Kelabit Highlands

Back to Malaysia with renewed visa and into Miri.

Not a great deal to do here but did find another good, if painful massage, and the best butter prawns and crab meat ever. Even better as I was offered some steamed crab by the table next to me occupied by a taxi driver and his wife. He was also insistant that I should share his beer. They got up to leave before me, I was just finishing my beer and returned to say they had paid for my meal too. This is another amazing example of malaysian hospitality.

Off to the airport the next day for my flight to Bario in the Kelabit Highlands. The Kelabit fled to this area after the last skirmish with Indonesia in 1963. It is about 1500m above sea level and I was looking forward to some cooler air.

The flight over was amazing in a little twin otter plane, flying quite low and so able to see the extent of the forest, rivers. logging roads and incursion of the ever present palm oil.

Bario is they centre of of number of villages, it is famous for the best rice, sweetest pinapple and salt springs. I can attest to the deliciousness of all.  The food is quite distinctive, even here in the melee of asian cuisine. 
 I had sweet and tender smoked wild boar in many forms, pinapple curry, sweet sticky rice in banana leaf for packed lunch, jungle ferns and fish from the paddi fields.






The Homestay I was at was run by Scot the youngest son of father who is at least ninety and still woodworking and fishing and mother was is into her eighties and still planting paddi and running down the steps to pull the drying rice in from the rain, she moves better than me as I was trying to help her.

I decided to test out my leg with a walk up Prayer mountain and mine surely were answered as I managed to get up to the top and down again, thank goodness for the rope as it was very steep and slippery, to the most unprepossesing church more than half way up before the rain came.  My two companions a 26 yr old pilot and german who was planning a jungle trek, gave up at the church.

I was sorely tempted to go on the jungle trek but for once sensibly dcided not to head even further away from civilisation in case my leg gave up.

The next day I took a guide, along with Edmund the pilot to see the megaliths, it is strange how so many cultures have expressed them selves in this way, not much is known about the significance of these stones, but one is thought to be a head count, literally of those taken by a particular group. The one below was cleaved by an angry warrior.
 I also got to the salt springs from which the Bario salt is produced, it is highly prized for its taste and medicinal value to new mums and children.  It is a very muddy trek in and out of the jungle to get it, Edmund decided to wait it out at the bridge.

My final trek was up to the ridge beyond the Penan villages. The Penan are semi nomadic although the government is encouraging them to settle. I met one young woman who was keen to practise her English. She was staying at this village to look after her younger brother who was attending the school, so this nomadic existance is changing. She wants to get a job in the town too, she had the most amazing hair, which she had recently cut to below waist length from about ankle length, it was exquistintly knotted at the back of her head.  On my return I walk through the settlements and the dwellings were very basic and did not look too permanent the residents kept inside and so I didn't stop to take photos. I did see one man returning with his parang, blowpipe and small daughter, so some traditions are still kept.  I was also accosted by another friendly butterfly, one of many up in the jungle

Bario has a number of longhouses although many do not appear to be occupied.  I think many of the Kelabits are working elsewhere and come back for festivals etc.  Those that are occupied have many modern conveniences. There have been a number of initiatives to provide power, currently the government subsidises diesel for transport and generators. There was a hydropwer station installed but it ran for 45minutes and 7 seconds before the resevoire ran dry, there are also some wind turbines carefully sited in the valley and sheltered from the wind! The new clinic is incorporating soler panels into the new building, hopefully the designer has learnt a few lessons from the past initiatives.

I also visited the longhouse/art gallery of Stephen Baya a nephew of my host. He is apparently exhibiting in Cambridge at the moment, a colaberatin of illustrated cultural tales collated by an anthropology researcher from University of Sussex, I am waiting to hear if Ruth knows her.
 It is a small world after all.