Royal Regalia Museum

Royal Chariot

People go to Brunei for one thing only, and that is to satisfy their curiosity about this tiny, but extravagantly rich country and its even richer ruler. The Royal Regalia Museum in the heart of Brunei’s capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan, allows you a glimpse into the life of the Sultan of Brunei.

The museum was established in 1992 in commemoration of the Silver Jubilee of Brunei’s current Sultan, Hi Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah’s accession to the throne. The Sultan himself officially opened the museum on 30 September 1992.

Upon entering the museum, the chariot pictured in the photo above can be seen. Is is located in the main atrium of the Royal Regalia Museum. This is the only part of the interior of the museum where photography is allowed. The royal chariot was used during the procession around town at the Sultan’s accession to the throne in 1967.

The first gallery is the Royal Exhibition Gallery. This area documents the life history of His Majesty, with photos showing the Majesty’s childhood, school days, interest in sports and culminates with His Majesty’s installation as the Crown Prince, the Royal Wedding, and the Coronation Ceremony. Of note here are the priceless artefacts that make up the Royal Regalias. A scaled model of the coronation hall is displayed here.

The gallery leads to the first floor, where gifts from heads of states and other dignitaries are displayed.

Perhaps the best part of the Royal Regalia Museum is the Silver Jubilee Gallery. As in the atrium, there is a Royal Chariot here, but this one being more modern, it is equipped with an engine and the Sultan’s seat is air-conditioned! Mannequins of the guards in black and red uniform stand in front and behind the chariot, and photos of the adoring public surround the room. There is a scaled replica of the entrance gates of Istana Nurul Iman, the world’s largest residential palace. Also of interest are the costumes worn by the Sultan and his two consorts during the Silver Jubilee. Queen Saleha’s costume is decorated with gold and diamonds, while the Sultan’s then second wife, Pengiran Isteri Hajah Mariam’s costume was decorated with gold and pearls.

Interestingly, the Royal Regalia Museum was previously the Winston Churchill Memorial Museum, perhaps the only such memorial in this part of the world. It was opened in 1971. A fire destroyed the previous roof and the domed roof was built by a Japanese company.

Ratings: *** Since you are here

Note:

Shoes must be removed before entering the building.

All bags, including handbags, and cameras must be stored in the lockers provided.

Entrance fee: Entrance is free

Visiting hours:

Sunday to Thursday      9:00am – 5:00 pm

Friday                          9:45am – 11:30am, 2:30pm – 5:00pm

Saturday                       9:45am – 5:00pm

Contact:

Tel: 2244545 extension 201

Email: bmexhib@brunet.bn

Wagler’s Pit Viper

Wagler's Pit Viper at Sepilok 20091022

Scientific name: Tropidolaemus wagleri

A venomous snake native to South East Asia. The “heat sensors” at the side of its triangular head helps pit vipers detect prey. A nocturnal species, the vipers appear sluggish and remains motionless for long periods of time during the day, but can strike quickly when prey passes by or when disturbed. In Sabah, Wagler’s pit vipers can often be seen draped around tree branches at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre and Menanggul River in Sukau.

Also known as the temple snake because it is the most abundant snake species at the Snake Temple in Penang. The venom of this snake is used in anti-ageing face cream by Planet Skincare UK. The venom supposedly contains properties that prevent wrinkles from forming.

Silver Langur close-up

Scientific name: Trachypithecus cristatus

Malay name:  Lotong

The Silver Langur or Silvered Leaf Monkey is a colobine (leaf-eating monkey) found in Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Its preferred habitat is coastal, mangrove and riverine forests. Its name refers to its fur colour, although infants are a contrasting bright orange.

In Borneo, the silver langur can be seen at Bako National Park, Kinabatangan River, Garama River and various other places. Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary has a group of silver langurs that has gotten quite used to humans and mingle among tourists during feeding time.

Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary

Not enough of proboscis monkeys? Then go to Labuk Bay to satisfy your monkey-sighting cravings.

The only proboscis monkey sanctuary in the world, Labuk Bay offers the proboscis fan or avid wildlife photographer the chance to see these monkeys up-close. With no tree branches or leaves blocking the monkeys, this is one place besides the zoo where you can see that all important nose of the male proboscis monkey.

Located in the remaining parts of a mangrove forest turned oil palm plantation, the Labuk Bay sanctuary is the last remaining natural habitat for the primates in this area. There are currently about 400 proboscis monkeys left, although only about 70 monkeys come to the feeding platform regularly.

