in a staged traditional Malay wedding in full customary attire.

Presently, the couple were “just friends” but sportingly took part in the programme held at the village.

Kamaruddin later performed the tepung tawar in which the couple sat close together on a dais to mark the bersanding ceremony.

Also present were Tourism Malaysia Pahang director Jefri Munir and Bukit Fraser’s Development Corporation general manager Datin Siti Rahmah Ahmad.

Kamaruddin said the Govern-ment had been putting in a lot of efforts to promote the homestay programme.

“The programme is gaining popularity among foreigners from many parts of the world.

“Among others, it offers the visitors a taste of local lifestyle, cultures and daily activities.

“These unique experiences are not available to them if they stay in big towns and luxury hotels,” he added. - The Star

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An Annual Homage to St Anne

An annual homage to St Anne
Tuesday August 1, 2006
By Ng Su Ann and M. Sivanantha Sharma


FOR 10 days, all roads seemed to lead to Bukit Mertajam in Penang as more than 100,000 people flocked to the St Anne’s Church there for the St Anne’s Novena and Feast 2006.

The annual celebration began on July 21 with the 188-year-old church holding Novenas followed by masses which were conducted in English, Tamil, Mandarin, Thai and Kadazan.

The climax was the candlelight procession on Saturday night which attracted thousands of pilgrims.

There was a carnival-like atmosphere as Catholics and non-Christians alike from all over Malaysia, neighbouring countries and as far away as Europe packed the church to pay homage to St Anne, the maternal grandmother of Jesus Christ.

The church grounds were bathed in a sparkling sea of light and the night air filled with hymns as the pilgrims followed the 45-minute procession which circled the church’s compound.

At the head of the procession were altar boys, candle bearers, bunga manggar bearers and flower girls. The statues of St Anne and the Bles-sed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, were next, followed by priests and the faithful.

SEA OF LIGHT: Pilgrims holding lighted candles during the procession around the church grounds on Saturday night.

Flower girls sprinkled floral petals along the path of the procession while choir members sang religious hymns.

Among those who came for the celebration were Austrian Manfred Kotek, 39, his wife Christina, 37, and their children, Luka, five and Nico, two.

Christina said she liked the environment at the church as it was a very peaceful place in which to pray.

She said they were on holiday in Penang when she and her husband found out about the festival from a magazine they read.

Singaporean K. Parimala, 52, said it was the second consecutive year she had come for the event.

“I will be here every year if God permits,” she said.

Johorean Michale Lim, 39, who came with his wife, Stephenie Chanand, 34, and their two children, aged 10 and11, said the event was significant for his family.

“Whatever our commitments, we make it a point to be here every year,” said Lim who had been attending the feast for the past 20 years.

Lilly Green, 50, from Canada, said a visit to the church for the feast was a must for her every year since 2001.

“I am thankful to God for keeping me healthy and I will be back if my health permits,” she added.

Businesswoman Rachel Chin, 29, and her mother Chee Ah Chu, 59, from Butterworth, said they had been coming for the feast over the last 10 years.

“Though we are Buddhists, we believe in St Anne as she had answered our prayers,” said Chin.

Many traders set up stall along Jalan Kulim outside the church to sell flowers, food, drinks, clothes, bags and other items.

Among them was R. Ramesh who has been selling flowers there since 2002. Ramesh, 40, said he gets his flower supply from Cameron Highlands.

Also spotted at the church was Time Highway Radio deejay Ram who was there to provide coverage for the festival which ended on Sunday.

This year’s celebration was themed ‘To Think and Feel with the Church.’

source: The Star

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