Reflections

I think that society, culture and tourism are inter-linked. The society of the people that had shaped the culture of the country, and it in turn boost tourism as tourist are attracted to the unique culture of the country and they want to learn and experience the culture they the people lived in.

I personally had visited to a longhouse in Sarawak before; it was a organised school education trip to learn about the different aspect of Sarawak’s tourism, mainly about nature and culture. The day of my visit was a few days after the 'Gawai Dayak'. The Iban village is located uphill; therefore we have to take a long ride to reach the village. When we first arrived in the village, we are welcomed by the performers in their traditional clothes. Then a traditional dance was performed and followed by home visit to various families; to my surprise they can speak fluent English. We were offered with rice wine and small treats. The host started explaining about the 'Gawai Dayak'. However due to limited time that we have, we were unable to ask more in-depth questions about the celebration. If I were given a chance to visit Sarawak again, I will be glad to the Iban village again even though the journey uphill is torturous is quite uncomfortable.

The unique culture and institution of this indigenous group is something that we cannot really understand from just reading it from a book. Thus tourism is the only way which we can really feel it and truly understands the similarities and differences of that particular culture from our own culture.