Serian & Iban Village Sarawak 31 March & 1 April 2016

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Serian & Iban Village Sarawak 31 March & 1 April 2016



After one night’s stay in Kuching, we all hopped into 2 vans to travel to a homestay in an Iban Village to learn of traditional ways as well as how things have changed since this head-hunting tribe have been influenced by the 21^st century.



We experienced the sealed but very bumpy roads of Sarawak. On the way we stopped at Serian to buy food for the village we were visiting. The markets were really interesting with a big variety of different fruit and veg. On my Borneo list included tasting Snake Fruit which we had never tried. I found some in this market along with star fruit (which is slightly like five-corner fruit).



The snake fruit skin is scaly, just like snake skin. It has white flesh with 3 large black seeds and tastes like a mixture of loquats and banana.



We were at Serian for about an hour and then drove for about 3 hours before we were met by a 4x4 which was going to take us the rest of the way to the village. We quickly understood why the vans didn’t take us all the way to the village. The road was incredibly pot-holed – and deep holes at that!!!! This part of the journey took 20 minutes with 4 of us inside the cabin and another 4 sitting at the back of the ute. Tom & I decided to use our age to our advantage so we sat in the air-conditioned cabin!!!!



On arrival, we were met by a lovely smiling lady of the house who was about 70+ years old. She had a 2-story house which was very basic with power cords hanging freely and things inside the home badly finished.



One aspect that we are really enjoying in Borneo is the incredibly friendly locals. Everywhere we have been, people say hello and their faces glow with happiness and friendliness. This includes all ages too. The people of this Iban village were no exception. We felt so welcomed.



We found we were all sleeping up stairs. The 4 couples had our own rooms and the single girls were lined up on mattresses outside the bedrooms. There were no fans, no flyscreens but each bed (all of which were on the floor) had mosquito nets.



Unfortunately, it was incredibly hot that night. I was in a bath of perspiration most of the night.



MENTAL NOTE: no more home-stays if we ever travel with GAdventure again.



But we were in the village to learn about the Iban tribe.



The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. In Malaysia, most Ibans are located in Sarawak, a small portion in Sabah and some in west Malaysia. They were firstly but now formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks especially in the Saribas and Skrang regions which are near the coastline and thus they had gone on expeditions along the coastline up to the Kapuas river delta in the south and the Rajang river delta in the north. However, those Ibans that had migrated and lived inland to upper Rajang river region was further upriver and did not really go downriver to the sea as often but they became into contact with local tribes such as the Baketan, Ukit and Kayan.



It is believed that the term "Iban" originates from the Iban's own formidable enemy, the Kayan who call the Sea Dayaks in the upper Rajang river region that initially came into contact with them as "Hivan". The Kayan mostly lives in the central Broneo region and migrated into the upper Rajang river and thus went logger-head with those Ibans who migrated from the upper Batang Ai/Lupar region and Katibas river. In fact, those Sea Dayaks in the Saribas and Skrang regions initially resisted being called Iban and insisted to be called Dayak but somehow the term Iban increasingly becomes popular later on after the European started to frequently used this term.



Ibans were renowned for practicing headhunting and tribal/territorial expansion, and had a fearsome reputation as a strong and successful warring tribe in the past. Since the arrival of Europeans and the subsequent colonisation of the area, headhunting gradually faded out of practice although many tribal customs, practices and language continue. The Iban population live in longhouses called rumah panjai.



Nowadays, most of the Iban longhouses are equipped with modern facilities such as electricity and water supply and other facilities such as (tar sealed) roads, telephone lines and the internet. Younger Ibans are mostly found in urban areas and visit their hometowns during the holidays. The Ibans today are becoming increasingly urbanised while retaining most of their traditional heritage and culture.



We clearly saw urbanisation in this Iban village as our guide walked us around the mainly sealed streets. We noticed solar street lights and some of the houses used solar energy. There was power supply to the village also.



School children were playing netball and running games and shyly waved to us as we passed by. The school had less than 40 children going to it. The village had a population of over 180 people.



We noticed that palm oil was creeping into the edges of the village and later heard that this village may be totally removed to make way for more plantations or other development or infrastructure. They have no land rights or entitlements so could lose their homes any time.



The lady of the homestay was very keen to give us some of her home-made rice wine. It was OK! That night for dinner we had the standard Borneo rural dinner – spicy chicken, forest vegetables, rice, banana fritters and tea or coffee. They had no refrigeration, only an ice box. We drank them out of beer which they sold to us for 5 ringgits per can of Tiger Beer. We first drank warm cans until we put all the other cans in the ice.



After dinner we were entertained by what was described as traditional music and dance of the Iban people. I actually think it was the elders just playing percussion instruments and the elderly ladies doing a few movements. Several of us did the ‘moves’ of the ‘dance’, but it was very hot. It was incredibly humid all the time.



The next morning after the very uncomfortable night, and after an egg, noodles, banana fritter and coffee breakfast, all but 4 of us went for an hour’s walk to a beautiful waterfall. The path through the jungle to the waterfall was very muddy and we were sometimes tramping in mud half way up our calves!!! It was very challenging, so much so that one of our group members decided to return to the house.



Once we got to the waterfall, we all had a welcome swim while the 2 village elder who had come with us, cooked our lunch.



They built a fire between the boulders next to the stream and stuffed bamboo with special forest leaves and peppered chicken. They also cooked rice and ‘forest fern’ which were the green we often had. As a starter, we were given bits of chicken which was the neck, feet and head of the chicken!!!! The Iban people eat every bit of the chicken. I passed up the offer!!! The rest of the lunch was quite tasty, particularly after a squeezed lime juice all over the rice and chicken.



We then returned through the mud, to the village, and packed our small back packs ready to return to Kuching. We found a hose to wash the mud off our boots before jumping in the 4x4 ready for our rough ride back to meet the vans.



We said our farewells to our hosts and thanked them for their hospitality. It took 4 hours to get back to Kuching. We were very happy to walk into the air-conditioning of the Limetree Hotel in Kuching.

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