Today is at leisure but a half day of culture and shopping is on offer. I am fancying it but Lynn is going to have a lie in followed by a morning round the pool. Our first stop is the Sunday market. It has everything but a lot of it is aimed at tourists of course. I find three blind men singing and playing instruments to sell their CDs, and they are not bad at all
Health boards??
And vats of unusual fruit juice.
Then my camera starts playing up so sadly no more photos. A shame as there are a lot of stalls I would have liked to photograph. In particular, there were dog and cat stalls. The dogs here are the same as in Nepal, ie they all look the same except for the colour and choice of straight or curly tail. It was sad to see puppies squashed into little cages, priced 180 rinngits (about £35). I'm surprised that they cost so much as you could adopt a starving street one for nothing. Might get one as a souvenir for Frank. Lots of fake Rolexes, Chanel handbags, RayBans etc. couldn't resist buying a couple of pairs. Lynn thought they were joke specs when she saw them. Huh! No taste. I also got two lovely local outfits for Lynn and me to wear when we get back to the UK to remind us of balmier climes.
A couple of photo opportunities of the floating City Mosque in pale blue and silver which holds up to 12000 worshippers. Then Signal Hill where there is a viewing tower over the city and an opportunity to get another KitKat Cornetto. We pass an impressive new circular glass building, something to do with the education department. But what was better was there were 2 orang-utans made of concrete with holes in the head where you could stick your face through and be photographed and you didn't look silly at all.
Our final stop was at The Museum of Sabah. It was fascinating with areas depicting the ancient and modern culture including musical instruments, wedding costumes from the different tribes, although the mannequins looked like they had been taken from John Lewis' window 40 years ago. There were stuffed indigenous animals in naturalistic settings, leopard, Pygmy elephant, turtles, flying bats, deer, as well as the beautiful orang-utans and monkeys and many more. The history of North Borneo from archeological digs to the present time. Interesting facts - there are 5 states in Malaysia, Each has a Sultan and they take it in turns every 4 years to be top ruling Sultan. It seems that they are purely constitutional and that there is a lot of dissatisfaction amongst the people as the government is considered corrupt. Watch this space for the Malaysian spring. There are many tribes, languages, dialects, ethnicities and therefore a lot of misunderstanding between the people. In the past, the tribes were suspicious of anyone they could not communicate with and so fought them off. Heads literally rolled and it was a huge celebration if you managed cut cut off someone's head and bring it home. You hung the head outside your house to ward off bad luck. Cynthia says there is still a tribe deep in the rainforest who do not understand the common languages of Sabah and are very hostile.
The last stop was a heritage village with authentic longhouses. They are built on stilts with slatted floors and walls. There is a long central area with rooms off one side for sleeping, cooking etc and in one there was another more solid floor set into the main floor but on ropes. When they had a celebration eg came back with a head, the tribesmen got tanked up on the local brew, got on the suspended floor and bounced up and down while they chanted. I had a go and it was very much like a trampoline. There were towers for climbing with your blow pipe, special houses for hanging up your collection of skulls and places I didn't really understand what they were for. For the first time in my life, a local family asked if they could have their photo taken with me. It's weird to think that I am an oddity with my yellow hair and white skin.
Am back at the gorgeous pool now having a tequila sunrise and relaxing before I have a dip in the South China Sea. Apparently it is very salty so I shouldn't sink.
Waving our flag to call over the waiter.
We are all meeting up for a drink tonight and a final meal together. We have all got on well together and may well keep in touch.
The hotel musician in national costume
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