Upon arriving at Miri airport in northern Sarawak, we were surprised to find no public transport from the airport to the town- very unusual for South East Asia (we subsequently discovered all bus routes around town to be intermittent and pretty useless). Luckily a lovely woman drove us into town, showing us the sights along the way, and dropped us at a budget hostel (for anyone interested, a "budget" hostel for us here in Sarawak is anything less than 50 RM/AU$16). We were quite disappointed to find out from the tourist office that the bad public transport extended to the entire region, and the public ferry running on the river we'd hoped to travel on no longer ran, and a village we'd hoped had a main road running to it was only accessible by plane and beyond our budget. So, without much else to hold us in Miri, we left for Batu Niah and the incredible Niah Caves a few hours south.
Satays firing up at the excellent night market, Miri, Sarawak
These caves are without a doubt the largest we've ever seen (the Great Cave being one of the largest in the world), and to experience walking through them for hours, sometimes in complete darkness and silence with only a torchlight and each other was exciting and terrifying! Generations of swift bird nest collectors have lived and worked in the caves for years, and we were amazed to see their extremely high and rickety looking scaffolding and ladders hanging precariously from the roof in various points in the depths of the caves. Although the caves are of great historical significance, with evidence of burials 20,000 years ago having been discovered there, there really isn't much of that to see now, and we focused on the beauty of the place. After a day hiking into the national park, up and down many hills and steps to the cave entrance, into the Great Cave, and various smaller ones, and then back to our simple hotel in Batu Niah town, we were completely shattered, but felt great to have seen such a wonderful and unique natural wonder, almost in complete solitude.
Walking to Niah Caves National Park, Sarawak
Beautiful forest, Niah Caves National Park, Sarawak
Catching up, Niah Caves National Park, Sarawak
Inside the Great Cave, Niah Caves National Park, Sarawak
Sal and the light, Niah Great Cave, Sarawak
Daylight after all the darkness, Niah Caves National Park, Sarawak
After an unexpectedly long day traveling from Batu Niah, we found ourselves that evening with a grilled fish and some cold Chinese beers in a cafe on the riverfront in Sibu, a engaging and bustling city with a very active river port and no tourists (we saw virtually no tourists anywhere in Sarawak, besides Kuching). We were lucky enough to score a budget room nearby, and after a day spent viewing the unusual produce from upriver in the somewhat exotic central market, and the meat and wonton heavy night market, we sorted out our travel plans for the next few days and set off on a river trip up the Batang Rajang River.
View from our hotel window of Central Market, Sibu
Traditional house, Sibu
Ready to take away! Sibu Central Market
Wontons galore, Sibu night market
Bits and pieces for sale at Sibu market
We were prepared that the Batang Rejang River might be uninteresting, and not as wonderful as other river trips we have had, but the further we traveled up the river, the quaint little huts, modern longhouses, limited industry, exciting rapids and lovely jungle setting kept our attention. Unfortunately, most of the strange bullet shaped boats used along that river are totally enclosed, air conditioned, and with little chance to stand or sit outside to watch the scenery. We felt extremely unsafe inside them, thinking about the struggle to escape the boat should it sink. Nevertheless, they delivered us in one piece.
Rustic scenery, Batang Rejang River
View from the boat, Batang Rejang River
Exciting rapids, Batang Rejang River
Looking down the Batang Rejang River at the rapids
Lovely when the sun came out, Batang Rejang River
Scenic part of the Batang Rejang River
Small boats moored on the Batang Rejang River
Bend in the Batang Rejang River
We had time to stop at two places along the river, and they were the contrasting towns of Kapit and Belaga. Kapit was interesting because although it was a busy town with a large mainly Chinese population, it was actually only accessible by river boat, with no bus or plane service. It had without a doubt the weirdest meat section of a market we have ever seen (see below). Richard amused the locals in the market by smoking a cigar made up of chopped homegrown tobacco wrapped in a banana leaf for 15 cents. He was undecided about the taste, but it sure kept the mozzies away!
