Port 03 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

by Ed · April 5, 2024

Ucapan! Greetings!

On 14 Mar, 2024, we arrive in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia! It promises to be another hot and muggy day.

We have a tour to a cultural village to see how the early ethnic groups lived and co-existed. On our way out of town, Megan, our tour guide, takes us to a few photo stops.

It is still Ramadan. Our driver is fasting and we need to be considerate.

We first learn that the name “Kota Kinabalu” means “City of the Chinese Widow”. Hmmm…

We pass by the first mosque on the way.

Then we see the City Courthouse. Apologies for the bus window adding too much blue tint in the early morning light.

We arrive at our first stop – a building Megan calls ‘The Battery”! This is the Tun Mustafa Tower. It is deemed to be the most iconic building in Kota Kinabalu! Personally, I would prefer to give that honor to a mosque. But this is one of only four “hanging buildings” in the world! This means a central core was built and the rest of the building was added starting at the top. This is why there is a gap at the bottom of the building! The other three hanging buildings are in Germany, in London and in South Africa (Johannesburg).

It is followed by what Megan calls “The Battery Charger”! This is the Wisma Innoprise Corporate Office facing the Tun Mustafa building.

Nearby are the Government Offices. The name of the buildings all depend on what part of the building is being described. Try Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awan Negeri Sabah, or Kementarian Kewangan Negeri Sabah.

We head east to the Mari Mari Cultural Village!

We are greeted by a couple of the guides!

There are two signposts, one on either side of the entry. What do they mean? They never told us!

Here is a map of the Cultural Village. There are five ethnic tribes represented here!

We head into the forest to find the huts! Grace, our village guide, instructs us to follow her when she calls, “Mari Mari!” That means “Come come!”

We begin with the Dusun House.

This house is made of 80% bamboo plus Borneo iron wood.

The Duson people were known to be headhunters.

Their home is essentially one large room with small alcoves for bedrooms. Hanging gongs greet us near the entry.

This is one of the three bedrooms in this home. It’s fairly stark, and has little privacy.

On additional bedroom is “upstairs”, above the parents’ bedroom. This one is for the single daughter to make sure she can’t sneak out and any lovers can’t sneak in!

The Dusun make a form of “moonshine” that is very similar to Japanese sake. It is delicious! It is fermented and aged in the clay pots in the background.

Interesting musical instruments are on display. No one offered to demonstrate them.

The Duson cooking “oven” is also a smoker! A firepan of sand below the fire keeps the fire from catching the floor on fire.

There is also an outside grill! Blowing through a hollow bamboo increases the heat. The rack of green bamboo above the fire is actually filled with a mix of diced chicken, lemongrass, salt, potato, ginger, pepper, onion wrapped in a banana leaf and slid into the bamboo for cooking.

Here are those ingredients! Chicken, lemongrass, salt, potato, ginger, pepper, and onion.

She splits the bamboo open and unwraps the banana leaf. The cooked mixture inside is delicious! I’m going to try to replicate it at home!

We are given another drink to go with the bamboo rice dish!

We approach the second house – the Rungus House.

They greet us with samples of their honey! The bees here do not have stingers so it is very safe to cultivate their product!

The Rungus use a “long house” design. Multiple generations live in the same house – they keep adding on as necessary! Many bedrooms occupy the spaces on left side, with multiple “upstairs” bedrooms for single women!

We receive a fire making demonstration using a bamboo tube! Tinder is slid into the tube and a serrated piece of bamboo is sawn across the slot. Hot embers drop onto the tinder. Then the tinder is removed and lightly blown to catch fire. It was amazingly quick!

Exiting the Rungus House was an experience! They use a notched log as their staircase! We will see this more in the other houses!

We’re going to visit Lundayeh House next.

As we approach the Lundayeh House I notice a series of rocks with designs inscribed. Here is the most interesting – a lizard! It’s about 3 ft (1 m) long.

The Lundayeh House is all bamboo, and uses the log stairs.

Lundayeh were also headhunters. When a man returns with a head they would celebrate him around a crocodile monument like this one! As part of the celebration headhunter would ceremoniously behead the crocodile by chopping it off this monument.

The Lundayeh kitchen looks much like all the others!

The Lundayeh living area is elevated, more than Rungus is.

The Lundayehs have crocodile decorations!

Bajau House is our next place to visit.

As we approach, they serve up coconut sweets that are much like shredded wheat baskets! Yummy!

Bajaus have decorated for a wedding, and they have real stairs! (I’m guessing this is for the wedding guests, not for real Bajau life.)

The wedding decorations and colors are wonderful! This is the living room/great hall.

Even the bedroom has a lot of color!

Another type of drink is served by the Bajau!

The last house is the Murut House. We have a special step to complete before we can enter this area!

Before we are allowed to enter we have an encounter with the Chief! He asks our representative several questions. If he likes the answers he will let us pass. If not, the representative will be killed and a new one selected to start over! We got lucky – the Chief let us in!

The Murut house is high on stilts!

The Murut House isn’t serving moonshine – they serve Sabah Coffee! It’s good!

The Murut House is also long, but it has a special feature – a trampoline! It is set in the middle of the floor and works only because of a special tree that has incredibly spring effects!