Category: Upcoming Events

The Borneo Jazz Festival is back at ParkCity Everly in Miri on May 12 to 13 and will be celebrating its 12^th anniversary this year.

The festival days are packed with activities, beginning with the outreach programme, where young musicians can learn tips and tricks for jazz keyboard, piano, guitar, percussions and brass instruments from the festival performers.

The evening performances will commence at the beach-side stage, with a dancing and sitting area and food stalls all around, concluding with an ‘after-party’ jam session at the ParkCity Everly Hotel’s Ruai Bar.

The outreach programme will include classes on the basics of jazz keyboard, piano, guitar, percussions and brass instruments, while the greening efforts this year will be a beach clean-up, a change from the tree plantings from the past few years.

For more information on the Borneo Jazz Festival, visit www.jazzborneo.com

The Layar Cycling Carnival 2017 will be taking place on 30 April to 1 May at the RGC Layar, Simpang Layar in Betong, a four hour’s drive from Kuching.

The Criterium event begins on April 30, at 9.30am with a 2.9km circuit around the area, with 10 loops to complete the Junior (18 and below), Ladies Open, Veterans (41 & above) and the Betong Closed category. 15 loops of the circuit are required for the Men’s Open (19 to 40).

The 100km Road Race will be taking place on May 1 at 8.00am and is divided into three categories, namely the Junior (18 & Below), Men’s Open (19 – 40) and the Veteran (41 & above).

This event is organized by the Resident Office of Betong and managed by the Legionnaries Ventures Sdn. Bhd. For more information, visit https://layarcycle.wixsite.com/lcc17

The 11th World Harvest Festival, celebrating the harvest festival or “Gawai Dayak”, will be taking place on April 28 to 30 at the Sarawak Cultural Village, with a grand scale of cultural performances both traditional and new.

This year will be including cultural troupes from other regions countries including the Kumpulan Batambul Rungus Matunggong of Sabah and the Nitto Rong Organization of Bangladesh.

The main highlight of the World Harvest Festival remains the themed play, produced and performed by the Sarawak Cultural Village actors and actresses, with this year’s performance entitled “Tra Tra Land: Where Honey Sparkles”, which will take place on April 29.

The finale of the Miss Cultural Harvest Festival also takes place on April 29, while the other days are steeped in traditional food and crafts of the different ethnicities in Sarawak, providing Dayaks and non-Dayaks alike the opportunity to understand the traditions of the old Dayak communities.

For more information, visit the website at http://whf.com.my/

The Biennial Borneo Nash Hash is back in Kuching on April 29 and 30 for any ‘drinkers with a running problem’.

The hash run begins with a drink (though runners can choose water and soda over the traditional beer) and takes off through the hash trail, which could be anything from rainforests and streams to climbing fences and storm drains. ‘Off the beaten path’ doesn’t begin to describe the unique routes during a Borneo Nash Hash.

Hashing began in promoting physical fitness among members, with a controlled element of risk and fun, a sort of bridge between a weekend workout and a Friday happy hour.

Borneo Nash Hash 2017 is the 16^th instalment and coincides with the 15^th anniversary of the Kota Padawan Hash House Harriers and Harriettes, who will be organizing the run this year.

 For more information visit http://www.hhhworldevents.org/events/borneo-nash-hash-2017/

The “Pesta Kaul”, or the Kaul Festival, will take place at Mukah’s river bank on April 29-30, marking the beginning of the native Melanau’s calendar and the end of the Monsoon season.

Kaul is performed by the previously animistic Melanau community to appease the spirits of the sea, land, forest and farm to ensure safe fishing and farming ensuring good fortune.

The festival begins with the ‘Serahang’ (decorated basket woven from sago leaf which is raised on a bamboo pole) procession, led by community elders, followed by a festival of traditional food, games and entertainment.

One of the more famous traditional games is the “Tibow”  or giant swing which calls for everyone to try out, while the traditional food is enjoyed communally, served on a logs  for the ‘Keman Baw Bateng’  also known as ‘Makan Beradat’ in Malay.

For more information, visit https://sarawaktourism.com/event/mukah-kaul-festival/

This year’s Earth Hour Walk will be held on March 25, Padang Merdeka at 8.30 to 9.30pm.

The Earth Hour walk begins at Padang Merdeka with a countdown at 8.29 before it makes its way across waterfront, and will be accompanied by the Glowing Night Ride for cyclists.

This is the fifth year in a row Sarawak will be holding an Earth Hour walk in solidarity those celebrating Earth Hour, in line with the annual global initiative to address the issue of climate change.

For more information, contact crs@dbku.gov.my

The Kuching Run for Autism 2017 will be taking place on April 2 in conjunction with World Autism Day at the Kuching South City Council office. The 3km and 7km courses begin at 6.30am.

This will be second edition of this run, with over 2,000 participants registered in 2016.

With the theme “It’s not a disability, it’s a different ability”, the Kuching Autism Association (KAA) is organising this event seek to create understanding and acceptance of Autistic children and adults within the local communities.

The KAA provides educational programmes that help students with fine motor skills, basic academia, social skills and self-help to help them gain independence, as well as pre-vocational training in preparing them for working in the future.

For more information visit https://sarawaktourism.com/event/kuching-run-autism/

The 22^nd Baleh-Kapit Raft Safari will be taking place this April 1 and 2 along the Majau and Rejang River.

This two-day rafting competition has five main categories: Men’s Bamboo Open, Men’s Bamboo Closed (Inter-Department) and Women’s Bamboo Open, as well as the mixed Free Style and Paddle Boat.

The first flag-off point is at Rumah Ansi, Nanga Sepajie at Sungai Majau, and the second flag-off point is at Rumah Along at Nanga Majau, and each flag-off is estimated to take six to seven hours respectively.

This event is to remind people of the importance of water transport in the past of Sarawak as well as the present, particularly in places where road networks have not yet reached.

For more information and application forms, visit:
https://sarawaktourism.com/event/baleh-kapit-raft-safari/

This year, the Borneo Jazz Festival will take place on May 12 and 13 in Miri City, and is being held, as always, at the ParkCity Everly Hotel.

The festival features a wide array of Jazz-subgenres with both international and home grown musicians taking the stage.

In 2017 we celebrate the 12^th Borneo Jazz Festival and will introduce an expanded musical outreach programme, with classes on jazz percussions and keyboard for aspiring Jazz musicians and Jazz enthusiasts.

For more information, visit https://jazzborneo.com/

The Samarahan Bike Challenge 2017 will take place on March 19, at the Summer Mall at Jalan Datuk Mohd. Musa, Kota Samarahan about 25km from Kuching City Centre.

This Bike Challenge is one of the biggest bicycle racing events  in Sarawak, with  categories such as the Elite or ‘The Road Warrior’, Veteran or ‘All Star’, Sarawak Close, Ladies and Juniors, and  routes  varying from four to eight kilometers.

This annual event is jointly organised by the Divisional Tourism Task Group (DTTG), the Samarahan District Office and the Sarawak Cycling Association.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1782598788449200/