Chapter 64 – Mari-Mari Cultural Village, Sabah

Mari-mari… Come Come! Located deep in the countryside about 25 minutes from Kota Kinabalu city, Mari-Mari Cultural Village is one of the MUST VISIT tourist attractions when you step into Sabah. Unlike Monsopiad Village which I visited in the last 2 years, this village operates as a museum that highlights different ethnic culture and lifestyle who used to live there in the olden days.

Featuring 5 ethnic tribes which are the farmer Kadazan-Dusun, the longhouse resident Rungus, the hunters and fisherman Lundayeh, the cowboy Bajau and the famously headhunting Murut tribe, my curiosity sparked instantly as I joined the 2 – 3 hours tour.

Bought this for the fear of mosquite bites! Haha

1.    Kadazan – Dusun

*Kadazan – Dusun used to say in a bamboo house. In each house, there are 3 rooms which comfortably fit 3 generations. Since they make their own alcohol beverage, they are renowned as a good drinker. I was privilege to sample their alcohol drink as well as their signature dish which consists of chicken, potato, onion, chilli, salt and “daun saram”.

2.    Rungus

*Rungus community is good in producing honey and making glue using bee wax. The Rungus community lives in a longhouse where the maximum record hits up to 75 rooms, which meant 75 families had lived in one longhouse. If any of their tribe members gets married, a new room will be added. In this long house, they share the kitchen whereas the toilet is located at the outside of the house. While beauty is something they value, the girls mainly will put on “something” (which I do not know how to describe it) to slim their body parts.

3.    Lundayeh

*Lundayeh is also known as Lun Bawang. They believe that crocodile is the guard hence, a crocodile-shaped grass is seen outside the Lundayeh house. In fact, Lundayeh community is known as headhunter but they are not that aggressive compared to Murut tribe. Additionally, they are a bunch of creative people and could make clothes using tree bark.

Their house structure is rather unique too where it adapts to a “removable roof” – it acts as our modern CCTV where they ensure their area is safe by peeping from the roof. The house also features lots of “Daun Silat” as they believe that the leaves serve to prevent any evil or bad luck. For the deaths especially the high-ranking people like a warrior, their body are put inside a jar and hang on a tree.

4.    Bajau

*Bajau’s house is always colourful as they are the richest community among all tribes. In fact, there are 2 types of Bajau where one is known as Bajau Darat (The Cowboys of The East) and another one is known as Bajau Laut (The Sea Gypsey). Bajau Darat stays in the house while Bajau Laut lives on their temporary house boats. In each home on the land, there is a special room for praying since majority of them is Muslim. Two of their dishes which I got the chance to try are the Pandan drink and Kuih Jala – it is the crispy Kuih Jala that is fried in a triangle shape symbolizes unity.

5.    Murut

*They are the most aggressive tribe among all. For survival, it is necessary for the tribes to display ferocious hence, skeleton heads are usually placed at the entrance of the village to avoid the sign of weakness by other tribes. What impresses me the most is the game that they play in the longhouse; it is like a modern trampoline where the players need to jump as high as they could to get something that is hanged from the roof – it could be anything depending on what the chief village puts. The winner will be rewarded. I gave a try by jumping on it but unfortunately, I couldn’t even jump that high – haha!

After about 1.5 hour of tour, we were entertained with some ethnic performances and followed by a so-called grand dinner. Delicious food I must say.

Overall, there are three sessions in a day starting from 10am, 2pm and 6pm. We joined the 6pm tour and that’s why the photos taken are rather dark.

To know more about the tribes, kindly visit http://marimariculturalvillage.com/

Admission fee for adult is RM 80.00 if you walk in. If you require a transport to bring you there, the charges will be slightly higher.

Mari-Mari Cultural Village is located at Inanam, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Ps: More photos below:

I got myself a tattoo :)

Happy touring!

Regards,

Foodiestravel