Longhouse stay
the next trip was to a long house among the jungles in sarawak.....it was a 3+ hour boat ride from sibu,and we went along with some medical officers who were having a medical camp in the said kampung.it was low tide when we reached and the sun was just beginning to set.
we were greeted by friendly ibans who took us to where we were supposed to put up,the tuai rumah's place.it was a lil more 'posh' than some others.the walk from the warf to the long house was straight path which was a risen plank-way on stilts.
before we saw the long house,we passed a hut-like kitchen where many ladies were busy preparing a feast.the smell that wafted out of that kitchen was absolutely hunger-inducing.
after we placed our bags,we headed out to the kitchen,but not before escorting our toilet queen to her chambers.the toilet was much different than what i had expected...
it was a wooden one on stilts n it didnt have a flushing system,just water to wash whatever down..n if u really wanted to,u could peek into the toilet coz there were slits between the wooden pieces n there were also some missing pieces from the wall,neck up.
we found steaming hot corns in abundance waiting for us at the kitchen.the men made us eat so many corns that i couldnt see my feet.
we took off our footwear n took a walk to the area clinic about 200m from the long house.it was a small clinic,equipped only with the bare necessities.
we met a dr james,a fresh UKM dentistry graduate who's serving with the sibu dental clinic.he seemed a lil proud of his new found title,going around introducing himself as dr james to even the lil kids.like as if they gave 2 hoots.despite being a bit pround,he wasnt stand-offish and mingled well with the locals.mai yin,jo,my mom,aunty devi,dr james and another MO then sat at the warf and watched some little children bath and play in the river...it was the famous rejang river..one of its branches.not too far away,we saw a man anchoring his boat,accompanied by a small monkey.
tired after the walk,we came back to grilled king crabs.im not a big fan of crabs;the main reason being the hassle of cracking the darn shells only to find measly pieces of flesh.even a worm would be left starved if it only fed on that.my mom cracked the shells for us n we dipped the meat with kicap ber-cili padi.magnificent i had to admit.
we were shown to where we were to shower and i was left feeling horrified and amused at the same time.it was literally open air...no,not above.instead of the normal 4 wall...we had 3.there was a half wodden wall which went up to the waist n the rest of you was to be sheilded by a big water tank.anyone who walked past could surely see what u had to offer but no one passed that way,thankfully.to be on the safe side,i decided to wrap myself with a towel n bathe like how the malays do by the river...bit of soap here n there...but the towel just wouldnt stay.i decided to screw it n off came the towel...in my head i was praying hard no one walked by.
at night we were served rice with fish n prawns n clams.the fish was 'ikan darat' according to the lady who served us.i was flabbergasted but i had to be polite n accept.whats ikan darat anyway?mudskippers?i dont wanna know...but it tasted very good,n so did the prawns.after dinner,we drank tuak which had a pretty high percentage of alcohol n it went straight to the head.
the MO's then had their first talk session with the villagers while we gave the hyperactively friendly children the goddies we bought n played games with them.after many 'hushes' from the adults,we took them outside n talked there.they followed us like how the rats followed pied piper.about 20+ of them.there was a small chapel outside n we sat there n talked n talked n talked..asking them their names,who had bf's n who liked who n wat they wanted to become.there was this boy whom katrina fancied,billy who kept running away from us.quite a funny sight.we also saw a gorgeous cluster of stars amidst the clear sky looking down upon us that night.a marvellous sight it was,something that we hadnt seen before.the children said it's there every night.
beat,we promised the children we'd see them the next day, and after much persuasion they agreed to let us retire.the next day was the same,played with the children the whole day.we had a river bath with the children who,btw swam like fishes.i can swim too but i have a phobia of wide waters,be it seas rivers or ponds.the Desa U pool is just fine.mai yin joined the children to jump off the warf platform into the river n swam right to the middle of it.freak.jo,my mom n i sat immersed at the bank(which was kinda deep).at the end of the night,they begged us not to go,to stay longer,since it was our last night there.that was so sweet.they took down our numbers n promised to call.that night,we had to dance the ngajat n drink more tuak as some sorta thank you to the host for letting us stay.it could be a lie on the part of the MO's to get us to shake our booties,but not wanting to spoil the fun,we did.after many pictures n thank yous,we went to bed..dreading rising early to leave at 3am.