Arriving at Kapit
Local cigars, Kapit
Smoking dodgy banana leaf cigar, Kapit
Iban design, Kapit
Loading boats, Kapit
The village of Belaga was another 5 hours up the river and literally in the middle of nowhere. Many longhouse river dwellers, or orang ulu, milled about the town overwhelming the Chinese and Malay population in numbers, and to us the place felt more basic and laid back. This impression was no doubt helped along by half of the males we saw being completely off their heads on a thick black alcoholic liquid supplied to them intermittently in shot form by the cafe underneath our lodgings. There were many older orang ulu women around with intricate Iban style tattoos on their arms and legs, and both sexes had pierced ears with hanging earlobes where they once wore heavy earrings. Handwoven conical straw hats, colourfully designed woven "backpacks" for their shopping, and a huge banana leaf cigar hanging out of the side of their mouths completed the look. Not being much to do after a couple of hours look around the village, we settled in our cafe with a bottle of local brandy and watched the show!
Selection of drinks at our lodgings, Belaga
Enjoying Chinese lunch, brandy and the sights of Belaga
Belaga house
Batang Rejang River, Belaga
As promised, some photos of the weird meat and other food traded by the river people in Sarawak. It's understandable people eat what's available and cheap, including food from the jungle, but it's still upsetting to see endangered creatures such as the pangolin chopped up ready to cook.
Possum type creatures- we never found out the name, Kapit market
The endangered pangolin, Kapit market
Unidentified piece of meat and hair, Kapit market
Jungle ferns, Sibu market
Wild boar head, Kapit market
Pig faces, Sibu night market
Unidentified root, Sibu market
Odd looking river fish with sharp little teeth, Sibu market
Black chickens- that's a first, Sibu market
Chopped monitor lizard in a bucket, Sibu market
We weren't really surprised when we disembarked in Sarawak's capital Kuching from the Sibu boat, to discover yet another public town bus no longer running. Luckily, once again, a friendly local dropped right to the door of a hostel in town, saving us becoming soaking wet in the teaming rain. It was also disappointing to discover many of the sights we'd prepared to see were either closed or building sites. It seems the easy going, charming city of Kuching we'd been hearing about for so many years was undergoing an upgrade, and the appeal of the place was frankly lost on us. To cap it off, a morning trip to Semenggoh, a well known orang utan sanctuary was a bit of a disaster. We'd previously seen orangutans in a brilliant setting in Bukit Lawang, and naively were expecting a similar experience. We exited the bus to discover about 200 tourists on tours milling about, making a huge amount of noise. It REALLY was not our thing, and if we hadn't had already paid our entrance fee, we would have turned around then and there and left. We stayed, and unfortunately no orangutans showed that morning.
The only orangutan we saw on the day! Kuching
Perfectly posing butterflies, Kuching
Pretty cottage in a pretty lane, north bank, Kuching
Practicalities: Sarawak is difficult to explore properly on a budget. To get to the really interesting areas in the central part of Borneo involves hiring a guides and own transport- public transport is nearly or non existent in many remote parts of the country (and pretty bad in the cities, too). Prices for transport are higher than Peninsula Malaysia in general, making even the easy to get to places a bit pricey. We found locals very generous with hitch hiking- if there was no public transport, or only expensive taxis, we only had to wave down the first car to come along and generally they gave us a lift. Food was mostly Chinese, and a bit too much on the bland and greasy side for us- we sorely missed the Indian influence of Western Malaysia! Accommodation was similar in price to Peninsula Malaysia, and ranged between flash rooms with AC and hot water that we didn't want or need in bigger cities, to very basic fan rooms at Chinese lodging houses along the river. With what we were able to see in Sarawak, we have to say although it was an enjoyable experience, it doesn't compare at all to our wonderful experiences in the Indonesian part of Borneo (Kalimantan), which for us was more adventurous, easier to get to remote areas, more authentic and better value for money.
