Good times on the water
Monday was still a public holiday, continuing from the Aidilfitri celebration since Saturday. Francis had asked me last week if I was interested to join him in exploring a river somewhere in Bau during the Aidilfitri holidays. After the exciting river exploration with him and Azmi in Sg. Abang last December, I told him I was interested! However, I also told him that I couldn’t make it on Saturday and Sunday due to my ‘activities’ in the kampung on those days. So, he suggested Monday. But on Saturday evening he informed me that we wouldn’t be able to do the proposed exploration on Monday because he had to take four Dutch guys kayaking on Monday. I asked him if I could join in and he said yes. He must’ve thought that I must be bored going on the same Sarawak Kiri river all the time. But when it comes to kayaking and observing the surrounding nature, I find it impossible to get bored with it! Even if the attraction is not there, the beauty is still present! hhm…if you know what I mean.
Sarawak Kiri river
Anyways, as usual we started from Sg. Abang at Bengoh and paddled towards Sarawak Kiri river, then went downriver to Semedang. The whole journey would take around 3-5 hours, depending on the river, speed of the kayak and the times: ’stretching’ time, climbing time, eating ABC (air batu campur) time, talking-to-locals time, swimming time, jumping off the rocks time, cleaning caves time, etc. But it’s all fun!
Climbing time
As we paddled leisurely, we reached Danu about an hour later. Francis would customarily take his guests around the village and I would see my friends. Got myself some Stella for breakfast and tapau some for the road river. Actually, it’s not ethical to drink and paddle along the river as it could jeopardize one’s safety but I was too hungry for some hop juice.
We hanged around at Danu for around 45 minutes before heading back to our kayaks and head downriver. Apart from one or two small rapids along the way, the river was relatively calm. In some parts, the depth of the river was no higher than our knees! There were also patches of heavy sand sedimentation in the river which indicates heavy duty activities going on upriver.
When we reached the Semedang territory, a shirtless guy suddenly popped out of the bushes by the river bank and waved at us! It was Francis’ friend, Lars from Norway whose wife is a Bidayuh from Semedang. We paddled back to meet Lars by the pebbled beach and he invited us to see his homestay ‘guesthouse’. At the back of my mind, I had imagined Lars’ ‘guesthouse’ to be a small hut with rudimentary facilities. As we approached his ‘guesthouse’, it was massive and er…well designed (I don’t have the architect vocabulary to describe it)! The location was ideal for tourists who’d want to experience nature — jungle, fruit orchard, river, etc. After spending some time admiring Lars’ guesthouse, we returned to our kayaks for the final phase of our trip downriver.
The beach outside Lar’s guesthouse
We arrived in Semedang at about 1.30pm feeling the post-kayak excitement! While Fred and Francis were cleaning up and uploading the kayaks into the kayak-mobile, I drank my last can of Stella. One of the Dutch approached me and asked if he could find some tuak in Semedang, and I told him it’s not likely at this time of the year. But I told them I was going to Bang after this to obtain my supplies of langkau and wondered if they were interested to tag along with me. They all enthusiastically said yes, so I told Francis that I would take them with me and will send them back to Kuching in time for their flight back to Kay-El that evening.
Thumbs up for langkau?
I left Semedang with four Dutch guys in my car and headed toward Bang. I parked my car at the regular tuck shop where I get my langkau, and ordered four cans of Stella while waiting for the shop owner to pour the langkau into empty mineral water bottles. The guys were visibly excited to be in the village, drinking the Stella after hours of kayaking. So, we chatted and as Stella’s 5% alcohol began to intrude into our thinking department, we ordered for some more beers. The langkau was ready and I told the guys to have a sip of this precious water. They took a sip, said it was nice, passed it around and decided to buy three bottles for them to take back to Kay-El! So, we sadong a few rounds of langkau.
As we left Bang, I explained to the guys about the people in the surrounding areas, their livelihood, cultures and those kind of things. They seemed interested and asked if they could “have a look” in the area. No problemo! I drove them to Sun Shine Cafe near Annah Rais longhouse and ordered some more Stella.
Stella and fried noodles at Sun Shine Cafe
As usual, James was a nice host and in his booming voice, entertained the Dutch with witty stories. Of course, he had to put on the Bee Gees DVD on TV and suddenly, our attention was glued to it. One of the guys even clapped his hands and jiggled to the songs! A bit too much lah like this…After three rounds of Stella, our train of thoughts were no longer choo-chooing properly. After we bade our farewell to James and his friendly wife, we headed back to Kuching before we get stuck to James’ contagious friendliness.
Well, time to go…
