SIMPLY (t)RAVELLING

Kg. Benuk Longhouse & Semanggoh Orang Utans

 

From Bau, we continued our journey to Kota Sentosa and took the left turn towards Jalan Penrissen. We drove past the Semanggoh Wildlife Centre on our left; on checking my watch we still had time to catch up with the Orang Utans feeding time later. We initially planned to take the kids to the Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong, but the entrance fee is so ridiculuosly expensive even for fellow Malaysians. It would be a definite frustration if the place is not more than the typical Mini Malaysia in Malacca or the Taman Mini Indonesia in Jakarta, after paying such handsomely fee. But I always wanted to experience the longhouse myself with the hanging skulls (some of the tribes were practicing death cult of enemy headhunting – the cult had ceased in the 30′s) and tatooed men in loincloth (that’s kinky!), and the fact that you’ve never been to Sarawak really if you have not been to the longhouses. From my research (thanks to google) I was made  known about a real longhouse that is open for visitors, and conveniently located very near to the Semanggoh Wildlife Centre which was in our itinerary. An alternative to experience real culture, budget style.

Welcome to Kampung Benuk! The entrance fee is RM6 per person, compared to RM60 to enter the Sarawak Cultural Village but off course without the cultural show and other touristy elements.

Located at Penrissen Road, 35km from Kuching, the Kampung Benuk longhouse is one of the last remaining Bidayuh longhouses in Sarawak. Bidayuh, or the Land Dayaks is one of the indigenous groups in Borneo, apart from the Iban (Sea Dayaks) and Melanau to name a few.

The longhouse was huge, in fact it was like a few small longhouses interconnected with one another (imagine the whole village living on the same house). It was built on stilts with thin, worn out bamboo flooring, which creaked helplessly on my every steps. I walked around gingerly out of fear that it would break, but had my apprehension rest assured when I saw some kids running around and playing cheerfully without worries.

The house is separated into many private units, with common hall and corridors. Most of the units were unoccupied as the residents had move to more decent brick houses nearby. This one even had the pay-perview satellite television service installed.

One of the unoccupied lot.

Abandoned reading table, Kampung Benuk longhouse.

I walked further and arrived at the narrow bamboo bridge, connecting one quarter with another. Note at the back the red, a double storey brick house – the type of house where most residents now live.

Spotted one resident at her lot.

 

Saw another watching tv.

I noticed that most of the folks still living in the longhouse are of the older generation, and my observation was confirmed with a friendly chat with one of the residents. The lady was doing some knitting in front of her house, and greeted me when seeing that I was out of the place. “Sik“,  said her when I asked the permission to take her photo. I thought ‘sik‘ means okay in Bidayuh, and I was about to lift my camera when she suddenly waved her hand in denial gesture. I asked her again whether she don’t like to be photographed and she replied, “auk“. Okay, so ‘sik‘ (sound like seek in english with the longer ‘eek’) means no and ‘auk‘ means yes. She asked me a few other questions in thick Bidayuh dialect which I wasn’t able to comprehend, and seeing my trouble understanding  she then asked me, “Kitak darik mana?“, which I guessed means ‘where do you come from’, and I answered with a smile, “Kuala Lumpur“. Knowing that I’m not a Sarawakian, we continued our conversation in standard Malays, and from her I was made known that most of the younger generations had moved to the city for work, leaving the elders at the village.

Another resident of Kampung Benuk.  She glimpsed at me, a stranger at her village with questioning eyes.

An array of jutting out bamboo flooring.

A pile being stacked up, to be used as firewoods.

Cocoa being put to dry under the sun. Cocoa cultivation is the village main activity apart from paddy planting, rubber tapping and farming.

The traditional wooden mortar (lesung, in Malay) used for grinding rice into flour.

Rattan basket.

Unfortunately the house ceremonial chamber or Pangah, where most of the skulls and tools for rituals are kept, was closed for the day. So I traipsed around and took some photos, before leaving the house and walked back to the car. At the village front office I met Ms Isabell, the housekeeper.  She walked me to the village orchard nearby, connected by another bamboo bridge over a small stream.

I walked cautiously to the middle and have a look down. It is easy to fall considering the large gap in between the handrails, and the fact that bamboo surface is rounded and quite slippery. But that equals to nothing to the villagers. Thank god it is such a shallow stream, and is not that high. (Fact: I didn’t get to the other end).

It was almost 3.00pm so we thanked our friendly host and sped off to Semanggoh. Exiting the village we passed by a canopy with colorful balloons, national and state flags. Somebody is celebrating a birthday? Or, is it VVIP coming down for some political speech? These questions popped up in my mind, and being curious (called me kepoci) I asked a guy whose making up the table. Guess what, they were preparing a wedding party! With flags and all, I would say it would be a patriotic union.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at Semanggoh, and the timing was perfect.

Most importantly, our charming hostess and her adorable son were already there to greet us.

Orang Utan, which literally means ‘the man (or woman in this case) of the jungle’ are among the most intelligent primates, and exclusively Asian. An endangered species, their likes currently could only be found in Borneo and Sumatra, and they are under strict monitoring by government and NGO conservation and rehabs facilities such as the Semanggoh Wildlife Centre.

The Orang Utan breeds at every eight year intervals (no wonder they facing extinction!) and the babies will cling to their mothers until they come of age. With that kind of bonding, they aren’t shy in displaying their love and affection, as shown by our hostess and her son. Awww, ain’t that cute?

The spectators at the Semanggoh Wildlife Centre. From a few identified Orang Utans by the rehab centre, only two were present. But that’s good enough. I was told that it was fruit season in Kuching, and the jungle could definitely offer more than what the rehab could provide. These two simply coming out of courtesy.

Acha with the Orang Utan watching.

In contrary, Ahnaf seemed more taken on the other side of the seating. Wonder what interests him.

Obviously he was taking photo of the  small  stream (more of a drain, but scenic, yes). This one was taken by me.

Self-explanatory safety reminder.

Pepper plant.

Pitcher plant. Have you ever seen them grow so many like this?

Feeding time only last for about half an hour, and so were we at Semanggoh. Semanggoh was the last in our itinerary of the day, and after a long drive, our evening back in Kuching was spent resting at the guest house. At night, we went out again for dinner at Topspot, Kuching famous seafood joints. Black pepper crabs, steamed Barramundi with ginger, Batok (Sarawak dish, like otak-otak), butter fried prawns, grilled squids and mix vege (midin, Sarawak fern shoot was sold out) were our dinner that night. Seafood is quite cheap in Kuching compared to KL, and sorry no photo of the food as they went straight into the gullet once they arrived at our table!

>>End of Day 2.