Mini Craft Carnival at Orchard Santika Homestay, Hulu Langat, Selangor

Orchard Santika Homestay

I’ve always loved arts and crafts but the Mini Craft Carnival at Orchard Santika Homestay last November was slightly different than the artsy fartsy of felt sewing or accessories making. The craft festival was more of a traditional Malay craft, displaying Malay weaponry, food-making, traditional clothing and even mock-wedding of the Malays – complete with the whole costume and all.

The carnival however, did not stop there. There were some traditional folks games available, some cooking competition, a Nasi Ambeng preparation and Cukur Jambul celebration.

Welcome to Orchard Santika Homestay

Welcomed with the sound of kompangs as we stepped into Orchard Santika Homestay’s compound, we settled into our seats as we were entertained by performances of the Orchard Santika’s own Kompang Group, AJAS and music played with the Angklungs.

After a short welcoming speech and some refreshments, we were then brought to tour the mini carnival.

Have you ever seen a Malay wedding? Do you know that songket are prominently used for the costumes in Malay weddings because it shows status and rank? Songket are not cheap because they are handwoven in silk or cotton in intricate designs. In Malaysia, the best and beautiful songket can be found in the state of Terengganu.

Mock Malay Wedding in Songket

We were also brought to experience hands-on on dodol making. Dodol, being one of the delicacies much sought-after during festivals are not easily prepared traditionally. It requires hours of mixing the dodol in the large wok to get the nice sticky texture and for that equal flavoured taste. The taste and texture is not the same when it is made in machines.

Folk games were everywhere – batu seremban, tutup botol, sepak raga and many more. There’s even a rubber tapping demonstration for us all.

Mini Scavenger Hunt – Kueh Master and Spices Master

There were two competition prepared for us at the homestay :

  1. Spices Master – there were 10 spices placed in 10 jars and we had to name them all in 60 seconds.
  2. Kueh Master – cooking competition, making Kueh Bunga and Kueh Tumpi in 15 minutes.

My group only managed to answer 7 spice names in 60 seconds but we did finish making both the kueh even though it was raining cats and dogs and I was ankle deep in water as I’m frying the Kueh Tumpi. Kueh Tumpi is very similar to Rempeyek, the only difference being that it does not use ground nuts but green beans.

Kueh Bunga & Kueh Tumpi

We didn’t win either competition though, sadly.

Rewang and Cukur Jambul Ceremony in the evening

Rewang is a sort of activity where everybody team up and work together to complete a task. An activity that is commonly found in villages when there are weddings or festivals. Folks in villages will come together and help each other so that the tasks can be completed quickly and burden shared together and this is not an uncommon practice at Orchard Santika too.

It is a fun thing to do, especially when you’re doing it with friends.

Our rewang that night was to prepare the Nasi Ambeng in trays. Since there were more than 40 of us in total, there were more than 15 trays prepared.

I have tried Nasi Ambeng a few times before but the Nasi Ambeng at Orchard Santika was slightly different than some that I have tried – in terms of preparation. We were also told that the reason the Nasi Ambeng was prepared as such was so that it would be easier to pack them home. Want to know how the older people used to pack Nasi Ambeng to take home? Watch the video below:

Last but not least, it was the ceremony of the night at Orchard Santika that I have never experienced before – cukur jambul.

Baby Aisha Jamilah

Baby Cukur Jambul

Baby’s cukur jambul (or directly translated as “crown shaving”) is usually done after the mother’s 40-day confinement period has ended. It is Malay custom that the baby be placed in a beautifully decorated crib in the middle of the house or space, to make it easily accessible for guests to see. The baby is usually carried by the father, showed around to the male guests where some will cut a few short strands of the baby’s hair. This is accompanied by recitation of Quranic verses and praises to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Eat Travel Write Selangor 2.0

 

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ETW Selangor 2

This event was made possible by Gaya Travel Magazine in conjunction with Eat.Travel.Write Selangor Culinary Adventure 2.0.

Written by 

LizzaBella is a part-time traveler, amateur photographer and videographer and writer. Connect with LizzaBella through her social medias today!

46 thoughts on “Mini Craft Carnival at Orchard Santika Homestay, Hulu Langat, Selangor

    1. Yes, it is a nice place. If it wasn’t for the very heavy rain in the evening, it would’ve been better. But overall, it was a fun event.

