Malaysia
Populated by a blend of Malays, Chinese, Indians and indigenous groups, Malaysia boasts a rich cultural heritage, from a huge variety of annual festivals and wonderful cuisines, to traditional architecture and rural crafts. There’s astonishing natural beauty to take in too, including gorgeous beaches and some of the world’s oldest tropical rainforest, much of which is surprisingly accessible. Malaysia’s national parks are superb for trekking and wildlife-watching, and sometimes for cave exploration and river rafting. As part of the Malay archipelago, which stretches from Indonesia to the Philippines, Malaysia became an important port of call on the trade route between India and China, the two great markets of the early world, and later became important entrepôts for the Portuguese, Dutch and British empires. Malaysia has only existed in its present form since 1963, when the federation of the eleven Peninsula states was joined by Singapore and the two Bornean territories of Sarawak and Sabah. Singapore left the union to become an independent country in 1965. Today, the dominant cultural force in the country is undoubtedly Islam, adopted by the Malays in the fourteenth century. But it’s the religious plurality – there are also sizeable Christian and Hindu minorities – that is so attractive, often providing surprising juxtapositions of mosques, temples and churches. Source: www.roughguides.com
Populated by a blend of Malays, Chinese, Indians and indigenous groups, Malaysia boasts a rich cultural heritage, from a huge variety of annual festivals and wonderful cuisines, to traditional architecture and rural crafts. There’s astonishing natural beauty to take in too, including gorgeous beaches and some of the world’s oldest tropical rainforest, much of which is surprisingly accessible. Malaysia’s national parks are superb for trekking and wildlife-watching, and sometimes for cave exploration and river rafting. As part of the Malay archipelago, which stretches from Indonesia to the Philippines, Malaysia became an important port of call on the trade route between India and China, the two great markets of the early world, and later became important entrepôts for the Portuguese, Dutch and British empires. Malaysia has only existed in its present form since 1963, when the federation of the eleven Peninsula states was joined by Singapore and the two Bornean territories of Sarawak and Sabah. Singapore left the union to become an independent country in 1965. Today, the dominant cultural force in the country is undoubtedly Islam, adopted by the Malays in the fourteenth century. But it’s the religious plurality – there are also sizeable Christian and Hindu minorities – that is so attractive, often providing surprising juxtapositions of mosques, temples and churches. Source: www.roughguides.com
Malaysian Cuisine
Malaysian Food is not one particular distinction of food but a culinary diversity originating from it's multi-ethnic population of Malay, Indian, Eurasian, Chinese, Nyonya and the Indigenous peoples of Borneo. source: www.malaysianfood.net
Malaysian Food is not one particular distinction of food but a culinary diversity originating from it's multi-ethnic population of Malay, Indian, Eurasian, Chinese, Nyonya and the Indigenous peoples of Borneo. source: www.malaysianfood.net
Batik
is a technique for decorating textiles, by which parts of the textile that are not to be coloured are covered in molten wax. The wax prevents the textile from absorbing the dye during the decorating process. Wax resist dyeing technique in fabric is an ancient art form. Discoveries show it already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BCE, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a sharp tool. In Asia, the technique was practiced in China during the T'ang dynasty (618-907 CE), and in India and Japan during the Nara period (645-794 CE). In Africa it was originally practiced by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninke and Wolof in Senegal. Since the 16th century the art of batik has been documented in the Malay Archipelago, and particularly in Java the art was developed to a very high standard. The legend goes when Laksamana Hang Nadim was ordered by the Malacca King, Sultan Mahmud, to sail to India to buy 140 pieces of serasah cloth (batik) with 40 types of flowers depicted on each. Unable to find any that fulfilled the requirements explained to him, he made up his own. On his return unfortunately, his ship sank and he only managed to bring four pieces, earning displeasure from the Sultan. There are two main types of batik in Malaysia today; hand-painted and block printed. These types differ in production techniques, motif and aesthetic expression, and are often classified according to the tool that has been used. The painter uses the canting, a small copper container with one or more differently sized pipes. The container is attached to a handle made of wood or bamboo. The canting is filled with molten wax and used to trace the outlines of the pattern on the fabric. The wax is usually composed of bee's wax, paraffin wax, resin, fat and a synthetic wax mixed together in varying proportions. source: www.malaysiasite.nl
is a technique for decorating textiles, by which parts of the textile that are not to be coloured are covered in molten wax. The wax prevents the textile from absorbing the dye during the decorating process. Wax resist dyeing technique in fabric is an ancient art form. Discoveries show it already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BCE, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a sharp tool. In Asia, the technique was practiced in China during the T'ang dynasty (618-907 CE), and in India and Japan during the Nara period (645-794 CE). In Africa it was originally practiced by the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Soninke and Wolof in Senegal. Since the 16th century the art of batik has been documented in the Malay Archipelago, and particularly in Java the art was developed to a very high standard. The legend goes when Laksamana Hang Nadim was ordered by the Malacca King, Sultan Mahmud, to sail to India to buy 140 pieces of serasah cloth (batik) with 40 types of flowers depicted on each. Unable to find any that fulfilled the requirements explained to him, he made up his own. On his return unfortunately, his ship sank and he only managed to bring four pieces, earning displeasure from the Sultan. There are two main types of batik in Malaysia today; hand-painted and block printed. These types differ in production techniques, motif and aesthetic expression, and are often classified according to the tool that has been used. The painter uses the canting, a small copper container with one or more differently sized pipes. The container is attached to a handle made of wood or bamboo. The canting is filled with molten wax and used to trace the outlines of the pattern on the fabric. The wax is usually composed of bee's wax, paraffin wax, resin, fat and a synthetic wax mixed together in varying proportions. source: www.malaysiasite.nl