A Thanksgiving Story...
Well our first holiday away from home has come and gone, and what stories we have for you! After the trials of Mt. Kinabalu, we took a puddle jumper flight to Sibu, the 2nd largest town in Sarawak, the other Malaysian province in Borneo. The main attraction in Sibu is its location on the Batang Rejang, the largest river in Malaysia and where numerous ethnic tribes live, including the Orang Ulu, Kelabit, Penan and Iban, all of loin-cloth and head-hunting fame.
After one rainy day in Sibu, it was time to take a boat trip up the Batang Rejang and go experience living longhouse-style with an upriver tribe. Besides, it was Thanksgiving and who better to spend it with than family? Even if that family lives 3 hours upriver, 30 minutes inland by rickety bus and consists of 400 people living in a row of adjoined houses on stilts.
Upon faithfully researching how exactly to ingratiate onself with a tribe of head-hunting fame, our guidebook and Sibu Visitor's Centre strongly suggested bringing a gift to present to the Chief of the Longhouse as payment for room & board. Specifically, Lonely Planet mentions two enthusiastic travellers who brought a live pig upriver and were invited to stay for as long as they liked! Since it was Thanksgiving, we decided to purchase from the market in Sibu a live chicken (it was that or a duck... apparently no turkeys in Borneo). Even though our parents would likely think this was a fowl idea, what with the avian flu pandemic of Southeast Asia and all, we decided that taking one chicken wrapped in paper and three layers of plastic would be ok for a few hours. (Moms and Dads, please don't worry - we also washed our hands frequently like health websites said, we were nowhere near the culling, defeathering, or cooking of the chicken, and we promise not to go anywhere near live birds in any of the next countries. Besides, think of the pilgrims).
Anyways, so after choosing the tastiest (and healthiest) looking bird we could find, we headed off upriver. Somewhere along the way, Alyss & I decided this was absolutely the most hilarious thing we have done yet on our trip, although both agreed not to tell our parents for a few days (just to prove we didn't have avian flu). As for our little manuk (chicken in Iban), it hid for most of the trip and seemed a little dehydrated, so I tried to feed water to it, but ended up pouring water all over it which didn't accomplish much except to provoke some outraged squawking. Oh, and birds also don't appear to enjoy 3 hours of deafening twin-engines. Who knew? Anyhoo, upon arriving at Rumah Bundong a few hours later and presenting Chief Bundong with his gift, our squawking friend disappeared and mysteriously reappeared a few hours later in cooked form mixed with some mee hoon noodles. Tasty. Although some gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce never hurt a meal, we decided it would be too hard to try to suggest this using hand gestures and happily ate our little bamboo-steamed manuk.
As for the longhouse experience itself, it was certainly interesting and well worth the trip. We couldn't communicate except with a few English speakers so we spent most of our time playing with the 3 and 4 year olds (luckily 'choo choo!' translates well), or just sitting and listening and trying not to feel like we were imposing. Visitors are common though, and although the Iban have always welcomed guests without question, the economic kickback of having tourist visitors is quite welcome now as well. We evetually relaxed into the slow, laidback, communal atmosphere of the place, sitting in sarongs on the long wooden verandah and going for a swim in the river with some teenagers and lots of little naked kids who could swim like fish. And were they ever cute.
After one rainy day in Sibu, it was time to take a boat trip up the Batang Rejang and go experience living longhouse-style with an upriver tribe. Besides, it was Thanksgiving and who better to spend it with than family? Even if that family lives 3 hours upriver, 30 minutes inland by rickety bus and consists of 400 people living in a row of adjoined houses on stilts.
Upon faithfully researching how exactly to ingratiate onself with a tribe of head-hunting fame, our guidebook and Sibu Visitor's Centre strongly suggested bringing a gift to present to the Chief of the Longhouse as payment for room & board. Specifically, Lonely Planet mentions two enthusiastic travellers who brought a live pig upriver and were invited to stay for as long as they liked! Since it was Thanksgiving, we decided to purchase from the market in Sibu a live chicken (it was that or a duck... apparently no turkeys in Borneo). Even though our parents would likely think this was a fowl idea, what with the avian flu pandemic of Southeast Asia and all, we decided that taking one chicken wrapped in paper and three layers of plastic would be ok for a few hours. (Moms and Dads, please don't worry - we also washed our hands frequently like health websites said, we were nowhere near the culling, defeathering, or cooking of the chicken, and we promise not to go anywhere near live birds in any of the next countries. Besides, think of the pilgrims).
Anyways, so after choosing the tastiest (and healthiest) looking bird we could find, we headed off upriver. Somewhere along the way, Alyss & I decided this was absolutely the most hilarious thing we have done yet on our trip, although both agreed not to tell our parents for a few days (just to prove we didn't have avian flu). As for our little manuk (chicken in Iban), it hid for most of the trip and seemed a little dehydrated, so I tried to feed water to it, but ended up pouring water all over it which didn't accomplish much except to provoke some outraged squawking. Oh, and birds also don't appear to enjoy 3 hours of deafening twin-engines. Who knew? Anyhoo, upon arriving at Rumah Bundong a few hours later and presenting Chief Bundong with his gift, our squawking friend disappeared and mysteriously reappeared a few hours later in cooked form mixed with some mee hoon noodles. Tasty. Although some gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce never hurt a meal, we decided it would be too hard to try to suggest this using hand gestures and happily ate our little bamboo-steamed manuk.As for the longhouse experience itself, it was certainly interesting and well worth the trip. We couldn't communicate except with a few English speakers so we spent most of our time playing with the 3 and 4 year olds (luckily 'choo choo!' translates well), or just sitting and listening and trying not to feel like we were imposing. Visitors are common though, and although the Iban have always welcomed guests without question, the economic kickback of having tourist visitors is quite welcome now as well. We evetually relaxed into the slow, laidback, communal atmosphere of the place, sitting in sarongs on the long wooden verandah and going for a swim in the river with some teenagers and lots of little naked kids who could swim like fish. And were they ever cute.
And not to disappoint, there were even skulls hanging from the rafters:
So that was our first Thanksgiving away from home. As for our walk on the wild side by spending time with a live chicken in Borneo, we're fine and OBVIOUSLY have no bird flu. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving as well.
Love, Em (and Alyss)
posted by Emily at 7:04 AM
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