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The Bugis Man
The Bugis Man, AKA the Boogie-Man...
Back in the colonial days, the Dutch, English and Portugese lived at the whim of the the pirates of Malaysia , many from Bugis, hence the childhood stories of "The Boogie Man". They were the nightmare of the colonialists, raiding and killing anyone with anything worth stealing. Those who could resist the pirates were legendary, like James Brooke, who in 1841 was given the left side of Borneo ( Sarawak ) by the Sultan of Brunei for ridding the pirates from the coast. Though in their hayday, they were all ruled under a single sultanate in Brunei , It has since become part of Malaysia .
After a quick weekend in Singapore , John and I hooked up in Sumatra . Actually we are in a small group of island off the East coast of Sumatra , across from the infamous Banda Ache. Yeah, as we all know the sad stories are so common you dont hear about them unless you ask. A worker at our hotel lost 9 family members in the tsunami. We are smack in the middle of the Straits of Malacca, where 25 % of the worlds trade passes through. Despite the traffic, towns are one horse villages and the people very freindle. The language is the same Indo-Malaysian family as Chamorro and Tagalog , so some of it all is quite familiar.
Today we leave to island hop by boat to eventually end up in Indonesian Borneo where we will cross overland to Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo). The tribes are not as isolated as they once were and are generally friendly. I hope to make it as far north as Brunei or even Sabah but we'll see.
Not much news to report except dirt cheap hotels. great street food, and very friendly people. Not sure how much internet there is so sooner or later I'll be dropping off.
Goodday Mates,
Joe
The Hitchikers Guide Prologue
Didn't catch the first rule?
Rule #1: Always remember to stop and smell the flowers...
In this case (picture attached), when in the rainforest in Borneo , always remember to stop and smell the largest flower in the world, the Rafflesia. Even if it does smell like rotted meat...
"The giant rafflesia, a type of lily, is the largest flower in the world, weighing up to 7 kg (15 lb) and measuring up to 91 cm (about 36 in) wide. Found in rain forests of Malaysia and Indonesia , the flowers emit the stench of rotting meat to attract certain flies." |
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Peter Arnold, Inc./Bios |
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Rule 2: Singapore rocks.
Do you spend too much time arranging the cans in you cupboard? Have a system for what goes where in the fridge? Iron your socks? Dont feel abnormal, when its a few people its called "anal retentive", when its a whole country its called " Singapore "...
Its like a rip in the fabric of space time: Smack in the middle of the lawless third world, this little island is the antithesis of the rest of continental Asia ....a tropical Japan with cultural diversity. Lee Qwan Yu must be superhuman, everything about the country is polished and the people are extremely open minded and pleasant. Streets clean enough to eat off of, attentive service industry, multiligual and cultured people, well dressed, traditional, museums of culture, opera, music art... you name it. No raw edge or ancient feeling but good clean fun .
What a place, we were minding our business eating dinner and the chief of police, customs, and a few of their friends invited us to their table and took us for a spin around the town. They left their business cards and told us to call if we are in town again. Amazing... And I thought that only happened in Guam ...
Rule # 3 : Whatever you do don't get caught in the second world...
Some countries are steadily making the trip from third to first world. They are so rushing to jump from 3rd world to first they mow down the old buildings, and put in shopping malls so fast the souls of a city can be totally lost in the process. Its like making bread in a breadmaking machine and not the oven. Malaysia seemed to be a prime example of this. Not only is there no flavor to the place, they are the least freindly to westerners I can think of. Give it a BIG miss if you get out here. I'm not talking about only Peninisular Malaysia only, Sarawak too. Maybe Sabah is better, but I hear Brunei isn't. Its like some kind of disconnect, like a Twilight Zone episode where you are there but nobody can see you...
I'm in the Arctic now. There are an amazing amount of similarities between Singapore and Scandinavia . A rich history of seafaring barbarians evoking imaginative fantasies, obsessive law and order, and a modern economy based on oil industry. Beyong that, its easy to put a finger on whats different...WHITEY... The people are a different breed, but coming from standing at the equator monument in Borneo last week to crossing the Artic Circle in the same week, I should have prepared more for the the change in culture, not just the climate!
Joe
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Third World
The Republic of Indonesia and the Federation of Malysian States...
So we made our way throught the islands going east from Sumatra and landed in Kalimantan , the Indonesian part of Borneo . Compared to the Malaysian chunk it is much larger and rich in culture...in fact the people are really happy to see "whitey". Walking down the street is sort of like a presidential campaign....being stopped by every person and questioned...saying hello and one by one telling them your name and where you are from. Luckily the seige ends there after their 8 words of English have run out. Is it possible to go to a place where people are TOO friendly? :-) In this sense, they are very similar to the Chamorros of Guam, great people.
So began the drive northwest to Sarawak . The trip was not too long overland and looked like a prehistoric jungle. Every type of tree, plant and critter you can imagine. The people are either Dayak or Chinese, many being a mix of both. Though the air seemed quite clean to me, it became readily apparent that every inhabitant holds an ancient religious belief that the air is deadly and must be filtered through a good clean Marlboro. This belief extends beyond personal concern, they are more than happy to purify every public establishment just for you with the sacred fumes of tar and carbon monoxide. The tribes also are master weavers, plying the centuries old trade of garmet sewing. The have become so perfectly skilled at the making of clothes, the end products are indistinguishable from Levi Jeans and the common t-shirt. Their ancient but well preserved tribal customs are uncannily similar the the modern day Chamorros of Guam, to include the venerated practice of "Budlightandkaraoke" as well as the time honored ritual dance known to the village elders as "Chachaunderdaboardwalk".
Apparently 25 years ago seeing the hard core Dayak tribes involves a two week ride upstream to the center of the island, being smuggled against the law beneath a tarp laying on the bottom of a canoe. There they still hunted with blowguns, lived in real wood longhouses and dressed in loincloths. How do I know this? John did it in 1977.
After a three day gutter crawl with dysentary I decided to not take the chance that 25 years had dealt the same blow as downstream, so we dealt with the less than pure experience. Riding out of Singapore later they showed an inflight special: " National Geographic Wild Adventures: Borneo " where they hiked days inland and it was less prmitive than we saw! I am pretty certain I saw aluminum siding on their longhouse...
Next : Singapore , The Little Island That Could...
Cheers Mates!
Joe
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