Visiting to BCF 09 @ Sibu Town Square

Finally, I made it to Borneo Cultural Festival 2009 at Sibu Town Square. It has been a week this festival been held and tomorrow is the closing date for it. Just don't want to be a Siburian who didn't visit to the biggest event in own hometown.

As expected, the place was full with people. I started my visit at Sarawak ethnics stalls section which consists of Iban, Bidayuh and Melanau ethnics. Some traditional and mostly BBQ foods being sold here. Photo below is not satay. It was BBQ chicken tails. Ever try before?

Some ethnic traditional crafts also been displayed for the visitors.

I met some pretty Bidayuh girls (with an elder woman) at Bidayuh stall wearing their traditional cloth! They look nice!

There are also variety of Malay foods available at BCF 09. This "Sup Tulang" attracted my attention, but I didn't try it.

At the other side of the road at Sibu Town Square phase 2, it was where the trade and fun fair located.

Unlike previous year, this year the place was properly tarred. This is a positive improvement from the local council which worth some compliment. It definitely makes walking become more comfortable.

Fun fair section attracted a lot of youngsters and kids. People were queuing to experience riding on mini ferris wheels and mini pirate ship which seldom been found on normal days.

There was also a mini Merry-go-round for small kiddies.

A lot of fun fair stalls had been set up but their games are almost identical!

However, some stalls did put up attractive prizes to attract more customers visit their stalls.

I saw a special performance from New Zealand at the mini stage around the trade and fun fair area. I will reveal about it and show you the photos in my next post.

I then crossed back the road and went to the section where all Chinese stalls were set up. Each local Chinese clan-based association has their own store and decorated nicely to reflect the Chinese culture. The costs of the decoration was bear by the respective association. These associations include Foochow, Kutian, Hakka, Hokkien, Hing Hua, Cantonese, Teochew and Hainan.

This year, Kutian Association had won the first prize for stall decoration competition.

First runner up is Teochew Association...

... and 2nd runner up is Hing Hua Association. (Please notify me if I am wrong for this... )

Personally, I was doubt with the result. In my opinion, Teochew stall should be the winner. From the stall's appearance and shape to the material they used to decorate (Teochew Association was using the real tiles for roof), they are much better than Kutian in my point of view but somehow Kutian Association was the winner. Maybe you can judge by looking at the photos above. I was wondering who are the judges for this competition...

Anyway, at these stalls, you can get various kind of clan-based traditional/modern foods. Although some complained the price is a bit expensive, some people felt it worth the money as some of the traditional foods you hardly find in normal days.

The oyster omelet at Jiang Zhuang (Hokkien) Association attracted lots of food lovers quieing and waiting to buy the food.

Not far away from the Chinese association stalls, some young girls were busy preparing Taiwan style pan cake and fried chicken for you.

For those "buaya"... are you sure you don't want to buy some and have a try?

After about 2 hours of walk, I went back home with some foods on hands.

Tomorrow will be the closing for the festival, so for those who haven't visit to this place, you still have the last day to do so!