Mukah - Pesta Kaul , Road Trip

Yes yet another wonderful sarawak adventure and road trip.This time the trip to Mukah was not for work but just to relax and be touristy,enjoy the sea ,aggghh bliss :) Wow the roads have imrpoved tremendously since the last few times,2yrs back it took almost 3hours through the plantation road,this time it only took one.Guess no one is actually gonna say that the roads to Mukah's a death sentence from now on....Hmmm hopefully the roads from Sibu to Bintulu would get better,say in the next 5 years (cough,cough...ELECTIONS,hint,hint)

So ya left around 2pm from sibu after work, 2 cars and the 6 of us(From various districts Song,Marudi,Saratok).Was post call,dead tired but really energized somehow with the thought of leaving Sibu even if it was just for a day.

Stopped for lunch at the Selangau rest-stop,huge place for mainly busses,lorries on their way in the never-ending Sarawak roads

L-R(Cindy,Justine,Easwary,John and Lorraine)

The wonderful new Mukah roads,heavenly to drive,haha i couldnt stop telling them how much i loved the roads,i cant help it,had a nightmare journey 2yrs back:)

Reached our Hotel by 4pm,Kingwood Hotel,bit far off from the town,ermm huge place but not many occupants really,yeah and my friends were teasing me that i was worried we couldnt get room,well i did think it was Kaul and many would come:)

View from the room:)

 

So off we went in search of the beach which hosts the pesta Kaul,the hotel is a bit far from the town around 10mins away

finally the beach :P

 

Missed the opening by one week,damn:(

'TIBAU' is what Kaul is really famous for -

The focus of the whole festival is the tibau or giant swing on which local youths defy danger as they swing in clusters high above the sand. Some locals claimed, at night, when the beach is deserted, the tibau moves by itself as the ancestral spirits get in the swing. Tibau aims to find out how many contestants can jump from a 20ft scaffolding and cling on to a rope - at the same time.
The tallest part is an inverted V-frame of two resilient hardwood poles. Four massive rattan cables ran from the apex to tether it to the ground, holding it upright. Another rattan cable, looped at the end to form the swing, hung down from the apex to reach the ground by mere inches.
The tibau is completed by a wide, angled rack nearly three storeys high with rungs every metre or so. It doubled both as a grandstand and springboard for the game. No nails are used in a tibau frame, for the spirit believed to inhabit the tibau does not favour metal.

Tibau

Spent sunset near the hotel,had a wonderful sea-food dinner by the river side on the house courtesy of my Mukah friends,agghhh tht's life,super exhausted but so worth tht 2hour trip

sunset by the hotel

sunset

 

'Lamin Dana'

Visited a traditional village house the next morning before heading back,it's used as a home-stay,quaint place with a river 'Lamin Dana'

'hello mr boatman'

spot on

miniature tibau

Overall a well spent 24hour road-trip with good food,great friends and yes the so much better roads

SIBU MARATHON DAY !!!!

Wah finally the day came,ermm not a clear and bright one,very dark and heavy drizzle kind.But yeah i did it,ran 10km in an hour,i'm so proud of myself,it's only the first time,think it was good.Although not many participants for the men and women open,apparently most joined the 7km fun run.But wow i'm happy i finally got the feel of the atmosphere,hmmm think i'm having the marathon bug :P

Guess it was worth waking up at6am on labour day despite not going to work.


The best part of it all,i really proved myself wrong,it's not what you can't achieve it's about what you can:)
My friend and my prize money was very well spent with the others in the post run meal:)) That was truly the best part of it all.....

yummy ice kacang at gerai no 6 in Sarikei

"The mile has all the elements of a drama."
Sir Roger Bannister

Finally A Marathon ???

Haven written inawhile,quite a bit happening with myself, sarawak,the world these days,but just don't feel the burning desire to write about all that now.

So i saw this poster in a Sibu coffee shop in town which said Sibu Mini Marathon.Wow finally,never thought Sibu actually had one.Ermm it's really mini only 7km,but what the heck everyone starts somewhere right??eventually one day i'l do a 26km,so it's baby steps for now.I love to jog and run so why not just join for the fun of it.It is a really positive thing to do anyways.


When through a website cause i thought i might as well get some guidance,got lots of inspiration and encouragements from friends who've done it,i was still thinking can i really....So what the webpage asks

By the way, why do you want to do this? Don’t let yourself off by stopping at your first answer! Dig deep!

    So i'v dug deep and i think i just want something new and positive to focus on,rather then worry bout the problems i face,cause they're actually really trivial.It's so easy to give excuses for our own actions/behaviour but it's not always right.I guess this is just me.I see these marathon runners and i think they're really disciplined and motivated,i'm sure i could try and cause lately i like to prove myself wrong i think i will.


