Beers with the Bawang Boys of Bario

---

Hey!, just in case you cant see the images clearly, if you click on the photos you will get a bigger image if you want.

We entered our next leg of Borneo in the city of Miri, Sarawak. Miri is an oil town in North East Sarawak and from here we visited the caves of Mulu national park, which are only reached by aeroplane so we were met at the little airport in Mulu by "Mr Think" who drove us to our little resort that we would stay at and appeared to be the only guests. We took a walk with one of the guides on a 3km plank walk through the jungle, which by now we had come to appreciate some of the unusual insects that you find in Borneo such as the Lantern bug - a strange moth with a very long nose. Upon reaching the caves we first visited Langs cave which is what is described as an ornamental cave due to the beautiful stalagtites and stalagmites. This place was impressive enough but we were most excited to get to Deer Cave and live out our David Attenborough moments from Planet Earth. On approach we were just awe struck by the enormous entrances to the caves. Secondly the infamous Gauno (bat poo) smell begins to waft up your nose and gets stronger and stronger until you are actually standing next to mountains of the stuff which in places is up to 3 metres deep - so enough to drown in. When you shine your light on it to get a better look there are many cockroaches having the feast of their lives. The ceiling of the cave is almost blacked out by the millions of bats that call this place home. Making our way further through this immense cave you see green light at the end of the tunnel which is called the garden of eden and it certainly looks like that when your standing in the huge blackness of the cave. After leaving the cave we waited outside to watch the bats leave at dusk. This does not happen every day but we were very lucky and they started to go out in groups in corkscrew motion up into the sky. Its an impressive display that goes on for a couple of hours.

Our second day in Mulu was spent visiting a Penan settlement and another two caves which were also very impressive but Deer Cave was our favourite. The Penan are indigenous people and were originally nomadic but the Malaysian governement didnt like the people "living like animals" as one minister put it, so they gave them many incentives to settle but the people didnt know how to settle properly or grow vegetables and many became depressed and got diseases that they never had before and subsequently didnt receive the level of healthcare that they were promised. None of this was mentioned as part of the tour but we found out about this later in our stay in Sarawak.

Mr Think took us back to the airport to return to Miri the next day and we realised that as well as being the driver, boat operater and general worker or manager at the resort he also seemed to think he worked at the airport and was going behind the desk putting his feet up and having a cigarette, wondering into the office, using the computer etc...he was a bit of character and the folks officially working there didnt seem to mind at all.

Next stop from Miri was to visit another cave system, the Niah Caves. This national park obviously does not receive the same funding or attention as Mulu and immediately you can see that the walkways are not as well maintained and some are in disrepair. The caves were also huge and impressive but it was much more difficult to go through than those at Mulu as it was soooooo slippy and we only had torchlight. It ended up making us both miserable as we were almost falling and breaking our necks every five minutes, that and the alien like enormous cockroach-like insect with one leg much longer than the others that was scurrying about in the dark and it was like somehting from a horror movie and has probably been used as a basis for sci-fi monsters.

We met a Scottish man in the hostel in Miri who lives in OZ and he had just returned to Miri from a place called Barrio in the Kelabit Highlands (an area more remote and internal in Borneo) and close to the border with Indonesia. He raved about this place and also the flight in the small aircraft across the jungle is worth it just for that. We were inspired by what he said so off we went on the little 16 seater plane across the jungle. This was very exciting and when we reached our destination in the highlands it was cloudy but the pilot must have spotted a small gap in the clouds and it felt like the plane nose dived into the little airport (made a worrying noise like a World War II bomber whilst doing this) probably to make sure he didnt miss the spot and have to return back to Miri. When we arrived, we could tell this place was a different kettle of fish. Two elders of the kelabit people were in the airport and they had the traditional clothes and stretched earlobes. We had to add our names to a list so that the airport knew when we want to fly back as they have no computers to record the details just good old pen and paper. The women at the airport reccomended that we stay at the village longhouse, so after getting dropped off in the village centre we walked about 2 km to the longhouse. The folks there didnt speak any English. They let us come into the house and it was impressive to see how people live their with large communal areas and lots of places for fires to cook on. Some Malaysian guys turned up on a recce for potential sites to set up a wind turbine to hopefully power a computer school. They were able to speak with the people there and translate back to us and they told us that as it was rice harvest the longhouse inhabitants were too busy to host us properly. We were a little dissapointed but understood so the guys from the wind turbine company let us jump in the back of their pick up and they dropped us off at a home stay in the village. We were given lunch and were joined by a Swedish guy called Hans. He had been to Barrio the previous year and this was his second time. He had made friends with some Penan people that had came into Barrio to make some money on the rice harvest. He took us on a walk up to their settlement to meet them. We met Samuel and his wife, sister and brother in-law. They didnt speak much English or Malay but gave us some tea whilst we tried to communicate with each other. Hans was trying to improve his Penan. We learned how to say thank you "dan kaneen" and Sams wife gave us some Rattan bracelets before we left.

