Around the World in 80 Dresses

  As to see beautiful sarong-kebaya combinations you will have to travel to Bali. This island so distinctly different from other parts of Indonesia is imbued with Buddhist traditions. I had the chance to attend a royal funeral in Ubud and to witness this important event where a gamelan orchestra played, ladies wore their finest and a sarong seller offered her ware stored in a bundle on her head.   In Malaysia the sarongs are called songkets .  The main techniques are batik (see also post  A New Take on Batik, March 18 ) and ikat . Ikat is the name of a long process of binding the yarn to resist colour and dying it several times to obtain the pattern. Sarongs are now mainly confined to dancing performances and museums.  I bought the batik cloth with the blue flowers from Tiga Serangkai Design in Eastern Malaysia and the black and brown one in Malaysian Borneo from Sarawak Design. In the olden days my red sarong with the golden threads would ha...

The sarong with a tightly fitted blouse used to be the everyday outfit all over South-East Asia. Now, it has given way either to Western fashion like in Thailand or to Islamic attire like in Malaysia and Indonesia. The sarong and blouse or kebaya (see post Betty's Kebaya, June 24) is often reserved for ceremonial events or for women working in the tourist sector.   Only the Buddhist country Myanmar and Bali, the Indonesian Buddhist province, are holding on to the tradition of beautiful sarongs. You just have to look at Myanmar’s political icon Aung San Suu Kyi and you can see how becoming this uniform is.     Have you ever tried to row a boat while standing on one leg only? The fishermen on the Inle Lake in Northern Myanmar are performing this acrobatic act every day. I took a boat on this beautiful lake to visit the Khit Sunn Yin Lotus Weaving Centre perched on stilts over the waters. The Lotus weavers still practice hand weaving for traditional sarongs....

  I met Betty at a coffee shop in Singapore’s Thomson neighbourhood where she was living. She hails from a Eurasian family, the smallest ethnicity in this cosmopolitan city-state. Her Portuguese ancestor married a Chinese lady and they stayed in Singapore ever after... Once Betty invited me for New Year’s Eve to celebrate with her close knit family. With our chopsticks we tossed the traditional salad from its huge bowl into the air as high as we could. The winner would have good luck for the year to come. Later on we exchanged presents in little bright red parcels and played cards. Behind the façade of their sky scrapers and glitzy malls Singaporeans are traditionalists and love to spend time with the family clinging to their customs in a speedily changing environment.   When I unwrapped my present I was thrilled. I found a beautiful kebaya which had belonged to Betty’s mother. In the olden days Singaporean Eurasians and Peranakans of mixed Malay-Chinese parent...