So yeah the countdown starts from today till 1/5/2010 lets see where i get to,shall rant occasionally of course.


"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable."

- Sir Roger Bannister-  first man to break the four minute mile

Relieving Mukah ( Speed boat experience from Sibu Wharf to supposedly Dalat)

-You will find out why supposedly Dalat in a short while-

 Was told to go relieving this time to Mukah .It's quite a big district about3hrs drive from Sibu.As usual as in most places in Sarawak the road is horrible,been there before and although it's tempting to have my own car here since i'l be there for a week.Decided that i'l just take the speed boat to a nearby town called Dalat then get the hospital to come pick me.Heard that it was a much better way to travel,and of course i always like an adventure:)

So headed to the Sibu Wharf,all jam packed coz it was christmas eve.Especially the express to Kapit,u see lots of chickens,kitten's in steel cages(don't ask me why) squeeling children,annoyed,irritated and sweaty parents "Aggh the joys of parenthood,grins slyly" 

I know the wharf to dalat is on the other side,wasnt very sure how the speedboat looks like.Saw lots of people waiting but i didnt see any boat.So i asked this seemingly nice old lady

"Makcik sini kah tempat ambil boat ke dalat"

Wah she actually snubbed me "Mana saya tahu,carilah"

Whoa was thinking very rarely people around here are that rude,but maybe she just had a bad day.Finally got my answer from another lady who was really in distress
"Ya sini,patut ada banyak boat tapi si banyak sekarang,aduh tak tau la"

So i waited under the hot sun,pretending to be one of the locals,well sadly of course i dont look like one
"Can here people whispering,Nama hal thamby tu situk" (translation why is this indian here)


That's why here i refer to myself as "thamby putih"coz people here know thamby as indians and since i'm fair it fits the description,not much confusion as to if i'm a singh or from india or chindian

Back about the boat,was silently cursing myself why didn't i just take the bus.Met this very nice chinese family husband,wife and daughter who's around my age.I shall write specifically about this interesting girl and the conversation i had in another post.

So happy i made friends and thet're local thought will just stick with them,haha.Finally the boat came after an hour plus waiting.Bags on the top and we sit inside.Ermm as usual i was late so i had to sit on the isle on tiny kindergarden chairs,praying i would not fall since i'm known to be such a klutz.

Wah the ride was nice,and bumpy,just like going on the boat in the sea.Never underestimate the mighty rejang.Not long after it started raining so heavily,luckily the girl i met donated her umbrella to those sitting at the edge.

Hmm as i sat enjoying the ride,looking around i see all this people who do this everyday not just occasionally like me.Thank god at least there are life jackets.You'l pass by so many fishing villages along the way.They're carefree life is nice to watch.The boatman is so skillfull,going at that speed avoiding all this huge barges and logs,scary.


Ooo forgot to mention an important thing,guess who was sitting across me,that rude lady who refuse to tell me about the boat to dalat.I very cheekily kept staring at her the whole way,haha she actually looked so uncomfortable.

Ya so we didnt actually reach dalat,the boat stopped at this place called Kampung Kut as the water levels were to low to procede on.Thank god my new found friends said they'd give me a lift to dalat where the driver from the hospital would be waiting

Kg Kut where we got stranded

 Van's to take us to dalat

So finally arrived at Dalat,the driver was getting worried i hadnt showed up yet.He seemed quite relieved to see me.Haha the white indian made it after all :P

MERCY Malaysia - Sarawak Chapter (Medical mission to Long Luar,Belaga)

One word AMAZING.This mission fulfilled what i had always wanted to do since coming  to sarawak,not just working in the hospital

1.Serve the people who are really in need,at the most unreachable areas
2.A 4wheel drive adventure
3.Creating awareness in any little way we can


MERCY Malaysia is a non-profit organization further details go to
http://www.mercy.org.my/

So anyway the whole team of 4 wheel drives was heading down from miri,one car had to detour to pick me up from bintulu airport.Honestly i was quite nervous,although i love adventure,when the lady in charge told me not to expect anything,of course i wasnt but i couldn help thinking of wht i had to bring hmmmm

"Sleeping bag - check , torchlight - check,fishing rod (ermm seriously u want me to fish)"
Sadly i am after all a subang girl :)

So anyway met this 4 great volunteers from miri 2 doctors,1 nurse and our driver  - We headed on to Sg Asap a 2 hours drive from the airport where we were suppose to meet the rest of them

