Mount Santubong

Mount Santubong is a mountain in the Malaysia state of Sarawak. It is located about 35 km north of the state capital Kuching.

On a clear day, it can be seen from Kuching. The mountain and its surrounding area is a popular tourist attraction.

According to the Encyclopaedia of Iban Studies the original inhabitants of Santubong were the Iban. Si-antu-ubong means 'spirit boat' in the Iban language. Antu is hantu in Malay which means spirit or ghost. Santubong are boat like coffins made from a single hollow log designed to represent the vesell in which a dead person will travel from this world to afterlife. Following another theory, the name Santubong is derived from "san choo bong" in the Hakka Chinese dialect, meaning "wild pig king" or "king of wild pig".

Excavations of the surrounding area uncovered Hindu and Buddhist relics from the 9th Century CE. Song and Tang dynasty ceramics are also found, indicating that the area around the mountain was a trading port from the 11th to 13th century.

A legend often associated with the mountain is of two beautiful princesses of heaven, Santubong and Sejinjang. Santubong was an expert weaver while Sejinjang was an excellent rice tresher. When war broke out between two villages,Kampung Pasai Puteh and Kampung Pasai Kuning, the King of Heaven sent the princesses to keep peace in both villages. The villagers saw both beautiful princesses and stopped the war. After the war, both princesses taught the villagers their expertise and both villages began to trade and became prosperous. Many princes heard of them and came from the whole island to marry them, but all was denied by them. One day, a handsome prince came, and the princesses had a quarrel and exchanged blows because both of them fell in love with the prince. Sejinjang swung her tresher which hit Santubong's cheek. Santubong threw her weaver at Sejinjang, hitting her in the head. Putting an end to the quarrel, the King of Heaven cursed both of them into mountains. Santubong turned into Mount Santubong while Sejinjang was turned into Mount Sejinjang. It is said that both mountains resembles women lying on their back and a crack on Mount Santubong was the scar on Princess Santubong's cheek.