Tuesday March 22, 2016 – We are in Kota Kinabalu (population 300,000), Malaysia spending a good port of the day in 45C / 113F humid heat in a tribal jungle village visiting homes and practices of some of the local tribes. Sabah (29,000 Sq Km / 11,200 Sq Miles) is located on the North East tip of Borneo with 1500 Km of shoreline having the South China Sea to its West and the Sulu Sea to the East merging with the Sulawesi or Celebs Sea further South. Borneo is the third largest island in the world after Greenland and Papua New Guinea (Australia is a continent, thus not considered an island). Kota Kinabalu is the Capital of this Malaysian state of 3 million people from 32 tribes with the other major towns / cities being Tawau and Lahad Datu to the South East, Sandakan to the East; Kudat to the North and Labuan to the South West of the Capital. The largest ethnic group is the Kadazandusun, with its sub-groups who are traditionally rice producers, whereas the Murut are hunters, warriors and head-hunters; the East Coast Bajau are mostly seafarers whereas the West Coast Bajau are horsemen and finally the Rungus are famous for their beadwork (we were each given a beautiful necklace on arrival as a sample of their work). I mention this not only to describe the principal groups, but to introduce the names of the various houses of these tribes we visited in the village. Towering over the city is Mount Kinabalu (4,095 Meters / 13,435 Ft) known by the locals as Aki Nabalu (Reverend Ancestor) and there is a major effort to save and propagate both the Orangutan and Proboscis Monkey who live in the rainforests and wildlife reserves which were on another tour. You can’t do everything in one day!!!. Other animals of the area are the Borneo pigmy elephant (world’s smallest); The endangered Sumatran Rhinoceros: The Sun Bear (world’s smallest) as well as turtles and many diverse other animals. Sabah was under British rule for many years (they still drive on the left) independence was achieved on 16th September 1963, two weeks later it joined the Fereration of Malaysian states and in 1968 the town of Jesselton was renamed Kota Kinabalu after the mountain.
Nelson and Diana took a separate tour, taking a thatched barge down a river to a craft Center, making Batik (which is a local craft) paintings and experiencing local life and food. Tachy and Roger, after taking the tender ashore, boarded the coach and made our first stop at the Sabah State Mosque which holds 5,000 inside and 12,000 worshippers in total, including the outer areas. It is surrounded by a water filled moat and stunning. Apparently the only other similarly structured mosque is in Saudi Arabia. While Muslim is the predominant religion, there is complete freedom of religion and all faiths are represented. Soon thereafter we arrived at out main stop – the Mari Mari Cultural Village where we were greeted by the chief – a loin clothed, plume wearing man who called himself Ben. He gave an introductory talk and then led us over a “suspension” bridge. A one line (“fila India” came to mind) very unsteady bamboo walking bridge (10 people maximum at a time) suspended over a river by being attached to trees on either side. This led into the village where five separate tribes had houses, accoutrements and food that represents their way of life. We were able to visit with the people and go through their separate houses – all built of bamboo on stilts and accessed through ladders – actually notched logs of wood leaned at a 45 degree angle between the ground and the entry door, which are taken in at night to add some security. All the houses had similar structure – On stilts with bamboo floors, roofs and sides, with the sides filled in most but not all the way to the roof, to allow air flow. On one side there were bamboo walls dividing it into various rooms and the other side open for sleeping, crafts and general living. The bedrooms with bamboo doors hinged upwards towards the roof, were reserved for married couples, parents, grandparents and married children and infants, with the young unmarried girls sleeping above them as if on the top floor of bunk beds with the ladder removed during the night to assure separation of girls and boys. The boys and unmarried men slept on the outside of the rooms, and were charged with providing security for those in the rooms. Cooking areas were either separate and outside the house on the same floor, or separate “out-buildings” close to the house, with the objective of both preparing meals over the wood fire and allowing the smoke to permeate through the house to remove the insects and “purify” the home. Head-hunting was a common practice up until the 1950’s where it was common, and indeed a pre-requisite for marriage – as dowry, to kill a neighbouring tribe member, remove their head for display in the village. Once the head had decomposed, with the stench of rotting flesh permeating the village as a sign of importance and good spirits, the skull was place prominently in a raised place in the home. This would ward off the evil spirits, but the living had to perform a yearly ceremony to keep the spirit of the person whose skull was displayed, happy as otherwise it would haunt the house. It was interesting that the guide, when talking about the head-hunting practice, kept the conversation in the present tense!!!
