Sep 2007

After we returned from the wilderness of the Kinabatangan River, we decided to take a day to relax at our favorite budget hotel, Mayfair. Perhaps the greatest perk of returning from electricity-less, humid, muddy nature is the joy of basic, modern conveniences. Five A/C'ed movies later (and several showers), we emerged ready to tackle our next wildlife activity. We found an transpo agency that could take us to Turtle Islands National Park, which is located some 40 kilometers north of Sandakan city in Sabah, off the coast of east Borneo/Malaysia. Due to regulations from the Sabah Park Authority, the number of visitors to the islands is quite limited, so we were thrilled to get the chance to go on such short notice.

Turtle Islands NP consists of 3 islands, Pulaus Selingan, Bakkungan Kecil and Gulisan. It is most famous for the green and hawksbill turtles which lay their eggs nightly on the beaches of the islands- usually the same beach where they once were hatched, decades earlier. Booking the trip was a snap, and the next morning we found ourselves awash in sunlight, bouncing along picture-perfect emerald water out into the open sea.

The itinerary for a trip to Turtle Islands NP goes something like this: arrive mid-day, have lunch, and spend the afternoon paddling around the shallows, snorkelling in the reef, or sun worshipping on the powdery sand. The real action doesn't start until after dark when all visitors are corraled into a waiting area to await the call from the park ranger that a mother turtle has come ashore. Park rules and regulations are strictly enforced and visitors are not allowed on the beach from sunset to sunrise so as not to disturb the turtles. After an incredible sunset (made perhaps more impressive by a distant lightning storm we could see just beyond the mainland over the water), we took our dinner and began the turtle waiting game. Our guide Rose said that the longest she ever had to wait with a group was until 4:00 AM. Hopefully that would not be the case for us.

While waiting, we enjoyed some beers and dinner with new friends Moniek and Sven from the Netherlands, and Christian and Lotte from Denmark. For the first time on our trip we had met two other couples doing exactly as we were- travelling for a year. Hopefully our paths will cross again accross SE Asia and Oz/NZ.

When we got the call from the ranger, we all were rushed to the beach. No flashlights are allowed (they might disturb the laboring mother), so it was quite dark. The stars over the beach were brilliant, though, and lit the way once we cleared the palms overhead. There on the sand was a giant green turtle, laying eggs. She was facing towards the forest, and according to the forest ranger was in some sort of birthing-mental-zone, where she was completely unaware of our presence. She had dug a hole in the sand (a nest for her eggs) and we could see the eggs falling from her, white, perfectly round, and almost resembling ping-pong balls. As soon as they dropped into the nest, a ranger quickly retrieved them for reburial in the hatchery off the beach where they would be safe from predators. The mother didn't see any of this, of course. It felt a little wrong that we should all be there watching her struggle through labor, but the rangers handled it very professionally and tastefully. After the laying and collection of eggs, and eventual tagging of the turtle if it is a ‘first time visitor’ (which our turtle, "Christina," was), we were taken up to the hatchery to observe the further work of the rangers: the transplantation of the freshly laid eggs into a man-made incubation chamber. The burial chamber is no different from that the mother turtle digs on the beach: 60-75 cm deep, but within a protected hatchery to make it impossible for natural predators to dig the nests open. Interesting note, since temperature determines the sex of the turtles, part of the hatchery is shaded, while the rest remains under the open sun.

After the transplantation of the eggs, we were taken to a beach on a different side of the island to watch turtle hatchlings as they were released into the sea. This is also done at night as to further increase their survival chances. Pictures were allowed, but without flash, so it's difficult to see what's going on:

arrival

view of surrounding islands... many of these are part of the Philippines, and not Malaysia

turtle tracks on the beach from the night before

the hatchery

green turtle laying her eggs- no flash, so difficult to see...

