My SIL and her friends were exceptionally happy with their decision to stay on for another three more days after their initial tour ended on 24.09.2024. The trip to the Tip of Borneo allowed her to struck off another item from her bucket list.
One other place we visited during our trip to the north of Sabah is Kampung Sumangkap Gong Factory. This gong factory is one of the well-known gong making factories in Sabah. For the indigenous people - Rungus, KadazanDusun and Murut, gong is an important musical instrument integral to their culture and often being used for weddings and festivals. Since our last visit to this place in 2015, significant improvement has been made at this place. A corner is specially allocated to showcase making of gong by craftsman.
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| Entrance to the Gong Factory. |
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| Gong making by craftsman. |
These days, gongs are no longer made purely as music instruments. They are now made of many sizes and of different material (either brass or iron) for sale to tourists as souvenirs and display items. Gongs made of brass are comparatively more expensive than those made of iron. As the sale lady pointed out, bends or curves of brass gong are formed by manual bending while that of iron gongs are formed by welding. Interestingly, the sound generated from brass gongs are much nicer compared to that generated by iron gongs!
Visiting tourists now have the luxury of purchasing different kinds of local handicrafts at the government-funded souvenir outlet built next to the gong factory.
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Kulintangan which consists of a set of different sizes of gongs are also made and sold there. My grandchildren, Livvie and Maddie had a chance of playing Kulintangan when we were staying in Shangri-lah Rasa Ria Hotel in March this year for holidays (
Read here).
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