We were attracted by the Malt Sugar Art in one of the stalls in the Kuching Festival this year.  It is an art from China which is categorized as “non-material inheritance“.

There were some samples being displayed at the stall, but their prices were very costly, from RM 4 to RM 20 or more, depending on the design.

We chose to turn the wheel with RM 4, and the artist would make the design where the pointer has pointed to.  Luckily, we have got a dragon.  He said that it cost RM 10 if we did not take the wheel.

This is what we have got.

I thought it might take 5 to 10 minutes, but the entire process took less than 3 minutes.  I have taken a video clip as well, but since it was so fast, the video clip is very short.

He first melt the malt sugar.

Then he used a tool which is similar to the one used for storing wax for batik.

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The Food Fair and Fun Fair
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It is the main attraction here and we can’t skip introducing to those who have not been here.

But since SiewPeng and I are vegeterian, we do not have much choices.

Come and try hundreds of types of food next year.

Besides, there were also some games to play to win a prize or two.

This part of the festival was the area for a mini fun fair.  At the entrance, we were welcomed by a few dinosaur statues.  Don’t be threatened by them though.  They are friendly! Haha… If you take a good look, you can see a merry go round at the far end.

Every year, there will be a massive jam outside the venue of the Kuching Festival and it is often difficult to find a parking space.  The jam usually starts around 5:30 p.m. and you can see people walking in and out of the festival with all kinds of food which they have bought.  There is also a big crowd within the festival and it’s hard to move around.  But that is okay if you like to be in the crowd.  So, if you have missed it this year, don’t be disappointed.  It will be on again next year with more exciting ‘tummy adventures’!

Kuching Festival which is held annually in August is best known with the Food Fair, but what attracted us is the Garden Show.

A Wishing well can be a feature in garden landscaping.

I like the reflection in the wishing well.

This is a local style hut.

This is a Chinese style hut.  We felt that we have gone to the ancient time.

At the other end entrance of the garden show, there was a green neon light.

I noticed that they have the word “garden show” everywhere.  They also used some plants to form the alphabets, I think it is a good idea to tell visitors what event this was.

Different colors of fountains were created with different colours of lights shooting on the fountain.  I wonder if they were still colourful during day time.

A pond and a big stone with Chinese words on it.

It looks like hibiscus - the Malaysia national flower.

A tropical style water landscaping.

Somewhere in the garden show, we saw something real.  First I thought that it might be a decoration, but when we walked closer, we found some real mushrooms.

This time, my brother was the photographer, he helped to take the photos of SiewPeng and me.  :)

One of the sentences that touched me the most was, “When parents are 100 years old, they will still worry and care about their children who are already 8o years old.”

While everyone was entertained by the sign language performance, we have learned something valuable in our lives.

Another important message from this stage drama, “we should not wait to be nice to our parents.”  A famous Chinese proverb said that - “The tree want to stop moving but the wind is not still, and a child want to care about the parents but they have gone.”  So, do not wait.

If you are a parent, I am sure you know the feeling when your son or daughter are studying, working or having a life abroad.

One of the most interesting part in the show was, there was a story about a lady who helped her son to take his bag, but her son always rejected her, and the lady was very sad.

Then one day, the son came back and found that his mother was not there anymore.

He screamed… …

He cried over the rocking chair, but everything was too late.  He has lost the chance to show his love to his mother.  How sad…  Do not  let this happen in your life.

Another story told that the parents will feel sad when the children have done something wrong.  I have learned that I should not do something which is not supposed to be done and it will hurt my parents.

If you missed this stage performance, do not miss it next time.  I am sure you will learn or revise many good values in life at the same time enjoy watching the beautiful music, dance and sign language performance.  I hope that they can have the stage drama in other languages as well besides Chinese.

It really touched many people’s hearts.  They ended the stage show with all the performers got up to the stage.  From their brochures, I know that they have about 120 people joined this event as the performers and volunteers.  It was really amazing.

The stage drama was started with the picture of a grateful lamb.  Do you know that the lamb kneel down when it drinks milk from its mother?  Even a lamb knows what filial is, how about us?  Another animal that represent filial is the bird, I have heard some stories saying that the birds will feed their mother when their mother gets old.

This stage drama is all about the value of “filial“.  It is the most important moral value taught by traditional Chinese teaching since thousands of years ago.

The drama began with how the mother suffers when she starts having a baby.  From the slides shown, it presented that “The suffering is merely the beginning.”

If I am not mistaken, this mother and daughter was reading “The Sutra of Filial Piety” (or translated directly from Chinese - The Deep Kindness of Parents & Difficulty in Repaying It).

You can read the English version of The Sutra of Filial Piety here.

There are 10 kindness that we owe our parents.

1.  Kindness of providing protection and care while the child is in the womb.

2.  Kindness of bearing suffering during the birth.

3.  Kindness of forgetting all the pain once the child has been born.

4.  Kindness of eating the bitter herself and saving the sweet for the child.

5.  Kindness of moving the child to a dry place and lying in the wet herself.

6.  Kindness of suckling the child at her breast, nourishing and bringing up the child.

7.  Kindness of washing away the unclean.

8.  Kindness of always thinking of the child when it has traveled far.

9.  Kindness of deep care and devotion.

10.  Kindness of ultimate pity and sympathy.

The member from TzuChi Kuching performed this meaningful drama using beautiful sign language.  They moved their hands all the time following the music and their actions are well synchronized.

Thanks to TzuChi, and I would like to share this great performance with those who missed it, and hopefully TzuChi can organize more stage drama on good values.

To be continued … …

ps:  One thing I like about the events was they did not invite some politicians or government ministers to give speech which is usually boring and time wasting, they started the evening session right away with a meaningful speech from a leader of TzuChi (an author of a book as well) with a meaningful and inspirational speech.

We went to the BCCK (Borneo Convention Center Kuching) for the first time last night because we were attracted by the Sign Language Musical Stage Drama organized by TzuChi Kuching (a Buddhist Organization).

Now is the 7th month in Chinese Calendar, many Chinese thought it is  a ghost month but actually it is a month of filial (XiaoShun in Chinese, which means love and respect to parents) according to Buddhism.

It is a good time to perform the stage drama with the story based on The Sutra of Filial Piety.  They have put in a lot of efforts to make this performance a success.  The songs and the music were very nice, the sign language performance was amazing.

Most importantly the content of the Sutra of Filial Piety touched everyone’s heart, it let us know how our parents has taken care of us since we were in our mother’s womb, and explained that the relationship between parents and children.

Before the performance started, we took photos around, because they have set up some decorations, exhibitions and stalls selling books and CDs/DVDs outside the hall.

We also talked to a member of TzhChi to learn more about this event and their organization, and she gave us some souvenirs.

This is how the Borneo Convention Center Kuching looks like from inside the building.

We saw a news reporting scene.  It might be live-broadcasted on TzuChi satellite TV from Taiwan which called “Da Ai” channel.

Right before the performance started, we could see a beautiful sunset outside the building.  I took the photo before we went into the hall.