the turtle eggs

The next morning after our visit to Turtle Islands National Park, we got the bus to drop us off at the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, supposedly the largest and best orang utan sanctuary in the world (there are four total, in case you were wondering). These orang utans are all orphaned or rescued from domesication at local farms, and are at the sanctuary to be taught the climbing and food-gathering skills vital for survival in the wild. Some of the orang utans will eventually leave Sepilok for placement back in their natural habitat. Others prefer to stay at the sanctuary, and will live out their lives there. Either way, the staff take care of them for as long as it takes. Every day at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM sanctuary rangers bring the orangs food at a feeding platform easily visible from the walkway beneath. They are given the same meal every day in hopes that this will encourage them to seek other food elsewhere for diversity in diet. We were told the staple meal was bananas and milk, but the orangs we saw were fed rambutan fruit and bamboo. Perhaps that's the "rainy day" meal? At the end of the session, a mother and baby approached the platform, which was awesome to see. Anyway, we'll let the pictures do the talking here. We spent over an hour watching these amazing creatures and their antics:

After we finished up our incredible week in Kuching, we took a flight to the not-so-gorgeous city of Miri, in northern Sarawak province, just south of Brunei. Our only reason for stopping over in this grey, dreary town was to catch a connecting flight on a smaller plane to Mulu National Park, Sarawak's "premier national park and largest conservation zone" and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mulu is only accessible by 15 minute flight on a Fokker 50 prop plane, or 12 hours on the river. We chose the plane.

Mulu is an incredible place to visit, nestled deep in the northern interior of Sarawak, Borneo, and features the largest limestone cave system in the world, thousands of species of plants and animals, and three mountains dominated by dramatically eroded features- including the Pinnacles, which are dozens of fifty-meter high razor-sharp limestone spikes formed by the constant splatter of raindrops onto the south face of Gunung (Mount) Api, 5 million years ago.

Back in Miri, though, we checked into an abysmal, disgusting little squalor-hole, Fairland Inn, and set out on foot in the rain to find eats. In desperate search of halfway-decent looking (or just smelling... we'd take smelling) food, we had a moment of weakness and actually bought (and consumed) stale cookies and boxes of milk from a grocery store on the street in the rain. We spent the rest of the evening holed up at Fairland playing Egyptian Ratscrew.

The next day we couldn't wait to get back to the airport and fly to Mulu. It was really amazing seeing all that untouched rainforest out the plane window, with no mark of man-made features or development cutting into the landscape. Once we landed, we were ushered by van to the park HQ, about 500 meters from the airstrip. After visiting Taman Negara in peninsular Malaysia and then Bako and Mulu National Parks in Sarawak, we definitely think that the organization, resources, cleanliness, and helpfulness of guides at the parks on Borneo is markedly better. Mulu's accomodation was spacious, cheap (50 RM for private, large hardwood-floored fan room with private shower and Western toilet), and very clean. The Cafe Mulu was a little overpriced, but the food was good quality, averaging about 11 RM each per meal.

Catt, on arrival at Mulu

As soon as we arrived, our Dutch friends from Bako National Park, Carina and Johan spotted us from the river that runs below the entry walkway into the park, and we met up for lunch. We spent the next two and a half days with them having great conversation over meals, swapping stories about American and Dutch culturisms, kite surfing, and crazy reality TV shows. It was great having their company, and we hope to see them again in the US or Europe!

After lunch, we decided to head to Deer and Lang's caves, hoping to catch the mass exodus of bats from Deer cave as the sun set that evening. Our guide took us to Lang's, first. It is the smallest of the 4 caves open to the public ("show caves", as they refer to them) and has weird and beautiful rock formations- curtain stalactites and coral-like growths. Even without a tripod, Catt was able to catch some amazing pictures. The man has got a steady hand.

We then continued to Deer Cave, which contains the largest cave passage in the world. We were told that St. Paul's Cathedral and six soccer fields could all fit inside the opening. Even after walking 1 km into the mouth of the cave, it's sheer enormity makes one feel as though it has barely been entered. The cave mouth is 174 meters high, and far up above live thousands of bats, as well as swiflets, whose nests are highly coveted by the Chinese for bird's nest soup. Indeed, per kg, swiflets' nests cost the same as silver in the outside world. The ground of the cave is covered in black guano, and if you point your light on it you can see thousands of grubs and worms living in it. The cave is also home to some truly gigantic spiders- watch where you put your hand!

the view from Deer Cave's mouth out... the rocks sort of look like Abe Lincoln's profile

That evening we waiting at the observatory to see the millions of bats fly out of the cave in protective doughnut formation into the night sky in search of food. Unfortunately, it was raining, so the bats were a little sluggish- and took an extra two hours to exit. By the time we started our walk back to our accommodation, it was already dark.

