Bugs Abroad: Upriver Sarawak and the Resource Barons

We left the comfort of Kuching and headed northeast towards Sibu, a large industrial town at the mouth of the Batang Rajang, Malaysia's longest river and a hub for transporting goods and forest products in and out of the upriver regions of Sarawak. We took an express boat, which looks just like the fuselage from a 747 without any wings, from the wharf in Kuching, getting off the bus on a busy highway and trying to find the wharf as cars whizzed down the freeway. The boat was extremely fast and the air-conditioning in the cabin was pretty brutal, we put on every layer we had and were still freezing. We went up to the deck often to get a breath of fresh air and a look at the villages and countryside that we passed in route.

Sibu was hosting the annual Borneo Festival, which took place at the "biggest public square in Malaysia" (Malaysia is crazy about superlatives). There were tents set up selling food and drinks that represented Borneo's various strictly demarcated ethnic groups, Chinese, Malay and "Tribal" - the Iban, Melanau, etc. They also had a stage that held performances, but unfortunately not many of the ones we saw were particularly well practiced. It was an interesting event to talk to locals, mingle with the crowds and try some of the various delicacies on offer.

Sibu also has a great central market that sells everything under the sun, but mostly produce and meats. We met an extremely friendly Chinese guy who showed us the best konpia in town - konpia is Sibu's take on a bagel, small rounds of dough that are baked in a tandoori oven and sprinkled with sesame seeds. We got to see the shop owner making them and tried them hot out of the oven, a delicious treat! We also celebrated the 4th of July in Sibu. We had a picnic in the park by the wharf with all the American food we could find: watermelon, BBQ'd meats, chips, beer, even coleslaw from KFC. That night we went to the Borneo Festival and met a group of Iban guys who were big drinkers and constantly filled our glasses. They both worked in the resource business, extracting trees and oil for a healthy paycheck. It was interesting to talk to them and hear their stories about a topic that would continuously be top of mind as we made our way up river.

From Sibu we took an express boat up the Batang Rajang to Kapit, a 3 hour ride. We passed many longhouses as we sat in the freezing air conditioned cabin as well as many logging yards. It was depressing to see all the resource extraction in the area and how it was taking its toll on the environment. The muddy water was completely silted and we heard from many locals that the river no longer supports large fish, which many relied on for food in the recent past. Sitting by the boat terminal in Kapit we watched the boats going upriver bringing boxes of instant noodles, soft drinks and disposal diapers, while all the boats going downriver were hauling logs, coal and other natural resources to the world market at an unsustainable pace. Globalization is taking its toll everywhere in the world, even in the interior of a seemingly exotic and far off place like Borneo. We met another American guy in Kapit who told us that Sarawak only has 3% of its primary forest left, where as the government tourist information centers say that it is 82% (we definitely lean towards believing the lower figure from what we saw). The forest is also disappearing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world. It was disappointing to hear all this and see it firsthand in Kapit, Sibu and pretty much everywhere else in Borneo. Palm plantations are springing up where they have cleared the forest as well as other non-native plantations which are quickly changing the environment.

We spent two days in Kapit trying to get a boat upriver to Belaga. Unfortunately a dam, which is the largest in SE Asia, now controls the river and there was no way to navigate the dangerous Palagus Rapids upriver with the decrease in flow. A couple months prior a boat crashed which was overloaded by about 200 people in those rapids, so we didn't want to take our chances. The only other way upriver is via a rough road built to service the dam that we would have had to go three days out of our way to reach and then charter a private jeep to bump up, so we headed back downriver from Kapit. This time we sat on top of the express boat, which was going about 70km/hour. It was exciting to speed past all the longhouses, which look a lot more modern than the ones we saw in photos from the 1950's, being largely made of cement and with every family section sporting a satellite dish.

Passing through Sibu once more we quickly headed up north to Similajau National Park, which is famous for it's estuary crocodiles, turtles and dolphins. We didn't see any of these exotic species but we had a relaxing week lounging on the beach, hiking around the jungle and reading engrossing beach books like The Matarese Circle and 2666.

Heading further north we went to Batu Niah and the Niah Caves, which is one of the largest caves in the world. Niah Caves was inhabited by humans over 40,000 years ago so it was an exciting historical place, especially for the anthropologist in Colin. We stayed a couple nights in the park in the hostel and hiked out to the caves. