A Glimpse of "Last Time" in Borneo

As soon as I got on the boat I knew that I wasn't in San Diego or even Lampang anymore. There were five people on the boat—four of them rather elderly. All four of the older ones had long earlobes. In the old days, the people used to wear heavy earrings to make their earlobes long, something they find attractive. The boat finally started up and began its journey into the interior of Borneo. Most of the jungle along the way was secondary growth, having been cut years before. Still it was hard to take my eyes off of it. The thick jungle was only broken by the occasional longhouse which, as the name implies, are very longhouses that the natives of Borneo live in. In the old days they were made from bamboo and had thatched roofs. Now they are made from wooden planks and have corrugated iron roofs.

After about two hours the boat finally reached the jetty for Rumah Bilong, the longhouse I was headed for. A wooden walkway led past a small wooden building on very long stilts that had traditional designs and up the stairs to the entrance. Inside I was invited to sit down in a very modern-looking building. A few minutes later the son of the headman (actually the headwoman) came in and introduced himself. He spoke minimal English, but asked a few questions like where I'm from, how long I have been in Malaysia, etc. The headwoman came in and I was introduced to her. She showed me to the guest room upstairs from the room I was in. After that her son took me outside and down a staircase. This led to a trail that went to a single home.

There a man who spoke impeccable English came to the door and invited me in. The man's name was Thomas and he explained that he was from the Bario highlands area to the northeast. He was an ethnic Kedah, but he was visiting Rumah Bilong because his daughter was in school in Bintulu and he was on his way back from visiting her. The headwoman at Rumah Bilong is a relative of his. He told me that longhouses have almost disappeared in the Bario highlands as people move into single-family dwellings. The reason is that fires can destroy a whole longhouse in minutes, and one recently did. After an interesting chat he invited me to join him and his wife for lunch. I'd been warned that the food in Borneo is very plain. Well, it was, but it was perfectly eatable. They had some kind of soggy rice and pieces of chicken and beef. They also had some kind of fruit that only grows in Borneo. It didn't look too exotic; in fact, I thought they were small potatoes when I first saw them. But inside they had a wonderful taste.

Longhouse on Kacus River

After lunch we walked around a part of the longhouse disconnected from the main house. The buildings here included a school, church, and clinic. Some of the kids getting out of the school wanted me to join them in a game of badminton. Having not played that game since high school, the kids found more to laugh at about me than just my skin color. After the game it was time for a bath. This was held in the river, and oh boy, was it ever refreshing after playing a game of badminton near the equator. Once I had dried off and taken a short nap I was invited to dinner with the headwoman and her family. More than one surprise was awaiting me on that dinner table.

The first surprise was that not all food in the longhouse is plain. They seem to have borrowed some food from the Malays, Indians, and Chinese. A couple of very good curries were served. One had a meat that tasted a bit different from anything I remember. It was something like rich beef. About halfway through the meal the headwoman's son told me what the different dishes were. It was then that I learned I was eating dog curry. No, they don't just CALL it dog curry!

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