Megan gazing up at the limestone cliffs at the bat observatory

The next few days we had the chance to do several great hikes- to Paku waterfall in knee deep mud with Carina and Johan (somehow we staved off leeches), a walk on the jungle canopy suspended bridge (more impressive than the one at Taman Negara, and longer!), a trek through butterfly-filled jungle to Moonmilk Cave, and a longboat trip to visit Clearwater and Wind Caves. The Clearwater cave system is thought to be the longest in Southeast Asia, and deep inside, features the subterranean Clearwater River, which flows through a five km. passage and is, at its widest, about 90 meters across. Strange to see such a large waterway, running underground in total pitch blackness. Afterwards, we were able to take a refreshing swim in the jungle pool outside the cave entrance off of Selingau Melinau.

Clearwater and Wind Caves:

swimming outside of Clearwater Cave

Pictures from our trek to Paku Waterfall, the Canopy Walk, and some funky bugs:

with Johan and Carina on the canopy walk

Catt and a massive tree trunk in Mulu National Park

The hands-down strangest experience we had at Mulu was the night-time ghost disco music. We'd be lying, half-asleep, when through the still, jungle air we heard a blaring "Burn, baby burn... disco inferno... burn, baby, burn." Apparently not the carousing departed spirits of the tribes of the Melinau, but rather a restaurant, just beyond park headquarters, which blasts 70's tunes every night from like 10:00 PM until God knows when. Very strange. And disorienting.

Four days later, we bid Mulu adieu and flew to Kota Kinabalu, or KK as it is locally known, the capital of Sabah province, and a great city on the north coast of Borneo. We checked into a little place called Backpacker's Lodge/Lucy's Homestay on Australia Place, run by a very friendly, spunky, middle-aged Chinese lady named Lucy. It was a great find, and the perfect place to celebrate Merdeka. Merdeka Day is Malaysia's independence day... and since the entire country was celebrating its 50th birthday, this year's celebre was especially big. Our first evening in KK, we had a tasty Indian dinner with friends we met enroute from the airport, Stephan and Martina. The next day, we headed via boat to Sapi Island, part of a national park off of the north coast of Sabah. The beach had clear blue water (and many Malaysians, out to enjoy the afternoon). Some Chinese tourists even asked us to take a picture with them!

boat jetty from KK to Sapi

Later that night, we arrived back at Lucy's. After a great Italian dinner at dirt-cheap prices (promotion for Merdeka), we got back to the backpackers. Sweet, little Lucy emerged from her loft room, bedecked in a leopard-print blouse and announced that we were "going clubbing" at her favorite bar, Shenanigans, a quasi Irish pub-cum-scene spot on the ground floor of the Hyatt hotel in Kota Kinabalu. There's no way we could refuse her offer on the eve of the biggest national party in Malaysia in fifty years, so we joined her for the fun. Megan had to borrow some of Lucy's heels, since flip-flops apparently don't cut it at Shenanigans. All libations were exorbitantly priced, but the scene was worth it just to see all the Malaysian 20-somethings in their finest attire, breaking it down to a Filippino cover-band that played American top-40 hits from Fergie, Dr. Dre, Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, and of course, Bebot, the Black Eyed Peas Tagalog hit. After the club, we headed back to Lucy's, for a perfect view of the fireworks on her rooftop deck.

Shenanigans

Megan with Lucy at Shenanigans

The next day, August 31st (actual Merdeka day- they do fireworks the night before, at midnight), we bid Lucy goodbye, and jumped on a local bus to the long-distance bus station. The bus fare was free because of the holiday, and the driver was excitedly waving a Malaysian flag out the window the entire ride. We caught a coach to Sandakan, on the north-east coast of Sabah and we're off. En route, we got some pretty good lunch included and a viewing of Rush Hour 3.

At Sandakan, we had already reserved a room at the "Mayfair Hotel," highly recommended by Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for been spotless, a great value, "cooling" A/C, and for the DVD players in each room. The owner, a very eccentric Chinese guy (Mr. Long) lets guests borrow DVDs from his extensive collection for free. This place was heaven.

Once again we got another fireworks viewing, this time over the Sandakan waterfront, before watching "Stomp the Yard" and heading off to sleep.