we were greeted by friendly ibans who took us to where we were supposed to put up,the tuai rumah's place.it was a lil more 'posh' than some others.the walk from the warf to the long house was straight path which was a risen plank-way on stilts.
before we saw the long house,we passed a hut-like kitchen where many ladies were busy preparing a feast.the smell that wafted out of that kitchen was absolutely hunger-inducing.
after we placed our bags,we headed out to the kitchen,but not before escorting our toilet queen to her chambers.the toilet was much different than what i had expected...
it was a wooden one on stilts n it didnt have a flushing system,just water to wash whatever down..n if u really wanted to,u could peek into the toilet coz there were slits between the wooden pieces n there were also some missing pieces from the wall,neck up.
we found steaming hot corns in abundance waiting for us at the kitchen.the men made us eat so many corns that i couldnt see my feet.
we took off our footwear n took a walk to the area clinic about 200m from the long house.it was a small clinic,equipped only with the bare necessities.
we met a dr james,a fresh UKM dentistry graduate who's serving with the sibu dental clinic.he seemed a lil proud of his new found title,going around introducing himself as dr james to even the lil kids.like as if they gave 2 hoots.despite being a bit pround,he wasnt stand-offish and mingled well with the locals.mai yin,jo,my mom,aunty devi,dr james and another MO then sat at the warf and watched some little children bath and play in the river...it was the famous rejang river..one of its branches.not too far away,we saw a man anchoring his boat,accompanied by a small monkey.
tired after the walk,we came back to grilled king crabs.im not a big fan of crabs;the main reason being the hassle of cracking the darn shells only to find measly pieces of flesh.even a worm would be left starved if it only fed on that.my mom cracked the shells for us n we dipped the meat with kicap ber-cili padi.magnificent i had to admit.
we were shown to where we were to shower and i was left feeling horrified and amused at the same time.it was literally open air...no,not above.instead of the normal 4 wall...we had 3.there was a half wodden wall which went up to the waist n the rest of you was to be sheilded by a big water tank.anyone who walked past could surely see what u had to offer but no one passed that way,thankfully.to be on the safe side,i decided to wrap myself with a towel n bathe like how the malays do by the river...bit of soap here n there...but the towel just wouldnt stay.i decided to screw it n off came the towel...in my head i was praying hard no one walked by.
at night we were served rice with fish n prawns n clams.the fish was 'ikan darat' according to the lady who served us.i was flabbergasted but i had to be polite n accept.whats ikan darat anyway?mudskippers?i dont wanna know...but it tasted very good,n so did the prawns.after dinner,we drank tuak which had a pretty high percentage of alcohol n it went straight to the head.
the MO's then had their first talk session with the villagers while we gave the hyperactively friendly children the goddies we bought n played games with them.after many 'hushes' from the adults,we took them outside n talked there.they followed us like how the rats followed pied piper.about 20+ of them.there was a small chapel outside n we sat there n talked n talked n talked..asking them their names,who had bf's n who liked who n wat they wanted to become.there was this boy whom katrina fancied,billy who kept running away from us.quite a funny sight.we also saw a gorgeous cluster of stars amidst the clear sky looking down upon us that night.a marvellous sight it was,something that we hadnt seen before.the children said it's there every night.
beat,we promised the children we'd see them the next day, and after much persuasion they agreed to let us retire.the next day was the same,played with the children the whole day.we had a river bath with the children who,btw swam like fishes.i can swim too but i have a phobia of wide waters,be it seas rivers or ponds.the Desa U pool is just fine.mai yin joined the children to jump off the warf platform into the river n swam right to the middle of it.freak.jo,my mom n i sat immersed at the bank(which was kinda deep).at the end of the night,they begged us not to go,to stay longer,since it was our last night there.that was so sweet.they took down our numbers n promised to call.that night,we had to dance the ngajat n drink more tuak as some sorta thank you to the host for letting us stay.it could be a lie on the part of the MO's to get us to shake our booties,but not wanting to spoil the fun,we did.after many pictures n thank yous,we went to bed..dreading rising early to leave at 3am.
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