New Year in Nanga Sumpa

 BORNEO ADVENTURE

There’s no place like Wild Boar

                So if there was a world record for the amount of wild boar one man can eat I would have to put myself up as a contender as I’ve never eaten so much of the wild hairy swine’s as I have here.  Everything from boiled, fried, smoked, barbequed and even fermented, the fermented variety being the only one that my pallet refused to befriend.  It seems theses forest are full of them, which is probably a good thing as they are a popular dish with the local Iban, especially it seems barbequed at 1.00 in the afternoon and with an accompany of “Lankow” (rice whiskey/moonshine/paint stripper) when you’re supposed to be working!!!!........... That’s usually where I draw the line and reserve the consumption of my portion of wild rump after the working day is over otherwise it would cease to exist.   One the many things I have learned since being back in Sumpa after the Christmas break (apart from how good barbequed wild boar taste with just lashes of salt and sambal) is that the Iban eat literally everything.   If it has a pulse, moves and doesn’t have big floppy cheeks then prime that stove meats on the menu.  This unfortunately is much to the dismay of some of the paying guests who generally don’t have to witness it but are occasionally caught by surprise as one unsuspecting couple were.

I’d made friends with an English couple and on this particular day we were sitting in the communal area which has an almost radial view of the river and surrounding rainforest.  We weren’t there for long when a long tail Macaque rolled up in one of the trees across the river and started playing around not more than 10 meters from us.  This wasn’t unusual as there is a family group that shows up from time to time to feast on the fruit trees across the river but in this case only one had shown up.  Anyway the English lady at this point had stood up and was in awe of this monkey playing around in the trees in front of her and was totally transfixed on it and clearly loving the experience of seeing one of these animals in the wild.  This tranquillity and mutual curiosity didn’t last long but was broken by the panicked screeches of the Macaque as it was startled and suddenly high tailed it across the tree tops up river.  Initially there was a little confusion as to what had broken this tranquillity and put the fear of god into this macaque but this was shortly confirmed when not far behind giving chase was one of the locals brandishing a rifle.  The chase was short lived as about a minute or so later we heard a gunshot followed by a snapping of branches and it was all over, the macaque had eaten his last fruit salad.  Everything happened so quickly that it took the English lady a few minutes to work out what had happened but when she did it her facial expression turned from joy to horror as she sat down in shock, the cute little macaque that had been playing so happily in the trees beyond her was now to be served up in a ginger and garlic sauce........................ Welcome to the Jungle.  Clearly having not expected this it took a while for her to get over the shock and realise the realities of living in the bush, which to the uninitiated can seem quite brutal.

What you can eat

What you can't eat

Incidences like that however are generally uncommon as the hunting usually occurs deep in the jungle and the consumption of said wildlife is usually consigned to the bowels of longhouse so most guests are unaware of it.   However the hunting is not undiscriminating as to ensure the continued survival of certain endangered species the government has placed restrictions on what can and cannot be hunted and permits are required for those that can and these are restricted for personal consumption and not for commercial gain.  In doing so animals like the Orang-utan, proboscis monkey and the clouded leopard are spared the bloodshed while others like the delicious wild boar and Macaque have not been so lucky.   Even so catching these animals off guard is not an easy task and requires a lot of skill and patients (much the same as head hunting), especially given that most hunting occurs at night.  It seems also that shooting is not the only way to hunt here apart from setting traps there has been on occasion in fact two that I recall that a Macaque and a samber deer have literally been plucked out of the water whilst they were crossing the river.  That must be one of the worse ways to go; you’re literally up a creak without a paddle with a motorised long boat on your ass and the bank in sight.  It’s definitely one of those “I should have stayed in bed days”.   Anyway since being here my pallet has been truly tested and I’ve sampled a wide variety of foods ranging from bucking deer to terrapin and surprisingly all have been good bar (as previously stated) the fermented variety of wild boar.  If you can imagine what that smells like then you pretty much have the taste too, for me it was definitely the straw that broke the camel’s back.   

