Washed by the waves of the Ombak Festival

On my recent drives to Desaru Coast, I was intrigued to see giant posters and buntings hung from lamp-posts emblazoned with the words, Ombak Festival.

The final part of the Welcome Dance performed on the
boardwalk at the Riverside Desaru Coast

When I learnt that the three-day inaugural Ombak Festival would coincide with the grand launch of Desaru Coast by His Majesty the Sultan of Johor, I was hopeful for an opportunity to visit this festival.

As soon as I got hold of the festival flyer headlined, FEEL THE WAVES! I studied the map of the coast with sites indicated to help visitors find their way around and a comprehensive guide to the various events and venues listed in a Festival Schedule.

Opened from 10am to 10pm, the first ever Ombak Festival @ Desaru Coast was introduced as Johor’s first coastal lifestyle event and would go on to be an annual event with specially curated activities.

The festival would feature the best of Johor to combine interactive activities with learning, promote homegrown talent and products, and showcase local expertise and creativity.

Everyone enjoys fireworks: View from
poolside, The Elephant and Butterfly 

The Desaru Coast Riverside was the main venue of the festival while beach-goers could take advantage of the exciting line-up of thrilling beach activities and water-sports action at the Desaru Coast beach.

The attractions at Desaru Coast would also offer specially curated events and exclusive promotions. In fact, the Desaru Adventure Waterpark offered exciting night activities, rides and entertainment, exclusively during the fest evenings.

Early on the first day of the Ombak Festival, I saw an excerpt of the Welcome Dance posted on my Facebook feed and hoped to catch a live performance while I was there.

At the close of the event for the official launch of Desaru Coast held on Day One of the fest, I was among media guests who were welcomed to dine at The Elephant and Butterfly, a poolside restaurant at The Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast.

Everyone enjoys fireworks and this was a vantage point for us to view the fireworks display scheduled for later that evening.

Cultural dance performance at the Amphitheater, Riverside

Meanwhile I could hear the excitement roaring from the activities happening at the nearby Riverside and Amphitheater as public visitors enjoyed outdoor fun and dined from a menu served by food trucks at Eat Street.

It had been a long day for me so I decided, “The first thing after breakfast tomorrow morning, I will visit the Makers City and Riverside to experience the various activities happening there…”

So there I was in the bright sunshine, at Makers City to see demonstrations and workshops to guide visitors in the art of making traditional kites, kompang (traditional Malay percussion instrument), angklung or musical instrument made from bamboo, tie & dye fabrics, and Wayang Kulit or shadow play figures, among other fun, learning activities.

Food trucks at Eat Street

I read the sign, RESPECT OUR COAST in front of the section set up by Desaru Coast specifically to educate and encourage visitors to do just that.

Several NGOs and organisations participated along with Desaru Coast with art displays, products and information to encourage visitors to adopt a lifestyle that would ultimately protect our coastal environment.

I particularly appreciated the strong message in an art installation created in the theme, “DON’T LET THE OCEAN GO TO WASTE” #RespectOurCoast that used recycled materials to portray sea creatures being choked to death by the careless disposal our plastic waste items.

Rock-climbing activity for kids

There was even a Juicycle – a clever contraption made with an exercise bicycle rigged up to a juice blender – for visitors to pedal hard in order to make the blender do its work!

It’s Free-of-Charge so visitors took turns to pedal and made the blender juice up a blend of watermelon cubes and crushed ice and later enjoyed the results: a well-earned slushee drink of refreshing watermelon!

It was good to see parents with their kids, taking part in activities here to instill in the young minds, the values and lifestyle habits that they should carry into adulthood.

I was pleasantly surprised to recognise a face among the many visitors, that of avid Hard Rock Pin Collector, Azri Abdullah (whom I met at a recent event with Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast!) who was there with his two children!

Then it was time for us to move to the Riverside for a quick browse, just enough time for me to discover Norli Creations, a local entrepreneur who is creating interesting fabrics using natural dye from ketapang leaves, native from this region.

Azri Abdullah riding the Juicycle!

The bespoke hand-painted batik creations by RANORM Batik Creations from Tanjung Sedili, also caught my eye but as we were on a media tour, I could not look any closer.

Instead, I comforted myself with a mental note to return at the next opportunity.

I had a separate schedule to Meet the Local Rockstars that afternoon [Read about it in a separate story] so this opportunity did not happen until the following morning!

While we were still there, the excitement at the Riverside went up a few notches when His Majesty, the Johor Sultan and his royal entourage arrived for a visit.

Our media group then headed to the Desaru Fruit Farm outlet at the Riverside to quench our thirst with tall tumblers of fresh juices made from fruits grown in a pesticide-free environment at their farm nearby.

My next window of opportunity to visit the Riverside again popped up when a media tour of the Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast was arranged for the following morning.

Designs by Norli Creations

The friendly organisers were aware that I’m already familiar with this hotel so I was given the option to skip the hotel tour and do something on my own!

Yay! I did not hesitate to seize the opportunity to have time on my own and agreed to regroup with them for the next part of the media tour.

As soon as my breakfast was done, I found my way back to the Riverside and made a beeline for the batik shop!

Din and his wife, Maimunah, of RANORM Batik Creation remembered me from yesterday’s visit and we spent time chatting about their batik business, established at Kampung Singapura in Kuala Sedili.

As its name suggests, this kampung originated from settlers who had moved to Kuala Sedili from Pulau Tekong in Singapore some three generations ago.

I could hear the announcements over the Public Address system about the activities happening in various parts of the Riverside so with my batik shopping done, I went to find out exactly what time and where the Welcome Dance would be performed.

Hand-painted batik by RANORM Batik Creations

The sight of dancers clad in their bright costumes gave me a hint that it was happening soon but I needed to know if I had sufficient time to enjoy the entire performance as I had to rejoin the media tour and visit the two courses at The Els Club Desaru Coast.

Happy that the dance should start soon, I glanced at my watch to estimate the time, glad that I should be able to enjoy the whole show.

While waiting for the performance to start, I had a few moments to mull over the various components that were being developed and how Desaru Coast was being transformed into a world-class holiday destination.

His Majesty, the Johor Sultan, on his tour of the Riverside

The master developer of Desaru Coast was Desaru Development Holdings One, a subsidiary of Desaru Development Corporation within the Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels group of companies.

As I was pondering over Who’s Who in this major development, it was uncanny who I should meet right there but Stephanie Saw, Group Chief Executive Officer of Themed Attractions Resorts & Hotels, who was also at Riverside to catch the dance performance.

We walked along the boardwalk to the best spot to view the performance and in spite of the scorching sun, the show just went on.

I enjoyed a live performance of the Welcome Dance
at the Riverside Desaru Coast

We were thoroughly entertained by the professional dancers from Pat Ibrahim Project Entertainment, who started the dance, gracefully waving colorful paper umbrellas – all in a row on the boardwalk – across the water feature at the Riverside with the façade of the Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast as its backdrop.

I recognised the music created in a montage of traditional Malay folk songs, arranged to an upbeat rhythm in a most infectious beat so that the audience too, could not resist moving their feet in sync with the dancers!

Satisfied that I managed to catch a live performance of the Welcome Dance, I shuffled my way back to the hotel, in my own version of the dance steps to the infectious rhythm of, “Lenggang Lenggang Kangkong…” that was still resonating in my mind.