Origin Of The Dragon Boat Race In Malaysia

Further to my previous entry on the Dragon Boat Competition, I wish to add a background story about the origin of the dragon boat race for the benefit of those readers who did not know about it already. At the biginning the dargon boat race was solely a Chinese affair, celebrated by the early migrants from China on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calender every year. This is the Duan Wu Festival (端午节), some simply call it the "rice dumpling festival" becuase every Chinese household must cook rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves called "zong"(粽) this particular day. As Malaysia being a multi-racial,multi-cultures country, this annual event slowly saw the participation from other communities and eventually become what it is today. Any way, let's get back to the story about how the dragon boat race was started. More than a thousand years ago in China, (I forgot in what dynasty it was already) there was this patriotic poet named Qu Yuan(屈原) was serving as a high ranking official in the Emperor's court. He was very worried and frustrated by the fact that the Emperor was surrounded by corrupt officials, and wise and hosnest officials like Qu Yuan were sidelined. As a result of following the ill advices given by the corrupt officials, the Emperor had run the country poorly and the people lived in dire hardship. Qu Yuan risked his life to offer his advice to the Emperor, the Emperor was annoyed and sent him into exile to a backward place at the border. Utterly disappointed and sad, Qu Yuan commited suicide by throwing himself into a river. On hearing this sad news, the village folks raced to the middle of the river on boats trying to rescue him or at least to recover his body. They throw many "zong" (粽) into the river so that the fish will feed on the zong and not damage the body of their beloved poet, Qu Yuan. The people carry out the same act of racing on boats in the river and throwing zongs into the river on the day Qu Yuan died, ie. the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calender every year. Over the years this performance has spread to the whole of China and even to overseas. There are also significant modifications taking place along the way, the zongs though are still a must every year, but they are landed in the stomach of the people instead in the rivers nowadays. And people started to carve decorations on the boats for the race, being Chinese their favourite figure is always the dragon, so there was a dragon on almost every boat, hence the name "Dragon Boat Race" was coined. This race has become an international event now but it is always good to know how it started.

Sabah Dragon Boat Competition

Site Category : Adventures/Sports The Sabah Dragon Boat Competition will be held at the Likas Bay, Kota Kinabalu, on a grand scale this year. The 21st Sabah Dragon Boat Competition 2006 will see very keen contest amongst the participating teams because Indonesia, Japan, Australia and Hongkong have shown their intention of sending teams to take part this year. The secretary of the Organising Committee, Zahcary Mobijohn disclosed this yestaerday. He said that these 4 countries had expressed their intention of participating, and they had requested relevant information on signing up already. The Sabah Dragon Boat Competition is an annual tournament jointly organised by Sabah Chinese Cultural Association, Sabah Tourism Board and Seri Travel Sabah Sdn Bhd. It will be held on a grand scale at Likas Bay on June 18 2006. There will be a new cagetory for this year's event - the Female category. This is to encourage all-female teams to participate. Zahcary said that a team from South Australia will be taking part in this event for the 4th consecutive year. The unique part about this team is because they won the Breast Cancer category challenge trophy in the 25th Penang International Dragon Boat Festival, and all their team members are survivals of breast cancer and supporters. They are very active in promoting awareness among women about breast cancer and urging them to do regular check ups. The organising committee hopes that this unique team will bring along another 3 all-female teams to take part in this particular category. He also hopes there will be many local all-female teams to participate. Although there will not be any cash prizes for this category, the Sabah Chinese Cultural Association will sponsore a challenge trophy for the winner. Besides, the Organising Committee agrees to revive the Kinabalu Challenge Cup category for males below 21, the Sabah Tourism Cup for all tour operators, hotels, travel agents, tour packages organisers. In summary, below are the categories :

	Category	Participants
	Open	Males above 21
	All-female	Female
	Kinabalu Challenge Cup	Males below 21
	Tourism Cup	Tour operators,hotel employees,travel agents

There were 52 teams including Brunei, Hongkong, Indonesia, China, Australia and local teams taking part last year. Hopefully there will be more than that this year. Any team interested to join please request for entry forms from Sabah Tourism Board at Gaya Street or Seri Travel Agency Sabah Sdn Bhd. Alternatively, visit the website below : Sabah Tourism Board Tel : 6088-232121/6013-8504007 (Zahcary Mobijohn)

Semporna Water Festival

The 13th REGATTA LEPA annual water festival will be celebrated by the Bajau ethnic group of Sabah east coast to commemorate the use of Lepa at Semporna on April 15-16 2006. This water festival has being passed on to the Bajau by their great great grand fathers since time immemorial. Lepa in the Bajau dialect means "boat", this festival has got some thing to do with boats, naturally. Yes, the high light of the event is to choose the most dazzling Lepa from the beautifully built, colourfully adorned lepas which are lined up at the waterfront. On the decks of these colourful lepas are smiling dancers and musicians dressed in equally colourful traditional attires. Beside the main attraction, there are also other exciting activities like "lumba dayung" - rowing competition, tug-of-war, duck catching, cultural show and many more awaits visitors. All are invited to come to witness this colourful event and celebrate this age-old tradition!

East Coast of Sabah,Semporna is to the east of Tawau Colourful Bajau dancers onboard colourful Lepa How to get to Semporna.....

Mode of transport	Fares	Duration
From KK to Semporna by air-conditioned Express bus	RM58.00/person	9 hours
Daily flights by MAS kk-Tawau	Check with nearest trevel agent	45 minutes
From Tawau to Semporna either by Taxi or Mini bus	RM60-Rm100(Taxi) RM12-RM20 (Mini bus)	1 hour 45 minutes 1 hour 45 minutes

Where to stay....

• Anung Hayat Resort
• SeaFest Hotel
• Semporna Holiday Resort
• Dragon Inn

For details please contact : Balwant Singh Kler Tel : 6089-781518,6088-232121 Fax : 6089-781472,6088-265540 Email : balwant@sabahtourism.com

Kiulu 4M Challenge

ite Category : Adventures/Sports The 4M Challenge will be held on May 7 2006 at 7:00am. The venue of this challenge is again at Kiulu - remember the White Water Rafting Adventures (Refer entry : 1/21/2006 View) and the Open 4x4 Jamboree Contest(Refer entry : 3/07/2006 View) ? The 4M Challenge is an annual traditional event for the local natives to test their physical fitness, endurance and survival skills. 4M stands for the four compulsory events because the 4 events spoken in local dialects all begin with the letter "M", namely Manangkus (Running for a distance of 6km), Mamangkar(Bamboo rafting for a distance of 5km), Manampatau(Swimming with a lenght of bamboo for a distance of 1.3km) and Mamarampanau(Walking on bamboo silts for a distance of 0.2km), hence 4M...:=)

Route map of Kiulu 4M Challenge The 4 Events : Walking on silts(top left),Bamboo rafting (top right), Swimming with bamboo lenght(bottom left),Running(bottom right) Come and participate in this traditional sports and have some splashing funs. There are several categories to choose from :

• Mixed Open
• Junior Open
• X - treme 5M

How to get to Kiulu :

Mode of transport	Duration	Fares
From KK to Tamparuli (Wawasan Bus Terminal)	1 1/2 hours	RM4.00/person
Bus Interchange at Tamparuli to kiulu	30 minutes	RM2.00/person

Where to stay : MitAbang Homestay Kampung Tulung-Mantab Kampung Pukak Homestay For details please contact : Ariffin Gadait (Organising Chairman) Tel : 6088-225752,6088-255972 Fax : 6088-262198 e-mail :Ariffin.Gadait@sabah.gov.my