The next day we were excited to get to Sepilok, a town about 16 miles inland from Sandakan. From there, we were going to Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp, an isolated campsite, only accessible by boat, down the Kinabatangan River smack in the middle of some of the best wildlife viewing in all of Borneo. We arrived at the camp's operations base in Gum-Gum, had some lunch, and were off in a tiny mini-van to the boat dock. The wildlife spotting began as soon as we jumped in the boat. Twice a year, an endangered herd of Bornean pygmy elephants treks near the camp on their way upriver in search of food, and the elephants were in the area the week we arrived. Packs at the front of the longtail boat, we took off with our excited guide Agai to find the elephants. After an hour of combing the riverbank in search of "elephant smell," Agai found them. We were totally unprepared for this encounter, from our dress to our mindsets, and as we clambered out of the longtail onto the muddy banks, everyone's hearts were pounding. We scrambled through brush, muddy and bleeding, and climbed over the embankment. The scene we encountered on the other side was incredible- 20 or more elephants grazing, not more than 10 meters from us. Some of them were quite territorial, and gave us warning honks. Some even tried to intimidate us by approaching us. Catt and the guides were right up in the front, snapping pictures and observing them. They elephants are much larger in real life than you would expect (even the babies). We have never been so terrified and awe-inspired at the same time. Throughout the next few days, we came across them on several hikes. A few times when we unexpectedly ran into them our panic got the better of us, and against sounder judgement, we'd take off running for our lives through the jungle, crashing noises in pursuit behind.

Throughout our wonderful three days at Uncle Tan's we slept in the jungle, didn't shower, got covered in mud, and had some of the best experiences of our lives. We got to see orang utans (mother and baby) feeding on fruit high above our camp in the trees, a tarantula, probiscus monkeys asleep in trees on the river at night, macaques playing on the river banks, crocodiles, kingfishers, hornbills, and of course, the elephants. Here are some pictures of the wildlife we encountered:

kingfisher bird on night boat ride

egret

eagle

crocodile

giant millipede... oddly, they smell very sweet, like almonds... really nice smell, actually

cotton bugs... there are actually dozens of white, tiny bugs in this picture

orang utan in the wild

our group, "spider"

Borneo... Borneo, Borneo, Borneo...

It's the third largest island in the world. And it is NOT a country. It is administratively shared by Indonesia (Kalimantan province), Malaysia (Sarawak province to the west, and Sabah province to the east), and the Sultanate of Brunei, wedged into the north coast between Sarawak and Sabah. Many travellers we have met... a surprising number, actually, even as they planned their trip to Borneo, did so thinking it was its own country. Here's a link for more information, to save YOU the embarrassment, one day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borneo

We spent three weeks on this island of incredibly rich ethnic and biodiversity. When we got to peninsular Malaysia, we knew little more than we "had to stay in an Iban longhouse, see probiscus monkeys, and watch out for leeches!" six days before departure, we had no plane tickets, no itinerary, and no accommodation reservations. A whirlwind of on-the-road logistics ensued. We saw and did so much in Borneo, that we will have to split it up into several different entries.

Kuching Waterfront

We began our travels by flying from KL to Kuching, a vibrant, charming city on the western end of Sarawak. Through an anonymous tip in a travel suggestions book in the Cameron Highlands, we had made plans to visit an Iban longhouse through this random guy named Harry, who occasionally takes travellers to his family's longhouse. Here's a blip on the Iban people of Borneo:

The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. They were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and tribal/territorial expansion. A long time ago, being a very strong and successful warring tribe, the Ibans were a very feared tribe in Borneo. They speak the Iban language.

Today, with the modern era of globalization and technology, the days of headhunting and piracy are long gone for the Ibans. The Iban population is concentrated in Sarawak, Brunei, in the West Kalimantan region of Indonesia. They live in longhouses called rumah panjai or rumah panjang. Most of the Iban longhouses are equipped with modern facilities such as electricity and proper water supply and lots of other facilities such as (tar sealed) roads, telephone line and the internet. Younger Ibans are mostly found in urban areas, and visit their hometowns during the holidays. The Ibans today are generally becoming increasingly heavily urbanised while (surprisingly) retaining most of it's traditional heritage and culture.