 What might be our last meal for the next 3days

Part of the entourage

Part of the organisers eating in Sungai Asap

From Sg Asap drove another 40 mins towards the area to our destination

Pit stop before our gruelling 4hour journey.At was 4pm when we left this place towards the long luar area

The nature call stops 2hours midway

One of the many penan villages on our way,needed to stop and promote/ask them to attend the mobile clinic the following day

Finally we arrive at Long Luar at 8pm,trust me no electricity,no water,only generator is at the tuai rumah's house

Busy uploading things for the mobile clinic the following day

The people

After all the uploading we had to head another 20mins to the place we were suppose to stay.All in suspense coz the organizers told us not to expect much.Few volunteers left earlier to start preparing for dinner.By  this time most of us were really exhausted after almost 10hours on the road,plus the clinics the next day

Absolutely lovely meals throughout the trips - we were never left hungry

 Yay so happy to see where we were staying - Camp Samling ,a bit of a squeeze with 20plus people per house but who cares at least we had a roof over our heads

All bright and cheerful to start of day long clinics

The prgramme's for the day was the mobile clinic,activities for the children,and risk reduction in case of fire

Medical @ GP's

Eye check-up

 Dentist - Very good business :)

 The very dedicated pharmacist explaining and re-explaining - cause most of the times the parents cannot be found

 Dietician's checking the BMI,nutrition and health counselling

An excellent Pap smear screening

Risk reduction in case of fire all the pails were filled with sand by the volunteers,because the penan people do not know how to use a fire extinguisher.Hopefully the education helped

So we ran clinics from 8-1 then lunch break resume from 2-5 .The turnout was good,some came from nearby longhouses(near meaning an hour long boat ride:)Overall it was great.Saw almost 300people.

Group picture - Great job everyone:)

Final BBQ and de-briefing session

Overall it should be commended that everyone put in so much of time,effort and mostly volunteering to do something.Actually the Long Luar plight started because their long house was destroyed in a fire and hence the risk reduction in case a fire were to happen was advised.These people still cook with firewood,have no proper running water,even no school for the children.Someone comes in 3times a week to teach these kids,but is it really enough(I think we can all answer it for ourselves)

The number of children you see there will really surprise you,u think and see what happens when these kids grow up,will they follow their parents footsteps and still live like a nomad,would they ever learn about internet,I-phone???

That's why it is so commendable that an organization which is the Rotary Club of Victoria Singapore is going to adopt them for further continuity of efforts to revive not just the folks here but also those from the nearby areas.Thank you MERCY sarawak for rercruting me for being apart of this wonderful mission and UMW the main sponsors for making it happen as well,may there be more in the future.A shoutout too to all those volunteers,the organisers who all did their part making all this happen,things like this only work out greatly when there is teamwork and a lot of passion,cheers:)

The Road Trip ( Drive - Eat - Talk )

Embarked on a crazy 3days 2nights trip from SIBU - BINTULU - MIRI then back again,i must say it was fun,we all had our own reasons for this sudden very impulsive trip,but it's something we needed out of our daily routine,boring lives literally leave everything and run.It's amazing how much one can do in 48hours.

Hmm to start the roads were ridiculuosly bad,if anyone has travelled they would know,your just waiting for the huge pothole,or the idiot driver that drives like an ***hole.

Seriously there is so much land,if they could build bakun the least they could do was just make it a double lane.Oh and please take this sound advice and try not to travel at night unless of course u'r seriously thinking of no better way to end ur life then a road kill.The highlights of the trip are the same as every road trip people embark on.

Discovered bintulu a little,was the first time visiting although we've all bypassed it on our way,nothing much to shout about,but at least it has a sea view unlike sibu






Started off with yummy dim sum,of course cant beat the one's from west,but what to do beggars shall not be choosers



Headed on to miri, along the way stopped by Similajau National Park,nice place but it appears very poorly maintained,probably come back to explore another time.







As i hope what happens on all road trips (or maybe just ours) we were so sure the fuel would last till we reached miri,then again we are doctors and not mathematicians,so after the stretch of vast oil palm,meter started blinking.Oh oh now we think of saving the environment,off air-con & radio(start singing),wind down windows,thank god niah town wasnt so far,stopped at the Gua Niah National Park,more like a stop and see,drive again:)



Yay Miri - Civilization,haha at least for us = Bigger malls than sibu + Starbucks that the 3 of us will not forget + Ermm crazy dancing girls(poor john's scared for life) + Glorious indian food.Let the pics do the talking







Sadly before we knew it,time to say bye-bye miri....hopefully it's a start to more road trips to explore sarawak - this remarkable land,in the midst of working here:)