 

How to Build Iban Style

                So since being back on site things have moved on considerably.  I returned to find that the sceptic tank hole and been finished and all ten leach field trenches were almost complete.  For those of you who don’t know what a leach field is (which at the start of this project included me) it‘s a system of pipes housed in a series of trenches which disperses treated sewage (via the sceptic tank) into an area of land as fertilizer enabling it to be used for agriculture.  The uptake for this project is that the sewage is no longer pumped straight into the river where the kids swim or more importantly where I swim.  Having never come across this system is one of the many things I’m learning about construction in this sort rural environment, the most challenging however being working with the locals.  When I first started the project I had little knowledge of it and had to pick up most of it while I was on site and this included designing the scheme.  When Ian informed me that the projects they do are on a Design and build basis I had a very different interpretation of what that meant.  But as it transpired he meant it in the literal sense i.e. you are designing the scheme while it is being built and I’m talking minutes.  Couple that with the fact that I have had limited experience with timber buildings especially in the building style conducive with these rural communities and you have one hell of a learning curve. 

             I’ve always considered myself as someone that works better when thrown into the deep end but it’s been a while since I’ve tested that and if there is one thing this project has done is exactly that.  With no reception or any form of communication with the outside world and a limited construction period I have had to adapt very quickly and rediscover the fact that I seem to work and think a lot better and more efficiently when I have no time to think.   So far it’s been quite an eye opening experience where I am slowly adapting to the Iban style of building as well as forging good relations with them (most of which involves destroying my liver) and in most part the project has been progressing well.   If there is one thing the Iban are good at (apart from Hunting Wild Boar and drinking Lankow) is putting together a timber building and fast.   With an average workforce of about 30 at the beginning of the year the building work was moving at quite a rate and I spent most of my time on site working out new details and designing as the building went up.  So as you can imagine the decision making progress had to be very quick and also given that most if not all didn’t know how to read architectural drawings (which was irrelevant as I didn’t have any) most of the communication had to be through hand sketches or more likely physically demonstrating on site how certain elements of the building went together.   Having never worked in this fashion (as usually I would have a full set of working drawings at my disposal or more to the point a completed scheme) I was a bit apprehensive when I first arrived on site.   But after the initial shock of it all and some weeks into the project to my surprise it became second nature and I started finding it harder and harder to sit down and do the drawings before hand and preferred to demonstrate on site.  Being on site 24/7 has allowed me to utilize this way of working but as I soon found it only works (especially with a workforce that have their own views as to how things go together) when you are on site.

In general when the work force was available progress on site went well but even so it’s not to say we haven’t had our ups and downs and the two biggest issues I have had to deal with so far have been budding architects in the workforce and getting materials to site.   The former generally became evident every time I left to have my downtime in Kuching after a two week stint in the bush.  Usually I would sit down with the site foreman and go through what could be done while I was away and leave drawings/instruction/demonstrate how it should be done if they didn’t know how and then head off.  This I have done to date 4 times and in all 4 occasions on my return I have found that my instructions have been completely ignored and another aspect of the work that I hadn’t even worked out yet or instructed them to do had been completed.  I would then spend the next few days trying to salvage the situation wasting valuable time I don’t have.  The worse case of this was with the roof (the most intricate element) which when before I left I spent a day reviewing with the then “skilled” roofers on how to put it together.  However the roof was such an important element that halfway back to town the realisation hit me that maybe it was too complicated for them to understand as they were not used to this form of construction that I sent word for them to down tools until I returned.  This message however failed to filter through and when I returned I found that in their hazed Lankow fuelled states some of the “roofing experts” had rocked up to site pissed out of their heads; ignored the instruction I’d sent to leave well alone and taken it upon themselves to redesign the roof, cutting up all the timber to the wrong sizes.  To date this is the only point where I have come close to totally losing the plot and to add insult to injury the wannabe leader of this motley crew then turned up on site that evening semi naked and swaying and in an inaudible fashion attempted to explain his thought process on what they had done completely oblivious to rage rising in my voice.  It’s lucky that my machete wasn’t ready yet otherwise I would have resurrected an age old Iban tradition and taken some heads in the longhouse that night.  In the end I decided a slightly more diplomatic approach was required so I broke his legs instead................Ok so maybe I didn’t but I should have done, I did however get him and those involved taken off the project.  The worse part and what really frustrated me was that it then took two weeks to rectify the issues they had caused and it delayed the completion of the roof which I was hoping to have finished before the harvest season arrived and I lost the majority of my workforce.

