Journey to the end of the world ….

Sori should the title misleading you into believing that would be another epic adventure….but this is my own version of so-called journey to the very end of Penrisseen and Padawan road, the very heart of Bidayuh region….

This writing is on my previous day trip to visit my friend’s relative who resides at Kampung Sadir..and from there he brought as to Simuti dan Sibakar, at the very edge of international boarder with Kalimantan. (after this we will called him Somba)

To go there, you may use Borneo Highland roadway (batu 10) or Padawan (batu 24) road, either which will bring you to Annah Rais, where the tar-sealed road ended and gravel path like this await you.

Drive on for another 20min till you see a junction. Turn left to Sadir and right to Sibakar, Sibuang and Simuti. Sori no picture of that simpang.

Then we reach Sadir and went for a drink at my friend’s relative.

Small concrete pool with fish inside. Only 1 foot high with an array of fresh water fish…tilapia, seluang…and also astonishingly ..ikan semah.

Then we went on to visit Semuti. 15mins drive till we see this signage. A kid was seen playing long bow….

Picture 4. Kampung Semuti from below..an hundred steps await you…heheee

We went up to Semuti’s longhouse..just a few Bidayuh’s longhouse which still exist..

A typical Bidayuh longhouse..with an extra large tanju and awah….

Close door.. the occupant not around

Blacksmith….Bidayuh style..

Shed for kayu api…buluh is for starter..

Somba brought us around the kampong…some still using bamboo and atap sago

Goin round and round……

A working party erecting a new dwelling…

..then we’re discussing on this kind of twig which can be used as substitute of belian as tiang lada or other vegetation pole…not as hard but can be utilize..

Kachang-ma…

..and being surround by jungle means you’re closer to great fauna..

A few wildlife seen in captivity….

Monkey….

Burung tiong….

..this fellow were selling his parrot to us…

....da-aang

…

..and temáq / bejîq

Kid with his mom..at the verandah of the hundred steps….

Somba showing us the general direction of Tepoi and also the border…which for me only a bunch of mountain range..heheee

Tepoi is on the extreme left..not in picture…beyond that mountain range on the left (warna biru muda) is the border..kampong Sibakar is somewhere in the middle of the picture

Before we left Simuti..somba told us a very astonishing fact (tak tau scientifically betul ke nak)…kampong Simuti resides on the very place or the exact hill where the water fell will determined whether the water will end up in Sungai Sarawak or Batang Sadong.

Water which fell on the left side (refer Gambar 4) of the hill where Simuti is, will flow to Sungai Sarawak Kiri..and water on the right side will flow to Batang Kayan, which part of Batang Sadong…..

Then we moved to Sibakar..another 15mins

The road leading to Sibakar… kampong folk were seen kabis juah morik ojie….….and this dog argue…claiming that the road is his….the dog gave way anyway..hahaaa

Jalan tikus leading to Bidayuh kampong on Kalimantan side…three walking hours from here…fuhhh..and this picture is not terbalik..the trail snake its way around hills and mountain range…..Tringgus tribe member must have used one of this trail

Arrive Sibakar and we keep driving till the very end..where we reach this padang bol…

International border is the mountain range seen here….

..and my trusty buttefly (Nokia 8250) prove that we were at the very edge of International Boundary…

We have a chat at the tepi padang where Somba share his story as Border Scout during his glory day and dodge bullet at during Confrontation ….

His story keep us grasping till dawn…..

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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….

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