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E-BORNEO.COM'S E-NEWSLETTER (22 MAY 2002)
Content
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1. Welcoming Back Note
2. Borneo Editorial: 'Harvest Festival'
3. What's New
4. Kaamatan/Gawai e-Cards
5. Borneo Tours Spotlight
6. Regional Hotels Promotions
7. General Travel Tips
8. Interesting Websites
9. World Cup 2002 Specials
10. Tell Your Friends About Us
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message for instructions on how to instantly unsubscribe. Thank you and fruitful reading.
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1. WELCOMING BACK NOTE
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Dear Valued Subscribers,
Welcome to the first edition of e-borneo.com's e-newsletter for 2002. It has taken us
awhile but here we are once again albeit with a slight change in content. As we'd
mentioned since late last year, the website underwent a shift in focus to travel and
related. Since 1999, we have been providing visitors with a variety of services and info,
but it was our travel and related pages that received the biggest pageviews and inquiries.
From your kind feedbacks, we learnt that majority of international surfers were more into
experiencing Borneo physically but highly valued the electronic experience before
travelling here. Since about 80% of our visitors are non-Borneons based on our server
stats, we have little choice but to revamp the site to serve the needs of majority.
In the same manner, responses from Borneons showed that travel related info for traveling
abroad or to other parts of Borneo were the most demanded content, hence, more regional
travel sections were introduced. As such, most of our non-Borneo sections such as
InsideInternet and the extremely popular Download and MP3 sections are now discontinued.
As a result, our e-newsletter has to be restructured in line with the shift in focus of
our website. Starting with this issue, the central theme of this e-newsletter will be
travel-related as well as website updates.
As for the ebusiness section that we used to include, we have now removed it from this
e-newsletter. However, given its popularity in the past, we will continue a seperate eBiz
and Internet 101 e-newsletter under the administration of richADZ, our service and content
provider. For those interested, please subscribe at:
URL: http://richadz.e-borneo.com/mailing.shtml
If you feel that the new theme of this e-newsletter is not to your liking, please kindly
unsubscribe yourself by following the simple instruction at the bottom of this email. Any
inconvenience caused is very much regreted. However, we would be most pleased if you would
continue to stick with us. If you have any feedback regarding the website and/or
e-newsletter, please feel free to email us at mailing@e-borneo.com
Thank you and happy reading!
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2. BORNEO EDITORIAL: Harvest Festival
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The month of May is the best time to visit Borneo because of the month-long indigenous
Harvest Festival celebration called Kaamatan (associated with the Kadazandusun community
in Sabah) and Gawai (associated with the Dayak community in Sarawak). The Kaamatan and
Gawai festivals, which are the only such festival celebrated in the whole world, will
culminate with a statewide celebration on 31 May and 1 June respectively. During this
month, many colourful and unique events have been lined up, which should give tourists
their money well worth. This year's festivals may be ending soon but there's always next
year, which we very much like to see you here. For more information about the festivals,
please find two interesting articles entitled: "The Rituals of Tadau Kaamatan
(Harvest Festival)" and "The Birth of Gawai Dayak and its Celebration" at
the Leisure section:
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/insideborneo/leisure.shtml
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3. WHAT'S NEW
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A lot of new things at the site since the last e-newsletter. For those who has not visited
us for awhile, below are some new additions/enhancements:
Travel Section
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Travel section going more regional - For international surfers to browse Asian hotels and
tours on stopover holidays before visiting Borneo or its neighbours, and for Borneons to
look for holidays and hotels abroad.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/
Regional Hotels
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Find hotels in the region (including Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, China, Hong Kong,
Cambodia, Laos, etc.) and get the best and cheapest hotel rates in the planet!
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/so-hotel.shtml
Regional Destinations
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Special extraordinary tour packages for various travellers from family to adventure travel
around the Asian region.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/so-destination.shtml
Borneo Specialty Tour Package
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Several rare and unique adventure tours not offered by any travel related authorities
worldwide.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/tours/
Custom Borneo Tour
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Interested to visit Borneo? Customise your travel itinerary and e-borneo.com will attempt
to provide you with the most cost-effective rate in the world.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/custom.shtml
New Web Search
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The older meta web search had been discarded for a fresher looking and more keywords
targeted search engine.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/websearch/
Special Columns
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There are now about 4 special columnists writing on a variety of topics. You can be one
too!