On our way to visit Samuel, we had noticed an overturned tractor in a ditch which was filled with water. We were concerned that someone was still in there. Some village guys jumped in to check, but luckily nobody was inside. There were a pair of rubber boots at the side of the ditch and soaked shirt. This ended up being the village gossip later as it turned out that an Indonesian worker (also there for the rice harvest), had taken the tractor without his bosses permision (apparantly the boss was back in Miri). He crashed it then he took off running into the jungle, so at least he probably was not hurt. Not having crashed/rolled a tractor im not sure what goes through your mind but he obviously thought it a good idea to remove his shirt and shoes prior to running off. When we thought about this though, it is slightly worrying as this place is very very remote and if he was trying to get back across the border to Indonesia, Im sure it would take a week of hard hiking (without shoes), especially at that time when it was flooded and muddy everywhere and some of the local guides told us that they had had to trek through mud up to their chests. Who knows where he went to? There were a couple of very small villages nearbye but I would guess that word would get round about what he had done.

That night the weather was terrible, completely raining, we found ourselves worried for the Penan in their half finished hut and that they might be cold and wet. The kitchen at our homestay completely flooded and so did the roads outside, cutting us off a bit from everything. Vik came down with a bad cold and earache and we wanted to get to the small clinic for some paracetamol. We trekked through mud with sodden boots and finally arrived. The workers their were lovely and chatted away. Despite feeling miserable we thought that we should walk to the next village and check that out. The village was small but easily one of the most tranquil villages we have been to. We returned to Barrio, grabbed a couple of beers and sat in at the roadside to enjoy the sun going down. The beers were very medicinal (excuses, excuses) and went down well, so we headed to the shop to grab a couple more. A group of local kelabit guys were sitting enjoying beers outside the shop and were forcing some beers on us, so if you know what we are like then we certainly couldn't refuse! We bought some beers and placed them in with the rest and there started our night with the Bawang boys of Barrio, bawang means "village" in Kelabit (and it means "onion" in Malay). These guys were very freindly, laid back and interesting and mainly just a bloody good laugh. Slowly one or two went away and we were there with the die hards till the end and ended up on Karaoke and watching one guy playing blackjack. Every time he did he kept buying another beer for us whilst Vik was singing the only one she thought she knew on the karaoke (Elvis and Suspicious Minds). It was a pretty drunken night by the end up.

All too soon we had to leave Barrio, and wished we had allowed more time. The food of wild boar, famous Barrio rice and exquisite pineapples was amazing. We got in our little plane and practically sitting in the cockpit, which was really nice. Viks ears were killing though and she was hungover and full of the cold, so we planned to have a few days at the hostel playing with the crazy cat womens 5 adult cats and 4 kittens that reside there.

Things were gearing up for Chinese New Year in Miri before we left and there was a market on every night that we checked a few times, ate some dumplings and Taiwan sausage, tried some of the multicoloured juices on offer. We decided to get to Kuching (a 14 hour bus ride away) for Chinese New Year, but actually missed a lot of the fun as we travelled on New Years Eve (the only buses left) but we pulled into a town called Sibu right at midnight and the fireworks were all going off all over town and the whole place was filled with smoke. Interestingly, fireworks are actually illegal in Malyasia, but as so many people set them off there is no way the police can enforce it. They just get them smuggled in from China.

