Hollanders Rocking the Sumazau Dance

Sumazau Dance by Hollanders and Penampang Homestay Famillies

Just last month, 19 retirees from Holland visited Malaysia for a 3 weeks' holiday. They spent 2 weeks in Malacca, Peninsular Malaysia, 1 week in Sandakan, Sabah and the last day of their holiday at homestays at Kg. Putaton Inobong, Penampang, Sabah.

Although they only get to spend half a day with the locals, nevertheless, they had a blast!!!

Upon their arrival at Putaton homestay, they were divided into several groups and each group was placed under the responsibility of a homestay operator who participated in the proggramme. Then, each of these homestay operators brought their guests to their humble homes and showed them what they have, shared with them about things that they do to make a living and teach them a few of the recreational activities of the locals.

They also had the opportunity to check out on some of the rare and distinct tropical Borneo herbs, learn to prepare local dishes, learn the process of "Lihing" making (our local rice wine) and get a closer look at the way rubber is harvested and the process to harden it before it is sold.

They had a good time chatting up with the family members of homestay operators while enjoying lunch. Lunch was awesome and several traditional dishes were served.

Just look at the short videos below.

They had a "Sumazau" rock 'n' roll!!

The "Sumazau" dance is the KadazanDusun traditional dance which is commonly performed in weddings, during the annual "Pesta Kaamatan" festival and any significant or special occasions. The dance style is similar to a number or groups of birds soaring together. The arms are raised and flapped similar to that of a bird and "glide" softly at about shoulder level. The elbow and wrist are gently bended parallel at both sides of the body.

These Hollanders may not rock the perfect "Sumazau" dance but considering their very short visit, it's not too bad huh! They had a really great time. Need proof? One couple, Dekker and Gerda, even offered a free accommodation for the homestay families who intend to visit Holland (Of course it was just a verbal promise, a promise made from the heart, nevertheless). Homestay is truly an experience that should not be missed if you want to build a close relationship with the locals.

To those who are interested to learn the Sumazau dance, watch the video below and learn the dance...practice always makes perfect!

Think Bambangan, Think Sabah

What is Bambangan?
It is a seasonal fruit, is sometimes described as a wild mango, when ripe has thick brown skin and fibrous yellow flesh and gives out a very strong sweet aroma. I don't know why some people say Bambangan gives out a pungent smell. According to dictionary.reference.com, pungent means "acutely distressing to the feelings or mind" which is NOT the case for me. I LOVVVEEE Bambangan, love to eat it, love to smell it, is acutely COMFORTING to my feelings and mind.

Bambangan which is about 80% ripe is used to make pickle Bambangan. The young fruit is smaller in size than the ripe ones, the skin is brown and hard, and the flesh is white. This is most suitable to be used for cooking the "Pinasakan" dish, a favourite local delicacy, that incorporates young Bambangan fruit in its recipe.

Where is it found?
Some people say it is found ONLY in Sabah Borneo (???). When it comes to Bambangan fruit, Sabah is the only place that I know (please correct me if I am wrong) in the South East Asia region that never stops hollering "Hail, Bambangan!!!". When you want to talk about Bambangan, you have to talk about Sabah. Hence, the title of this post "Think Bambangan, Think Sabah". But you do know that I am being biased, right?

Since we have the same climate, I am sure Bambangan also grows abundantly in other parts of Borneo, like Sarawak (part of East Malaysia), Brunei and Indonesia which make up the island of Borneo, the third largest island in the world. The only difference is that the people there do not eat it as much as the Sabahans do (or maybe they're not even aware of the existence of this fruit). The matured tree has a very big trunk and tall, and during its season, will produce fruits abundantly. In Sabah, Bambangan is very special. It's a delicacy that is closely guarded and taught down to the younger generation so that it can be preserved as our food heritage.

When is the Bambangan season?
According to local farmers, who make their living by selling fruits and rubber sheets, when you hear  it's the Durian season, then you know Bambangan season will follow suit. That is roughly around October to December every year.

Where can you get it?
You can find fresh Bambangan and Pickled Bambangan either at the vegetable market or during "Tamu" time. "Tamu" literally means meeting time. Farmers gather together weekly in one place, the place and time are already fixed, to sell their produce. You can find all sort of fresh produce at the Tamu.

