What a GREAT day we had touring the state of Sabah, in the city of Kota Kintabalu, Borneo Malaysia. Sabah is one of 14 states in the country of Malaysia. In 1958, there were 9 states that declared independence on August 31st and formed the country of Malaya. 6 years later , 5 additional states joined the alliance (these 5 were predominantly Muslim) and the country's name changed to Malaysia..
We went to the cultural village of Mara Mara which shows you the old homes and customs of 5 of the original tribes that lived in this country. We had a terrific guide named Roy, who spoke beautiful English and filled us in on the different customs of the five tribes.
The city of Kota Kinabalu was occupied by the Japanese during WWII and bombed by the allies. Only 2 buildings survived the bombing in the city. Thus, almost every building in the city is quite new-- built from the 1950's onward. The people were friendly and tourism is the second most important industry with agriculture being number one. Specifically, they export Palm Oil.
I was quite surprised by how modern the city was and how little influence of the Muslim religion is seen. There is a magnificent state Mosque that cost 35 million dollars and took around 15 years to build. The Mosque holds 5,000 people and the gold you see in the photo is real gold leaf -- not paint or metal. The areas we drove through were fairly modern and the young women are dressed and act quite "western". There is a large Christian population in this state..
We had another guide who was showing us the city and his name was Adrian. He was quite informative and very nice. Duffy was out and about with us today, but did not walk through the cultural village. It was quite a difficult walk with lots of steps up tough ladders. Adrian stayed with her while Roy escorted us through the village.
We had a GREAT lunch at an Italian restaurant which had delicious pizza and FREE WIFI! We were so busy checking email and Facebook pages we almost had no time to eat!
Our Mara Mara cultural village guide, Roy..
Their version of a chastity belt. Single women used to wear this and the bells would jingle if they tried to sneak out at night! It was quite heavy!
Using bamboo shavings to make fire...
Success! You can see the smoke...
The "honeymoon suite"!
The "wedding ceremony"!
Photo bombed by someone!
A young tourist "making music!"
From the tribe who were formerly head hunters. Head hunters used to face off in duels! A warrior with 10 heads could not challenge a warrior with 2 heads but a 2 head warrior could challenge a 10 head warrior ( with little chance of success)! The heads were hung from the roof of the warriors home and stay with his family even after his death. You always accepted a challenge from another warrior because great shame would be brought on the family if the challenge was not accepted. It was better to die with honor. They would not just take the head of the other warrior but would do a diagonal "cut" across the torso so that it included the heart to prove it was a fresh kill.. The crocodile was central to their culture and heads would be dried on the back of sculpted crocodiles.. Head hunting was outlawed by the British in 1926 but persisted for some years after that in remote areas.
The crocodile that would hold the heads along it's back...
Traditional greeting with a leader.
Yep, it's a skull....
Arlene got a henna tattoo on her ankle by a very talented artist!
My henna tattoo on my arm.
Our guide, Adrien.
At the beach...
The $35 million dollar state Mosque..
A warm welcome from the people of Sabah!
FREE WIFI at lunch!
The State Mosque...
The witch doctor!!
What a ladder! It was removed by the parents at night to be sure the single girls stayed upstairs
Thinking of tasting the rice wine! It was too hot to hold!
Making vests out of tree bark that men wear at ceremonies.
Gorgeous bougainvillea is everywhere!
A baby "papoose" carrier!
Back to our ship! Next port of call, Shanghai where we disembark.