We got into Kuching too early to check into the Borneo Seahare. This hostel is not staffed so you have to tell them when you will arive so that they can meet you to let you in. We sat on our bags in the miserable weather for an hour and a half (nothing was open as it was chinese new year). Wesley and Theresa, the young couple who own the place turned up on the agreed time to let us in and informed us we were the only people staying so we would have the place entirely to ourselves. This was just great as there was a kitchen, tv and dvd player, so it felt like we had our own apartment. We asked about what we could do for chinese new year as everything was closed, and we had heard something called "open house" and where can we go to one. They informed us that they have an "open house" and we can come to theirs for lunch. They picked us up, drove us to their house out in the suburbs and treated us to lots of lovely sweety treats, nuts, cheese, ham, beer then we went to visit Theresas aunties and again had more treats, then another aunty and more treats, then a friend then more treats then back to their house for some wine and more treats. We were overwhelmed by the amazing hospitality and that this was what Chinese New Year is about, a time to spend with family and friends, it was really lovely. Wesley showed us his blue ray player (and played us Planet Earth with Deer Cave) we are now absolutely sold on it and will hopefully get one we get home. After blue ray we went to another family home, where lots of people were there spending time together and we were again given more food. These guys know how to be hospitable and are some of the nicest people we met. It was a great experience, thanks guys!

Wesly and Theresa told us that there will be a lion dance troupe visiting the hostel in a couple days. They arived banging the drums and two lions shaking and dancing outside (and outside was where they thought they would stay), then they started climbing the narrow stairs still dancing and drums and cymbals banging. They entered the hostel and started dancing around it. Wesley gave the two lions a plate of oranges and cabbage. The lions lay down and we thought the guys inside must be eating the food as we could smell the oranges, but then the lions came back to life and presented Wesley with the fruit and cabbage all peeled in a decorative way. Wesley told us that it is tradition to start off the new year by getting a lion dance perfomed at your business or home to give it good luck. This service is free but a donation is expected.

Sarawak was definately our favourite part of Malaysia, but then again we think that this was mostly down to the people that we met when we were there. We had been in Malaysia for 6 weeks and it was starting to feel like home. We decided to take a flight to Jakarta and started making our way across Indonesia...........

---

Photos

Deer Cave
Spot the size of the people on the walkway to almost appreciate the scale, except we are still only halfway through the passage

Wind Cave
The Kings Chamber

On the way up river
On our way to visit the Penan settlement and the Clearwater and Wind Caves

Bario Longhouse
In the communal area - no people around due to the rice harvest

Sams house for the rice harvest
in the middle of reconstruction after having to move across the river

Vik with Hans
On our way from visiting the Penan in the floods

Neil traipsing through mud
trying to get to the clinic now that the roads are blocked due to the floods

Floods in Bario
Roads blocked off made it difficult to get back to our accomodation on the other side of this temporary lake

Cute as a button
This little leaf insect was sooooo cute and was watching us with curiousity whilst we were watching it

On our way back to Miri
No security checks, having to get ourselves on the scales pre-departure and in-flight chat with pilots, no computers at the airport - this is sweet

Psychadelic drinks in Miri
These are colours not found in nature!

Lion dance at the hostel
after they mysteriously decorated the fruit

Baby Orang Utan
At the rehab centre in Kuching

Kuching
Trying to grab a snap of the town in the 2 minutes there was no rain

Comments

[Alanna]

:p
Very nicely-written :P Being a Sarawakian, I am glad that u love this place

[Kev McGill]

U hink you r lucky!
Co2 plant looks braw the day! What aboot the full story aboot the Bawang Boys of Bario? Sure they were at the festival last year - a better gay dancing troup yer no likely to see! Blog looks soooooooooooooo professional, 2 much time on your hands or cutty cutty pasty pasty and photoshop used. Ye couldnae tempt me wi aw they quality sites , experiencies, culture and time off. Er , am seeek! Have a good 1 watch out for denghi fever. Sausages. All at Torness - Sure yer no wanting a job? preflight checks for LPR are due!