Location : Kuching Waterfront, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Suddenly the whole city lights up again highlighting all the beautiful trees/streets at night, innovative water taxis and Kuching city proudly hosting another international event, the Wakeboard World Cup competition at the Kuching Waterfront. All these and more to come all thanks to one man and probably the only politician I truly admire is our just reinstated tourism minister Datuk Seri Abang Jo who many years ago had too short a stint with the tourism ministry but did enough drastic changes to leave an unforgettable impression. Of all the tourism ministers the state of Sarawak has seen he is the only guy that can give tourism the ‘quantum leap’ it desperately needs. Not only is he able to introduce fresh noble ideas but dares to stray from outdated traditional practices which have lost their luster. One such witty move is combining the traditional annual regatta event with the modern wakeboarding, a sport that started in France in 2004 and gaining huge popularity among the young.
Sarawak is privileged to witness 3 days of awesome skills of world champions Harley Clifford and Raimi Merrit who lived up to their ranking in winning their respective events. The Stars of Florida displayed spectacular skiing skills with added humour from the clown much to the delight of the crowd. Wan Arafan, chip of the old block Bodeng, impressed the judges to come in first in the local section.
Although the shy Sarawakian spectators do not outwardly demonstrate their appreciation I do know as a local they applauded warmly in their hearts.
The thrills & spills of the waterfront is but one of the many activities lined up for the busiest month of Sarawak-BASE jumping in Sibu, International Kite & Mountain Bike Competitions in Bintulu & Rafting in Kapit (for more details, please refer to our links : www.bombasticborneo.com ).
This month’s ‘busyness’ has given new hopes to tourism players who saw years of despair despite the good statistics of tourist arrivals. Can Datuk Seri Abang Jo & his team turn all this around? I’ll put my money on him.
Stars of Florida
Wakeboarding
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