Bambangan Pickling Demo - How it started?
I received an email from one lovely lady, Miss Cheng Yueh Fang, a UMS (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) student from Perak, inquiring whether the homestay operators conduct demo on "tapai making" or "Bambangan pickling" and I replied with an immediate "YES!". I was quite surprise and thrilled at the thought of meeting these young ladies. It must have been due to this post, a culinary event that I have had a chance to attend, that triggered Cheng's interest to contact me.

So, to make long story short, Cheng and her friends decided on the day and time to watch the food demo on how to pickle Bambangan. Cheng and four of her UMS friends are studying in the final year of their food-tech course and Bambangan pickling is one of the projects they have chosen. The other four students are Chang Sook Poh from Kuala Lumpur, Josyan ak Jangar from Sarikei, Sarawak and another two students, like Cheng, also hail from Perak, Ng Jia Qin and Lee Poh Yoke. All of them are in their early 20s.

How do we make Pickle Bambangan?

Ingredients
5 Bambangan fruits (about 80% ripe)
2 Bambangan Seeds (shredded & dried)
Salt

Instructions:
1. Peel off the Bambangan skin.
2. Cut the Bambangan into small pieces. Use a pair of gloves when cutting the fruit to prevent rubbery substance from sticking to your hands.
3. Prepare shredded Bambangan seeds. Take out the soft inner part of the seed. Before you do this, you have to cut/ peel off the hard fibrous shell that protects the soft inner part of the seed.
4. Grate the seeds and dry them under the sun. Once shredded seeds are dried, sprinkle them onto the cut Bambangan pieces and add salt to taste. Then, mix thoroughly.
5. Leave for 30 minutes.
6. Prepare a glass bottle that is already sterilized. Transfer the Bambangan pieces into the glass bottle.
7. This pickle Bambangan is ready for consumption in 1 - 2 weeks' time.


Which native in Sabah eat the most Bambangan and how is it served?
Here in Sabah, we either like to eat it fresh or pickled it. It is mainly eaten by the KadazanDusun people, the biggest indigenous group in Sabah. They eat pickled Bambangan as often as the Koreans eat their Kimchi.

Frequently, it is served with white rice and other main dishes such as meat or fish and vegetable. The pickled Bambangan is sometimes mixed with chilli, soya sauce (we call ketchup) and sometimes with "Belacan", shrimp paste. You can use all of these or just pick any combination. It's your choice!

Newspaper Publications for our "Bambangan Pickling" Event

Daily Express, 11 October 2012

Borneo Post, 15 October 2012

continuation...Borneo Post, 15 October 2012

Homestay Penampang Showcasing Traditional Food of the KadazanDusuns

One of the major attractions in Sabah and one that has huge tourism potential is culinary tourism. I consider it as a highly untapped niche as it is a unique tourism package and rarely offered since the product is quite new in Sabah. Its marketing is also still at its infancy stage. It is a great way to attract international travellers who are curious and eager to seek culinary pleasures.

There are three main ethnicities in Sabah: the KadazanDusunMurut or KDM (which is the indigenuous group), Malay and Chinese. The races in Sabah have their own distinct identity to present Sabah, Malaysian's Borneo, internationally. Owing to Sabah's diverse ethnicity, it is a melting pot of many unique culinary heritages.

I had a chance to visit a homestay runned by Mrs Mathilda and her family, who lived at Kampung Putaton, Inobong Penampang. On the day my friend, Lorena and myself visited Mathilda and her family, they were expecting three guests, to savour the culinary experience that they're offering as part of their homestay packages. Guests will also be given the experience to cook some of the local delicacies themselves.

Mathilda's house is a double-story house, built on family's land, probably previously built on stilts like most other kampung houses in Penampang villages and then when the family expands and more rooms are needed, the kolong which is the open and airy ground floor, is converted into a proper ground floor with concrete walls. They also have a big backyard with several fruit trees which were fruiting abundantly and barns for the chickens, pigs and wild boars.

We arrived about an hour earlier than their guests. So we had a good chat with the host and even  feasted ourselves on a rather late and delicious breakfast. We then roamed about the place, enjoying ourselves by randomly taking pictures of the beautiful flowers, fruit trees, disturbing the caged wild boars and playing with little Achoi, Mathilda's grandson.