Upon arrival in Kuching, though, it turned out that Harry would be unable to take us to his longhouse. The morning we were set to depart, we were informed that "Stewart" would be taking us, instead. This turned out to be a truly wonderful turn of events. Stewart's longhouse operation is as close to authentic, and as "un-touristy" as you can get. We were to visit the longhouse where his mother still lives, and then an older longhouse with no electricity, and until two years ago, no road access, further upriver. We grabbed our things for the next three days, and jumped into his van. It was just the two of us, bouncing along the main road east (for five hours), with two of his sons in the backseat. They were on school break, and anxious to always "ride along" to the family's longhouse whenever they get the chance.

En route, we stopped at two of the major sights in this region of Sarawak- the Semenggoh Orang Utan Facility, and Jong's Crocodile Farm, a center for some of Borneo's most notorious residents, the river crocs. We arrived at feeding time, when dozens of the creatures are summoned by a clanging bell to a feeding platform, where they snap at bloody chunks of raw meat dangled above them from a line strung over their pond:

We continued on to the longhouse, and discovered that we were extremely lucky-- a girl from Stewart's family's longhouse was getting married to a man in a neighboring longhouse that night, and we would be able to attend the wedding reception. Our luck was double, though, as there was also an engagement party taking place at the longhouse where we were staying. Stewart said that he had never before taken travellers to an Iban wedding. We were thrilled.

As soon as we arrived at the longhouse, we were summoned into Stewart's mother's dorm (hereafter known simply as "Grandma"). The longhouses are built elevated off the ground on stilts and are divided into a quasi-public area along one side and a row of private living quarters flanking the other side. The porch/veranda area ("ruai") is common space, onto which all front doors to the private "dorms" (or perhaps apartments), open. Though not necessarily blood related, all inhabitants of a longhouse are like family and tend to have a shared history and loyalty for one another. Here is a more in-depth description of the longhouse design, thanks to Wikipedia:

The layout of a traditional longhouse could be described thus:

Along the whole length of the building runs a wall placed near the middle. The one side would seem like a corridor or hall from one end to the other, while the other side is blocked from public view by the wall.

Behind this wall lay the private units, bilik, each with a single door for each family. These are usually divided from each other by walls of their own and contain the living and sleeping spaces. The kitchens, dapor, sometimes reside within this space but are quite often situated in rooms of their own, added to the back of a bilik or even in a building standing a little away from the longhouse and accessed by a small bridge due to the fear of fire, as well as reducing smoke and insects attracted to cooking from gathering in living quarters..

The corridor itself is divided into three parts. The space in front of the door, the tempuan, belongs to each bilik unit and is used privately. This is where rice can be pounded or other domestic work can be done. A public corridor, a ruai, basically used like a village road, runs the whole length in the middle of the open hall. Along the outer wall is the space where guests can sleep, the pantai. On this side a large veranda, a tanju, is built in front of the building where the rice (padi) is dried and other outdoor activities can take place. Under the roof is a sort of attic, the sadau, that runs along the middle of the house under the peak of the roof. Here the padi, other food, and other things can be stored. Sometimes the sadau has a sort of gallery from which the life in the ruai can be observed. The pigs and chicken live underneath the house between the stilts.

Grandma's longhouse was quite modern, with electricity, and even television. The toilets were out back (also elevated), under either a corrugated metal, or wooden thatch roof. There is never really a feeling of privacy at the longhouse- it is truly communal living, with children's footsteps always audible, echoing outside the dorms on the ruai, and many generations of families sharing the same floor space with their mats inside the dorms at night (meaning no one has their own room.) The skulls, highly prized trophies from the headhunting days (a practice which pretty much ended for good in the last fifty years) are hung from the rafters on the ruai in front of the headman's dorm, decorated with Christmas lights and hot pink and silver garland. "Just go with it," I thought to myself.

the skulls...