The second issue and equally frustrated was the transport of materials and the interjection of Mother Nature.   As you can imagine the transportation of 50 bags of cement 10 pallets of bricks and over 500 pieces of timber on a longboat normally would be a challenge.  Throw in no rain (during rainy season) and low river levels and you have a logistical nightmare.  We managed at the start of the project to get most of the materials on site if not all while the river was at is normal level.  But as is the nature of refurbishments you never truly know what you’re getting until you start working on it and realise more work is required so inevitably we ran out of materials and ordered more in.  Unfortunately by this point it had not rained for days and the river level had dropped so low that you could walk large sections of it in shin high waters and other sections turned into waterfalls.  This meant that when they brought the tourists is the boatmen would have to get out and drag the boat up river over these small waterfalls and rapids.  Now try doing this with 20 bags of cement, 5 pallets of bricks and 100 pieces of timber......................  This particular issue put a major kibosh on progress and to date we are presently sitting on site waiting for anything to come in.  The alternative was to helicopter the materials in but they didn’t seem to go for that idea even though two makeshift helipads were built to bring in the chief minister of Sarawak when he visited the lodge (for which they had to clear out large sections of rainforest).  The longboats obviously didn’t meet the required standards of travel for a gentleman of his elevation.

Transporting Materials

Needless to say all has not gone to plan but the project nevertheless is still moving though be it at a slower pace especially now that the harvesting season has kicked in and most are out tending their fields.  Even so those still on site have managed to keep the project going even with the lack of materials.  Spirits are high and my relationship with the guys on site has actually become stronger since the initial teething problems we had at the beginning of the year and I think most of this has come from developing mutual respect, understanding the boundaries and not crossing them all cemented with a hint of wild boar, Lankow and rice wine during our downtime.  The dreaded roof plus the rest of the building are now beginning to look like a roof and a building and hopefully by the time I leave for my two week excursion to Kuching, KK and the Philippines we will have exactly that.  

Downtime & Fishing Trips

Well it hasn’t been all work while I have been here I have managed to actually enjoy the wild bush from time to time not mention of course my escapes to Kuching to stuff my face with beer and pizza (I’m a westerner with needs).  So part of my deal with Arkitrek was that after spending two weeks or so in the bush I would have the opportunity to leave for a few days and head back to civilisation to do my own thing in and around Kuching.   Unlike Kota Kinabalu Kuching has managed to retain most of its colonial architecture and fully utilize its waterfront to a level that would be expected for such a prominent location on the banks of the main river system in Sarawak.   The city is a melting pot of cultures so there is an abundance of variety for food especially from the Chinese quarter with its two china towns.  It’s also a good base to explore the surrounding area and one of the advantages of working with a tour company is being able to jump on board some of the tours like Bako National Park and it’s colony of big nosed proboscis monkeys, beach combing wild boars and thieving macaques.  But I think one of the highlights of being in this city was being around for Chinese’s New Year, an experience I’d yet to have outside London and given the size of the Chinese community here it turned out to be quite an event. 

