Karen and I are currently staying at the Holiday Inn Damai Beach resort, which is on the coast near Kuching. We got here last night after our trip up a river to stay overnight at an Iban longhouse. We’re both quite glad we went to see the way these indigenous people live, but we both felt like we shouldn’t have been there.
It was quite strange to see how their basic way of life is being changed by the on set of technology. Their children are sent to a school down river and only come back every two weeks. Because of this they get to see what the outside world is like and not all of them then want to live the traditional life.
We were treated to a spot of traditional dancing and fed some of their home brewed rice wine stuff; not as nasty as sake, but it would definitely put hairs on your chest. The following morning we all got to have a go with a blowpipe; I was pretty crap, but Karen managed to hit the target. After a quick walk through the jungle we were back off down river and on to the current hotel.
We’ve got two nights here before we head of to Kota Kinabalu to see the Orang Utan’s.
