Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sago Palms

Sago palms are disappearing, but not so long ago they played a very important role in the lives of the people of Sabah. Not only 'atap' - roof elements - are made from Sago palms, but many local artefacts too, and it is used as a building material. Or was. It is a material that is freely available, light, sturdy, durable and even insulating though the latter is not that important in our climate… it is simply an awesome building material that comes ‘prefabricated’ in regular elements that can be stacked kit-like to form an aesthetically pleasing, yet secure wall or partition. The only things you need are some bamboo pegs – which you can make yourself – a hand-saw and a hammer, and a parang or machete. I made a partition for my outside kitchen and the full article, with some more interesting information on sago palms can be found on my website, http://www.flyingdusun.com/

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Website ok again...

... or so; now I have no more excuses not to work... ok, the next articles coming up are on "Working with Sago Palm", "The Tagal System in Sabah" and "Caves on Balambangan" - the latter is an easy 'copy paste' but I found it so interesting that I wish to share it with you - together with a link to the site I found the the article: Mysabah.com (http://www.mysabah.com/wordpress/). Since I have not been to Balambangan Island I won't post any photographs, but you can have a look at them on the Mysabah.com site, which I can highly recommend.

Another site I have come across is Beautiful KK, which got a lot information about food, and you all know how much I like good cooking. Beautiful KK (http://beautifulkk.com/) is a real inspiration! Go and have a look, get your mouth watering, and try all the restaurants the blog mentions! I have been to some, and I can recommend every single place!