I was fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of Philip Yong one of the founding fathers of Borneo adventure and through him I got to see a side of Kuching I’m sure not a lot of people get to see especially during Chinese new year.   His father was one of the first government ministers when Sarawak gained it’s independence from the Brits and so his family name has become synonymous with Sarawak especially in Kuching where he knows half the city, the wealthy half.  This comes in handy during this period of celebration (which usually lasts around two weeks) where the custom is to hold open houses where friends and relatives go from house to house visiting each other from morning to evening drinking and eating as they go; and at every house you go to you are expected to eat or drink something, so if you don’t pace yourself you can imagine the outcome.  For me it was quite a serial experience as I went around to these random house’s as you barely have enough time to acquaint yourself with those that are there let alone get to know them.  So you end up going around from house to house just eating and drinking complete stranger’s food and alcohol.   It took a bit of getting used and of course this is not the norm the majority of people at these open houses generally knew each other and for me it was about the experience but even so the hosts were always very welcoming and would make the upmost effort to feed me up before we had to leave.  How you could do this for two weeks is beyond me, after a couple of days of this I was ready to lock myself up in my hotel room and hibernate for two weeks.  As well the house visits there was of the fireworks displays that started on New Year’s Eve and continued for days after and if there is one thing the Chinese know how do and do with some style is firework displays.   Every house would have its own when the clock struck 12.00 and so at points you would be surrounding by fireworks going off from all directions and let’s not forget the Chinese love of firecrackers, which were lighting up the streets, doors and driveways from all angles.  It was like being in a warzone at times be it a Technicolor one and again like in Manila you would be taking your life in your hands by being out on the street as they would set them off from random locations with no real safety measures in sight.  The fact that it is illegal to own or set of fireworks in Sarawak as well had also slipped the minds of the masses but any wonder when the police themselves didn’t seem to be bothered and I’m sure I saw a few actually standing around and watching themselves. 

This went on for days and I can only imagine how much money was spent on fireworks that month, in fact to give you some idea of how much fireworks there was one of the guides told me, once I had returned to Sumpa, that his Neighbours dog (a relatively young and healthy dog) had died of a heart attack due to the fireworks that were going off around his house.  The poor chap had gone into hiding when the explosions started and they found it the next day stone cold.......... Clearly not a Happy New Year for him!!  The downside of this time year however is that given that most if not all the businesses (which are mostly restaurants and shops) are owned by members of the Chinese community so if you are not making house calls it is near damn impossible to find anywhere open to eat or buy food.  So if you happened to be a tourist visiting at this time or unfortunate enough not know anyone in Kuching whose house you can go to and get fed then you’re likely to find yourself pounding the streets aimlessly trying to find even a bar of chocolate eat.  Well unless you go to the only place that is not affected by anything anywhere in the world and is open rain, shine, snow or the end of the world and is endorsed by a clown that answers to the name Ronald.  Great as the experience was after about 4 days of it I was pretty exhausted, a little fatter and ready to head back to the relative peace and quiet of the bush. 

Catch of the Day

I say relative quite as even though there are no crazy fireworks displays it’s not to say that the Iban do not have their own special way of letting lose.  Most involves drinking copious amounts of rice whiskey, fishing, hunting and barbeques.  As I slowly became more settled and accepted in the community so I started to experience this.  For the first few weeks on site I basically just worked all the hours under the sun, If I wasn’t on site I’d be sketching or cadding.  But after a while I started immersing myself in the some of the local pastimes one of which was the fishing trips.  This would usually involve finishing the working day and then hitting the river with a small testosterone fuelled gang, beer, shot guns and fishing equipment in tow.  The first time we did it actually went on for two days; we set of with two longboats up river with the jungle camp as our destination and our resting place for the night.  The journey took us 3 hours (in good conditions its only 30mins i.e. water in the river) and on the way we had get out the boats on numerous occasions to drag it through the shallow water.   Now given how dark it was and the fact we only had head torches this was quite a challenging task especially with the rocky riverbed and the fact that you couldn’t see where you were stepping or on what, which freaked me out more.  There are pythons in these waters.  Although it soon became apparent that there was only half of us dragging the boats every time we had to get out while the other half i.e. the locals all seemed to be just wandering around in the dark shining there torches at the riverbank, which at the time seemed a little strange to me.  The reason for this however was soon explained and as it transpires they were looking for eyes in the darkness specifically frog’s eyes.  Why? Because frog it seems happens to be a local delicacy and therefore was on the menu for the evening meal along depending on how many they caught.  They caught a lot!!!!   As well as the frog hunting there was also a lot of net fishing which in itself was quite an art form.  They use specialist nets which are weighted around the edges so when they throw them into the water the splash scares the fish into the middle of the net before it drops down over them.  The fish weren’t exactly massive but the quantity more than made up for it.  By the time we arrived at the jungle camp it was pitch dark, we were knackered and we had a boat full of fish and frogs, ok full is maybe an exaggeration but it was a lot.    That night we settled into camp with our horde ate, drank and played Jenga until the early hours.  The next day we set off back down river towards Sumpa but stopped at another long house for a 30 min lunch which turned into 6 hours before we eventually got back from our fishing trip without a fish in sight. 

