Village Homestay

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This morning I was picked up by my guide, Eric, and we drove for around 90 minutes toward the coast. Driving through, there wasn't too much to see, a few houses and a couple of businesses. We then met the boat man from the village where I'd be staying for 2 nights. We loaded all our gear on to the boat and took a seat which sounds a doddle, I can assure you, it's not! The boat headed down river toward the sea, it got a bit bumpy initially because of a change in tides and I was so glad I had a cushion to sit on! I'd love to say the view from the boat was amazing, however, there is a haze covering much of the country due to forest fires in Indonesia - it's been ongoing since around July and resulted in the schools in the area being closed for a couple of days. The haze meant I really couldn't see anything until we were pretty much arriving at the village.

We got to shore and jumped out the boat and headed up the beach to meet the family I'd be staying with. Lucky for me, I was staying in a brick house with an actual toilet! The house itself was really quite big and really brightly painted, we went into a dining area with a small kitchen off to the right, straight ahead was a huge empty space with a sitting area in the corner. My room was round the corner next to the room for my guide and a toilet and shower opposite. The floor is covered throughout with plastic sheeting, almost like kids table cloths and I had an old pair of shorts outside my room for wiping my feet on. I had a double bed and a fan which went some way to cooling me down when the generator was on. I met the lady of the house "Gatzam" who welcomed me in and showed me to my room. She had prepared lunch for us - shrimp and black bean with loads of garlic, fried chicken, boiled eggs with a home made sauce that was to die for and rice. I was told that we should eat first and she would wait until we had finished to eat. I felt a little uncomfortable with that, but it's their way so cracked on!

I was introduced to the rather large pet fresh water turtle too which didn't have a name so I named him Albert and it seems to have caught on already.

After lunch, Eric prepared meat for dinner and for a barbecue we would be having with a few villagers the following evening. I helped a little bit crushing lemongrass and being the official taste tester! With a bit of free time, I wandered down to the beach and took a few photos and had a look round the village. The village is a mix of very old wooden houses and a few brick painted buildings. There is a house being built next to the one I stayed in, as they're more skilled in brick building the villagers have got some Indonesian workers to come and build for them. As you wander around there are loads of chickens and a few roosters who make themselves known at silly o'clock in the morning! A few pet cats and quite a few stray dogs.

I then went for a drink at Bang's (meaning brother) Bar, this is a little shop next to the beach where you can get pretty much anything, I had a green jelly drink- pretty bizarre really, It was like Dandelion and burdock with jelly bits in. Whilst we were sitting there a young lad arrived and started to put 10kg bags of rice in to sacks. Apparently, he had 23 of them and was about to put them on his motorbike to take to the Indonesian border. I was quite intrigued to see how he was going to achieve this, but he managed it and off he went.

Next we took a ride on a motorbike (my first time ever on a bike and I ended up being pillion to the local policeman!) to see the pepper plantations and tree tapping, most of the tapping has stopped recently as the price for rubber has dropped by 3/4 in recent months, but I saw the process and how it all worked. We then continued on the bikes to a very peaceful and picturesque bay which is pretty popular as it's one place in the area where you can actually get a mobile signal! We also went to the last village in Sarawak marked by a sign and a good photo opportunity! Next on to the Indonesian border to have a look and a few photos and then the ride back to the village, on the way back, having been out for around an hour, we saw the guy with the rice on his bike having not gone very far!

When we got back, I met the owner of the house where I'm staying and husband to Gatzam, Bangzam, he'd been out working in the national park today so wasn't around when I arrived. When I got back in, I grabbed a quick shower; or bucket of cold water or two and got dressed ready to have dinner later and a couple of beers before a relatively early night and a big busy day the following day..

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Photos

Rice on a Bike
I still don't know how he got on the bike!

I Braved a Motorbike
It's fine, it was the police in charge!