Advertisement
Published: June 11th 2008
Edit Blog Post
So took a flight from Kuala Lumpur on the 25th May to Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. Spent a day wandering round Kuching, nothing too exciting to report but is a nice little place.
Got an early bus the next day, followed by a boat over to the Bako National Park to do some trekking. Arrived there by 9am so after a noodle breakfast went for a wander. Really nice jungle and loads of Macaques everywhere. A little scary though as they can be quite aggressive, so ended up carrying a monkey stick at all times for protection. Very nice jungle, although as usual the animals where all hiding away. There was a board walk leading over some mangroves to the start of the trails, so went down in the afternoon to find some animals. Really lucky and saw around 30 proboscis monkeys eating away in all the trees, so sat on the boardwalk and watched for a couple of hours.
Next morning went for another longer trek to a waterfall in the middle of the jungle. Really beautiful place, and you can sit on top looking at the water pouring over, all surrounded by thick jungle. The odd butterfly stopping
A collection of skulls
...from the head hunting days by to suck some salt off me. Had a swim in the very dark red water, not sure, very refreshing though. Unfortunately was alone so no pics, only memories! but was so beautiful!
Got the boat/bus back to Kuching the same day.
Next day went over to the Semengoh Orangutan rehabilitation centre. Arrived to find all the visitors being ushered back along the trail to the feeding platform as 'richie' was coming. Was a little intrigued so stayed near the back to see what was coming. HUGE orangutan walking down the path after everyone. Apparently wasn't in the mood and had been throwing stuff around. Apparently also one of his many wives had rejected him earlier that morning... not a happy monkey!
He came over to the other platform though and then snuck back into the jungle. Really amazing to see, really cool long orange hair and pretty much square in shape. Wouldn't mess with him!
Saw a mother and baby aswell that hung around for ages, so really cool just to stand and watch them moving around. Very cute little one! Just wanted to go and hug it. Probably would have been able to crush
First taste of Tuak
traditional rice wine...actually rather tasty! me though, sooo strong! (can't load the pics from bako and the orangutan place....will pop them on the next one hopefully).
Organised a long house trip for the 30th as was the Iban festival of Gawai, Harvest or New yrs depending on who you speak to. Onto a bus for 3 hrs and then 'auntie' picked us up from the bus station. About 7 of us into a couple of cars and stopped off at another long house on the way to see some skulls. Kept from the headhunter days and the 'brave' man in a coffin next to them (prob just see it in the back of the photo). Very intersting to see and apparently just from other Iban tribes people.
Then the tuak (rice wine) began. Tried a number of different types and had some local sweet cakes things (stuff photo). Then the party continued in the back of auntie's tiny car, with beers on the way to her long house. Again welcomed by tuak and had a chance to wander around. As you walked through the house you come out to the back door leading onto the huge verander which is made up from all
The party continues
..in the back of Auntie's tiny car the houses together. Couldn't believe how long it was!
After watching the wedding party arrive (30th is generally the wedding day) we went down to the river to wash/swim. Very refreshing as it was pretty humid. Back the house, sat on the floor in the kitchen with a few of the local guys...more tuak. After dinner had a quick nap and then ventured into the party with Charles(local guy...all have a english first name and a iban middle name). Sat near the back, basically to avoid being plied with alcohol. But after a couple of mins I was spotted, local lady with a bottle of whisky. One shot later, went to join some other local guys. By the time the rest of my group was out I'd had 3 whisky's, couple of wines (shots), a beer and a Langkow(shot)...you don't even wanna know what that is.....traditional whisky-thing...blows your mind. Needless to say the party began pretty quickly! All the locals going round with shot glasses forcing you politely to drink one. Basically the whole idea as it was explained to me... is to drink until drunken and then you sleep whereever you end up! Saw a few guys being
Long House
stairs leading up to all the houses carried away, pretty funny. Basically spent the rest of the evening chatting to locals, watching local music and dancing and dancing in the disco at the far end of the hall. Retired to bed around 3.30am!
Suprisingly alright the following day although, bit of a headache developed as the day wore on. Went to visit and make offerings at the graveyard of their ancestors over the river and then after a wash spent most of the day hanging around the house, eating and resting. That evening (31st) is their new yrs eve, so at 10pm back into the communal area for beer and more tuak, not quite as extreme as last night though, thankfully! Watched lots of traditional dancing with music and then had a go, badly. Funny though. At 12am had another tuak and then had to eat a boiled egg?! Apparently for luck or something..normally a chicken, but egg...chicken...suppose it doesn't really matter. Followed by cakes and sweet things. Retired around 1am.
Next day unfortunately we were taken back to the bus station by 11am, was supposed to be 4pm, but they had lots of things to sort for the evenings celebrations, the big one! A
Dinner Time
Sat in the families front room doubt if auntie would have been sober enough to drive anyway. They visit other long house..and you guessed it..tuak time!
But had a very fun time, and was really interesting to see how they live and celebrate! As we couldn't join their celebrations, we got a bottle of tuak and langkow to have back in Kuching, so after dinner had a mini Gawai of our own!
Next day had a day off to recover and just wandered Kuching and took a small boat over the river to see some of the more local villages. Interesting walk and tried some strange sweet things, possible chinesse, taste like semolina?!
Next day got a ferry to Sibu and then a river boat up to Kapit, where 'into the heart of Borneo' started the expedition. Good book! Wasn't really sure what to expect, and wasn't all that exciting really. Another busy little town with not much going on, but really nice to spend a couple of days getting a feel for the place, eating in the local night markets etc.
Got a boat back to Sibu and then a bus to Bintulu. A night in Bintulu and then took a
bus to the niah cave junction. A pirvate car later arrived at the Niah Caves national park. Had to walk through more jungle and then arrived at the caves. Never seen anything like it! HUGE! Amazing place, and lots of trails in the dark under the caves, navigating by headlight. Loads of swifts and bats, and the odd big cricket and cockroach. Ended up in the painted cave with some small pics on the wall. Crazy place and in the guide book it was compared to Zion in the matrix, very similar...like being inside the earth.
Another bus and arrived into Miri the same night. Really tired from all the rushing around so just having a relax before my flight over to Kota Kinabalu.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.072s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0445s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb