Our friend Tina sent us her latest adventure in Malaysia Borneo in February 2009:
I'm writing this while sitting on an express boat, shooting down the might Rejang River in the heart of Sarawak in Malaysia Borneo. There's a very loud Chinese movie playing in the front of the freezing cold Arctic-temp cabin and an elderly man shouting at hs friends in the seat across the aisle from me. After 3 days in the town of Kapit, about 250 kilometers up the Rejang, I'm heading to Sibu, the big city, where there's actually a road that connects to the outside world. The boat is passing many small settlements of aboriginal people, mostly Iban, that live in longhouses.
The Iban were headhunters about 150 years ago, but the Protestant and Catholic missionaries came and converted them. There are more churches here than mosques, which is unique in this country. The Iban have kept other parts of their culture, however, and many of them have amazing tattoos covering much of their bodies. There are a few Orang Ulu (upriver people) here, and some have elaborate tattoos plus elongated ear holes from wearing heavy weighted metal earrings. The natives here are well known for their incredible weaving skills, and I've seen some amazing woven fabrics and baskets. Bead and wood working is a skill also. The markets are interesting, with an assortment of foods, dry goods, and handmade items. Sibu is supposed to have a good market, which I probably shouldn't visit, since my pack is already too heavy!
The longhouses look interesting from the river. Some are quite modern and look like California style townhouse apartments that happen to be attached in a long row (some of them house over 100 famlies), and others look like they could fall down any minute. There aren't that many tourists that get to Kapit, and there's not very much English spoken, so it's not easy to get an invitation to tour a longhouse. There are a couple of tour guides that will take you to see one, but the prices they charge are insane. One guy offered me a two-hour visit to his uncle's longhouse for 195 ringgit, which is about $55 and I would've had to buy a gift to bring to the chief. If you want to stay overnight, it can cost 500 ringgit.
The primary source of income here seems to be from logging the rain forest. The river is muddy and a steady steam of huge log-filled barges head downriver and every few miles we pass another large sawmill. There's a little talk about protecting the forest but not many people are listening.
After a day or two in Sibu, I will be on another river trip continuing down the Rejang to the mouth, then across a stretch of the South China Sea, back to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Kuching is the Malay word for cat and the city has plenty of cat statues throughout, and even a Cat Museum. From there, I'll fly back to Kuala Lumpur and go see the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, working my way back toward Thailand, where I'll fly out. Time is flyiing by all too quickly - I can't believe there's only 3 weeks left.