Proboscis Monkeys

The sanctuary came about quite by accident. Due to the dwindling food supply when the mangrove forest was slowly converted into oil palm plantations, some monkeys made their way into the houses of the workers here and were seen nibbling on pancakes that were left out in the kitchen. Realizing their folly, the owner of the oil palm plantation decided to set aside some land for the wildlife instead of converting them all to oil palm plantations.

Feedings are held twice a day and due to the intolerance of sugar in their diet, the proboscis monkeys are given cucumber, long beans and non-sweet pancakes.

Besides the proboscis monkeys, the silver langurs also come during feeding time. The langurs have become so familiar with humans, that they are no longer afraid and would come right up to the viewing platform.

Silver Langurs

River cruise or sanctuary?

Some would argue that seeing the proboscis monkey on a river cruise is much better, and I don’t disagree with that. The Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary should not be a replacement for a river cruise along the Kinabatangan River, but rather, it can be something extra. I recommend visiting the Kinabatangan River first before coming here. Otherwise, one can get monkey-fatigued.

Feeding time:

11:30am and 4.30pm at Platform B (recommended. Silver Langurs also come here)

9.30am and 2.30pm at Platform A

Ratings: *** up-close of proboscis monkey and silver langur

Lost Ratings: **

Getting there:

Labuk Bay proboscis monkey sanctuary is located near Samawang Village at Labuk Bay. It takes about 38km or one hour from the airport in Sandakan and is a bit further up the road to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. If you would like to visit both sanctuaries in one day, it is possible to catch the feeding first at Sepilok before heading to Labuk Bay. It takes less than 30 minute from Sepilok.

The santuary is located 15 km from the main road, so without your personal transportation, it is not possible to get here on your own. Many tour companies offer tours to Labuk Bay or you can take the shuttle bus service offered by the sanctuary.

The shuttle service is RM15 per way.

Departure from Hotel Sandakan is at 9.30am and from Sepilok at 10.30am.

The shuttle departs from Labuk Bay at 5.30pm

Entrance fees:

Malaysian Adult RM15, Child(6-12 years) RM5

Foreigner Adult RM60, Child(6-12 years) RM30

Camera fee RM10, Video fee RM20

Contact:

Website: www.proboscis.cc

Email: labukbay@proboscis.cc

Telephone:

Sandakan (6)089-672177, 674880, 674133, 671745

Kota Kinabalu (6) 088-317316

Mobile: 019-8534098, 012-8188696

Mount Kinabalu from plane

Photo of Mount Kinabalu taken from flight to Sandakan from Kota Kinabalu at 07:18 am.

Cute kid in water village

Photo by Sato Atsuko

Mudmen of Pulau Tiga

New tribe found in Pulau Tiga in Sabah, Borneo. I don’t think they are dangerous. Crazy, maybe.

For more information:

Pulau Tiga

Sabah State Mosque at night

Sabah State Mosque - KK 20090830

The Sabah State Mosque in Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu all lit up at night during the recent Ramadan month.

The Tambunan musclemen

Tambunan monument - Sabah, Borneo 20090905

What: statue of two muscular men

Where: Tambunan, 80 km from Kota Kinabalu

Ratings: *

Lost Ratings: *

Visitors who stop in the town centre of Tambunan would surely be intrigued by this monument. So who are these two Sabahan Stallone and Scharzenegger? A search on the Internet led me to this website.

http://www.sabah.gov.my/pd.tbn/asal-usul_tambunan.html

It’s in Malay, so here’s the English translation, more or less.

In the old days, Tambunan was a jungle and unpopulated. Gombunan and his tribe were the first people to settle in Tambunan, having migrated from Nunuk Ragang (the birthplace of the Kadazandusun people). Under his able leadership, Gombunan’s people lived in peace and harmony. They were known as the flatlanders (orang dataran) because of the topography of the land there.

One day, the fierce warrior tribe Tonsundung from the hills in the East  invaded the flatlanders. Many properties and lives were destroyed, but Gombunan and his men managed to repel them and the Tonsundungs themselves had many people injured and killed. Not one to be humiliated, the Tonsundungs came back and killed Gombunan in revenge while he was alone in the fields.

Without their able leader, the flatlanders were at a loss. They knew that the Tonsundungs would come back again. It was during this time that another tribe, the Tamadons, came and helped the flatlanders. The Tamadons knew that it was only a matter of time before they would be invaded by the Tonsundungs, so they worked together with the flatlanders.

