Farewell to Borneo but not before the longhouse experience I craved

---

Day 303: Tuesday 28th April - The wonderful riverside setting of Kuching

Kuching is another city in Borneo where the long-distance bus station is on the outskirts of the city. A couple of helpful locals point me in the right direction of where I can catch a local bus to the city centre. I check in to Singgahsana Lodge which is surprisingly very good and hip for a hostel in Asia, although the price does reflect this. After having some breakfast I start to explore Kuching, Sarawak’s main city and one full of history. Sarawak was a part of the Sultanate of Brunei 200 years ago but as a reward for help in putting down a rebellion, it was ceded to the British adventurer James Brooke who ruled it as his personal kingdom. Kuching was made his capital and headquarters. The Brooke Administration was given the status of British Protectorate under Rajah Charles Brooke's rule and the Brooke family ruled Sarawak until the Japanese occupation in December 1941. After the end of World War II the third and last Raja, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke ceded Sarawak to the British Crown in 1946. Sarawak and the British Commonwealth fought an "Undeclared War" with Indonesia to keep Sarawak from being absorbed into Indonesia. The British gave Sarawak independence in 1963 and together with Sabah, Malaya and Singapore, helped form Malaysia on 16 September 1963.

I was hoping to learn about Kuching’s colonial past in the Sarawak Museum. Sadly, there is no mention of it. Instead the museum is devoted to displays on oil, natural history and Sarawak’s indigenous people. The museum is okay, but nothing really grabs me in the old wing nor the new wing which is devoted to a temporary display on posters and a display upstairs on pottery. I leave the museum and walk along the charming riverfront. On the opposite bank of the river are the astana (where the governor of Sarawak resides), the new parliament building which is under construction and Fort Margherita. I catch a boat across to get a closer look at Fort Margherita. The fort itself it falling apart and it is a shame that the Sarawak government can’t channel some of the millions of Ringgit that are going into the building of the new parliament into conserving the fort which was built by Charles Brooke in 1879 to protect the city. It seems to me as if Kuching is trying to forget its colonial past. As interesting as anything on the opposite bank of the river is the walk through the kampung to get to the fort, its tight lanes bustling with energy and life.

It takes only 3-4 hours before I’ve seen Kuching’s highlights. It doesn’t feel like a city of over half a million people. I return to my hostel to see if Kevin from Tropical Adventures agency has responded to my email. With no response I give him a call and he tells me he will send me a mail within half an hour. An hour and a half later I get a brief response telling me that he has sorted out the longhouse stay for tomorrow and will finalise the details of my compensation package later this evening. With this seemingly resolved I walk to Kuching’s shopping malls to see if I can replace my hiking boots. I have no joy finding what I am looking for but do enjoy the sunset over Kuching river. When the day draws to a close I am still no clearer on what is happening tomorrow.

Day 304: Wednesday 29th April - The longhouse experience I craved

What a stressful morning! It’s like being at work again trying to juggle a few balls at the same time. This is supposed to be a holiday! (a long one admittedly!!) When I check my email this morning I still haven’t had a response from Kevin telling me what is happening today. I give him a call once the office as open and he tells me it is all sorted and that I will get picked up at 11am. I still am no clearer as to what the next 24 hours will involve, but he insists that he will send me some details by email in a few minutes. Complicating the picture, I have received a message from Mike and Trudi saying that they did the Mulu National Park trip with Tropical Adventures. I made a deal with Richard (who I assume is related to Kevin as they both have the same surname) that if Mike & Trudi booked the tour he would give me 300RM (£60) discount off my combined Mulu/Bario package. Kevin knows nothing of this which is no surprise so I ask him to check with Richard. I receive his mail outlining the details of the tour for the next 24 hours and he informs me that when I am picked up they will give me the 55RM additional cost I incurred in Bario. Whilst this is going on in the hour and a half before I am supposed to be picked up to go to the longhouse, I enquire at the desk if my washing is ready. I tell them I need it by 11am, which comes as a surprise to them. It shouldn’t as I told them this yesterday. So the hour before my longhouse trip I’m stressed about whether my washing will be ready in time and trying to sort things out with Tropical Adventures. I hope the trip to the Bidayun longhouse is worth it!

