A tourist experiencing Sarawakian longhouse hospitality & culture. Photo Credit: www.amazingborneo.com Your flights and accommodation are booked. Your bags are all packed. Your travel documents are ready. It is now time for that long-awaited vacation!  But wait, as soon as you arrive at your destination, your normal behaviour is all over the place and you start behaving in a manner that does not reflect the very essence of travel. ...

Picture of "Aria" for illustration purposes only.  Aria carefully lifted the lid of the antique heavy brass jewellery box. It was old, rusty and had seen better days, but to her, it was a precious family treasure, but even more precious was the contents of the box. She took out a sparkling multi-strand. Intricately made from intertwined tiny glass beads, the beaded necklace looked as beautiful today as it did when she first laid her eyes o...

With the MCO coming to an end, but international travel still way too uncertain, it’s time to explore Malaysia and in particular, Sarawak. Sarawak is unique in so many ways; so much so that even if you’ve been there before, we’re confident our list of beyond-the-usual recommendations will encourage you to make another trip. Whatever you need, Sarawak has a unique way of giving it to you. Whether it’s the thrill of river kayaking in the vir...

With MCO restrictions slowly being lifted, it’s now possible to leave home and travel to all domestic destinations. Do you want to spend hours in a car to visit somewhere that looks and feels the same or take an exciting trip that requires airports, planes and is a unique destination but still at home? Well if you miss the thrill of boarding a plane and exploring a destination that is unique and beautiful then why not take advantage of the...

What’s the best way to plan a holiday when the whole world is on offer? Many travellers pick a country: they decide to ‘do’ Japan, visit Vietnam or travel round Thailand. Or else, they opt for an experience: amble round Angkor Watt, full moon party in Phuket, laze on the beach in Bali, or meditate in Mysore. So what of Malaysia – famously multi-cultural and only relatively recently made in the flurry of decolonization that came about in the 1960s...

Kuching – An old town for newcomers! All cities have their own mythologies. They announce an idea of their grand and special status to every newcomer, declaring their character through vaulted train stations, impressive edifices or triumphal arches. But Kuching, only 200 years old, is itself the city of the newcomer: a city of Brunei noblemen coming to control a territory, of adventurous immigrants looking for a new life, of an English family es...

Serian – Checkpoint of the South Serian is the southern Sarawak gateway to everywhere. As you come up from Kuching, the first sense of Serian is a giant roundabout adorned with a giant durian. This is the compass, heading to the Indonesian border at Tebedu in one direction and then the interior in another, up past Balai Ringin and on to Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu, and the rest of the state. Serian town is set to be a stop off on the Pan-Borneo Highw...

Sarawak has a reputation for diverse cultures but what is not so well known is the delectable food these diverse cultures have created. But wait, you may think that under a global lockdown it’s impossible to taste any of Sarawak's unique cultural food and normally you’d be right. But not anymore. For the first time ever, we are sharing our unique recipe for Sarawak Laksa so that you can experience it at home and help soften the burden of lockdown...

“As the sun rose, the imposing mass of Santubong appeared, like a great fortress commanding the entrance to the Sarawak River.” Odoardo Beccari Santubong is a short, 30km drive from Sarawak’s capital, Kuching, but it is truly out on its own limb. It is, in fact, a peninsula but feels more like an island. The journey there by road, along tree-lined avenues towards a misty mountain in the distance, is the perfect passage of decompression from the ...

If you ask anyone who has been to Sarawak what they enjoyed most about their trip, one of the top three answers would be our outstanding hospitality. Even though we are made up of over 40 sub-ethnic groups, one common thread that holds us together is the extraordinary love and compassion we have for our communities. Amid the unseen fears of the coronavirus lockdown, Sarawakians of all backgrounds, ethnicities and ages still find time for generous...

Imagine waking up to a delightful cacophony of tropical birdsong. But wait, if this is the tropics, why is the air around you so crisp, cool and light? One long breath instantly refreshes you. What’s going on? You are in the tropics, but in a traditional kampung (village) home in the highlands of Borneo. You get up and look out the window to see villagers going about their daily chores as they and their ancestors have been doing for centuries,...

When people talk about beauty, what comes to mind? Generally, its fair skin, long legs, silky hair, and pointed noses. Western media has done a lot to influence what we think is beautiful. Yet if we look past this bias, we find that not everyone has the same beauty ideals. In Sarawak indigenous beauty is far different from the Eurocentric beauty standards. What makes an indigenous Sarawakian woman beautiful may be seen as ‘savage’ by many toda...