When the Tonsundungs invaded again, they were surprised by the increase in number of warriors that were there and were thoroughy defeated. To celebrate their victory, the two tribes merged and named their place Tambunan – Tam(adon) and (Gom)bunan

Sunset from Kinabalu

 

 

 

Sometimes it pays to go back a little late. Caught the sunset on the way back from Kinabalu Park.

The photos were taken just after the sun has set and the colours highlighted the clouds perfectly.

Photo taken on 18/9/2009 near the Kinabalu Park headquarters

Water buffaloes swimming in Garama River

Garama River, Sabah, Borneo - 20090916

Jackie, the orang utan

Jackie, the orang utan

Jackie is a 20-year old female orang utan living in one of the national parks in Sabah. Although she is allowed to roam free in the surrounding rainforest, Jackie prefers the comfort of her “house”. She no longer builds nests in trees to sleep like normal orangutans, but prefers to cover herself up with a black cloth bag at night. She loves pineapples, but is fed up of eating bananas all the time. Although many people know about Jackie, many more do not, and I prefer it that way so that Jackie won’t get “people-fatigued”.

Roti Tisu

roti tisu at mamak stall - KK 20090907

What’s this? Something that you can put on your head and eat at the same time? Definitely something to impress your foreign friends with.

Roti Tisu at the famous Salim Restaurant in Lintas, KK.
Crispy and coated with sugar. Is is sweeter at the bottom of the cone.

Definition of Roti Tisu from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti_tissue

Natural swing at Poring hot springs

Poring Hot Springs jungle - 20090901

Natural swing formed by twisting liana at Poring Hot Springs jungle near Kipungit Waterfall

Garama River sunset

Garama River sunset - 20090827

sunset and double rainbow in Kota Kinabalu

Sunset at Kota Kinabalu 20090822

Double rainbow at Kota Kinabalu 20090822

A double rainbow and beautiful sunset at the same time. Photos taken at Shangrila Tanjung Aru Resort.

Sago Worms

Not something that you will find in a normal restaurant in Borneo but the sago worm is a delicacy eaten by some indgenous groups in Borneo. It is especially famous among the Kadazandusun in Sabah, and the Melanau in Sarawak. However, it is not exclusive to Borneo, as it is also eaten by the people of New Guinea and Ecuador.

The sago worm, or sago grub, is the larvae of the Sago Palm Weevil. The sago palm tree is chopped down and the trunk is left to rot. After a few weeks, stripping off the bark and breaking open the trunk reveals dozens of palm weevils and their larvae. The larvae feeds on the starch of the sago palm. The adults are reddish-brown in colour with a snout and are smaller than the larvae.

The larvae are then collected to be eaten. You can either eat it raw or  cook it first. I tried both. First, we washed the larvae to clean it from the sago palm. The rotting palm stinks a bit, but the larvae itself has no smell. As you can see from the pictures, the larvae is creamy white and looks like a fat worm. It has a small, brown head that is hard and cannot be eaten. So, hold the larvae’s fat body, and then twist off the head. Throw away the inner parts of the larvae by flinging it away. It can be eaten, but it doesn’t taste nice. The larvae can then be eaten. It has been described as tasting like chicken or beef, but to me, there was no taste. It just felt kind of chewy, like eating mussels.

If eating raw larvae is too much for you, you can taste the ones that have been fried. Just heat the wok and put the larvae in and add in some salt. You don’t need oil, as the sago worm has plenty of oil in its body. In fact, as the wok gets hotter, the worms sometimes explode from the oil that bubbles out of their body. Even after frying it, it still doesn’t taste like meat. Someone described it as tasting like mushy corn. To make it even more delicious, you can add onion and other stuff.

Well, at least it’s good for you. The sago worm is said to contain more iron and vitamin B than beef or chicken, and it was a good source of protein for the local people who eat sago starch as their main food since the starch is almost all carbohydrate only.

Tawau Sunday Market

Tawau has its own version of KK’s Gaya Street Fair. It is located at the junction between Jalan Kuhara and Jalan Apas.

Compared to the one in KK, the Tawau Sunday Market is shorter, but has more variety of seafood. The market is like a mixture of a wet market and a pasar malam (night market) in KL. Food, fish, plants, flowers, toys, kites and a variety of things  are sold here. Some of the things found here that are not found in Gaya Street Fair (yet) are the cotton candy machines and kites.

