Monsopiad Cultural Village

Monsopiad Cultural Village is located beside the Penampang River which is about 16km or about half an hour away from the Kota Kinabalu City. Monsopiad Cultural Village is a living museum where a fearsome warrior lived in the village of Kuai about 200 years ago. It showcase of Kadazandusun culture. Lets go for the brief history about the Monsopiad Cultural Village. 

Many centuries ago, a lady named Kizabon was pregnant and lived with her husband named Dunggou. A sacred Bugang Bird made its nest and stayed at the spouse's rooftop. When the child was due to be born, the Bugang Bird's hatched as well. Dunggou looked upon this coincidence as a good omen and sign. Dunggou named his son as Monsopiad. Monsopiad's grandfather was the headman of the village. The village however was often plundered and attacked by robbers. Due to lack of warriors in the village, the villagers had to retreat and hide while the robbers ransacked their homes.

Skull victims from Monsopiad

Monsopiad was given special training as the grandson of the headman of the village and turned out to be an excellent fighter and became the warrior of the village. He vowed to hunt down and fight off the warriors that had terrorized his village for so long. He will bring back their heads as trophies and hang them from the roof of his house. Over the years, Monsopiad soon attained a reputation and there were no robbers or evil warriors who dared to challenge him. However, the urge to kill had gotten into Monsopiad's head and he simply could not stop himself from beheading more people. With his changed attitude, all the villagers and his friends became afraid of him. The village got a group of brave warriors together and plan to eliminate Monsopiad when he is resting in his house. As they attacked him, he fought back fiercely but realized that he had lost his special strength that were bestowed upon him by the Bugang Bird and it was that very night that Monsopiad's life ended. Despite his downfall, the villagers still love Monsopiad for all that he had done for them. All in all, he collected 42 powerful warrior's heads which no other man could equal. They forgave Monsopiad for his mistakes and in honor and memory of his good deeds, a monument was erected and the village was named after him.

Monolith

Now at Monsopiad Cultural Village, in order to became a living museum, it showcase of Kadazandusun culture and a unique attraction for travelers to Sabah. In order to continue the culture of Kadazandusun, many daily activities at the Monsopiad Cultural Village are the customary work of the people here such as preparing the rice, the making of lihing or "Rice Wine" and handicrafts. Visiting to the village, there are guided tour available such as the House of Skulls, Monolith, Suspension bridge, Tangkob, Kotos, enjoy the Traditional Games, and Hamin Tinandai. There are many activities and entertainment that are available in Monsopiad such as the cultural dance, cultural drama, and music troupe. At Monsopiad also, you are able to hire per-day or per-piece of the costumes and accessories. Besides that, there are also

Traditional Dancing Lesson

traditional dancing lesson, traditional music lesson, and traditional Kadazan cooking lesson that are available at Monsopiad Cultural Village. Whoever Kadazan that wants to celebrate a traditional Kadazan-style wedding, there are wedding package in an authentic setting at Monsopiad Cultural Village. There is also guided tour to the Monsopiad Burial Ground of the Monsopiad family. Whoever that are cultural and historical lovers, you will be satisfy on your visit to Monsopiad Cultural Village.

Homestays in Sabah

Long Pasia Homestay, Sipitang

An interesting and unique way to really get to know the place you are visiting is by participating in a homestay programme. Staying for a night or more with the local families will give you the experiences of the culture and lifestyle of the people that lives in the homestay area. Every district in Sabah have provided homestays for locals, and foreign as well as domestic tourists. By just visiting the places of interest is not enough to get the knowledge and experiences, therefore, through the homestay programme, it helps you to fulfill your desire to expand knowledge in terms of culture and traditions by providing packages where you are able to stay, eat, participate in activities where the local people do. 

to Melangkap Homestay, Kota Belud

Each district in Sabah has its own charm and attractions. Some of the homestays will let you explore the wildlife, some of the homestays have beautiful gushing waterfalls, and some of them offers you an opportunity to study historical sites. All the availability and opportunities given by homestay are different upon their different culture and lifestyle. Most importantly, every person you meet will have a story to share because every homestay in different district offers different activities, story, and experiences, all you have to do is just choose. The homestay programme are always open for you to come. 

