This is a story of chance encounters with many “if” and many luck in between.
Kapit was never on my list, in fact I had no idea Kapit existed nor did I knew about the longest river in Sarawak the Rajang River but that all change with a simple visit to the tourist information center in Sibu and the lure of exploring small town Kapit to see the deep inlands of Sarawak which once, can only be access by boat or little planes and helicopters.
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| Fort Sylvia - Kapit |
Of course the allure of a thrilling ride through an unmarked road to reach Kapit made the decision more easier for I had a feeling Kapit would be such a town, bustling and small but lacking the activities to keep a traveler staying more than one night.
So the day before departure at Kapit, I was back in the budget hotel in Sibu asking the nice old uncle manning the reception if I were to come back in a few days, could I get a discount if I paid directly instead of going through Agoda bookings. (I know ....its a long term traveler habits to try and save every little bit of money they have ).
There I was explaining that I will be going to Kapit and be back in Sibu in a few days and at the same time there was Audrey, a French backpacker gathering information from the same Uncle on how to get to Kapit. Audrey thought for a moment she would have company to Kapit but I tapped my helmet with a smile and the illusion died. See you in Kapit maybe I said. Audrey was going on the express boat the next day while me on the same morning going on a treacherous road thrill adventure all ending at Kapit.
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| Kapit Roundabout & Clock Tower |
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| Kapit Market |
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| Kapit Market |
We did not exchange contact, nor did we made any arrangement to meet for that short moment in the hotel lobby felt like a Hi-Bye conversation. Once I reached Kapit and after checking into Magilai Hotel and finally rested in the Lobby to get the WIFI signal, there I saw Audrey walking in and checking into the very same Hotel.
I waved at her and this time we exchanged names. That was my chance encounter with Audrey.
Audrey had a story of her own going on the boat to Kapit. She met Dr. Lee which long long time ago works in Kapit and he was so intrigued that a foreigner would actually visit Kapit, (Audrey was the only white French girl on the boat) that he kept inviting her for many things such as tea, dinner, longhouse visit, which made Audrey a bit wary being a solo female traveler.
With me around now, she then asked if I was keen to join the Dr. Lee for dinner. Sure anything is fine I guess but I was planning to explore Kapit at night. We fixed a time 715pm and met up in the lobby going out to explore Kapit, but Kapit at night was a ghost town. No food, no activities of any sort and even the so called Kapit night market area closed by sunset. There was only two thing that we saw that was alive and open, the one and only KFC restaurant that was packed full of people and a few questionable Karaoke Pub near the hotel
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| Wild Boar with Black Noodle |
Audrey messaged Dr. Lee and said yep we will take up the offer for bringing us out for food. Few minutes later Dr. Lee show up with a Hilux pick up truck and drove us slightly out of town to a local Chinese eatery.
We had fried noodles, some local vegetables that I had not seen before and the delicacy of the forest wild boar.
Dr. Lee was part of a church NGO called Lighthouse Foundation which is part of Malaysia Starfish Association and he was looking for a longhouse to bring his guest from Taiwan which was visiting next week. So with that in mind, Audrey and me was pulled along having nothing to do with Dr. Lee mission to locate the longhouse that very same night after dinner.
We found the longhouse at 9pm only by chance since they had some music playing and we figured if there was music, most likely its the longhouse and the community had yet to gone to sleep.
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| Richard's Iban Longhouse |
Richard Longhouse or as I knew it from google map - Richard Homestay.
This is where coincidence number three came in. One day ago, I had actually saw Richard Homestay on google maps and out of my normal travelling practice, send Richard a WhatsApp message asking if I could stay at his place. I had no idea it was a longhouse and thought it was just a homestay like any other house. Richard never replied so I ended up in Magilai Hotel but as destiny would have it, I would end up staying at Richard Homestay anyway.
Tuai Rumah Richard was a nice hospitable guy always smiling and easygoing. While Dr. Lee entered into serious business conversation for securing an event for his Taiwan guest, Audrey and Me got a glimpse of the longhouse families and cultures.
The kids were playing the traditional Iban instrument and rehearsing a traditional dance. Apparently the next day they had an important visitor and event. A guest of honor, Timbalan Pengarah MARA Usahawan
Once Dr. Lee serious talk was more or less done and the conversation going everywhere to nowhere, I decided to check with Tuan Richard if he got my watsapp messaged. Checking his phone, he did got my message but apological he said he ignored it because he was so busy organizing the event for his guest of honor visit tomorrow.