Grandma

Grandma's living room, chatting with Kani

Grandma is about seventy ("seventy-plus," she claims) and has very kind eyes and smile, and progressive views on education for women and politics. She used to be a teacher at a boarding school up the road in Sri Aman. She was the only woman educated in her family and credits her education with any personal success she has had in life. She lives in her dorm with her son, and his wife, Agnes, also a teacher and just as sharp and progressive as Grandma. She took us around from dorm to dorm to meet everyone, and then we sat on the ruai in front of her dorm in a circle with some men from the longhouse who happily offered us to partake in the tuak drink they were passing around (too-wak), which is home-made Iban rice wine. Grandma is prized for her tuak, and it was actually delicious- sweet, light yellow color, with just a little kick. Most friendly and generous of all was Kani, Grandma's belated husband's brother. He sat cross-legged next to us the whole evening, and we had a great time hearing his stories and sharing with him about the US. The longhouse people were exceptionally generous and really made Catt and I feel like part of the family. Beers were passed around, too, and then a guitar came out, and we must have sat like that on the floor, talking, laughing, drinking, and playing music for three hours. Finally Grandma summoned us for dinner ("too much alcohol with no food, very bad") and we partook in a delicious Iban meal with Agnes- rice cooked in hollowed out bamboo, curry chicken, and jungle greens.

After dinner, we headed, drunken longhouse men in tow, to another longhouse up the dirt road for the wedding celebration. It must have been after 10:00 PM, but things were just really getting started at that point. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but it was not what we found. The ruai of this longhouse was packed with about 500-600 people, young and old, sitting on the floor. The bride and groom, flanked by bestman and maid of honor, sat in chairs in the center. A giant, blown up glamor-shot of them hung behind. The bride wore a gaudy white Western-style wedding dress (as did the maid of honor, interestingly enough), and the guys wore tuxes. All the Iban longhouse guests wore sort of festive batik shirts and slacks, or jeans and tees. The skulls hung overhead with the flashy Christmas lights, and a table was set out in front of the couple with champagne, a Western wedding cake, and fake flowers. Instead of the USA-style "pre-designated toasts" where certain individuals plan a speech in advance and deliver it, it was sort of an open mic night wedding. Anyone who wanted to could say something, and as a result, the speeches must have gone on for over an hour (everyone was falling asleep). Around 11:30, the entertainment portion of the evening started. Instead of a DJ with dancing, there was a live band, and everyone "sponsored" each other by paying money for friends to sing karaoke songs. The sober sat on the floor and quietly watched, while the performers (usually a bit inebriated), danced and sung their hearts out with the band. The bride and groom quietly watched from their armchair thrones.

During all of this, the bridesmaid and bestman circulated the room with bottles of whiskey, scotch, langkai (really strong Iban rice liquor) and shot glasses, pouring out shots for guests to take. Because we were the only visitors, Catt and I were included on the express shot circuit- meaning more people came around to us than the other guests. After a while, Stewart had to start deflecting the alcohol for us to other people. Some wedding pictures:

After we'd had enough fun at the wedding, we returned to Grandma's longhouse around 1:30 AM, another party in full swing on the ruai. Though many less people, this party was even wilder, as everyone had set up a TV-karaoke set on the floor and were dancing like crazy, singing Iban songs and having a great time. The engaged couple whom they were celebrating was nowhere to be found. We were immediately absorbed into this celebre, and must have sang four Iban songs with our new friends (though I haven't any idea what we were singing about). Finally around 3:30, exhausted, we snuck into our dorm and slept in the floor next to Stewart's family. Or tried to sleep. The karaoke, guitar playing, and merriment went on until almost 9:00 AM!

The next day we spent some more time at Grandma's longhouse before saying goodbye to everyone, and travelling to the longhouse of her youth, further down the road. Before we left, Kani took us to the canteen and bought us sodas, which was very sweet.

with Kani

with Grandma, Stewart and family

We then piled into the car again to drive over to the longhouse where Grandma had grown up. Until two years ago, it was only accessible by a two-day walk, or multiple-day boat trip. There is no electricity, so it gets quite stiflingly hot. We were introduced to Grandma's sisters, as well as some more extended family members who live there. It was too hot to do much in the afternoon, so we caught up on last week's world affairs in old issues of the Borneo Post, and the boys took us to see the family's pepper and rubber plantations, a 10 minute walk into the jungle from the house. We got back and assisted with cooking- we were having a huge BBQ outside, with bamboo rice, salted and dried strips of wild boar (delicious, delicious), and chicken, pork and beef cooked in different curries. After dinner, the guys played for us on traditional instruments. As the sun set, we were told to get on long pants and good shoes, as we would be going for a jungle hut.