Dinner is served

The next excursion was a slightly more sedate affair and only lasted half the night.  We set off as per usual after work but this time after about an hour of net fishing we stopped off at a river bank, built a fire and settled in for the evening barbequing the fish that had been caught.  While this was going on one of the guys decided he would go try his luck with some hunting so grabbed his gun and set off into the bush.   He’d been gone for about 2 hours before he came back with not much to show but a terrapin which he had bagged down river somewhere.  Now I’m pretty sure that terrapins were on the no kill list but this didn’t seem to stop the locals from dicing it up and serving it in a perfectly seasoned chilli and ginger broth, which was pretty impressive given the location.  I was initially reluctant to sample it but felt it might be rude not to given the effort he may have gone through to get it so I did.  As dishes go it wasn’t bad and the meat was quite tasty and a similar texture to crocodile but even so I don’t think i would go out my way to get more in future.  To be honest my pallet had prepared itself for wild boar so I was still getting over the disappointment of him not returning with pig on his shoulder.   We stayed there for a while longer eating and chatting around the fire before Semilang one of the other Iban men decided he would go off for a hunt.  He’d been gone for about an hour when the general consensus was to head back and catch him on the way back seeing that it was 3 in the morning and he was heading in that general direction.  15 minutes down river we heard gunshots in the distance at which point we headed for the bank and about 5 mins later while sitting in the boat half asleep trying not to completely pass out and fall into the river I was awoken by a thud.  When I looked round Semilang was standing at the top of the river bank gun on shoulder and had thrown down a 20KG bucking deer he’d shot.  They dragged it on the boat and off we went.  The whole scenario was quite surreal and I honestly felt like I had dreamt it all, in fact the whole journey back felt like a dream as I drifted in and out of consciousness due utter fatigue.  It wasn’t until we reached the lodge that I saw the twisted body of this deer with a gunshot wound to its neck that I realised I hadn’t dreamt it. 

Those were just a couple of examples of our fishing excursions but I’ve yet to actually feel the thrill attending a proper hunt into the rainforest a travesty I intend to rectify on my return to Sumpa and I’ve pretty much figured who would be the best person to go with based on my experiences to date.    Otherwise apart from these fishing trips the rest of my downtime on site has been spent trekking around the surrounding countryside helping the guides survey and  create new trails and so far trying unsuccessfully to spot one of those hairy red B”£$&*%ds in their natural habitat.   Although the most frustrating thing in regards to that is that I’ve heard them scream and jump meters away from me and even smelt them but still I’m yet to catch a sight of one.  But with three weeks to play with there is still plenty of time so the hunt goes on, not literally though so let’s not start calling the WWF.  You can wait until I come back with a brand new winter coat in a nice shade of red with big floppy pockets.   So anyway that’s me for now more later when I’m back in the concrete jungle and not chowing down on terrapin and baby wild boar so until then. 

The View from the river of the existing Lodge and Home in Sumpa