History In Color - Kpg Taba Sait & Rejoi

Originally posted at Bidayuh Info.

Since kpg taba sait, rejoi, bojong, and semban got into news , I wish to share my picture taken during my recent trip to Taba Sait and Rejoi, some time last year.

For those uninitiated, there is no access road to these four kampong, you have to walk from kpg Bengoh..(some say there is another route from Kpg Abang and Kidin, not too sure about that though….)

Bengoh to first kampong, Taba Sait, would took two hours of walking at normal pace, with maybe two three stops of breather ( and when I mean breather I really means it, you need to stop to breath no matter how fit you’re…local folk had built a few bench along the way as resting pit…) ..in my case, I took nearly three hours of leisurely walking through kebun orang, secondary jungle, orchard, river….but the scene I would say was breathtaking….

Number of main bridge, bengoh to sait, maybe three, four…maybe others can confirm

Then juz before Taba Sait, another simpang will bring you to bojong and semban .

From Taba Sait to Rejoi, quite a number of bamboo bridge spanning longer and higher ground , some I saw was more than ten meters….

Taba Sait to Rejoi, also two normal walking hours….again through jungle, edge of river, hill…….Rejoi is very beautiful kampong set at the foot of a range of mountain…Semban also accessible from rejoi

Truly recommended to visit before all were diminished forever under meters of water….. hence i called it history in color

my picture...enjoys

Fresh water river which will feed the population of kuching division …



Magnificent view of rock formation




One of the bamboo bridge---Bidayuh very own extreme engineering feat to proud of
Nya akan bergoyang masa ditinjak (either up to down, left to right, or both ) so mun kitak takut, the best way is, wait till the person in front had pass through, and ask your friend behind to wait till you also had totally pass through….



This is no joke man,… only six inches of slippery round tube called bamboo with no grip are the only one that hold your feet……ten meters below (three story high) is the water….kalau dalam tak pa juga..ada yang cetek sampai nampak batu….so any slip or wrong footing is absolutely no no…..



…so literally your life is on a thread……rusted lagi tu..heheee….



Sungai sebelum Rejoi…cetek jeee




Signage kampong taba sait



Kampong Sait....kecik jee

Despite the fact that they will move out, some are still busy doing their house…as this children were doing….angkat pasir ari sungei gi rumah orang….since bata block is a premium here (who want to angkat bata from bengoh which is two hours from here?)..so they need to improvise by just buying the cement and mould their own bata block using sand which easily available using these cheap labour……



I followed their trail till to the river….to capture them in action











…enjoying the clean cool water…



…giorgio armani….next top model




I don’t know you all…but the people here seem to be more authentic and traditional and genuine in look compare to others bidayuh places..it does look more pure and resembles our great grand parents …look at this little child…very young but in appearance looks so
authentic…




Also this sister…for me it does look like the perempuan bidayuh terakhir….ayu dalam donianya yg tersendiri




…and this one…there is some function at balairaya kpg rejoi, empat orang tok sik pat masuk…kamek yang limpas sia sempat ambik gambar ari dalam….loook so blank about their future…



Affected area of the dam…pasted on the kampong’s notice board….some sources disclose that the deepest point would be kampong sait…so what you see here won’t be repeated again…huhuuuu..sedih sedih



..eviction and claim notice…



Also at Sait….no gas here…dried bamboo as firewood



Clean clear water…




Then…we move to Rejoi…

Some scene on the way to Rejoi…padi huma site



…also found this on the way to rejoi…on top of small hill



..it is the marker by survey dept. showing the max height of the proposed dam…347 feet ari aras laut



Also this..349 feet




…so anything below the mark will be submerged…as the valley behind




..great scene…Rejoi is somewhere on the right further up…dekat kaki banjaran gunung…
Semban is somewhere on the left..on top and beyond…
….from this hill, rejoi is another hour of walking…huh penat beb…..



.. two hours plus from sait, after so many huh and puf…rejoi finally..and this scene awaits us..taken from padang bola early morning




River at rejoi…it was so early in the morning..even the camera itself shaking…sejuk……



..my fren doin free fall….


..local folk menjala ikan…




..one piece log bridge..



..two piece short bamboo bridge…



..belian plank bridge…in a sorry state…



..then extra long, extra height bamboo bridge…




…berat maksimum dengan muatan…hmmmm….don’t know, don’t ask me....




..during walking I also came across this…like this man carrying zinc roof



…also an consignment of beer



..and fortunate enough to meet this sumbok from semban, catching a breath at one of the stopping point..notice the brass on her arm…




..and on the leg…they had installed it since their young…do note the implication on it towards her legs’ muscle….



….one of many stopping point…




..so that’s it…these four kampong, semban in particular, is the very last frontier in bidayuh culture..the diminishing of these four kampong will erase the physical evidence and substantiation of one of our great cultural icon..the free- standing-bamboo bridge…
…and their children will only be able to listen to story and view the picture as this History In Picture….