The Bidayuh Longhouse

A distinctly average breakfast was followed by an almost prompt departure (only about 15 minutes late, I won’t name names...). Apparently others got a hot shower this morning, which I definitely missed out on. Was probably the coldest shower I’ve had in Borneo thus far. At least its character building. We had a 3 hour drive today, basically going back the 2 hours we came yesterday then another hour on to Padawan. Many aspects of this trip could have been planned far better. Although the country is amazing the tour itself should be far better planned out than it’s been (for the price). Hopefully it improves from here (spoiler; it does).

Padawan itself is a little village, which isn’t very developed (they’ve got concrete bungalows and roads, so not completely undeveloped). Passing through this we arrived at our destination for the night at midday’ish, which is a traditional Bidayuh longhouse on a river. Very very cool. Here, similar to at Sarawak Cultural Village, was a bamboo bridge, this time over an actual river. The bridge is basically 3 lengths of bamboo strapped together to form the platform and supported by x frames which also form the ‘balustrades’. The bamboo was obviously wet and slippery so not the easiest way to travel, but a genius way to build a surprisingly sturdy bridge. After the bridge was our accommodation; the traditional bamboo longhouse. Up an ingenious set of steps formed from one log the communal area is pretty much entirely made up of bamboo (supported by wood and steel so not entirely authentic). The rooms were as basic as can be expected. Literally a mattress on the floor and a fan. But clean enough and with mosquito nets on the windows so safe enough too. The same couldn’t be said for the bathrooms, which weren’t the best. I ended up not showering here as they were pretty grim, which did actually turn out to be an error, which I’ll explain in a later post. Despite this the longhouse was a very cool place to stay, and much more authentic than just a normal hotel.

After lunch, prepared by the owner Valentine’s sister (great), we headed over to the Annah Rais traditional Bidayuh longhouse village where we were greeted with a couple of shots of rice wine (which prepared us for the next few days) and a brilliantly informative tour from our guide Jagga, who Richard calls ‘bald man with big belly’. A very apt description. The village is built on stilts, with a terraced row of houses (just a large room) to one side of a communal promenade where general life takes place. Traditionally these villages had a chief and were proper working communities. In recent times the young have moved away to cities leaving very few of these actual working villages left. This one still works as it did traditionally with the obvious additional support from tourists, which clearly changes the dynamic but still a relatively authentic view of the village.



After leaving here we were meant to go to the natural hot springs nearby, however the water level was apparently too high and the river to fast flowing for it to be safe so we didn’t manage to get to this in the end. So we headed back to the longhouse and relaxed for the evening.

After dinner we had a traditional Bidayuh dance performance and were then taught how to do it ourselves. Our final performance was atrocious however actually a lot of fun. Especially after being fed a few rice wines and whiskeys. 

The following day we were going to be rafting down the river on bamboo rafts and eating the traditional way on the riverbank. It began with us watching Jagga, Captain Dandy (a hilarious character, and the one who plied us with all of the rice whiskey) and two others constructing the rafts. They’re basically just a platform of bamboo planks, lashed together with lengths of rattan and propelled by bamboo punts at the fore and aft. We had pretty comfy chairs to sit on, which were just cushioned school chairs with the legs cut off so we could stretch our legs out while the captain punted us down the relatively clear water of the shallow river. 




It was a surprisingly smooth ride, which we could have easily been lulled to sleep on if it wasn’t for captain Dandy ‘turning the radio on’ (singing) or hitting the occasional spiders web. One of which was the residence of a very large spider which landed on Melanie, ran across her and we thought had ended up off the raft and into the river. When we were getting back on the raft following lunch Jagga saw it and used a leaf to flick it out of the raft mentioning it was a very dangerous huntsmans spider. Really not pleasant. 




We stopped on a little beach where we were to be fed on a ridiculously good lunch. The captain prepped all the dishes on the raft, they’d jumped out at regular intervals on the initial journey to pick up veggies and shrubs making it incredibly fresh. The dishes were then stuffed into tubes of green bamboo and laid over a fire, the meat and fish being barbecued more traditionally over an open flame. It was delicious, and a hugely impressive experience to witness.

After lunch we were again given a few rice whiskeys, the captain had given me his bamboo shot glass for safe keeping, and I was thrown into the river, great banter. From here was another couple of hours journey back to the longhouse. We were all pretty shattered after the experience so I had a nap before another delicious dinner. An absolutely brilliant day, with one of the most memorable meals I’ll probably ever experience. 

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