A typical small town Sarawak room for us
A typically fancy city room in Sarawak
A typical kopitan (coffee shop/basicrestaurant) in Sarawak
The undisputed highlight of our trip to Kalimantan was the 3 weeks where we undertook an incredible
trip up and down the Mahakam River- one of the longest rivers in Kalimantan. For travellers, the river
is an easy and relatively cheap way to experience a little bit of what life
must have been like here many years ago, with public ferries (kapal biasa) plying the waters every
day, and stopping in at most villages, big and small. Many dayak (original inhabitants of Borneo)
people reside along the river, and it is one of the few places to see some of
their culture.
After thoroughly checking out which boat went where at the
harbour in Samarinda, we decided on
the easiest option of a public ferry boat upriver to the end of the line to a
small village called LongBangun. We were extremely lucky that
the boats to the far reaches of the river had only begun with the monsoon
weather about a week before. Visiting communities further upriver from Long Bangun is possible, but as there
is no access by public ferry, prices for chartering small motorised canoes are
high.
Ferry boats in Samarinda port
We turned up at 6.00 am, were shown to the spacious, organized
and rain-proof sleeping quarters, with fans, mattresses, pillows, and windows
that opened (always a bonus in Indonesia!)
by the shyly friendly crew. A look around took in the large kitchen (complete
with food bubbling on the stove, a fridge with cold drinks, snacks, drinking water,
and table and stools), clean toilets, and a large, open downstairs area for
people on shorter journeys to sit or lie. We settled in for a long wait as
people and their possessions boarded, and were very surprised when the boat
began to pull out at the actual departure time of 7am!
Lower deck
Upper deck
Kitchen
Toilet/bathroom
The journey could not have been more different to our preceding ones in Kalimantan. We knew we had two days and two nights aboard, so we settled in, found a great place to sit up the
front of the boat, made friends with the lovely crew, ate rice soup, and slept
when we were tired in our extremely comfortable beds.
Captain
Richard amusing himself
Contemplative Rich
Our sleeping space
Sal on poop deck
For the firsttwo
days, the scenery was a mixture of industry (first huge coal barges up and down
along side us, and then logging tug boats towing vast rafts of hundreds of
logs) and towns filled with precarious stilt house over the river, women
washing clothes, kids playing in the river, and mosques wailing in the
background. We loved sitting up the front and watching all this life and
activity.
Coal barge
Logging boats
Scenery out of Samarinda
Life on the river
Goods waiting to board
But when we woke up after the second night, we found we had
mostly left the industry behind, and had entered a narrower part of the river,
where the forests and mangroves came down to the river side, the captain had to
negotiate rapids in the river, giant limestone cliffs filled with graves loomed
over us, and the villages became smaller and more rustic. This remarkable part of
the Mahakam is only accessed by boat, and it was what we had come to see.
Forested river banks
Mahakam River scenery
Dramatic sky over river
Typical river dwelling
Sunset from back deck
Misty morning
River life
Canoes on the river
Giant cliffs
Having read a bit about this river trip on travel forums, it
appeared to be the number one attraction that brought tourists to Kalimantan, and we were expecting a
much more touristy experience than what we encountered. Apart from the crew not
sure what to make of us, the passing boats and people on the banks of the river
stared at us with the wonder we are now used to, and many of our fellow
passengers approached us to see how much info they could pump out of us with
our limited Indonesian.
SIDE NOTE- The top 10 questions asked of us by most
Indonesians we have just met (in order):
1.Where are you from?
2.Where are you going?
3.Do you speak Indonesian?
4.How old are you?
5.Is that your husband/wife?
6.Do you have children?
7.How long have you been married? (This is in
confusion to us not having any kids)
8.What is your name?
9.What is your religion?
