-  A very tall Orang Ulu house.

We have a week of Gawai and school holiday, and we had planned to become tourists in our own hometown again.  We visited the Sarawak Cultural Village on Wednesday afternoon.

SiewPeng stepped her feet here for the first time after staying in Kuching for about 4 years, and this is my second visit since 15 years ago.  Is it too far from Kuching?  Or the entrance ticket is too expensive?  Or we were too busy?  Non of the reasons above are reasonable, and finally we just make it.

First, let me show you the part that I like the most - The Orang Ulu’s Music.

The lady performed a beautiful dance while the funny guy was playing nice music on the Sape’. The sound of the Sape’ is very special. It is similar to guitar, but I don’t think guitar can produce that special tone of music.

This musical instrument is made of natural material and was decorated with drawing of natural elements. The shortest wood has highest pitch whereas the longest wood has lowest pitch. It is same as piano. Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do… I wish I can have one.

The guy was wearing only a piece a cloth to cover his “important part”.  It is nothing wrong and it actually suit our hot climate here.  He has a tanned skin as well. He is the closest to the nature.

The Orang Ulu guy was holding a Sape’.  We are not sure which tribe does he come from.

“Orang Ulu” actually means remote / upriver people, [an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in Sarawak.]  Kenyah, Kayan, Kelabit, Lun Bawang, Penan etc are all categorized under Orang Ulu.  [The Orang Ulu tribes can be identified by their unique music - distinctive sounds from their sape’, a plucked boat-shaped lute, formerly with two strings, nowadays usually with four strings.] - {Info from Wikipedia}

SiewPeng was holding a Sape’.

I was holding a Sape’ too but I don’t know how to play with it.

The making of Sape’. - These Sapes’ were not painted yet.

Do you believe that any natural things can become a musical instrument? I like this one, but I don’t know its name. If you know please tell me.

These traditional Orang Ulu costumes are for rent at RM10 per try.

If you would like to learn more about the unique cultural of Sarawak, the Sarawak Cultural village is a good place for you. I can feel that our culture are colourful, wonderful and beautiful.