‘Take vacations, and go as many places as you can. You can always make money, but you can’t always make memories.’
— Unknown
A belated Selamat Hari Gawai and public holidays to all readers and friends.
The public holidays officially began last Sunday.
Wesak Day (also known as Vesak or Buddha Day) this year fell on Sunday, May 31. The most sacred festival in the Buddhist calendar, it commemorated the birth, enlightenment and passing (Parinirvana) of Gautama Buddha.
Devotees observed the day through spiritual reflection, charity and acts of loving-kindness. Common traditions included Bathing the Buddha: Gently pouring scented water over infant Buddha statues to symbolise cleansing the mind of negative traits like greed, hatred and ignorance.
Offerings: Presentation of flowers, candles, and incense at altars to represent the impermanence of life and the light of wisdom.
Acts of Merit (Dana): Getting involved in mass blood donations, feeding the needy and releasing animals.
Processions: The Wesak Day celebration usually concluded with candlelit parades and vibrant, illuminated temple floats.
On June 1 and 2, the indigenous Dayak communities — primarily the Iban, Bidayuh, and Orang Ulu groups — in Sarawak, Malaysia and parts of Borneo celebrated Gawai Dayak or Dayak Festival in English.
Gawai Dayak marked the successful end of the rice harvesting season and gave thanks for the bounty while praying for a prosperous year ahead.
Key characteristics of the celebration include:
Longhouse Open Houses: Families open their traditional communal homes (longhouses) to visitors and guests.
Traditional Food & Drink: Feasting includes the consumption of local delicacies like ‘pansuh’ (meat cooked in bamboo) and traditional tuak (rice wine).
Festivities & Rituals: The celebration usually features the traditional Ngajat dance, gong-playing, and rituals such as ‘Muai Antu Rua’ (casting away the spirit of bad luck).
Customary greeting during the celebration is ‘Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai’, which roughly means ‘Wishing you longevity, health and prosperity’.
June 1 this year was also Agong’s Birthday. In Malaysia, this refers to the official public holiday honouring the birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the King of Malaysia).
The national public holiday was marked by official ceremonies, including Trooping the Colour by the Malaysian Armed Forces and the presentation of awards at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur.
In Malaysia, the Official Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is a compulsory paid public holiday.
Thanks to the building of new bridges and roads in the state, many Gawai celebrants took the opportunity to go back to their kampung and longhouses for the festival, cherishing the opportunity to meet relatives, eat, drink and make merry with them.
I noticed that more Bidayuh villages in Kuching Division were also holding large scale Gawai celebrations with parades this year.
For those who were not celebrating Gawai, why did they go? Sightseeing and visiting other parts of the state.
My best friend, SML in Sibu, told me that earlier the week, the town was almost devoid of traffic because many residents decided to travel to new tourist attractions in Kuching Divison. According to her, many of her friends decided to view for themselves the newly completed Batang Lupar 1 Bridge and pose proudly on it.
Indeed, the bridge was a popular attraction during the Gawai Dayak festive break, Batang Lupar 1 Bridge, a mega-project was officially opened to traffic on May 21, 2026, marking a massive milestone in Sarawak’s infrastructure development.
The new bridge has several impressive details:
Record-Breaking Length: At 4.884 kilometres long, it is officially the longest river-crossing bridge in Malaysia.
Replaces the Ferry: The bridge directly connects Sebuyau and Triso (Maludam) in Sarawak, rendering the long-running Sebuyau-Triso ferry service obsolete and wiping out the multi-hour queues.
Toll-Free: The RM848.75 million project was fully funded by the Sarawak government and is completely toll-free for motorists.
Travel Time: The crossing now takes less than 5 minutes, cutting hours off coastal road network journeys, such as the Kuching to Simanggang / Betong routes.
Many families with young kids also went to the beaches.
Families love beaches because they offer an expansive, natural playground that keeps children endlessly entertained while providing a stress-free, tech-detox environment.
The combination of warm sunshine, soothing ocean waves, and casual, open space makes it the ultimate destination for building memories and relaxing together across all ages.
The main reasons the beach is a family favourite include:
Nature’s Playground: The sand and surf offer endless, screen-free entertainment. Kids can spend hours building sandcastles, collecting seashells, splashing in the water and exploring tide pools.
Health and Wellness: Natural sunlight provides Vitamin D for healthy bones, while saltwater is naturally rich in minerals that soothe the skin and respiratory tract.
When my son, nephews and nieces were growing up, they spent a lot of their holidays on the beaches. Now they are all grown up, they still love the beaches.
I think Kuchingites are so lucky. There are many lovely beaches in Teluk Melano, Lundu and Sematan for us to visit.
To conclude, congratulations, my friends, if you are still on holidays. Enjoy the time with your family and friends. Don’t forget to take lots of photographs so that you can look back at these memories for years to come.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune. The writer can be reached at adelinel888@gmail.com.