Ratings **

Lost Ratings ***

Kadazan Village and Wildlife Park

Lost Borneo Tours:

Kadazan Village and Wildlife Park Tour:

Adult: RM150  Child(2-12) RM75

Visit a Kadazan village in Babagon to see the idyllic life of the people here and to frolic in the river. The more adventurous can cross a suspension bridge used by the locals. A unique attraction is the sight of a road that is permanently under water.

On Thursdays and Fridays, one of the largest tamus (markets) near Kota Kinabalu is held in Donggongon. See the local fruits and strange foodstuff that is sold here.

Visit one of the oldest stone church in Sabah, St. Michael’s Church, and learn more about the burial jar custom of the Kadazan people.

Visit to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park to see some of the rare wildlife found in Borneo.

Tour price includes entrance fee, lunch.

Tour departs:

every Thursday and Friday (for tamu visit)

every day (without tamu visit)

Duration: half-day tour, either in the morning or evening

Contact losttravels@yahoo.com for more information

Garama River – River cruise with a difference

Where? Beaufort, Sabah. 2 hours from KK

What? River cruise to see wildlife

Ratings: ***** The best place to see the proboscis monkeys in the West Coast of Sabah

Lost Ratings: ***

One of my favourite day trips from Kota Kinabalu is a river cruise along the Garama River. It was one of the first places that I went to when I first arrived in Sabah many years ago, and I have since been back there numerous times. But each time I get on that boat and start searching for the proboscis monkeys, it seems like I’m doing it for the first time all over again. The gentle breeze blowing in my face as the boat cruises down the small river is so soothing and relaxing, it is easy to fall into a daydream and imagine myself as Indiana Jones on an expedition.

The departure point for the Garama River Cruise is at Garama Village, about 120km south-west of Kota Kinabalu. The scenery from KK to Garama is that of the typical countryside – paddy fields and lazy cows sitting by the roadside, and also watermelon and oil palm plantations. The last 30 minutes of the journey especially passes by a few small villages where goats, water buffaloes, chickens and even long-tailed macaques sometimes appear by the side of the road.

Kampung Garama is the name of this remote village populated by the Bisaya and Brunei Malay people. The name of the village is derived from a type of crab that is found in the river. Originally fishermen, the enterprising people have diversed into planting oil palm and some of them into tourism. It is at one of the jetties set up by the villagers that we stop for some refreshments (and a much needed toilet break).

Garama River Safari by Nagahara - Borneo

After resting for a while, the real adventure begins. If you are one of those people who like to see wildlife, but not the leeches and the exertion that is needed to trek in the jungle, then the river safari is for you. The proboscis monkeys  with their huge pendulous nose and big bellies, are the highlight of the Garama River Safari. Only the male monkeys have this huge nose, and it is believed that the bigger the nose, the more attractive the male is to the females. The Garama River is the best place on the West Coast of Sabah to see these strange-looking animals. As these monkeys sleep in trees by the riverside, a river cruise in the early morning or late evening is a good way to catch sight of these primates found only in Borneo.

Proboscis Monkey by Nagahara - Sabah, Borneo

Besides the proboscis monkey, 2 other species of primates can be seen on the Garama River, although sightings are not guaranteed. Other wildlife that can be seen include monitor lizards, various species of birds (kingfishers, brahminy kites, egrets, etc) and if you are really lucky, crocodiles. The not-so-wildlife would be the dozens of water buffaloes that sometimes bathe in the river after a long, hot day in the sun. To some people, this is the best part of the tour. Feel the cool breeze and absorb in the tranquil natural surroundings as the boat cruises along the river.

The cruise ends just as the sun sets, turning the sky into a brilliant orange-red colour. Back at the jetty, we tuck into a home-cooked Malay meal while waiting for the day to turn to night. For when night comes, the other attraction of this river, the fireflies,  take their place among the mangrove trees, lighting them up like beautiful Christmas trees.

Getting there and tours:

River cruises can be in the morning or in the evening. If you prefer a morning cruise, an early start is necessary from Kota Kinabalu. Garama is about 2 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu.

All tour companies offer river safari tours, although the place of embarkation might be different. The other rivers where river safari tours are possible is at Klias River and Weston. Some companies have a surcharge for hotels in the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu.

Lost Borneo Tours:

Garama River Safari: RM190 per person

Tour departure from KK: 2.30 pm (pick-up from hotel)

Includes: dinner, transportation from hotel, tour guide, river cruise

Contact:

Email losttravels@yahoo.com for more information

Tel: 012-2233967

Bisaya People at Garama