Siniawan Festival 2016

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A four-day event consists of varieties of food, music, cultural events plus numerous health activities will be held from September 15 to 18 at Siniawan old bazaar. Siniawan is a small town in Bau District which is located about 20km from Kuching city.

The event is to promote 100 years of existence of Siniawan. The event will embark with a jungle trekking and cycling challenge which include other sports activities such as futsal, sepaktakraw, blowpipe demonstration, street and traditional games, and a state-level photography competition. On Saturday, 17 September, visitors will be treated to a ‘Western country and Cowboy night’ and live band performances of country western music including classic songs from the 60s to the 80s. The theme coincides with the single-street bazaars reminiscence of a typical American ‘Wild West’ cowboy town.

The event will also host mid-autumn festival (moon cake), calligraphy exhibition, Chinese chess competition, lantern-making demonstration, lion dance competition and the worshipping of ‘Yue Niang’ (Moon Goddess) and Ghost festival. There will also be a traditional Teochew Opera show and Mandarin ‘Yue Liang’ songs singing competition. A Sarawak ethnic section will be included to focus on the Bidayuh community that includes the selling of handicraft and local delicacies, and Bidayuh cultural performances.

Another interesting program is to explore Rajah James Brooke Heritage Trail which covers Brooke’s first fort in Sarawak, Fort Berlidah which was built near Siniawan.

According to the organizing Chairman, Liew, most people called Siniawan an ‘old people’s town’ because there were not many economic activities before year 2010. With this event, he hopes to make Siniawan as one of the popular tourists’ destinations as it has a great potential.

For more information: http://www.theborneopost.com/2016/08/24/fun-filled-siniawan-festival-on-the-cards

Kai Joo Lane By Night

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Kai Joo Lane is making its comeback by having the ‘night market’ every Friday and Saturday; hopefully on the eve of public holidays too. It started on the first weekend of September with throngs of locals going to the lane. There are varieties of food on sell and people are spoiled with choices.

Kai Joo Lane is has two rows of shops that were built by a Teochew businessman —Teo Kai Joo (1870-1924) — in 1923. The locality was officially named Kai Joo Lane by Charles Brooke (1868-1917).In the early days, there are few shops along Kai Joo Lane that started the business of making coffins.

For more information:

http://www.theborneopost.com/2016/09/04/afterglow-of-kai-joo-lane-night-market/

 

Riverside Majestic Hotel’s new Premier Wing to offer unique experience

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Riverside Majestic Hotel recently embarked on an expansion of its second tower dubbed the Premier Wing. Scheduled for completion by end of 2016, the 18-storey tower will house 272 rooms comprising of standard rooms, deluxe rooms, executive floors, executive lounge and family suites. Combined with the existing tower, it will add to a total of 513 guest rooms, making Riverside Majestic Hotel the largest hotel in Kuching in terms of rooms.

Each room is well-appointed with the latest array of amenities and comfort features to cater the need of tourist, business travelers and families. The rooftop Sky Lounge lets guest enjoy a beautiful view of Kuching City as they enjoy delectable meal over some great entertainment which offer unique experiences for guest.

A purpose-built Sky Bridge connects the Premier Wing with the original hotel tower, allowing easy movement of the guests and convenient sharing of facilities. The Sky Bridge is a feature that is unique to the hotel and set it apart from the other hotels in Kuching City.

Once completed, the new Premier Wing will provide more accommodation options for tourists. Strategically located in Kuching’s Central Business District, the hotel is within easy reach of some of the city’s major tourist attractions such as TopSpot Food Court, Main Bazaar, TuaPek Kong Chinese Temple, Fort Margherita, Carpenter Street, the old court house and the famous cat statues. Numerous eating and entertainment outlets as well as shopping centers are also within close proximity to the hotel.

Pine Garden Hotel: Garden at the Epicenter

Photo Credit : Agoda.com
Photo Credit : Agoda.com

Pine Garden Hotel, a three-star hotel located at LorongSeladah 1H, Taman Phoning, is now officially opened for business.

With 104 non-smoking rooms, the hotel is conveniently located providing easy access to the nearby ‘must-see’ destinations in the city while also allowing guests to pop over to the airport within 15 minutes making it a choice for short and transits for business and vacation.

The Hotel provides services including free Wi-Fi in all rooms, 24-hour security and daily housekeeping.

Rooms are furnished with wooden or parqueted flooring, LCD/Plasma screen televisions and a mini fridge.

While they do not yet have a website, they can be contacted through Booking.com and Agoda.com, or you can call them at +60 82-532 789.

Photo Library

Sarawak Tourism Board will launch its first digital photo library on September 23.

The Library intends to provide an archive of free professional images of different tourist attractions in Sarawak to the public which will include images of landscapes, buildings, animals, plants, food and people endemic to Sarawak.

It can be accessed at photo.sarawaktourism.com and can be freely used with credit mention to Sarawak Tourism Board by tourism partners and media, students and individuals whose interest relate to the tourism industry.

The Photo Library was set up in the hopes of promoting Sarawak’s main attractions through impressive images that encapsulate the uniqueness of Sarawak as a tourism destination.

While the database will be available for viewing without fees, copyright will remain under Sarawak Tourism Board and users are required to fulfill the online registration upon downloading the full high-definition images, in order to monitor the circulation of those images.

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Sarawak Tourism Board newly appointed Chairman and CEO

Sarawak Tourism Board has appointed Hon. Datuk Haji Abdul Wahab Bin Aziz as the new chairman effective August 2016. The appointment is for a period of two years.

Hon. Datuk Haji Abdul Wahab Bin Aziz has served as the Assistant Minister of Land Development prior to his appointment as the Chairman of the Housing Development Board from 2005 to 2011.

His appointment and the appointment of the new Board of Directors is for the two-year term until 2018.

The Board also announced that with effect from August 2016, Mdm. Mary Wan Mering has been appointed as the acting Chief Executive Officer.

For details of the new Board of Directors, please link to http://sarawaktourism.com/about-sarawak-tourism-board/

Seated far right : Chairman ,Hon. Datuk Haji Abdul Wahab Bin Aziz
Seated far right : Chairman ,Hon. Datuk Haji Abdul Wahab Bin Aziz