Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Trip to Sri Aman

Last Saturday, 21 April 2007, my family and I together with my sister's friend drove up to Sri Aman for the blessing of the new chapel in Tekalong. We left house at 2am to start our journey up to Sri Aman. The journey took about 4 hours and we reached there at 6am. We couldn't find the Church of Our Lady, Queen of Peace so we had to trouble Fr. Martin so early in the morning to bring us to the church.

We did not get good sleep during the journey up because the journey was kinda bumpy. When we reached the church, Fr. Martin showed us to our rooms. My parents had the air-cond room while we "kids" had the room with fan only...so not fair. When we finally settled down in our rooms we thought that we could rest and get some sleep before we do anything else but Fr. Martin told us that we have to be ready by 7.30am to have breakfast with the other families at the market. So again, we couldn't rest.


In our room with mummy giving us instructions....=P



Me, Esther and Adrian sitting on the bed after settling down.

When we reached the market, Fr. Martin ordered so much food. There were laksa, kolo mee, fried mee, and fried kueh tiaw. He kept asking us to eat. One bowl after another. I was like...'oh my goodness, he really wants us to finish up all that??' haha! After our breakfast, we went to the riverside to watch the tidal waves. Its very unique cause we don't get to see it in our river here. Then we drove back to the church to freshen up before we take the express boat to Tekalong.




During breakfast at the market.



Hrmm...beautiful scenery. =)

Look at the water after the tidal waves...


The boat ride to Tekalong took about 1 1/2 hours. When we reached there, we were welcomed by the villagers with some traditional dance by the young iban girls and then we were led to the house of the headman. The headman then gave his speech and after that we were all treated to some refreshments. After we're done with the refreshments, we head on to the new chapel, which is Chapel St. Paul, Tekalong.



In the express boat on the way to Tekalong.




In the headman's house...


Again, there were traditional music and dance while His Grace, Archbishop John Ha blessed and opened the new chapel. Then we attended the very first Mass in the new chapel which was conducted in the Iban language. Though we do not really understand the language but we could still follow along during Mass as the procedures are still the same. It was also very interesting to learn new Iban hymns which I definitely wouldn't learn here in Kuching as I don't attend Iban Masses. Another unique thing about attending the Mass here is we do not sit on chairs or benches like we do in other churches. Instead, we sat on the floor during Mass.



Opening and blessing of the new chapel by His Grace, Archbishop John Ha.





During Mass in the new chapel...



After Mass, we head back to the house of the headman for lunch. There were a variety of Iban dishes on the table for us. I do not know the names of the dishes so I couldn't write them here. I didn't eat much cause the food doesn't suit my taste..hehe! While we ate our lunch, we were entertained with some more traditional dance and music by the young girls with their traditional costumes. The other villagers took their turns to show off their talents too.



The young Iban girls entertaining us with their dance

One of the villagers showing off her talents.



We left Tekalong and head back to Sri Aman at about 1.30 p.m. On the way back, we were very lucky to be able to watch a crocodile sunbathing at the riverbank. Then we continued our journey back and we finally reached Sri Aman at 3.45 p.m. Due to the hot weather, we all went to one of the coffeeshop nearby to have ais kacang to cool ourselves down. It felt so nice to have something cold down our throat after such a hot and tiring day. But the ais kacang there is still not as delicious as the ones sold at Song Kheng Hai...hehe! After enjoying our ais kacang, we drove back to church.

Me and my mum on the way to the boat.



Upon reaching the church, all of us couldn't wait to get ourselves under the shower and a good sleep before attending an Easter dinner organized by the church committee. My siblings and I made up our minds to move in with our parents because we couldn't stand the heat in the other room. So we get to enjoy the cool air in my parent's room. We managed to get enough rest before attending the Easter dinner.


The food served during the Easter dinner weren't that bad. We had curry fish, pig's trotter, soup, vegetables, roasted duck, etc. There were also perfomances from the church choir and individuals. There's one seminarian who can really sing very well..but can't remember his name. After dinner, we had an early night and then attended morning Mass the next day. After Mass, we went for breakfast with the other families before starting our journey back home. We left Sri Aman for Kuching at 12 p.m. and finally reached home at about 4 p.m. What a fun and exciting experience we all had during our trip in Sri Aman. Hopefully one day we're able to go back there again. ;)

posted by Joanne Tan @ 8:15 AM Comments: 0