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/col/
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4. KAAMATAN/GAWAI E-CARDS
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Sent a unique Kaamatan/Gawai e-cards to your friends or loved ones during this Harvest
Festival celebration. It is also an opportunity to promote Borneo's cultural and natural
heritage. e-borneo.com is one of the few sites (perhaps the only one) that provide a free
Kaamatan/Gawai electronic greeting cards service. Please do take advantage of this and let
someone knows that you care. Hurry up, there's not much days left before the end of the
festivals.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/card.shtml
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5. BORNEO TOURS SPOTLIGHT
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Trans-Borneo 4x4 World Heritage Trail
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The TRANS BORNEO 4x4 Expeditions or more commonly called "Borneo Safari" is an
annual 4x4 adventure travel, organised since 1996. Nature, difficult terrain and the
relentless tropical weather put obstacles in our way requiring endurance, resilience and
patience from every single participant. But co-operation between teammates and fellow
participants of different nationalities overcame all challenges... Please visit the
following link for full details of the 2002 event:
URL: http://www.borneosafari.com/
<< Special Early Bird Discount:
<< 15% off if booking is confirmed
<< with full payment before or by
<< 30 June 2002
Down the Spine of Sabah (The Crocker Range)
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A trip taking you from sea level up into the cool heights of the foothills of Mount
Kinabalu, over jungle and challenging roads, across the Crocker Range and to the heartland
of the Murut community. This exciting trip also allows you to experience the life of the
locals as you will be staying in the middle of a Dusun/Kadazan community... Please visit
the following link for more details/itinerary:
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/tours/eb-sc.shtml
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6. REGIONAL HOTELS PROMOTIONS
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Marriott Hotel Singapore
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Special Low Rates; Valid now until Mar. 31, 2003.
Deluxe Room US$220 --> US$150
Deluxe Room With Breakfast US$232 --> US$166
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/ph/marriott_hotel_singapore.shtml
Holiday Villa Resort, Langkawi, Malaysia
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Free Nights Special; Offer valid from May. 01, 2002 to Oct. 31, 2002.
-Stay 5 nights, pay 4 nights.
-Stay 7 nights, pay 5 nights.
-Stay 9 nights, pay 7 nights.
-Stay 12 nights, pay 8 nights.
On room basis only (excluding breakfast).
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/ph/holiday_villa_resort_langkawi_book.shtml
Special Low Rates; Up to 1/3 off standard room rates; Valid now until Mar. 31, 2003.
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/ph/holiday_villa_resort_langkawi.shtml
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7. GENERAL TRAVEL TIPS
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- When packing: There are possibilities that your bag may be open for inspection. Try not
to over pack so that it can be easily opened and closed.
- Before leaving: Confirm your flight status before proceeding to the airport.
- At the airport: At the security check point, be prepared to empty your pockets. And also
be prepared to demonstrate the operation of any electronic devices (cell phones, laptop,
etc.).
- Boarding the aircraft: Try to board the aircraft ahead of time. There may be some
special announcements before take off.
Courtesy of PlanetHoliday
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Asia's premier Hotel Reservation site since 1997,
offering discounts of up to 75% off the regular
rates at hotels throughout Asia!
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/travel/ph/
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8. INTERESTING WEBSITES
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Voices from the Longhouse
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A personal website from a Sarawakian with the objective to voice out views on the life of
the Dayak people in Sarawak.
URL: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/1952/
Nigel Spencer Photography Homepage
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Mainly a HOT mountaineering site entitled "a digital tour of the mountains". We
reckon it has one of the best collections of digital travel images. Also include an
excellent section on Borneo. Please don't miss out on that link!
URL: http://www.nigelspencer.co.uk/
Borneo Language Homepage
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Not what you would expect. Not the spoken language but the IT programming language. But
interesting to note that the name Borneo could be as famous as Java.
URL: http://www.jddarcy.org/Borneo
If you have an interesting Borneo website to share with the rest, please email to mailing@e-borneo.com
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9. WORLD CUP 2002 SPECIALS
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Considering it will be the first FIFA World Cup to be held in Asia, a special section has
been created just for the football (that's how we call it here, instead of soccer)
fanatics. Check out a stage-by-stage prediction by a local football fan, and you are free
to disagree by posting your own prediction. Go to the URL below for more...
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/news/sp/wc2002/
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10. TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
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We hope that you have enjoyed the first 2002 edition of e-borneo.com's e-newsletter and
found it to be both informative and entertaining. Please forward this email to any of your
friends or colleagues who might be interested in our e-newsletter's content. If you
received this e-newsletter from someone else and wish to subscribe, please visit the
following URL:
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/mailing.shtml
If you have also found our website interesting, please help us to Spread The News. Tell
your friends about e-borneo.com at:
URL: http://www.e-borneo.com/cgi-bin/tellfriend/tellfriend.cgi
Happy Harvest Festivals to all our Kadazandusun and Dayak subscribers. Have an eventful
festive and looking forward to your continuous strong support this year.
STRIVING TO SERVE YOU BETTER IN 2002
Warmest Regards,
The e-borneo.com e-Team,
E-BORNEO.COM
http://www.e-borneo.com/
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