10. What you doing in Indonesia?
Arriving at the dayak village of LongBangun in the afternoon of day three, even after 54 hours onboard, we definitely did not want to get off, although the village looked attractive. We were sad to leave our little viewing balcony, and the crew, and the wonderful peaceful feeling of travelling on the waters.
"Our" boat, the Akbar Amanda, from the penginapan
We found a penginapan (boarding house) on the river, and were surprised to bump into one of two bule (foreigner) couples we met along the river.
Outside the longhouse, Long Bangun
Outside the longhouse, Long Bangun
Outside the longhouse, Long Bangun
Local cuties
Village houses
Church carving,Long Bangun
Local girl
We were very fortunate to be in time for a “huduq” festival the next day. Because no one speaks English, and our Indonesian is limited, we were only able to find out it was something to do with the rice planting season. It was a fantastic affair, with young boys rhythmically banging on long drums and a gong for hours, before an old lady in traditional costume lead young girls around in a sort of dance in front of the village long house (place for gatherings). The real feature came down the road in the form of men dressed as creatures unknown to us. We had seen people making the costumes the day before, but couldn’t have dreamed the dramatic affect it would have when it all came together. Small children were running scared, as the creatures danced and strutted their way down the street. Everything moved inside the longhouse, and continued for a couple of hours, when suddenly the music stopped, and everyone left in a matter of seconds!
A short video of the festivities (unfortunately you can’t hear the great drumming, but gives some idea)
Long drums,Long Bangun
Long house,Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
Dayak festival, Long Bangun
“Our” boat was leaving the following day, so we decided to leave with them and start our cruise slowly back down the Mahakam stopping at some small places on the way. This time, we were to sit on the bottom deck with the short trip passengers, which was interesting as we could see the loading and unloading procedure.
River scenery
Beautiful river
Boat floor
Long Hubung was next, and although we knew it was a small dayak village, we didn’t realize quite how tiny, and that a stay at the local penginapan would involve an hour’s “conversation” with the friendly owner, before being showed to a basic, but clean room with only mattresses on the floor above his shop. It was almost an impossible challenge for Sally to keep up with him, but he definitely expected us to know some of his language, which is fair enough.
Our host with his whiskey concoction- we declined a taste
Our room Long Hubung
We loved the little village, especially when we finally found the one warung (eating place) in town, and spent a couple of days wandering around the limited tracks enjoying the local’s smiles and the brilliant carvings- both outside the local church, and people’s houses. Being Christians, there was a church, pigs, and dogs galore- these were mostly scabby specimens that should have put out of their misery. Dodging the shit all over the paths was not a highlight. The men of the village whizzed around on motorbikes, with traditional round hats on, and home carved knife sheaths in their belts.
Totem outside house,Long Hubung
Totem,Long Hubung
Totem,Long Hubung
Old woman, Long Hubung
Long Hubung house
We were especially lucky here to see an old woman with earlobes stretched down past her shoulders, filled with multiple silver hoops, and tattoos on her wrists and ankles. There are only a few of these women left, and although we asked her politely in Indonesian for a photo, she wasn’t keen, so we respected that, even though we were disappointed. However, it won’t be hard to remember her lovely, smiley, wrinkled face with red stained teeth, and her amazing ears and tattoos.
One strange thing happened on our departure from the floating warung at the pier in Long Hubung. The grandmother of the family we had made friends with held out the back of the baby’s nappy and asked us to spit down it! Apparently it’s good luck- that’s a first!
Warung, Long Hubung
LeavingLong Hubung
Baby carrier, boat toLong Iram
Boat to Long Iram
From Long Hubung, we again took a kapal biasa to Long Iram, a slightly bigger town, that was Muslim and not dayak (the dayaks are mostly Catholic or Protestant, being converted to Christianity by missionaries in the early 20th century). It was in this small town we had our worst room, although the family who ran it were so over-the-top welcoming- even bringing us huge plates of fresh, hot donuts and coffee in the mornings (would have been good if it wasn’t at 6 am!), that we still enjoyed it.
