Third week of busy-ness ended with a week trip to Long Adang. The isolated place is in Limbang district, northwest of Sarawak and close to Sabah. The journey started in Kuching International Airport. I took a plane there on Sunday. Our group transit in Miri before continued our flight with MASWings’ Fokker 50 aircraft to Limbang airport. Fokker 50 is an upper-mounted wing, light aircraft. I’m ok in any of these but the smell of shit was obvious. I don’t know why Fokker 50 smelled like that especially without the aircond on. Well, I leave the mystery like it is…. And so after we arrived in Limbang, our group spends the night in a cheap hotel.
Limbang district acts as a border of Sarawak-Sabah with Lawas being the last place one will go before reaching the ‘land below the wind’. Limbang town is a small and quiet place by the river with population mixed with Brunei citizens as the town is neighboring with Brunei. Limbang has few small supermarkets and many rows of shophouses. People here speak with dialect similar to Sabahans. The dawn and dusk here are noticeably different from Kuching. To be precise, dawn prayer will be over by 6.15 am (Subuh Gajah not included) and by 6.40 pm, everything will goes dark. Compared to Kuching, morning is at 6.30 a.m and Maghrib prayers start at about 7 pm.
The next day, JPN met PETRONAS group and we made arrangements on which person go to which car. The journey from town to the end of ‘civilization’ which is Nanga Medamit took about an hour. Nanga Medamit is a hamlet by a logging camp. Passing through it, our track is based solely upon gravel and earth road made by loggers. 6 hours going up and down mountains inside the lush Sarawak jungle. Sarawak has many rivers and streams. They are beautiful and so pure. It is a sad thing loggers came and destroy the forest. In some areas, no tree was left standing. Streams and rivers became polluted with mud. I was noted Karam Singh Walia didn’t dare to go here as loggers (many of them are illegal) were very protective of their territory. Karam Singh won’t even get into Sarawak without menacing death threats and attempted murders. The risk is just too high for his neck.
After journey by 4WD, the group stopped at a spot where we jungle-trekked for one hour to the Penan village. At this time, I already was cut off from the rest of the world: in the middle of vast jungle, no phone lines (land or mobile), no shop, and no other transport and surrounded by…..trees. Okay, I guess I have to live like Penans for few days then. If I compare my jungle-trekking experience, I say this is the one I dislike. I hate the muddy and slippery ground all the way to the destination. I have to tread cautiously and slowly and it made me tire faster. But I don’t have problems when crossing 2 rivers during the trek. It wasn’t difficult although the current was quite strong.
Upon arrival, the women were given shelter at missionary teachers’ house. The house was truly kampong-styled. For the first time in many years I saw again the wood fire stove. The stove brought back memories of my early childhood days. Since there was no public pipeline, our water supply came from nearby stream, connected by PVC pipe into the toilet. The water would be almost clear when it was not raining; else it turned into shades of teh tarik. Electricity only available at night for the lamps supplied by a generator. During daytime, electricity is only for operation; in JPN’s case for photostating documents.
Despite lack of basic necessities, I was able to make myself comfortable. Long Adang was only hot during midday and cool enough in mornings and evenings. So, no fan needed. The food was ok, thanks to the cook PETRONAS brought for the whole team. Things were going smoothly for our registration activities. 2 interpreters from PETRONAS team were helpful with us; bridging the language gap between us and the Penan. They made our job a lot easier despite some Penan’s tendency to beat around the bush when asked simple questions. I don’t think they intended to do so; maybe they wanted to explain the whole situation in one shot.
The whole team was pleasantly surprised by a visit from Along Segak, the biggest supporter of Bruno Manser. He came from Sungai Gita, one day journey (if you are a Penan if not, 3 days) from Long Adang. Like Manser, he was also in the wanted list. Few stories about Along and how he was related to Manser could be found from the net. The guy (Along) came to us to apply his birth cert. He came to understand that to get the government listen to his people’s needs, he must possess identification. And so he came to us with his full Penan regalia, his wife and 9 children. The couple came to apply for birth certs while his children for MyKad. Along is strong despite looking ancient. He also brought dried deer heads and peacock feathers for sale. Deer head with asymmetrical horns worth RM40, I think. I don’t want to buy although the things he brought would be much more valuable outside.
The following were pictures taken on the day we went back to Limbang. Dang! I have to carry my own backpack (which made me like an uncomfortable tortoise). The one hour trekking upon slippery and muddy track made me hungry only after 3 hours of breakfast. Luckily, the others felt the same and we stopped for pre-lunch break.
