Sarawak, Borneo

My children's favourite television show in the 1990s was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?  That programme was created in response to a National Geographic survey that indicated Americans had alarmingly little knowledge of geography, with one in four being unable to locate the Pacific Ocean on a world map!  When we informed our friends and family that our upcoming vacation was to Borneo, we got a) blank looks, b) South America?, c) why are you going there? and d) have a nice time in Africa!

To set the record straight, Borneo is an island, the third largest island in the world.  It is not a country.  The southern part of Borneo is part of Indonesia.  The northwestern (Sarawak) and northeastern (Sabah) states belong to Malaysia, flanking the tiny (but very oil-rich) Brunei.  The Equator runs through the centre of  the island - yes, very very hot!  Originally, we had hoped to visit Vietnam, but our travel agent suggested Borneo, since this is the dry season in that part of southeast Asia, while Vietnam is all wet.

The more we travel, the lighter is our baggage. Two small cases for a one week trip.  It's easy during hot weather when we don't need heavy sweaters, but I even managed a carry-on for my Poland trip in April.  (Yes, I am proud of myself!).  We flew to Kuching (via Kuala Lumpur), the largest city in Sarawak (population 650,000).  The view from the plane was beautiful!  After a short taxi ride through a pleasant suburb with new houses, we arrived at the Hilton, where we had reserved a deluxe room with a river view.

The hotel is beautifully situated, overlooking the winding Sarawak River and the brand new legislative building on the opposite shore.  After registering at reception, we were shown to our room - TIA!  Small, "cosy", and a view of a back street with low-rise buildings.  Reception soon cleared up the misunderstanding, and upgraded us to a beautiful suite!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Kuching along the river.  It's a mini Penang - Malay, Indian, and Chinese neighbourhoods.  As we strolled and read our historical notes, we discovered that Sarawak was not an ordinary British colony.  In 1841, the Sultan of Brunei gave Sarawak to a British military officer, James Brooke, in appreciation for Brooke's help in quashing a rebellion.  Brooke was appointed Rajah, and he and his relatives ruled Sarawak (with British assistance) until 1946, when Sarawak became an official Malay state.  The Brookes are known as the "White Rajahs of Borneo".

Dinnertime provided us with our second TIA experience of the day.  Jeff asked the doorman to recommend a local restaurant that served good Malay cuisine.  Our mouths were watering as we got into the "teksi".  The cab driver looked perplexed when the doorman gave him directions, but he took us anyway, not wanting to "lose face".  Round and round Kuching we went, until he stopped in front of a strip mall with a Pizza Hut and KFC!!  At our insistence, he drove us back to the hotel (it was after 8 at this point), and did not ask for any money when we got there.  Back to square one.  We walked around the block and found an empty Indian restaurant, ordered too much food for very little money, and had one of the best meals ever!  We were also beginning to realize that Kuching is not exactly a vacation hot spot, but it was enjoyable being in a place that isn't overrun with thousands of tourists.

The next morning, we spent a few hours in the local Sunday market, where villagers sell all kinds of interesting food, as well as clothing and household items.   After almost three years in Asia, I still don't recognize many of the fruits and vegetables.  The jackfruit on the right is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world (thank you Jeffipedia).  We have yet to taste it.

The flowers looked perfect (they wouldn't last long in my home).
Chickens were displayed feet up, and snapper looked healthy and ready to cook!





Later that morning, our guide/driver picked us up and we began the long drive south into the jungle where the Iban people live.  The Iban are the most numerous of the native tribes of Sarawak.  They are infamous as headhunters, a practise that, alas, has died out!  We travelled 275 kilometres to Bataing Ai, a distance that took 5 hours.  We passed rubber trees, palm trees and burned rice fields (the harvest was long over, and we were into the dry season).  Palm oil is the major industry in this rural part of Borneo.
We reached Hydro Lake about 5 p.m.  The Malay government dammed a river and created this lake to supply electric power.  The Iban who lived along the river were relocated.  The lake reminded me of the Laurentians, with pretty rolling hills surrounding it.  The only structure on the lake is the Bataing Ai Resort (proudly managed by Hilton).

