Tribes of Borneo

Big guy Richie just daring anyone to come near his hoard

 

 

The little village of Santubong proved to be a lovely spot  As we wandered along the well maintained streets, the people shouted out their welcomes and we were constantly asked where we hailed from.  The anchorage was quiet with only the sounds of some interesting birds breaking the silence and had the beautiful Mount Santubong as a backdrop.

Despite the fact that Sarawak in Borneo is part of Malaysia, we were still obliged to check into the Immigration, Customs and Port Captain offices which took a good proportion of a day.  Had we not been bussed to the various offices in Kuching, I think it would have taken several days as the buildings were so inaccessible for anyone without wheels.

Mom & baby

Once this was all resolved, we were taken to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre which is a huge national park dedicated to the rehabilitation of a variety of previously captured animals, primarily orangutans.  

Although this didn't have the aaahh factor of our time in Kalimantan, it was still fabulous and so nice to see the effort made to ensure the survival of these gorgeous creatures.

 

We visited the nearby city of Kuching, a surprisingly modern town with some intriguing architecture and lovely gardens.  Town planning, which is so often totally neglected or non-existent in most of this part of the world, seemed very much in evidence here and the care taken in keeping the streets and public areas clean and well planted was a delight.  It had a terrific Chinese quarter as well as a street called Little India, both which had incredible collections of fabrics, carvings and, of course, the usual colourful plastic junk, but all very clean and neat.

 

Later in the day, we were treated to a marvelous evening of food and ethnic entertainment at the cultural centre which lies in a beautiful setting with longhouses devoted to the various tribes that make up the indigenous peoples of central Borneo.  

These tribes are referred to as the Dayak but are made up of dozens of different peoples with their own languages and their own cultures.  We were hosted by the Iban tribe, some of the famed headhunters of past times.  It was hard to imagine them as such as they were truly lovely people.  Headhunting was still in evidence until relatively recently however removing a head was not considered murder but rather an offering in ceremonial and special circumstances such as weddings.  It wasn't indiscriminate slaughter but carefully selected heads that they lopped off. They weren't actually cannibals as they didn't eat their victims, just saved the heads but I guess having no head is dead no matter how polite you are about removing it.

Their traditional costumes were decorated with very elaborate bead-work and embroidery with an array of fancy headdresses.  Our dinner was served as we sat on the floor around enormous round tables and consisted of an array of local cuisine, very different and very tasty.  We did not go away hungry.  While we ate, a troupe of singers and dancers kept us entertained with their colourful costumes and movements.  We were truly spoiled.

We left Santubong to head up the northwest coast of Sarawak to the town of Miri making one stop along the way at a little island, Pulau Lakei, a very pretty spot that should deserve a longer stay but we had to move on.  As we departed the river mouth, we saw a few large pale pink dolphins, almost albino in appearance or a bit like an Englishman on his first day of a tropical holiday; lily white with a hint of sunburn.  Most unusual.

After leaving Lakei, it was a double overnighter to Miri where we, again, passed many oil rigs and offshore platforms.  For half the time, we had some excellent winds which, with the incredibly flat seas of this region, made for some wonderful sailing. At one stage we had half a dozen small long-nosed dolphins come to play around our bow.  This always makes our day; we stood at the bow and watched them for ages until a sudden unseen, unheard signal and they were all gone.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Richie

Show off teenager

Iban costumes

Our anchorage

Crossing the South China Sea

 

01° 42' 935 N

110° 19' 731 E

We spent a few days in the relatively large town of Kuala Terengganu on the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula as again, we were hosted by the local tourism and regional bodies for a day tour and dinner.  By the way, the name 'Kuala' means river mouth or the meeting of two rivers as is the case of Kuala Lumpar.

One of the tour's highlights was a trip to the "Crystal Mosque"' an impressive glass structure with crystals in the minarets.  We were supplied with clothing to cover our infidel bodies while visiting inside and it made me wonder for the umpteenth time, "how the hell do these women survive this heat dressed like that?!"  And, the supplied coverings were a light colour whereas the women wear predominantly dark headscarves and long dresses here with nothing but their hands and faces uncovered. No hair, no ankles, no arms are to be visible.   We see the odd evidence of full black burkas but they are mainly visitors from Saudi Arabia.  These people here are lovely, open, smiling and very friendly, but still, how do they cope with the heat? 

Our tour included the ubiquitous batik and weaving factory as well as a shipyard building wooden fishing boats.

 Kuala Terengganu has a large market selling 'who knows what' and a very vibrant Chinatown creating a vastly different culture to that of the Muslim population.  No wailing mosques, no closed shops on a Friday, plenty of beer and, sadly, no curries but they do have excellent Chinese cuisine instead.

We have become rather enthusiastic curry fanatics since entering Malaysia and, of course, Thailand too.  Never mind just the ordinary Indian curries, we've now sampled and cooked our own Massaman   curry, Penang curry, Thai green curry, and Rendang to name just a few along with the likes of Laksa and Thom Yum.  If you've never tasted any of these, do yourself a favour and Google search a recipe, they are all truly wonderful!

Our next venture was to cross the South China Sea to western Borneo, almost five hundred nautical miles taking us through a host of Indonesian Islands, dozens upon dozens of oil rigs and several very busy shipping lanes leading to and from mainland China southwards.

Wind? What wind?

This region is notorious for no winds, not ideal for a sailing vessel, however we were lucky enough to alter our route directly eastwards and pick up some favourable winds for the first couple of days.  Those who cut directly southeast had to motor the entire distance.  When the winds died after the second day we too, started motoring southeast but at least we relished in a couple of days of the good stuff.

As I write this it's still morning and we have just arrived in Santubong (abovementioned coordinates) in Sarawak, Borneo, and have not yet ventured ashore.  Today is a day to "chill out" and catch up with some much needed shuteye.

PHOTO ALBUM:

Local architecture?

Uh?? What is all this stuff?

Smelly Durian fruit, Yuck!

Vibrantt fabrics

Typical Chinatown shop

Ooops!

Crystals in the minarets