Usukan Bay, Kuala Abai in Kota Belud is a beautiful place to visit. The blue sea sparkles in the horizon joining the azure sky in the distance. It is a place where peace and tranquility reigns. There is a village there of course, but the life is so slow-paced and leisurely that it can be a perfect getaway for a weekend or even a few days. Visitors can just walk along the beach and enjoy the breeze. In the evenings, they can sit around and enjoy the blazing sunset.
Actually, the residents they are already gearing up for visitors. They are formulating the tourism products and packages that they have in store for their guests.
Liasin Kaloh, a retired educator shares that he had just registered the Usukan Tourism Association last year and he wants to promote tourism in that area aggressively eventually.
According to him, they are targetting at least 100 participants for the association among villages, whom he says have a lot to share with guests.
It seems that Usukan Bay is not just famous for its sea, sun and sand but also some diving sites as well. There are still a lot of places where the coral reefs are intact, with presence of marine life including giant clams and sea urchins. Divers and snorkelers will enjoy exploring the area.
“Besides those touristic activities that guests usually go for, we also have our seafood to promote,” he shares, adding that they usually get good fresh catch from fishermen such as cuttlefish, prawns, krill, anchovies and various type of fish.
Besides that they also have plentiful of other seafood such as clams and cockles, sea cucumber, snails and seaweed and edible anemones among others. These are the people’s food.
Liasin, who owns a restaurant named D Farah Cafe by the sea, shares that these types of food will be a great hit with guests especially overseas tourists as they are cooked and served in dishes unique to the people of Usukan.
These array of seafood, will be usually be cooked and served the traditional way to guests so that they can have a taste of dishes prepared by the locals there. However guests can also request for these seafood to be cooked according to their taste. The food served at D Farah are delectable, a personal favourite being the Tom Yam seafood, the Sinagol and the Bee Hoon Goreng Udang or rice vermicelli fried with prawns.
For those who love to taste traditional food, they have various types of dishes such as sinagol and seaweeds in lime, as well as sea cucumber marinated in lime. These are seldom sold outside of this community.
“Eating these seafood is of course enjoyable but showing our guests how we catch them is another tourism product that I believe can be viable to us and interesting to our tourists,” he opines.
This include catching crabs, cuttlefish and prawns. Tourists are taken out to sea and taught to catch these seafood, he says adding that they won’t have to go to far out as cuttlefish and prawns are plenty when they are in season.
“We will take them out to sea and show them how we fish. We will also bring them to the bagang (Stationary lift net) to take in the catch. Bagang catch are usually fishes, squids, and prawns. During Bubuk (krills) season, they can also enjoy bringing in these small fry prawns.”
Besides their food and fishing activities they are also very proud of their traditions, one being their dances. Their dances are called Pakiring, Daling Daling and Igal igal among others. These graceful dances are presented during festivities and also when the time comes, for group visitors to the area.
Liasin’s brother, Haji Guldam Kaloh is in charge of the traditional dancers, who numbers eight in all. They perform during the Kota Belud Tamu Besar as well as upon requests mostly by dignitaries and weddings.
There are chalets in Usukan that can be utilised. These accommodation will be upgraded periodically to meet the market demand. They will also work together with one of the established tourism spot there Usukan Cove for certain tour and promotions.
For those who wish to contact Liasin for more information on their tourism products they may call 019 8306969.-BNN
