Longhouse Luxury

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  Kampong Annah Rais, Sarawak, Malaysia
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

On Sunday we left Kuching and headed for an overnight stay at a Bidayuh Longhouse.  The Bidayuh are one of the indigenous peoples (dayak) of Sarawak (or more to the point Borneo, as these tribes are represented in Indonesia too).  Their name means people of the interior and they are closest to Kuching, south toward the Indonesian border.

We packed all our things up and had delicious Roti Channai for breakfast at the only exclusively Indian food place, it seems, in Kuching.  We'd decided to go for a longhouse visit in the mountains and jungle because there was no salt water there.  On Saturday Venetia had bravely put herself under the tattooist needle and ended up with a beautiful Borneo Headhunters Iban (Indigenous) style gecko (koko in the Iban language).  The design contained a stylised dragon inside the gecko shape.  It now proudly sits on Venetia's left shoulder blade with it's tounge just peeking over the top.  That was great but it meant that there was no going to Damai beach for us, unless we wanted to have fun while Venetia sat on the beach watching.  Salt water and sunlight destroy the tattoo in it's settling stages.

Olive at Brookes Terrace organised it for us.  We waited for our lift to the longhouse, expecting a bus.  Cait was dreading it as her slip onto the pavement in Kuala Lumpur had badly bruised her coccix.  Instead our ride turned out to be a hotted up Proton, complete with spoiler, driven by a smiley young woman named Rowena.  We headed out of town, passed the Semenggoh Orangutan Reserve which we had visited a couple of days prior.  To digress for a moment the Semenggoh Orangutan Reserve was amazing.  We went there in time for the afternoon feeding session, about 3pm, as this is the time that they are likely (but not guaranteed) to be seen.  We were in luck.  These Orangutan are the result of a successful rehabilitation program that has been going on at this location since 1975 or so.  Young orphaned Orangutan were taken in, reared and taught by human handlers to forage and look after themselves in the wild.  Now there are 26 Orangutan living in the reserve.  There is Ritchie - the big dominant male who gets to have the run of the girls and keep the younger ones in line.  When we were there we saw him, at least 3 young females with babies and a few adolescent ones full of mischief.  One of the younger ones dared to steal Ritchies coconut off the feeding platform... he threw a huge tantrum and tried to catch the younger one.  When he couldn't he pretended that it didn't matter and started to eat the rambutans instead, all the while keeping an eye out for the rascal that stole his coconut to give him a whack I'm sure.  They were amazing to look at.  Incredible human like and also incredibly animal in composition.  Ritchie had a big hairy body with long fur and his face had phlanges on his cheeks - that means he's the big boss guy.  He ways over 100kg - not much for some humans but pretty big for an ape!  We've attached some pictures - it was fantastic.  Enough digressing now - on to the longhouse.

So as per usual the trip out seemed to take forever (coming back was quicker - really it was!) and we drove through progressively denser and denser areas of jungle toward souring mountains with sheer cliffs and ragged ridges, covered in jungle with occasional burnt patches.  We had introduced ourselves to Rowena early in the trip.  Venetia had the front seat so she got to ask most of the questions and hear most of the answers as the music in the back made it a little difficult to hear.  The burnt patches were for farming - rice mainly.  Also a fair bit of pepper is grown there, the crop that is Sarawak's biggest export.  It took about 1 and 1/2 hours to get there.  On the way we asked Rowena if there was going to be lunch (as we were starving), so she rang her mum and I think it basically translated as - the guests are hungry, can you cook them some lunch - so on arrival we were greeted with pleasant smiles, lovely welcomes and bamboo chicken, rice and other deliciousness.  So began our culinary feast at Annah Rais.  Not so good for Cait on the first night but once Emily (Rowena's mother) found out Cait was vegetarian there was a range of mock meats available at the dinner table from then on - even if the vegetables sometimes got cooked with fish and prawns.  The weather was hot and sticky (funny that) with the threat of rain ever constant. 

We were all supposed to go to the hot springs the next day after our restful sleep in our own little bedrooms upstairs.  Unfortunately for me I had developed a minor case of the runs so no hot springs for me.  It did mean that I had lovely prawns for lunch though while everyone else was out.  I think thay all had a lovely time.  They can tell you themselves.  The stay at Annah Rais was delightful, restful and well worth the trip and the small expense.  The house we stayed in was modern, finished with timbers cut from around where they lived with a beautiful mahogany staircase, a bit steep by our standards but it just meant that you took it slow.  The whole longhouse had a range of architectural styles, of which there is a couple of photos, including the more original type of longhouse style.  I could go on and I probably will but for now I will end this update - it has taken me over a week to complete it as we have travelled a fair bit of the country since Annah Rais and there is much to tell.  Stay tuned!

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Traditional longhouse style

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