Life in a Bidayuh Village

Most times I consider myself a city girl. Other times, not so much. Afterall I am from a small town up north.

Recently my family and I were blessed with the opportunity to just live simply. I must admit I myself was a bit apprehensive with the prospect, I simply can't get rid of the creature of comfort in me. I'm not sure if I can live simply as much as I want too, I found that I enjoy all the trappings of modern city life, such the AC, warm showers, warm soaks in the bath with a good book in hand, and till a certain extent carpet flooring & hairdryers! But there is also a part of me that craves simplicity.

Sometimes we really need to strip away the unnecessary add-ons in life and live simply.

And I guess, that’s what I felt when we headed down to Kuching recently for a Bidayuh holiday. We were warmly welcomed by Phyllis and her family. Phyllis is Vicky's second cousin's wife actually and after years & years of city living, they uprooted their family and went back to her hometown of Kuching. Phyllis then started her own homestay business in her village, known as Kampung Giam in the Penrissen area.

It makes me reassess what I need in order to survive. It makes me realise what I CAN and CANNOT live without. It makes me choose. And cull.And I realised that indeed I can live without a lot of things!

I found that living in a Bidayuh village; with less makes me focus on nature, and its pleasures.

There’s just something intoxicating about waking up at sunrise and breathing in the morning air, our bedroom window overlooked a beautiful mountain. It is heavy, dewy, cold, and rich with the smells of wet wood, damp earth and grass. Surrounded by lush trees and the cocophony of birds and inserts it was indeed a piece of heaven on earth.

Short of a better word, the nature retreat was simply amazing.

I now believe that living simply brings about a certain kind of happiness and contentment.

We should really do it more often.

And I should at least try a little harder to bring some of that contented simplicity back into my normal life. Sometimes we forget, no?

Last but not at all least I would like to thank Phyllis and her family for making us the most amazing meals, and sharing with us their life for a few days, and your warm hospitality was awesome.

Land of The Hornbills

Our Sarawak trip was one for the books, I'll post it all up soon, photos and all! Just came home from a four day, three night nature retreat .. Just know that it was such a great experience, and this from a self-professed "not at all a nature person" .. !! So Much Fun!

Kuching here we come!

yummers
city of cats

This morning Niki told me this "Mummy, yay two more days of school!" She's pretty excited with our forthcoming trip to Kuching because poor girl hasn't been on one single getaway this year.

This Thursday, we're heading down to Kuching with Siva & his family, my in laws, and Vicky's cousins and their respective family, too. Told Niki it's gonna be a nature holiday, I don't think she would know what to expect until we get there :) and the little girl has never swam in a river before ... and that is all set to change this weekend. I'm not sure how my city slicker of a daughter will fare in the great outdoors, well we have to wait & see, ey. So watch this space for future posts.

However, before we head down to Kampung Giam, we're staying the night over in Kuching town first, and we booked ourselves into a boutique hotel, right in the middle of town, so that we can explore Kuching and well eat their famous Sarawak Laksa, and Sarawak Kan Pua noodle. It's always eats over everything else with us.

Two more days .... :)

Team Edward, but Team Jacob sure is making it difficult

Whinning to Vicky that I want to watch Eclipse in the cinema instead of waiting for the DVD to come out. After much cajolling and some arm twisting Vicky at last agreed to make it a family outing & watch Eclipse together with Niki and I. Of course, we bought the Lurve seats, I mean c'mon it seats all three of us most comfortably :)

And I must say Eclipse is so GOOD, good for Jacob fans coz Taylor Lautner was just clad in a pair of cut-offs nearly 3/4 of the movie, there was very little else and heck alot of abs to be seen! Young adolescent girls will indeed be driven into a frenzy by the smouldering looks he casts at Bella. Niki at her age, just finds it nauseating ;-) And yeah, Jasper don't look all constipated anymore coz he more lines in this movie.

But some things never change for example, longing looks between Edward & Bella still is going strong. A lot of luuurrrrvvveee there :)

Conclusion: The movie was good but nothing beats the paperback!