Our breakfast

Jojoba tree

Water Guava tree

Little Ah Choi

Jetropha tree

When the familiar tourist van finally arrived at Mathilda's house, three foreign guests, emerged from the van along with Randall and Danny, two staffs from Borneo Eco Tours.

The guests were from Melbourne, Australia, and introduced themselves as Barb and Megg Ross and Tali, the couple's beautiful 15 year-old daughter. Yes, this was a family vacation.

Randall and Danny took out the vegetable, fish and chicken which they bought from the market (Rita guided them when they visited the market earlier) and laid everything on a table. Without wasting any time and before our stomach croaked, food preparations were immediately undertaken. The Sayur Pakis was unique to the Australian family, so, they were taught how to pluck and choose the edible part of the Pakis besides being told that the Pakis grew mostly in the jungle.

First we need to do the hard work...food preparation !!

The Ross' Family at Mathilda's House

Mary teaching Barb and Tali how to pluck the Sayur Pakis

By looking at the food preparation, I knew most of the dishes they were going to prepare. We would be having the Hinava, Manuk Lihing, Sayur Pakis, Sayur Kampung Campur, Pinasakan, Tuhau, Bambangan, Noonsom and the Rebung for our lunch on that day. The food preparations were done rather quickly as they were several people doing the work and some food like the Tuhau, Bambangan and Noonsom which are Sabah's local pickled food, have already been prepared in advance.

Tali and Barb were given the honour to cook some of the dishes while Megg looked on and busied himself chatting with Randall and taking snapshots of the culinary event.

Tali cooking the Sayur Pakis

Barb posing with Rhododendron flower tucked between her ear

It's amazing to see what culinary interest can do to our lives...one shot for the album!

Finally, the moment of truth...

After all the hard work phewww, foods were finally served...

Traditional Food of the KadazanDusuns

Hinava is raw fish cooked with fresh lime, mixed with shallots, ginger, chillies, salt and shreds of Bambangan seeds. You also have the option to add bitter gourd into this dish.

Manuk Lihing is chicken cooked with Lihing, our local rice wine.

Sayur Pakis is a fern type of vegetable and is usually stir-fried with red chillies and dried shrimps. If you don't like seafood, you can leave out the shrimps.

Sayur Kampung Campur is mixed local vegetable that is comprised of Bunga Kantan, Sayur Bawang and Green chillies.

Pinasakan is fish that is simmered with water and fresh ginger, turmeric, some vegetable oil and salt are added to it.

Tuhau is wild ginger (the one with strong pungent smell) and mixed with lime, salt and bird's eye chilies.

Bambangan is a type of mango fruit, has thick but peelable brown skin and yellow flesh.

Noonsom can be either pickled meat or fish that is mixed with white rice and preserved with Pangi, a natural preservative made from pangi seeds.

Tali who usually steered clear from seafood dishes, this time, had an exceptionally difficult time keeping away from the 'Hinava' dish. In fact, it was her favourite food, the one that she liked the best. She also enjoyed the Sayur Pakis and the Rebung.

Barb and Megg also expressed their satisfaction and complimented on the deliciousness of their newfound menu from Borneo. Mathilda shared some of the Sabahan traditional recipes with Barb. Barb and Tali said they would attempt to prepare the dish when they're back in Australia.

As for me and my friend, the two Borneo Eco Tours staffs and the host family, we too were busy savouring and enjoying our food. To me, it was a rare experience to have one hundred percent traditional food served on my plate.

With good food, good host, new friends and wonderful guests, we were on cloud nine!

Food experience can indeed bring people come closer together.

I find that homestay can give a more real experience, not just in culinary but also other aspects in tourism. It is the best and most relaxing way of learning the everyday lives, culture, language, costumes and food of the Sabahan people.


For more info on Homestay Packages in Sabah, please contact: homestay@kotakinabalutourism.com.  All pictures are copyrighted to @kotakinabalutourism.com

Aussies Overwhelmed by Penampang Homestay Hospitality

Penampang Homestay, set up about four years ago, with the support from Tourism Malaysia especially Sabah Tourism Board, has played host to numerous travel related activities. Early this year, it had a busy time entertaining its first Australians who visited Sabah to have a taste of the homestay programme and do a study on Sabah's ethnicities and customs.

Madam Evelyn Masudal, the coordinator of Penampang Homestay said that Sabahans are very delighted to welcome such guests who show deep interest in learning the day-to-day living of the locals here.

