Today we woke up at 5:00 AM sharp in order to get breakfast and leave on time. Something that I heard this morning that I didn't any of the other days is the Muslim call to prayer, which is somebody singing and it's supposed to let everybody know that it's time to pray. I didn't get to hear it any of the other days because I am usually sound asleep at 5:00 AM. The reason we had to wake up so early today is because we had to catch a boat that would take us to the actual Iban longhouses. It was a three hour boat ride and a one hour drive before we arrived at the longhouses.'
It was like a fiesta when we arrived. We walked down the street and they were playing music and there was a guy dancing. As we were walking down I was taking a video, but I looked around and I saw that the Ibans were taking videos of us too. We finished walking down the street and went inside one of the long houses and they put down their instruments but continues to play. The guy dancing had some type of hat on his head and he took it off and put it on one of my friends and he had to start dancing. Then my friend put it on me and I had to start dancing! We went until everybody in our group went at least once. I'm not a big dancer, but I felt like I had to do it and once I did I had a lot of fun. After the festivities, we went to the house that we would be staying at and met out "mom and dad" for the next couple of days. Once we got settled in, me and the guys decided to join the local boys in a sport called Tekraw. Tekraw is basically volleyball, except with your feet. I was terrible, but it was okay because everybody else was pretty bad too. We played that until we got nice and sweaty and then it was time to bathe. Except they don't have running water here, so we had to bathe in the river. That was an interesting experience since we all bathed together. Of course we all wore a bathing suit, but the girls had to wear a sarong. A sarong is basically just a cloth (look it up). The river felt great and it was really fun, although I didn't really feel like I got clean. Probably because after we finished washing ourselves, Mark and I decided to try to swing from a vine that they had. We helped everybody else swing from it as well and it was definitely a workout. After the river it was time to eat and we had a great home cooked meal. It was a nice change of pace because we have been eating out for almost every meal. This was also the first time that I tried the infamous durian. The smell is very pungent, but it's really popular here in Malaysia. I felt like I had to see what all the hype was about and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed it! After dinner we got to chill for a little bit before driving to a karaoke place. The locals sang some Malaysian rock songs and then my whole group got up and sang "Jesus Paid It All" again. It changed the mood for sure, but the locals seemed to enjoy it. After that they went straight back to rock and roll baby! On the drive back it was really cool because there are no street lights anywhere. It was pitch black and all you could see were what the headlights showed you. Except when the Lightning flashed and lit up the whole sky. The Lightning was flashing pretty frequently too. When we got back we went to our house and set up our mattresses on the floor and fell asleep. I didn't think that I would enjoy the longhouses this much, but I am really enjoying being away from most modern technology. The only sad thing is that they don't have anywhere to put their trash, so they usually just throw it in the river. I'm no environmentalist, but I'm almost positive that it can't be good for the environment. I hope that they find a better way to get rid of their waste without hurting the environment that they rely so heavily on. I'm really excited to see what's in store tomorrow at the longhouses.
It was like a fiesta when we arrived. We walked down the street and they were playing music and there was a guy dancing. As we were walking down I was taking a video, but I looked around and I saw that the Ibans were taking videos of us too. We finished walking down the street and went inside one of the long houses and they put down their instruments but continues to play. The guy dancing had some type of hat on his head and he took it off and put it on one of my friends and he had to start dancing. Then my friend put it on me and I had to start dancing! We went until everybody in our group went at least once. I'm not a big dancer, but I felt like I had to do it and once I did I had a lot of fun. After the festivities, we went to the house that we would be staying at and met out "mom and dad" for the next couple of days. Once we got settled in, me and the guys decided to join the local boys in a sport called Tekraw. Tekraw is basically volleyball, except with your feet. I was terrible, but it was okay because everybody else was pretty bad too. We played that until we got nice and sweaty and then it was time to bathe. Except they don't have running water here, so we had to bathe in the river. That was an interesting experience since we all bathed together. Of course we all wore a bathing suit, but the girls had to wear a sarong. A sarong is basically just a cloth (look it up). The river felt great and it was really fun, although I didn't really feel like I got clean. Probably because after we finished washing ourselves, Mark and I decided to try to swing from a vine that they had. We helped everybody else swing from it as well and it was definitely a workout. After the river it was time to eat and we had a great home cooked meal. It was a nice change of pace because we have been eating out for almost every meal. This was also the first time that I tried the infamous durian. The smell is very pungent, but it's really popular here in Malaysia. I felt like I had to see what all the hype was about and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed it! After dinner we got to chill for a little bit before driving to a karaoke place. The locals sang some Malaysian rock songs and then my whole group got up and sang "Jesus Paid It All" again. It changed the mood for sure, but the locals seemed to enjoy it. After that they went straight back to rock and roll baby! On the drive back it was really cool because there are no street lights anywhere. It was pitch black and all you could see were what the headlights showed you. Except when the Lightning flashed and lit up the whole sky. The Lightning was flashing pretty frequently too. When we got back we went to our house and set up our mattresses on the floor and fell asleep. I didn't think that I would enjoy the longhouses this much, but I am really enjoying being away from most modern technology. The only sad thing is that they don't have anywhere to put their trash, so they usually just throw it in the river. I'm no environmentalist, but I'm almost positive that it can't be good for the environment. I hope that they find a better way to get rid of their waste without hurting the environment that they rely so heavily on. I'm really excited to see what's in store tomorrow at the longhouses.
Sal Puma
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