I asked if I could stay here tomorrow and join in the event and that was a Yes. Audrey asked for the price and Tuan Richard quoted us RM 85 for lodgings, food and any activities that we or they could think of.
The next day we packed up our stuff and left Hotel Magilai in the morning with me piggybacking Audrey illegally without a helmet to the long house just in time to see the main guest arrived and all the traditional Iban performace. A dance, a song, a prayer ceremony and after an exhibition of all the handicraft that the family and families produce and sold online in this digital age.
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| Iban Prayer & Dance & Music Performance |
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| Iban Handicraft Showcase |
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| Kapit Entrepreneur |
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| Iban Bead Handicraft Display |
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| Group Photo Session with the Guest of Honor |
By Noon, the event was finish and the guest had left leaving behind a quiet moment where Audrey and I just chill at the open longhouse watching the individual families go by their usual routine, washing laundry, lepaking at the veranda, watch the kids come back from school at 1pm with a school bus and immediately forming into their own age groups for their own world of fun.
Dr. Lee dropped in at 3pm talking to the older girls between 18 to 22 trying to coax them into a technical program such as welding, sewing, beautician, childcare which the organization was willing to sponsor 100% for these kids to get the technical qualification certificate which could help them get jobs after.
The catch .... it was in Kuala Lumpur and flight tickets was on their own. Even lodgings was fully sponsored, and in a way it looked like a great opportunity only, if and only if the girls were genuinely interested. Technical skills requires a little more passion and interest compared to studying. You can study and be smart without liking it but doing childcare if you don't like kids is a whole different story.
Somehow the story spins and spins and the Doctor tries to rope me into doing some charity works in Kapit .... design a long house or build a long house, help the kids, stay here and be a part of the community .... and Richard quietly slips in and quoted .... and marry a good Iban girl and settle down ..... *chukle*
While most of the conversation was done mostly in Malay mixed in with a bit of English and Iban, I could not help but laughing out loud when the marriage proposal came up for I was wondering how long it would take before it happened. I explained to Audrey, while Dr. Lee tries to tie me up with charity or some sort of project in relation to Kapit, the Tuai Rumah Richard outright just want to tie me up with marriage hence fully owned and unable to escape Kapit.
I told them I had remembered a warning from a friend long long time ago which the saying goes like this. If you ever stay in a longhouse in Sarawak, be careful that you don't accidentally get married and forever unable to leave.
Evening came and it was time for a short track into the forest nearby the longhouse.
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| Stingless Bee Honey Farm |
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| Stingless Bee Honey Farm |
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| Tracking to the Forest River |
Richard showed us this Kelulut Farm ( Stingless Bee Honey ) along with all the Durian tree, jackfruit, banana, enkabang, a brinjal farm, chilli farm, chicken farm and all around. The doctor and I agreed that it has great potential to expend the homestay with activities walking around nearby since it was like a mini jungle track with lots of experience for the city dwellers whom never seen how a durian tree look like or how small scale farming is done. Only need to train one of those girls to be confident enough to explain like a guide to the tourist that visit the longhouse.
That night for dinner, Audrey and me ate together with Richard and his family nothing special but just their daily staple diet which makes the experience even more precious to me compared to a 10 course meal of traditional food but only cooked and ate at big events. The daily mundane lifestyle was enough but then again we also got a treat which was the Ikan Semah, a very expensive river fish which when grown more than 3kg in size would cost roughly RM900 per kilo. Richard treated us to the smaller version ... much cheaper due to the small fish having lots of bone but a chance to eat Ikan Semah was quite a surprise.
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| Home Cooked Dinner at Richard's Longhouse |
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| Ikan Semah |
Only months later back in Singapore would I have known that the locally called Ikan Semah was also a very close cousin to the Ikan Empurau or as the Singaporean calls it ... “Wang Bu Liau”
I slept in the living room while Audrey being a girl had a room to herself. By morning it was time to move on and we all part ways after breakfast with Audrey heading to Belaga and me back to Sibu.
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| Kapit Jeti |
Traveled on: Aug 2019
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