Here is video of our dumpy accommodation
Long Iram kids
Strange statue, Long Iram
Long Iram kids
House, Long Iram
On one of our long, hot walks around town, we were surprised to come across another long-eared woman sitting out the front of a house, this being a Muslim town. This woman’s earlobes were only a few inches long, and she said a straight out no to a photo, but didn’t mind us stopping for a chat to escape the heat for a few minutes.
We spent a day visiting a nearby dayak village called Tering Lama. The village was quite interesting, with an marvelous church with totem poles out the front showing a pictorial history of the village (except it only started when the missionaries arrived!), and lots of what were now becoming familiar cute wooden house, with flower gardens out the front. The most remarkable part was the slip-sliding along the muddy path for nine kms to reach Tering Lama, and as a result we decided to splurge on the way back with a ces boat (motorised taxi canoe) for 100,000 rup (AU$10), and enjoy the river scenery.
Dayak statue, Tering Lama
Dayak statue, Tering Lama
Tering Lama
Outside church,Tering Lama
Biblical carvings, church, Tering Lama
Carvings outside church, Tering Lama
The coming of the missionaries carvings, Tering Lama
Missionary speaking to dayaks, Tering Lama
Church, Tering Lama
Tering Lama house and garden
Ces ride back to Long Iram
Every evening in LongIram we loved going down to the river, and soaking our dirty, tired feet in the waters, whilst watching the kids have their mad half hour playing and washing before it got dark.
Pushing the limits of our camera lens!
Long Iram
School boys, Long Iram
Sunset,Long Iram
Only one kapalbiasa travels the upper Mahakam each way every day, so the time was bound to come on our slow trip back that would arrive in the middle of the night somewhere, and Muara Muntai, the next town, was that place. Arriving at 3am, and finding a completely shut up town, we decided to sleep the rest of the night on the pier.
Bed for the night, Muara Muntai
Dawn,Muara Muntai
A somewhat bigger town, Muara Muntai is interesting in that it is set entirely on boardwalks. It’s quite amazing to see huge houses and shops on what at first glance appears to be an ordinary street. Many motorbikes whizz up and down these, and we had to accustom ourselves to “traffic” again. We luxuriated in 24 hour electricity, with a fan in our room and cold drinks in the shop's fridges.
Rich, Muara Muntai
Big house built on boardwalk,Muara Muntai
Boardwalk, Muara Muntai
Muara Muntai
Schoolkids, Muara Muntai- notice the interesting hand signs!
Boardwalks, Muara Muntai
Ridiculously photogenic kid
Basket maker,Muara Muntai
Again, we were fortunate with our timing to visit two different weddings along the boardwalk in one day! Although the reception wasn’t quite as over the top as our experiences in Aceh and Sulawesi, we were still treated to some delicious food, and posed for numerous photos with the bride and groom. The second wedding had some dubious entertainment in the form of two scantily clad (for here) women dancing and singing very sexually- the kids seemed to enjoy it, though!
Groom with scary bride
Well fed at wedding, Muara Muntai
Who invited them?!
Floor show, wedding, Muara Muntai
Due to the kapalbiasa departing in the middle of the night, we opted for the shared speedboat to our next destination, Kota Bangun. Unfortunately, when the vessel came it was so overloaded there wasn’t room for us to join them, so we were happy when a ces driver offered to take for the same price. The back jolting one and a half hour journey was not the most comfortable, but it was fast.
Kota Bangun was the biggest town on the Mahakam so far. The losmen across the river from where we were dropped off was great for the price (50,000 rup/AU$5), and we met two bule (foreign) women travelling upriver, so we chatted our hearts out for the few hours they were in town. Our main aim in visiting Kota Bangun was to connect to a town slightly further north, where we hoped to take another river trip up north. Information was very hard to come by, our lack of Indonesian being particularly frustrating at this point in the trip. Eventually we found out what we needed to know, and set off (at 4 am!) for Muara Kaman.