The first of these houses was – Dusun House – (a Kadazandusun sub-group) constructed as described above, with the key crafts being the manufacture of rice wine, There are two types – fermented which we tasted out of small bamboo cups and preferred as it had a stronger flavour, and distilled which tasted like other generic “fire water”. The “still” was interesting and consisted of a large earthenware pot in which the rice wine was boiled over a wood fire. The top had a half gourd filled with cold water as a rough fitting lid. Some 7 centimetres (3 inches) under the gourd, a bamboo tube split down the middle forming a channel, would capture the condensed steam from the cool gourd and transport it through the wall of the clay pot into an awaiting pot capturing the distilled wine. Another cooking method we experienced was chicken cooked in bamboo. Here a larger 1-2 inch diameter, foot long (30 cms) bamboo tube was filled with a finely chopped chicken, rice, onion, carrot mixture. The bamboo was placed directly over the wood fire and cooked until ready. I saw one young girl tending the fire and blowing through a bamboo tube to stoke the flames. Once cooked, the bamboo was split in half and the content revealed, which had a delicious taste.
The Second House – Rungus Longhouse – The 4th largest ethnic group after Kadazandusun, Bajau and Murut was a longer home accommodating more people – safety in numbers, the guide kept remarking. This ethnic group is adept at bee keeping in bamboo hives producing excellent honey, which we tasted in bamboo cups. Also in the home there were bamboo and gourd musical instruments where different sized bamboo tubes were set into a pear shaped gourd. A small appature in the narrow end of the pear allowed the player to blow into the gourd and control the notes emanating from the different length bamboo tubes. Inside the house we saw many bead ornaments and necklaces, rattan baskets, bamboo musical instruments, ropes and other such crafts typical of the tribe and in particular a demonstration, critical to be mastered by all before marriage – making fire with bamboo. Here the first step was to scrape string like shavings from the outside of the bamboo making it into a loose ball of fine hair like strings. This was then inserted into a 1-2 inch (2-5 cms) diameter notched / slotted bamboo. The strings were brought up through the slot. Another piece of bamboo, cut lengthways in half was then rubbed vigorously at right angles to the slotted bamboo with the bamboo string. Soon this string started smoking and at the appropriate moment, it was removed and the chap blew onto the smoking fibres, igniting the ball into fire.
The Third – Lundayeh House (aka Lun Bawang House) – This tribe is mostly located in the South West neat the border with the other Malaysian state on Borneo called Sarawak. The first thing we came across once crossing the “covered bridge” (not like Vermont as it was all bamboo wth bamboo fronds as a roof) over a stream was a large pot marked with red X’s in a tree. These pots are where nobility of the tribe are buried, their bodies being dismembered to fit in the pot until completely decomposed. Once all the bones are cleaned they are used as ornamentation around the house and thus ancestral worship. The next interesting item was a buried crocodile in the ground with spikes at right angles to the crocodile. Here the crocodile is revered, so it is placed on the ground and mounded up, thus “burying it”, usually with some exaggeration in size to appear more fierce, with bamboo spikes driven into the ground along its back on which are placed the severed heads of unfortunate nearby tribesmen. The image of the severed heads to anyone entering the village as well as the stench of rotting flesh are a sign to not cause harm (or you’ll be next) and to show off the prowess of the tribe. We were fortunate that no heads were present at the time of our visit, however the remnants were to be found inside the house. We also witnessed a chap pounding bark from a particular native tree and water together on a stone with a bamboo mallet type instrument until the right fibrous consistency is achieved. This is then used both for making clothing as well as rope. The vest / waistcoat / jacket we saw and felt, made from bark fibres, seemed very nice and pleasurable to wear (it did have a lining). Additionally these bark fibres were braided into rope for general use and also as it is slightly waxy, it can be rubbed over the areas of the body achieving hair removal, much like waxing! Inside the house were the usual rooms, crafts, cooking area, ladders etc, but the imposing feature was a skull (from a head hunted person) inside and displayed in the triangular area where the two sides of the roof met, donning a head covering of dried bamboo leaves, thus giving the appearance of long tan coloured hair.
