Gawai longhouse visit, and Bako National Park

  Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Monday, June 2, 2008

We arrived in Kuching at 4AM, unsure of what to do.  Seeing that the one place that we were thinking of staying was closed, we wandered a bit, and then gave up easily.  By 5 AM we were sitting at a Chinese restaurant that was crawling towards its opening, at 5:30.  Two men were cutting up and grinding pork, without their shirts on.  One of the customers asks us if we are going to have some porridge, and seeing as that was to be the only option we said yes.  He bought us two coffees when the time came, and we sat and pondered where to go from here.  We chatted awhile about how good the porridge, it consisted of rice cooked with alot of chicken stock, or maybe pork stock, and then some of the fresh ground pork, and some fried donut you put in it.  He told us it was quite famous and that Kuching was just as great a city.  He ended up buying us our porridge as well.  We then set off and found a cheap, nice hotel easily.  And fell down for a well deserved nap.

When we woke, we took it slow, thinking we had until tommorrow.  When we started asking around about Gawai, we realized that the major park of the festivities was that very evening.  We wanted to know wheter or not there was a possible way to get out there.  The tour operators sort of laughed at us, and told us to go on the third with them, but we really wanted to get out to the longhouse.  We had thought the festival was in Kuching, and now we were sort of at a loss as to what to do.  We tried to figure a way out there, but thought that it was going to be just a little too difficult, and we did not want to impose on any of the locals on the night of their big festival.  We decided to spend the night in Kuching, and head out in the morning.  We enjoyed a fantastic sunset by the river that eve.

The ferries

The next morn we hoped to find a share ride, but ended up with our own taxi.  A bit pricey, but we really wanted to go.  We arrived around 10 AM, and the whole place was dead quiet.  We thought we had come at a bad time, but found a family that was willing to take us in for tea and cakes.  We talked with them and the Australian couple that they were hosting.  It was good conversation.  As we sat and talked the village started to come to life.  Around 11 the first scheduled visitors were arriving, and we moved over to another man's house to await them.   His name was Arthur, and we chatted with him for a while and came to find that most of his family was now living in Miri, and that they were all back for the festival.  He was good to talk to, and then we heard the big drums from the parking lot, announcing that they were coming.  In came the procession, and then started the dancing.

The beginning of the dance

We were invited into yet another house for rice wine, and some home-made biscuits, as well as bamboo rice, a Biduyah specialty.  It was all delicious, and we watched while group after group of Singaporean students were ushered through.  During the lulls between groups we were invited to partake in dart blowing, and even taught the dance by the elder ladies.  We were having a blast.  Our cab driver soon told us that he had to get back to the city.  We had planned to stay out there for most of the day, and were even starting to think about staying the night, but thought maybe we should go.  We said our thank yous and our good-byes, and on our way out, met yet another family who invited us in for some good Bidayuh hospitality.  We talked about traditions, theirs and ours, ate rice and fresh chicken.  And ended up talking about everyones favorite subject, who is going to be the next American president.  Funny isn't it, even way out in the Bornean jungle, at a longhouse, during the Gawai Rice Harvest Festival, you find a piece of home.  Not that I was dense enough to think this was a traditional place, far from it, but even still, I didnt think I would be talking about Barack and Hilary.  Ah well, it was good fun anyways.  We headed back to Kuching full of steam.

When we got back we had a rest, seeing as the rice wine had started to take its toll.  Afterwhich we headed for some eats, and then a walk.  On our way down to the other side of the city, who should we bump into but our friend Tero.  This guy is a stalker, I swear.  Not really, but we have been bumping into him since peninsular Malaysia.  We agreed to meet up for some beers that evening.  Which we did, over a few darts games, and eventually some hearts.  Games are good fun, even more so when your drinking.  They really remind you of home. 

The tidal rocks

Sunset

The next day we headed off to Bako National Park, just outside Kuching.  The morning was rainy and nasty, but decided to take our chances.  By the time we had taken the bus, and boat, the day was starting to clear.  We set out for a nice long hike along the Lintong trail.  It encompasses 5 types of vegetation over only 7 km.  It was a really great trail, and we ended it, by going out to Pako beach.  By the time we got there the sun had come out and it was a glorious day.  Right as we arrived a man shooshed us, and as he turned around a large male probiscous monkey jumped right down onto the beach.  He was huge! He quickly scurried right up a tree, and we watched him for a bit until he was too hidden for us to really see.  We then explored this fantastic beach we had come out onto.  Lots and lots of sand crabs, hermit crabs, and mudskippers were all over the place.  I had to take off my shoes and splash myself with the warm sea water, that I really wished was cool river water, but it was just fine.  We hid from the sun behind a huge rock that the ocean had failed to erode away, and searched for some more monkeys, but to no avail.  On our way back we came across a troop of long-tailed Macques, whom are usually particularly naughty, but they gave us no trouble.  We stopped to watch them awhile, and then continued along, admiring the sunset that was getting more and more colorful by the minute.  A cool drink went down well, while the sun settled in for the night.  Then we showered, ate, and our eyelids sent us to our beds.

The morning was rainy again, so we woke slowly, and hoped it would peter off.  We had a leisurely breakfast, and when the rain abated a bit we decided to try and make it to the beach.  We walked for half an hour before the big dark clouds rolled over our heads again.  Down came the rain, and washed away the trail.  It seemed we were walking up a river, or down at times.  We got to the waterfall eventually, and had a small break before deciding we were too wet to want to go on, so we headed back.  No animals the whole time until we came to 100 meters left mark, and all the sudden probiscous monkeys were jumping in trees all over the place, shaking rain onto us.  We got down to the boardwalks and found a group to share a boat, and on the walk to the boats found that the probiscous had found their way down to the lower trees.  They were everywhere, and so close.  Got to have a really good look at them and their big noses.  Sorry, no good photos.  Use google.
The boat ride back was wonderful as well, though the big dark rain cloud loomed, and once we were safe under a roof, it let loose.  Just in time for us.  We hopped a bus back to the city, and checked back in to our discount hotel room.  We met Tero and Mikko for dinner and Texas-Hold'em before they caught their flight, and those theiving Fins stole all 60 RM from us.  They are off for the Philappinnes but we vowed to have a rematch in Bangkok, if they were man enough. 

The next day was spent getting a few packages ready, and buying a few things around town, while wishing we could buy more.  The art and craft work here is incredible.  Of course it is diluted with the normal array or crap, but there are some real gems to be found.  We had our last tastes of good Chinese cuisines, and payed too much for some beers with new friends.  But cheap beer was on the horizon.  Indonesia, we were on our way.