We took a small boat from the jetty to the resort.  From the water, the buildings looked like a summer camp!  Long low brown wood buildings (motel-style) surrounding the central core - dining hall, lounge, and swimming pool in the back.  All that was missing were screaming campers!  In fact, all that was missing was resort guests - there were only 8 of us, and the hotel can easily accommodate two or three hundred.  Jeff thinks that this resort is the government's folly.  Someone had a grandiose idea of a convention centre or large retreat.  Unfortunately, the place is in the middle of nowhere, difficult and tedious to get to, and there is no internet, making it a less-than-prime location.  There were more staff than visitors, but the service and food were disappointing.  (My review on tripadvisor.com is rather negative).  Before dinner, we relaxed in the empty lounge.  I remarked to Jeff that the birds seem to be nocturnal.  Silly me - they were fruit bats, and there were many of them whizzing busily about.  There were also plenty of geckos, but geckos are good critters - they eat all the bad insects!  I thought of our friend, Suzanne T., who spent a few weeks at her relatives' fruit bat rescue farm in Australia - she's very brave!

The next day was highlight number one of our trip.  We drove to a beach where we got into a longboat and rode upriver to the Iban longhouse settlement.  The river was extremely low, so periodically, the boatman had to get out and push us along.  We felt like Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, one of our favourite movies!

The river was lined with tall, leafy trees, which provided a cool canopy under the blazing sun.  We passed under rickety bridges - reminiscent of the fateful bridge that Sean Connery walked in The Man Who Would be King (another wonderful oldie).  When we arrived at the Iban village, we saw women washing clothes, and families bathing in the river - this is almost as primitive as it gets!

Up the slanted ladder to the longhouse!  There is a large outdoor porch running the entire length of the building.  This seems to be used for drying clothes.  Inside, there is a wide hallway, where old people hang out all day, weaving their baskets or "shooting the breeze", and staying out of the heat.  Along this corridor are the doors to the individual apartments, with the chief's apartment occupying the central flat.  The tribesmen (and women) entertained us with their native dances, accompanied by traditional instruments, and afterward we were invited to join in.

Iban life is not as primitive as we thought:  inside the chief's apartment we noticed a large, modern refrigerator, two electric rice cookers, and two flat-screen televisions!  By contrast, the chief's wife sat on a mat on the floor, weaving a basket.  We didn't notice any computers, but one of the younger women was chatting away on her cellphone.

The longhouse has a guest house - we were pleased that we had opted for the resort instead.  The guest house unfortunately reminded me of the barracks I had recently seen in the Nazi concentration camps in Poland.  We were assured that they are comfortable, and that mosquito nets are provided.  No thanks!

Our guide and the guide who accompanied two Dutch couples prepared an amazing stir-fried Iban lunch - colourful, fresh, delicious.  Before embarking on our return trip down the river, we practised using a blow gun.  Even with my eyes closed, I managed to come close to the target!

We returned to Bataing Ai the way we came - longboat, car, motorboat from the jetty.  The motorboat broke down halfway to the lodge, and we thought we might have to swim the rest of the way.  The driver finally got it going again, but at a snail's pace.  We hoped that the boat would be repaired to get us back to "civilization" the next day.

That evening, we witnessed the most glorious sunset we've ever seen!  We sat for a long time (sipping my pina colada) watching the sun descend behind the hills.  Most of the time I'm really happy with my point and shoot no-fuss camera, but that night I wished we could capture the moment better.

We left Bataing Ai after breakfast the next morning, not looking forward to the endless, boring, five-hour drive back to Kuching.  We made an interesting stop at an Iban cemetery.  Most of the Iban are Christian, but some of the older folk still cling to their traditional ways of burying people with their favourite belongings scattered near their graves!  Quite an eclectic junkyard.  I suppose that the next generation might be buried with their computers and iPads lying on top of the tombstones.

