Speedboating Up The Sungai Lamandau River to Bakonsu, A Dayak Village (Indonesian Borneo)
Even if you have the best bladder in the world, after jolting over the river for one hour and surrounded by water, a person has to pee...or at least, I do. Crammed into the speedboat seat with ex-Marine hogging the limited space, I asked Fery where to "go." Fortunately, there are little pee huts all along the river on individual jetties that each homeowner uses for toilet facilities, to dock their boat, bathe and swim off of, etc. Passed the word to speedboat driver. He'd scan the shoreline for a likely looking toilet hut, pull up to one, we'd get off on the jetty, pee and smoosh ourselves back in the boat.
On the way we passed villages...View image, small houses and mosques...View image. Some houses appeared to be nothing more than a shack while others had satellite discs in yards and on roofs...View image. Since I am a klutz, the steep grades from the river to houses always amazed me. Stop to think how many times a day the women scamper up and down with ease to wash clothes, use toilet facilities, etc. without falling or getting hurt.
There were tug boats pulling huge amounts of logs...View image... from companies upriver and even a stretch of rapids when we turned off into another tributary. A brief stop for gas at a riverside gasoline station where children were having a great time swimming...View image, and then we moored the speedboat to a log in the shade and snarfed down box lunches brought from Pangkalan Bun.
A little less than five very long and painful hours later, Bakonsu Dayak Village (pop: 800, 130 families) with children on the riverbank eagerly awaiting our arrival. Trailed by them, we were taken to Mr. Dinson's 400-year old longhouse occupied by his family of eight. Mr. Dinson could be considered a wealthy Dayak because he has a generator, satellite dish and inside toilet (not flushable but it was inside). None of the Dayaks have running water or electricity and it's some feat to be able to afford what he has. The local children would come running when he turned on the generator and powered up the television to sit around and watch...View image. We've stayed in (and visited) "longhouses" before Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam and knew what to expect. Big, long, occupied by many people, kitchen areas attached and usually airy. You climb into them via what I refer to as "Dogon" ladders. These ladders are merely a hunk of wood with chunks cut out to place your feet and laid on an angle between ground and whatever you are climbing into. We first ran across these unique ladders in Mali where old specimens, e.g. antiques, are coveted by collectors and known as "Dogon Ladders."
Mr. Dinson is age, 48, and his wife 41, and only about 200 visitors a year visit the Dayak area. (After that brutal ride, heat and humidity, can see why!) The people of Bakonsu are Tumon Dayaks. We took shoes off (bad etiquette to wear inside) and entered. Mats cover the ironwood floor. They showed us to one end of the longhouse where a mattress was laid out to sleep. Mosquito nets would be erected over the mattress later on. The humidity was 90-95% and temperature inside had to be 100 degrees. Not one drop of air was moving and even the Dayaks sat in a puddles of sweat. Mr. Dinson wanted to take us for a walk but it was just too darn hot. Instead, we sat around talking to villagers who had come to meet us with Fery as translator and learning a little about their lives. For example, dogs are their best friends because they are used for hunting in the jungle; all non-perishables are stored under the longhouse on stilts...View image; the cemetery is right in the middle of the village in front of Mr. Dinson's longhouse; and everyone chews Betel Nuts.
Looking out of the longhouse, I noticed Mrs. Dinson...View image...agilely scampering up a tree to pick a few Betel Nut leaves for tonight's welcoming ceremony. Five minutes later, she was up another tree to pick a basket of the Betel Nuts...View image.
Betel nuts (Areca Palm) are chewed with betel leaf and act as a mild stimulant. This is the custom in their culture (and cultures throughout Asia) and the Betel Nuts and Leaves would be offered to guests at the ceremony tonight.
Kids watching television, us prone in a bucket of sweat on a mattress, cook preparing our dinner and the Dinson's preparing the longhouse for the welcoming ceremony...
