The Beauty of SARAWAK...

       

Kuching Waterfront, Kuching Sarawak 

 

 Moon Cave, Niah National Park Miri

       

 Great Cave, Niah National Park, Miri

(SOURCE FROM www.sarawaktourism.com/11.20 p.m. 26 July 2011)

Borneo Traditional Tattoing in the World Eyes.....

Borneo Traditional Tattooing is a hand tapping style of tattooing with two sticks, developed by some of the ancient tribes of Borneo. Example at Sarawak, they got a lot of ancient tribes such as IBAN, BIDAYUH, MELANAU, KAYAN etc.

The Process

One stick is held onto the skin with the needle or sharp stick going into the skin and the other is used as a type of hammer, tapping ink into the skin. The thickness, durability and type of stick are varied to which the tattooist prefers.

Stretching of the skin is very important to the process. Like with the sticks each artist has their own preferred way of having the skin stretched. Stretching is different on each part of the body and the correct stretching reduces the time taken to do that tattoo, considerably. A good assistant doing the stretching can reduce the time a tattoo takes by half.

Borneo Tattooing Designs

The most common of Borneo designs are thick black tribal work, which all have different meanings. Nature is the main focus when designing a Borneo Traditional Tattooing such as leaves, animals, fruits, trees and branches.

•  Women's Tattoos
  
  Women of Borneo also have tattoos, but are of a different style of designs and are placed at different positions from those of men. One of these are bands on the forearms which mark the skills that the women has, such as weaving and cooking. Borneo Men would not marry a woman without these tattoos, because the woman is still a girl and not worth marrying.
   

•  Men's Tattoos
  
  The Bunga Terung, which translates to the eggplant flower, is the first tattoo a Borneo male would receive. The Bunga Terung is a coming of age tattoo which marks the passage of a boy into manhood. The Bunga Terung has a spiral at the center of the eggplant flower the Tali Nyawa, which means the rope of life and is identical to the underside of a tadpole which symbolizes the beginning of a new life.
  
  All the tattoos, following the eggplant flower, are like a diary. A young male would go out on his own to find knowledge and from each place he went to he would get one tattoo to mark not only where he is from but also where he has been. From each place the tattoos have different styles so the regional differences in his tattoos would tell the story of his journeys in life.
  
  Borneo tattoos do not just mark physical journeys. Some represent big life events, such as fathering children etc. For example there is a tattoo a man can have done on his hand called the Entegulun. You can only have this if you have taken heads. Some tattoos can be for protection, for example the tattoos on the throat (Ukir Rekong) are meant to give strength to the skin on the throat, to stop your enemies from being able to take your head.

The Signature of Sarawak Local Food....

LAKSA SARAWAK

In the past, the local Sarawak food delicacies like the Sarawak Laksa, Kolo Mee, Sago Biscuit, Sarawak Pepper, Kek Lapis, Umai, etc were not being well promoted in the international arena. It was not even much promoted to our counterpart in Peninsular Malaysia. It was through word-of-mouth from the many visitors and tourists to Sarawak whom had the luxury of tasting these fabulous products that they were made known to the people abroad.

Presently some of these products are already being marketed in Peninsula Malaysia. A few even made it into the international markets. Some of these products need further improvements in order for them to be competitive in the international markets especially in the standard of the products, the packaging, the customer and delivery services and the marketing strategies. An area that is still very much lacking in term of exposure to the international markets are the local Sarawak food pre-mixes and ingredients.

The future for these Sarawak local food pre-mixes and ingredients are very encouraging and with the required improvements made, we can expect a huge market potential. Presently there are only a handful of players in this market and no one obvious market leader. With the changing life-style of people around the world and their hectic life-style, when coming to preparing a meal, convenient and ease is always at the top of their mind. A good range of quality ready-to-cook premixes will be what they are looking for to help prepare a quick and delicious meal.