A few ladies from the agency drive me up to Annas Rais longhouse, an hour’s drive from Kuching. I keep them waiting 10 minutes until I finally get my laundry back. At Kampung (village)Annas Rais I am introduced to Jenny, my host, when I arrive and she explains what is on the agenda this afternoon. She works in the tourist information office at the entrance to the kampung, and will not finish work until 5pm, so tells me to relax for an hour or so until I am due to meet her nephew, to be taken on a fishing trip. I am having reservations at this stage about my arranged longhouse stay. First, like in Bario, I will not be staying in a longhouse. Strictly speaking, Jenny’s house is not part of the longhouse, although it is connected to it by a series of bamboo walkways on stilts that link the whole kampung. Also, I am wondering now how much interaction there will be with the people who live in the longhouse. I needn’t by concerned because the next 24 hours (not even that) give me the longhouse experience that I really wanted during my time in Borneo.

I meet Jenny’s nephew and two other boys to go fishing. I get on the back of a motorbike to make the short journey to the river. One of the boys has a spear gun so I am expecting we will be catching fish. The gun is more an accessory, they tell me that there aren’t many fish in the river and instead two of them put on a snorkel mask and start searching the riverbed for tikiung (snails) which we will later have for dinner. I don’t get involved with fishing for the tikiung, rather I sit talking to Jenny’s nephew for the duration of the stay at the river. When we return to the village, Jenny’s nephew gives me a guided tour of the kampung. There are 3 longhouses in the village, as well as a number of other homes connected via bamboo platforms, like Jenny’s. I learn that the population of Annas Rais is 1000, but only around 20% of the people permanently reside here. Those that do, seem to be the more elderly people, who have retired from work. There are few children, certainly none of school age and only a small number of younger people. The longhouses have been here for over 200 years, and unlike those in the Kelabit Highlands, there is still a community living in them. The kampung hasn’t been ignored by the developments of the last century, it has electricity and a number of houses appear to have satellite TV. The Bidayun’s haven’t forgotten their culture either. They may no longer be headhunters ( I am shown the skulls in the head house to prove they once were!) but they still make tuak (rice wine), cook using bamboo and share meals together.

When it starts to rain heavily, we pop into see Edward, who offers one of the homestay’s in a longhouse at Annas Rais. He is also related to Jenny - they all seem to be related in some way. His story is quite inspirational. He was left for dead in a road accident and following this decided to quit Kuching and bring his family back to his birthplace, where they helped to establish the tourism opportunities in the village. He offers me some tuak as we sit talking. It’s a bit early to start on the hard spirits (it is 35% proof) but I appreciate his welcoming gesture as we chat. The tuak is made from local fruits, honey, black sticky rice and herbs. I had been warned both in Miri and Kuching by people working in the hostels that Annas Rais was very touristy. I’m sure this is in part due to the efforts of Edward in showing the Bidayun culture to the wider world, however during my stay I see absolutely no other tourists. This makes the experience all the more real and special.
In the evening I share a meal in front of one of Jenny’s relations homes (I’m lost in trying to keep track!) in the longhouse. Around half a dozen of us, maybe more, as people keep joining and leaving the dining area, share in a meal of rice cooked the traditional way in bamboo, coconut chicken curry, sardines (which are surprisingly good!) and tikiung. The snails have been cooked in onion, garlic and lemongrass and after I’m shown how to eat them (you have to suck out the fleshy part) I find that they are also good. After we have finishing a superb meal - Jenny you can certainly cook - a bottle of rice whisky (arak) is produced. The rice whisky is distilled rather than fermented as is the case of the wine, and is even more potent, between 40-50%.