In Sabah, there are many homestays available in every district. For example:

Papar :               Koposizon Homestay Papar

Kota Belud:       Tanginambur Homestay, Melangkap Homestay, Tanak Nabalu Homestay

Kudat:               Misompuru Homestay

Tambunan:        Tambunan Village Homestay

Penampang:       Penampang Village Homestay

Kundasang:       Walai Tokou Homestay, Mesilou Atamis Homestay

Kiulu:                Mitabang Homestay

Kinabatangan:   Miso Walai Homestay, Bilit Homestay, Balai Kito Mayu Homestay

Long Pasia:       Long Pasia Homestay

Misompuru Homestay, Kudat

Don't miss the fun in joining and participating the cultural dance, music, traditional foods, costumes wear of the locals, the every day activities, and many more fun activities from the homestays that could give you an unforgettable moments and experiences. Have a visit to our blog for more info about each homestay available in Sabah on my next story. 

Pom Pom Island

The journey from Tawau to Semporna by road takes approximately one hour and from Semporna to Pom Pom Island is around 45 minutes by boat. Pom Pom Island is a scattering islands surround the dramatic hilly islands of Bogaya and Boheydulang, both are part of the rim of an ancient volcanic crater inundated by the sea. These two islands of northeast of Semporna have been gazetted as the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, together with 6 smaller surrounding island. A little further to the east and southeast od Bodgaya, outside the Park boundaries, other tiny, flat sandy islands dot the limpid Sulawesi Sea, including Pom Pom, Pandanan, Timba Timba and Mataking. 

Pom Pom Island is a home to two dive resorts, one, a large well-appointed resort with spa, and the second is more simple dive lodge. At Pom Pom Island, divers are able to explore as many as 40 dive sites on the fringing and patch reefs within the region, including Mantabuan and Bodgaya with the Park. Most of the diving is macro which includes turtles and small rays, that is sometimes seen, frogfish, butterfly fish, and small fish such as cardinal fish. There are also black coral and barracuda that could be seen at Mantabuan's reefs. The equipments for diving are all prepared by the resort and all you have to do is bring your sunglasses and sunscreen, and pull on your wet suit. The Pom Pom Island Resort's professional instructors and staff will assist you both above the water and below and they will guide and show you the wonderful underwater life along with the available amazing marine macro life. 

Talang-Satang National Park

Talang-Satang National Park is Sarawak's first marine protected area. It covers an area of 19,414 hectares and was gazetted in 1999 to with the purpose to enhance marine turtle conservation in Sarawak. The Park encompasses the coastline and waters surrounding four islands which are Pulau Talang-Talang Besar and Pulau Talang-Talang Kecil (located off Sematan), and Pulau Satang Besar and Pulau Satang Kecil (located off Santubong). These small islands are surrounding by patches of shallow coral reef that provides shelter and resting grounds for sea turtle that come ashore to lay their eggs. Three of the island's park which are Talang-Talang Besar, Talang-Talang Kecil, and Satang Besar are also known as "Turtle Island". 

Turtle Conservation

Marine turtles face a number of threats that could affect their species. The threats that the turtles faces are entanglement in fishing nets, habitat destruction, water pollution, collection of turtle eggs, boat strikes, predation of eggs and hatchlings by birds, monitor lizards, civet cats, other wild and domestic animals, poaching for meat or shells, and also ingestion of marine debris such as plastic bags. Therefore, the state government carries out turtle conservation programmes in the park.

Releasing baby turtle to the sea

The Sarawak Forestry manages the national park and set up a number of hatcheries for the turtles. During the peak turtle nesting season which is from May to September, the park wardens monitor the beached for turtle landings. They remove the turtle eggs from the nests and place them in the hatcheries to avoid threats that could threatening the extinction of turtles. After 40 to 60 days of the turtle eggs incubation, the young hatchlings are released and scamper across the beach to the sea.

VISITING PULAU SATANG BESAR

Pulau Satang Besar

Pulau Satang Besar is the largest among the park's island. It is open to visitors and accessible by boat from Santubong or Damai Beach. The entrance fees and tickets to the park can be purchased on the island. There is a small information centre near the beach and visitors also able to view the turtle hatchery. The beach in Satang is known as one of the best beach in Sarawak and it is possible to snorkel on the nearby reef if there is good visibility. There are privately own chalets in Satang Island for visitors to stay overnight. 

VISITING PULAU TALANG BESAR

Sea Turtle Adoption Programme

Turtles take priority over tourists at Pulau Talang Besar, therefore access to the island is restricted to researches and national park staff. However, you can visit the island as a volunteer on Sarawak Forestry's Sea Turtle Adoption Programme. This volunteering allows volunteers to spend 4 days learning more about turtles and able to take part in a range of activities such as beach patrols to locate turtle landings, monitoring of nesting activities, tagging and measuring turtles, transferring eggs to the hatchery, releasing hatchlings, and also data recording. The volunteer programme is open during the peak turtle nesting season which is from May to September.