Sung Dynasty artefacts on display soon at Sabah Museum

Thousand-year-old artefacts, the oldest ever found at a shipwreck site in Malaysian waters, will soon be on display at the Sabah Museum.

More than 800 ceramic and non-ceramic items salvaged 400 metres from the Tanjung Simpang Mengayau shore at the northern tip of Borneo, close to Kudat in Sabah, are being treated and restored.

The Sung Dynasty artefacts, dating between 960 and 1127, were "officially" discovered on April 15, 2003, although local fishermen are known to have looted the site prior to that date.

Sabah Museum Department director Datuk Joseph Guntavid said once the artefacts were fully "desalinated and stabilised", the pieces would be displayed at the main exhibition gallery of the museum.

The department had given private company Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sdn Bhd a permit to excavate the site.

The company had excavated seven other wrecks off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia prior to the project at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau.

Elaborating on the discovery of the wreck and its cargo, Sabah Museum curator Stella Moo said it indicated that there was a trading route to and from Borneo a thousand years ago.

"Wrecks like this one tell us what went on in the past. Probably the items were on their way from China to Brunei. Most of the other known wrecks are close to Peninsular Malaysia so this wreck can provide us with valuable information.

"Among items discovered in this wreck are non-ceramic pieces such as bronze gongs, copper discs and steel pots, and ceramic pieces comprising plates, bowls and storage jars.

"Some of the items are intact, others are in pieces. They were probably damaged by looters or by climatic conditions such as strong currents," she said, adding that the wreck was 12 metres under the surface of the water

Courtesy of New Straits Times

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2006 from e-borneo.com

Please be informed that our office will be closed for five (5) consecutive days from 28th January to 1st February 2006 in conjunction with the Chinese New Year Celebration as well as the Awal Muharram (Ma`al Hijrah - Muslim New Year) public holidays nationwide.

For travel and related requests, do note that all your e-mails enquiries may be replied during this holiday period (depending on priority and/or importance) but earliest confirmation can only be processed on Thursday, 2nd February 2005 (+0800 GMT MYT).

Any inconvenience caused is very much regretted.

For those who are celebrating the Chinese New Year festival, all of us at e-borneo.com would like to wish you 'Gong Xi Fa Cai' and may you have a healthy and wealthy year of the Dog ahead. And to all Muslims, a Happy New Year.

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Just Launched: Tropical Vacation Blog

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The 2006 Borneo International Yachting Challenge - Labuan to Miri

By George Francis

MIRI - The Borneo International Yachting Challenge (BIYC) - from Labuan to Miri, will be held from April 27 to May 1, 2006.

This will be the third year that this event is held to put it on the world yachting map held for Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.

The organisers, meanwhile, would like to invite Brunei to join as venue host-participant in this South China Sea event, bringing in renowned international yachters and water event tourists.

Sarawak Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications, Lee Kim Shin, who chaired the joint-committee meeting here, hoped to bring a delegation to meet with the Brunei authority for discussion on this proposal to invite the Sultanate in this new sporting development.

He said the Labuan-Miri challenge has been in the international yachting map whereby Brunei should not be left out.

"Hopefully, by the second week of February we can make a courtesy call on our neighbours - the local yachting fraternity and relevant authority there to bring up our proposal for discussion," said Lee, who is also a member of the Sarawak Tourism Board.

Meanwhile, Sarawak organising co-chairman, Troy Yaw, said the event had been organised twice consecutively, adding, "Nobody doubts our ability to organise this international event which had been well publicised, and now it's getting momentum both regionally and internationally."

As of today, 11 boats from from Hong Kong, Holland, Phuket, Miri-Sarawak, Royal Malaysian Navy have confirmed participation while a number of Langkawi-based yachters are expected to join in the event along with three boats from Brunei.

The six-day event will start in Labuan on April 27, followed by a regatta which Labuan also plays host to the closing ceremony of "Pesta Air Nasional". The boats will be back on track to Miri waters by April 29 straight to the newly built Balinese-designed Miri Marina Boat Club, followed by the Miri Race the next day and ending with the Miri Bay Regatta on May 1.

However, if Brunei accepts the invitation as a joint venue-participant, the boats will be on track for the first night stop-celebration in Bandar Seri Begawan from Labuan before heading for Miri the next day.

The last two events were inaugurated in 2004, called Borneo Cup Yachting Challenge before being renamed now as the Borneo International Yachting Challenge to make it a more lucrative event in this part of the world.

The BIYC is a Category 3 event, featuring five classes of boats, namely racing, cruising, sports, classic and ocean multi-hull.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Malaysian Air Travellers To Pay Extra Starting Feb 1

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- Travellers purchasing air tickets from local ticketing agents will have to fork out an extra RM30 for international destinations and RM10 for domestic destinations effective Feb 1.

This agency collection fee is imposed by Matta to defray the cost incurred in collecting insurance surcharges, fuel surcharges and airport taxes of which they are not paid any commissions by the airlines or airport authorities.

Rural air service sectors, however, are excluded from this fee while flights to Singapore and Brunei follow the domestic destination's rate.

Matta president Ngiam Foon told reporters here today that agents only received commissions of up to nine percent from the airlines for selling air tickets excluding the surcharges which are considered as non-revenue items (NRI).

However, he said collecting the NRI has caused the agents to incur additional costs like credit risk, interest charges and guarantee costs which have become significant due to the rising oil prices.

Citing an example, he said a return ticket to Sydney today cost about RM2,800 of which RM630 or 23 percent is the NRI.

"These NRI have become a very significant part of the total ticket process, averaging between 15 percent and 33 percent of the total ticket price and yet agents' revenues still calculated based only on the airfare portion.

"With decreasing revenues from thinning margins, collecting these NRI now becomes a financial burden for the agents," he said.

The fee is necessary to ensure Matta members can continue to provide an acceptable level of service to the travelling public.

They include giving advice on flight and fare options, plan complicated itineraries, useful destination tips, visa application assistance, hotel bookings and travel insurance.

"Considering the service we are providing to our customers, the fee is very reasonable," he said.

He added such fee had already been implemented in Hong Kong where a fixed amount is collected from the customers for all the work and service done in the collection of NRI.

Source: BERNAMA