Location : Ramin Bantang Bengkayang, Kabupaten Bengkayang, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.
First and foremost we would like to thank Mr Beni Projasa of the Bengkayang Tourism office for inviting us to this grand opening of the Rumah Adat Bengkayang / Ramin Bantang Bengkayang or cultural hall. It had a slight resemblance to the Rumah Radakng of Pontianak with two huge hornbills majestically sitting on top of two 40m high totem poles.
We had a brief stopover at the hall after driving in through Aruk, Sambas and Ledo. It was crowded with people doing last minute preparation for the big event for the following day.
It was a good idea to request Beni to reserve a room at Wisma Jovans as we could have been caught without a room to stay. Most hotels in the town were fully booked which was not surprising for an occasion this big.
The whole regency of Bengkayang was invited to participate in the ‘Tangkitn Parade’ to make the event more exciting. A tangkitn is basically a machete used by the Bidayuh tribe for the purpose of war. Two humongous 8 footer tangkitn were specially made to be paraded for the occasion.
On the actual day, we looked for breakfast and surveyed the market place before making our way on foot to the Stadion Bengkayang which was a large open fiend where thousands of Dayaks dressed in their traditional red attire gathered for the 8km walk to the brand new Rumah Adat cultural hall. Next…..Part 2- At the event venue Ramin Bantang.
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