The Australians comprised of a group of educators, one of them a professor, a few lecturers from Flinders University in Perth and primary and secondary teachers from all over Australia. Fifteen of them are post graduate mature students from Flinders University Perth, who have completed their Masters. They specialize studies about Asia and decided to take on Sabah as their practical ground.

The homestay programme was introduced to them by Tourism Malaysia, Sabah division and housing was arranged by one of the local tour agencies.

They sought to expand their understanding about Sabah's wide variety of ethnicities and traditions. They were extremely pleased with the vibrant and lively attitude of the people in Penampang. They also agree that homestay is one of the quickest and surest ways of getting to know the real Sabahan people and their cultures.

"I am completely touched by the hospitality of the people here. They warmly welcomed us in their homes and though the time we spent with them is very short, we have been able to do simple family things like sitting down together for breakfast and sharing experiences amongst family members."

"It is very helpful for both sides as I have discovered a lot of information and facts which I can include in my research. The host family also learned a lot of things about my country," said Shelly Waldon, a primary school teacher from Melbourne,  Victoria. She is currently finishing her research on the ethnicities and traditions of Asia, specifically in Sabah. This was her first time visiting Sabah but a second time to Malaysia.

Shelley, who pursues a special line of study in Science and Environmental Education also said, "Understanding the cultures of  Asia has often been one of my biggest interests. It is so vital to emphasize on this subject matter to our young kids so that when they become adults, they would have more understanding of  other people's cultures and be appreciative and respectful of  other people's way of living."

Professor Douglas Trevaskies, the group's leader was fascinated with the rich cultural heritage which is still very much in existence and being safeguarded very well. According to the Professor, he enjoyed very much his visit to Monsopiad Cultural Village and was hoping to pay a visit to such similar sites in the future.

Clare Selir who is 52 and works as a primary school teacher in Mentone Girls College, Melbourne was impressed with the beauty and unique cultures of every single ethnic group in Sabah. She said that every thing is so full of life and brilliantly colourful and thinks she needs to stay at least a year in Sabah just to study and understand the cultures here.

Claire has also tasted the 'Teh C' and commented on how pleasing it felt to her taste bud. She has a great passion about food and is intrigued by the various kinds of beverages and food served to her and her friends during their stay with the locals.

Lynn Jennison, a teacher teaching at Dingley Village Primary School in Melbourne had this to say, "My primary school children are extremely curious in just about every little thing, they wanted to understand what are smooth silk, orangutan, traditional dances, etc all about.

Therefore, I wanted a wide range of pictures of anything I can get here, and these would be a series of subjects I am preparing to show them after I get back to work. I have ample of good ideas now after seeing your different cultures.

Orangutan is another remarkable subject for the children too. They talk about this each and every time we discuss about rainforest wild animals," Lynn added.

"What we are working on now is all about creating awareness to our young generation.

We look at cultures as the path to instil in their minds that we can live together in a unified relationship even though there are so many cultures from numerous races of people all around us," said Lynn.

Another teacher from Melbourne, Rodney Issel, had also tasted the sago worm or 'butod' saying that it was not new to him because in his hometown this kind of worm is called 'grub' and is almost the same as the 'butod'. Rodney added that although he stayed only briefly with the homestay family here, he found it deeply impressive; from food, design, working tools, there was so much to discover from the cultures here.

Mary Sodong, a homestay operator from Kg. Putaton, enjoys receiving tourists from all over the world. She is always proud to share with them  simple knowledge such as the day-to-day skills of rubber tapping, paddy planting and the search for butod. Her knowledge about other countries is also increased as her guests share a lot about their cultures too.

Her Aussie guests, Lisa Winding and Paula Lindey who are both from Melbourne, stayed 2 nights in her house. Mary said her guests were happy with the simple accommodation she provided. She also helped them in their research work by giving them all the information they need pertaining to  traditions in Sabah.

Boniface Jingulam and Hilda Bisol, another homestay operator from Kg. Hubah, Penampang, who hosted Prof. Douglas Trevaskies and his wife said that his guests were pleased with the simple accommodation and local delicacies presented to their them. 

They appreciate and simply take pleasure in what ever that is being served to them. It was without a doubt an helpful trip for both sides, for me and my family and particularly my guests," said Hilda.

Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/read.cfm?NewsID=823

Picture shown is by courtesy of Lorena Binisol.