I had always wanted to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival which was held annually in Sarawak. Previously I only heard stories about it from friends and also the media. Last weekend, I had my wish granted when I got the opportunity to attend the event thanks to Air Asia and Sarawak Tourism Board.

Together in the team heading for the event were a few other bloggers including Redzuan of Selebriti Online, Twitterjaya TV’s Elmi Elmo, Benjamin Foo and also celebrity blogger Tey Cindy. Our early morning Air Asia flight departs smoothly from LCCT heading towards Kuching. It was actually my 2^nd time to Kuching. The first one being a few years back, also flying with Air Asia .

morning view at LCCT

inside Air Asia

On board the plane, I had my favorite Pak Nasser’s nasi lemak paired with a bottle of mineral water for breakfast. The flight duration to Kuching was one hour and 45 minutes. Luckily there was the 3Sixty magazine to help me kill time.

my all time favorite Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak

reading the Travel 3Sixty magazine

arriving in Kuching..

The Hotel

We touched down in Kuching at 8.55am just as scheduled. The driver was already waiting for us at the airport and he brought us straight to our hotel, Damai Beach Resort. Damai Beach Resort is located within walking distance of the event venue, Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV). We checked in our room and..voila! It was a double storey Bidayuh Baruk Suite which was absolutely fabulous! Check out the photos below. Will do a review about the hotel later.

the view of Mount Santubong

Our room for the day

interior.. cool huh?

Sarawak Cultural Village

The Rainforest World Music festival first started in 1998 at the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) Since then it has been its home to date. Year 2013 is the 16^th edition of the festival. The festival is slotted to be held on the second weekend of July every year. However, in view of the Muslim fasting month, which falls on July this year, the festival was brought forward to 28-30 June 2013.

After we refreshed ourselves, we head towards the SCV area. As soon as we enter the SCV, we were greeted by a few dancers from the Bidayuh tribe. It pretty much reminds me of my previous visit in 2009.

The place was not much different from my previous visit.  We stopped by at  a few of the ethnic houses including the Bidayuh and Orang Ulu houses. The only thing was this time all the ethnic houses were occupied by stalls and also there are some cultural things being exhibit there.

the Bidayuh House

Orang Ulu house

crossing the Bamboo bridge

There were stalls selling handicrafts, souvenirs and food. We bumped into a few interesting stalls including one selling a handmade bikini and also another which sells personalised souvenirs. I also noticed that there are a lot of tattoo stalls around the event area which comprises of the real tattoo, airbrush tattoo and even hair tattoo.

handmade bikini!

traditional tattoo

hair tattoo

Continue to Part 2 of the Rainforest World Music Festival post