  1. Haha ni la gambar bella berkahwin hari tu 😛 Nice homestay place to recommend.

    1. Haha. Kahwin instant. It is a nice place to wind down and the people here are so nice and friendly.

  2. Lovely and warm Homestay
    I love to join such activities, get to gain knowledges about cultures and different lifestyle
    Unique~! Will find a day to visit there.

    1. Yes, a nice place to be with large group and experience the activities together. It’s more fun that way.

  3. Looks like you had a most memorable time there. It’s good to see that you made the best use of your investment (phone), too! LOL

    1. LOL! Indeed. I love my new phone! 😛
      There were so many pretty things to take photos here.

  4. wow you guys even managed to make the traditional food yourselves? that must be an amazing experience!!

    1. Yes, we did. It was quite challenging doing it under the tent with the heavy rain and strong wind though but we managed, and some turn out to taste very nice too. 🙂

  5. this is definitely something i would want to try! very Malaysian type experience. thanks for sharing

    1. I hope you’ll get to try it one day. It really does give that very “kampung” style and different than our normal city-life ways.

  6. Dewisherly says:

    Tempat bagus. Liburan ke tempat macam ini bagus after kehidupan hiruk pikuk di kota. Perlu ajak anak anak menikmati indahnya alam kampung

    1. Setuju. Cara yang baik untuk mendapatkan ketenangan dan luangkan masa dengan ahli keluarga.

  7. Hubby and I love to attend this kind of event too. Hope to join next time. 🙂

    1. Hope you will too. You can check out their Facebook page for updates on events like this one. 😉

  8. Aliza sara says:

    Aww such a nice place to retreat from the city life. I wish to see more of these kind of activities in the future

    1. There are quite a lot of these kinda retreats in Selangor and very nice to experience them with friends or family members. Hope you’ll be able to join when you’re free. 🙂

  9. I did not know that Hulu Langat has these awesome place. I want to go there one day.

    1. Me too. I usually go to this area to the waterfalls – Sungai Congkak, Sungai Tekala, Sungai Gabai – but I didn’t know there are Homestays with activities such as this for visitors. So this was eye-opening for me too.

  10. Aiiikkk…. kahwin tak ajak kita… hhahahah… that homestay look so pretty and nice

    1. If I kahwin lagi sekali, I ajak kay. Eh. Can ah like that? Haha!
      Yes, the place do look nice, clean and kept well. The people are friendly too though only very few can speak English so for foreign tourists, it might be hard to converse but for us locals, it is very fun.

  11. Nasi berkat is the best! haha. A tradition for the javanese. To cast the stress away, places like this are the best!

    1. Totally. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other, talking, joking and laughing as we ate together in the same tray. We had a memorable time and one of my favourite moment at the event.

    1. Kahwin instant, kelam kabut sikit costume semua. 😛
      Yes, it is a beautiful environment. Very well-kept.

  12. This place is so happening! I didn’t try do dodol before definitely a new experience hehe!

    1. It is very tiring to do the dodol. It takes hours and usually the men are delegated to make the dodol because it requires arm strength. Ladies are given simpler tasks like making the “ketupat” instead.

  13. very nice homestay…the peaceful beautiful view, nice decoration, traditonal feel etc. Nice! cheers, siennylovesdrawing

    1. Yes indeed. The view of the kampung house is so pretty in the morning. Very MAlay-kampung look and soothing to the eyes.

  14. This gives me ideas for the international mobility programme in my workplace.
    Mesti best giler pengalaman macam nie kan.

    1. Ahh glad this post gives you ideas for your work event Rawlins. Memang best sebab beramai2 kan. So kalau buat event dengan co-wokers, I’m sure it would be fun and happening.

    1. HAHA! Now that you said it, the yellow does look very striking. And it is the colour of royalty. 😛 Who knows? Maybe I’ll kahwin with a Anak Raja some day. HAHA!!

  15. looks fun, i thought it’s a wedding pulak, everyone gather in the nature, i love it

    1. Hehe.. Just a mock wedding though, all the “pengantin” in the photo are bachelors and bachelorettes. 😛
      Yes, we had a great time going back to nature and experience the “kampung” feel, away from craziness of city-life.

  16. Betty Liew says:

    It seem fun and I love the traditional culture that arrange in the event

    1. Glad you loved it. The programme was arranged by the homestay manager though. It was fun and memorable for all of us.

  17. Read about this place. Some of the food I didn’t even know about!

    1. Same with me. Especially the more traditional food – the ones of Javanese background. It is a nice place to educate ourselves of other culture and also a more back-to-nature place to unwind.

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