Over the course of the evening I enjoy the company of the villagers and between us we finish a bottle of the rice whisky whilst chatting and nibbling at the snails. I spend most of the evening talking to Arthur who has retired to the kampung after a career in Kuala Lumpur. It’s his birthday and we discuss football, the Bidayun’s, the colonisation by the British and the politics in Malaysia. He tells me that most people in Sarawak want the semi-autonomous state to become independent as they believe it would have a better future as it has plentiful natural resources. I ask why it joined Malaya, Sabah and Singapore in founding Malaysia. He tells me that all four states had two years to make up their minds after joining in 1963 if they wanted to remain in the newly federated country. Whilst Singapore chose to go it alone, Sarawak which at the time was involved in a conflict with Indonesia which was claiming it as its own, decided in the safety net of numbers in the new Malaysia. Later in the evening, Arthur and another guy bring out their prato’nks and start giving a traditional musical performance. The sound from the stringed bamboo gongs is a mixture of Chinese and Gamelan music which I discovered in Indonesia. After a few melodies they give me the chance to learn. It is harder than it looks, as simultaneously you try to tap the strings as demonstrated and beat the instrument. Arthur’s brother-in-law, Dominik, a retired accountant with Shell appears and he tells me how he studied in the UK. These two guys, who speak the best English, are the people I speak most with but it is special sharing an evening with them all. I comment at the end of the evening that after 10 months travelling you can get weary but nights like this, special experiences, inspire you and make you want to travel for another 10 months to discover more. And, yes I mean it.

A few of the men are Manchester United fans and Jenny has already said that I can watch tonight’s Champions League match on her TV. I am hoping I can persuade a few of them to watch the game with me. I’m thinking of a rice whiskey fuelled night, watching my team play with my new friends from the longhouse in the jungle of Borneo. I couldn’t script this better if I tried, but sadly most of them have to be up early tomorrow and the game doesn’t kick off until 2:45am local time. I bid Arthur a good night as we are the last one’s standing and we say that we will watch the game together. As it happens when I wake up two hours later, I end up watching the game alone. Still, watching a 1-0 victory to Manchester United in a Bidayun longhouse in the jungle of Borneo is awesome! What a day, what a night!

Day 306: Thursday 30th April - Farewell to Borneo and the Bidayun’s

I’m shattered when I get up this morning. Another of Jenny’s relations is taking me to the airport ahead of my noon flight back to Kuala Lumpur. I bid Jenny a fond farewell and thank her for the brilliant time I’ve had the past 24 hours. I would love to stay longer, but sadly I have only 2 weeks left on my Malaysian visa and a flight ticket already paid for, so reluctantly I part company. Jenny’s cousin (I think??) is as friendly as the rest of the Annah Rais community as we chat on our way to the airport. Fittingly, clouds hanging to the lush forest which rises steeply from the roadside is one of my final images of Borneo.

Oh Borneo. The mention of the word invokes images of lush jungles, waterways teeming with wildlife and longhouses. Over the past 3 weeks I have found all the above and much, much more. I have spent three and a half weeks here but feel I have just scratched the surface. I have seen just a few of its many national parks and a fraction of its abundant wildlife. I didn’t even venture up its most famous waterway - the Batang Rejang - and missed out the beautiful tropical islands and world class dive-sites off the east coast of Sabah. And that’s without mentioning Indonesian Kallimantan, which occupies three-quarters of the world’s third biggest island. There is simply so much to do and see in Borneo. Almost all my experiences over the last three weeks or so have been positive and enjoyable, only the trip to the Niah Caves (when I was probably ‘caved’ out) and the frustration at being denied a proper longhouse experience in the Kelabit Highlands were not. My highlights were the excellent Mulu National Park, Brunei and the longhouse stay outside Kuching. All offered something ‘different’ from what I have seen already on my travels. As much as anything though it is the people I have met that define Borneo for me. Super-friendly indigenous people in the form of the Kelabits and the Bidayun, friendly locals generally and some really nice fellow travellers I have met along the way.

---

Comments

[desahomestay]

Great photos
Hello Andrew..I am Deen from Golden Sand, Kelantan, Malaysia. You captured a great photos and look interesting. Em..I'll travel alone to Taman Negara, Pahang the end of this month. I love nature. I'll paint most of the Taman Negara photo on canvas soon. If u free visit my blog http://toksangkuthomestay.blogspot.com/ ok see ya

[Deen]

Nice photos
Hello..I am Deen, glad to see u and many nice photos from Sarawak..amazing! my email [e-mail] Deen