The Fourth – Bajau House – The Bajau are the second largest ethnic group in Sabah originating from the Philipine Sulawesi. Here we were greeted with Rice cookies (Kuih Jala)and Pandan Juice / tea before entering the house. The sweet rice biscuits were delicious and unlike those ever tasted before. A mixture of rice flour, water and sugar is made into a thick fluid / free flowing paste. It is of a thick consistency, yet fluid enough to be ladled (made from a half gourd attached to a bamboo stick). The ladle had small holes pierced in the bottom, allowing the fluid to flow through, much like a coarse sieve. These. streams of the rice paste were dripped, while moving the ladle in circular fashion over the wok with boiling coconut oil. Once the right amount was in the oil, the girl got two sticks and folded the circular cooking biscuit into a triangular shape and browned until golden. It having an open weave appearance reminiscent of the “Birds Nest” building made famous during the Beijing Olympics. We mistakenly got into another group for the demonstration and enjoyed a sample, then rejoined our group and enjoyed even more the second cookie! Next to the Pandan Juice / tea, supposedly having soporific effects. Pandan leaves, mixed with water, sugar (or honey) and ginger are boiled up into a tea used as I mentioned to cure insomnia, and served with a bamboo / gourd ladle into bamboo end cups. The taste was delicious and definitely worth while searching out the Chinese markets at home to repeat. It was interesting to note that we both remarked how similar the vegetation was here to Angkor Thom in Cambodia. This home was substantially more lavish and a special type of crab and foods were present as was an elegant Ceremonial throne room. This was either the chiefs room or the matrimonial bed! A palanquin adorned with bright red cloth covering and red, gold and green wall hangings / curtains were at the center of a room with drums, baskets in the shape of a cut off cone, food baskets etc made the room “fit for a King”! It was spectacular and we were told about the various items, but in particular the circular straw baskets which women wore to market with the wide brim facing down to shield from the sun. They are similar to the Vietnamese and Chinese circular straw hats that have a wide brim and come to a peak, also similar to a round peaked pyramid. The difference was that they did not come to a point, but rather ended in a smaller circle, the diameter of the head of the woman, thus upon returning from market, the straw hat was inverted and the goods place into the wider part and the smaller on the head. A few of us sat on the throne like palanquin, adorned with proper headgear, for photographs . I will post a picture of me as “The Raj holding Court” and Tachy going to market, separately!!! One final feature was described by the guide as “olden day Facebook”. What he meant was that the owners of the house would place a cloth covering outside indicating that any and all were welcome to a party. Thus informing the village of an impending special celebration (perhaps a marriage) to which all were welcome to attend, fostering friendship and witnesses to the occasion.
The Fifth and last – The Murut Longhouse – The Murut are the warrior / aggressive ethnic group of Sabah and we were greeted by warriors yelling and screaming at us to intimidate us prior to entry. Prior to commencing the visit to the village, we had to select a leader. This leader, speaking for the rest of us was to “negotiate” entry into the village. Thus the Murut Warrior chief greeted us at the door and summoned our leader. Each stood facing each otherwith the right arm outstretched placing their respective right hands on the other’s right shoulder. At this point the Chief asked our leader a series of questions and the “entry negotiation” was performed. We were all welcomed into their part of the village. The first thing was to teach us how to effectively use the blow gun, which I did twice with reasonable accuracy. Entering the longhouse with its multiple rooms on one side, we were greeted with a square area (about the size of a queen sized bed) outside the rooms, which was suspended below the rest of the floor. Here four boys were standing and it turns out that it is a big sport – a trampoline. The boys would jump and try to reach the ceiling or some rattan piece attached to the roof. The interior decor was lavish and seemed to be the best constructed and highest off the ground (thus more steps on the notched log) of all the houses.
Performance Hall – Our last stop in the village was the Performance hall. A thatched roof, open walled (on 3 sides) structure with a stage and where we were served drinks and other tribal finger food before witnessing a performance. The performance consisted of various dances by ladies then the men and also together, but the most remarkable occurred at the end where the ladies took 20 ft. Bamboo poles and held them across the stage. About 6 inches above the floor. The men then had to dance to an ever increasing rhythm in between these poles that were being moved up and down and side to side – a truly remarkable feat.
It was now time to return to the coaches and back to the city where we wandered off and had a nice chicken curry at a local restaurant and wandered around the town finding a very impressive, large shopping mall that resembled any mall in the US, Canada or UK. The style, type of shops – Starbucks, Nike etc all there. We did find a local souvenir shop and were able to purchase some local items before walking back in the 45C heat returning on the tender to the air conditioned ship. We were tired, so after a light dinner, bed was called for. However, another amazing day with a plethora of memories.
Roger & Anne Travels 