Pictures of the old longhouse:

cooking rice in bamboo

The jungle hunt was something to never be forgotten. Two experienced hunters (who conveniently, spoke no English), took us deep into the jungle after dark. It was hot, pitch-black, and difficult to navigate. It was all we could do to try to keep up with them on foot, dehydrated, and still fuzzy from the wedding festivities the night before. I have never been hunting before (and I'm not really sure how I feel about it), but we couldn't really say no to this cultural experience. One of the guys had a hunting rifle, and every time he shot with it, I'd almost jump out of my skin. In a few hours that night, we caught two animals- a mousedeer, and a fox. The poor things never knew what hit them, as our guide was such a talented shot. The other hunter had a basket-type backpack strapped to his back, and threw the dead animals in there. The blood trickled down his back and onto his calves. It was a sobering image.

When we got back to the longhouse, the hunters butchered the animals in the shower and Stewart (who, we learned, was traditionally trained as a chef) cooked up the meat straight away, and offered it to us. I've never had miniature deer before... it was... chewy.

The next day we said our farewells to everyone and headed back to Kuching. Stewart, the consummate host, took us to his house, first, to meet his family and use the internet. When we got back to the guesthouse in Kuching, we spent the next two days hanging out with Nora and Adrian, who own and operate the place (it's a family thing). We felt like we lived there, too, and spent some great evenings over local hamburgers, beers, 100plus and bread and peanut butter watching bad Hong Kong movies and chatting about everything. Nora says that the longhouses give her the creeps- she said that when she was little she was especially afraid of the witch doctors, who would speak to the "bewitched" in strange, indiscernible incantations. She also told us about some of the animist beliefs of the Iban, one of which is that a cat or dog can never step over a dead body, because it will come alive as a zombie. Adrian explained that everything in the afterlife is "opposite"- meaning that to give a gift to someone in the afterlife such as, say, a dish, means that instead of carefully preserving it, you should shatter it. We got onto the topic of ghosts (as every Iban person we have met is extremely superstitious), and he told us a story about a hunting trip in the jungle he took with his friends one night. Sitting around a fire late one night, they heard a loud, shrieking, terrible woman's laugh, from far away (which means, going on the opposite rule, that she was actually quite close to them). Adrian explained that the female ghosts are especially dangerous to men, because they want to steal their... manhood... so they themselves can become men. (Naturally, right?) The only antidote is for men who hear the she-ghost's terrible laugh to cover themselves with a special leaf. Which he did. Adrian still can't tell the story without shivering... but I found it to be a bit funny.

Pics with Adrian and Nora at the guesthouse in Kuching:

with Nora

Later that week, Stewart had us and two girls from Spain who were staying at Nora's place, Olga and Coral, over to his house for a great BBQ and karaoke at his friend's karaoke bar, "The Bats." Stewart and his wife and sons cooked us a delicious meal, and we had a wonderful evening with his family. Thanks, Stewart, for showing us an amazing time in Kuching. We will never forget your hospitality and kindness!

Catt and Stewart

with Grandma, Stewart's wife, and Coral at the BBQ

Stewart and Fam singing it up at "The Bats"

Megan, Coral and Olga

Later that week, we also had a chance to take a side trip to beautiful Bako National Park, famed for having probiscus monkeys. They only live in Borneo, and are known for the funky appearance of the males, who have a very long nose. More info:

The most distinctive trait of this monkey is the male's large protruding nose. The purpose of the large nose is unclear, but it has been suggested that it is a result of sexual selection. The female Proboscis Monkey prefers big-nosed male, thus propagating the trait.

Males are much larger than females, reaching 72 cm (28 inches) in length, with an up to 75 cm tail, and weighing up to 24 kg (53 pounds). Females are up to 60 cm long, weighing up to 12 kg (26 lb).

The Proboscis Monkey also has a large belly, as a result of its diet. Its digestive system is divided into several parts, with distinctive gut flora, which help in digesting leaves. This digestive process releases a lot of gas, resulting in the monkey's "bloated" bellies. A side-effect of this unique digestive system is that it is unable to digest ripe fruit, unlike most other simians. The diet consists mainly of fruits, seeds and leaves.

Bako was a special place. We had a chance to do the Lintang trail, and see the different ecosystems that exist within the park. We also hiked to a completely secluded and refreshing beach, where we were able to take a dip after all of our trekking. Bako:

signs like this one are plentiful in Borneo

probiscus monkey

We'll write more later about the rest of our time in Sarawak... it was an incredible trip!