When we arrived at the Hilton in Kuching, we repeated our first arrival:  key to a regular room, complaint to the inept front desk, key to a deluxe room.  The service level is definitely not five-star quality (as duly reported by yours truly on the aforementioned tripadvisor website).  Yes, a developing city in a developing country.

That afternoon,  Jeff and I visited several good museums and monuments in the old town.  The Ethnology Museum is housed in a colonial building constructed in 1891.  It is filled with examples of the rich cultural and historical heritage of the various ethnic groups of Sarawak.  No cameras are allowed inside, but I snuck a few photos with my iPhone.

The textile museum, featuring the styles of clothing and embroidery used by the different ethnic groups, is housed in another colonial building that initially functioned as a medical centre.  The structure under scaffolding next to it is going to be a large shopping mall, of course!

This is the large hilltop pink mosque near the museums.  It also has a very old cemetery on its grounds.

Jeff's favourite tree in Kuching.  A "ginormous" kapok about 200 feet tall.  Kapok fibre is used as an alternative to down as filling in mattresses, upholstery, and stuffed toys.  It was previously much used in life jackets, until it was replaced by synthetics.

Before dinner, we took a sunset cruise on the Sarawak River.  It was a very refreshing way to spend a couple of hours.  Aside from the historic colonial riverfront buildings, we also passed fishing villages and the homes of the rich and famous (aka government ministers).  Towards the end of the two-hour ride, we were entertained by a group of dancers who performed traditional tribal dances.  They were much more professional than the Iban who danced for us at the longhouse.

We took the water taxi across the river to a halal hawker food centre for "dinner".  Speaking of halal, we read that 75% of the restaurants in Kuching are certified halal, including many Chinese food emporiums.  Malaysia may end up pig-free in the not-too-distant future.  Unfortunately, the food we ate that evening was below our standard (which is not very high to begin with), and Jeff's stomach was not in great shape the next day.  This was surprising because Jeff can usually eat everything and anything without it bothering him.  I suppose we should not expect much from a meal that cost under $10CDN for two!

Highlight number two of the trip was the Semenggoh Nature Reserve, home of the orang utans.  We were duly impressed by these animals, as well as the excellent care that they receive in this environment.  We saw young, middle-aged, and older orangs, and they "performed" all of their tricks - cracking coconuts and drinking the juice, carrying babies piggy-back, swinging from tree to tree, hanging by their hands way up on a tightrope.  We could have watched them all day, however, visits are restricted to one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon at feeding times.

After lunch, we toured Sarawak Cultural Village, Borneo's answer to Upper Canada Village.  There were excellent replicas of ethnic houses and artifacts made by the different tribes.  The weather was extremely hot (hmm, I rarely even mention weather in my blogs, since it's normally hot, but being on the equator in the middle of the summer is extreme).

Because of our experience at the hawker stalls the night before, we played it safe and had pizza at the Junk Restaurant near the hotel.  A lot of well-dressed, prosperous-looking Chinese Malaysians arrived in their Mercs to attend a birthday party.  Speaking of the Chinese in Malaysia, we wonder about the wisdom of Malaysia's Bumiputra policies which favour ethnic Malays over Chinese and Indian Malaysians.  Even more extreme than Quebec's language laws.

Our final day's destination was Bako National Park.  A long ride from Kuching, followed by yet another boat ride, and then a walk through the Park.  Lots of garbage in the park!  Our little macaque friend loved the candy wrappers he found in the garbage can.  The wild boars were grazing next to the large sign that said "emergency meeting point".

The proboscis monkeys were very strange-looking creatures indeed!  Our guide wanted to take us to the area noted for snakes, but I said "pass".  He went off with the others, and they all returned disappointed:  no snakes - they were hiding from the sun, too!

I must say we enjoyed all of the boat rides during the week.  It's a leisurely way of seeing the countryside.  Perhaps we're ready for cruises?