Borneo Cultural Festival, Sibu

This is my third month in Sibu, I've been passing by Sibu Town Square a lot and remembering the two swans statue erected for Sibu as it official mascot. I admit, I wrote not-nicely about those swans or Sibu's swans directly hitting once used to be called friend.

Let go and move on...

Stepping for the first time on Sibu Town Square on the night Sibu held its Borneo Cultural Festival reminds me of many festivals our parents used to take us to and we called it 'fun-fair' where they were joyrides but 'palia' old rusty squeaking sound rides I can remember in Sarikei. The rain sometimes caused some parts muddy and I can remember how we used to walk home with mud stuck shoes. No, slippers as we wore only slippers during those days.

THE Borneo Cultural Festival in Sibu was a celebration of Sarawak’s diversity, showcasing the music, dances and traditions of the state’s ethnic groups.

The week-long festival was made up of a Malay/Melanau festival, Mandarin festival and Dayak festival which ran at the same time.

China town food stalls.

It also featured three themed nights at the Sibu Town Square - “Beats and Beauty”, “Fusion and Action” and “Hornbill and Heritage”, with cultural performances from various troupes.

At one of the carnival booths.

The only thing different now is most festivals don't come with joy rides anymore but carnival and games booths where you get to play and win something home mostly China stuffed toys and cheapskate items.

Real toys

The boys, tired of their toy cars, they wanted the big ones but we can't afford to buy them the big ones.

Many Pink Panthers (some are not pink) Balloons pinned on the pole for sale at RM4 each.

The boy finally settled for a smiley face on a bicycle helium filled balloon cos' the Pink Panther ones can't float in the air.

I wanted to try my luck on one of these Nokia handphones by just throw the rings in but I was rather too shy to try.

Fishing for kids. Don't give them a fish but teach them how to fish. My nephews got two key chains from fishing.

And throw the balls, hit the red box and you will take home something.... (china made toy guns and this little game thing)

A cute kung-fu panda my 5yo nephew adores so much. After much and many times of trying to hit four red boxes at the game, you won't want to know how much we spent only to get this little kung-fu panda for him.

On the closing night, we took another stroll down the Sibu Town Square but was hindered by crowd of people streaming in and jamming the aisles to the booths area.

We didn't enjoy much as we can't see most of the events except trying to find our way in and out and my poor nephews only get to see people's backside and butts as we dragged them along all the way.

At the end, we were so tired after the walk nevertheless we went home happily :)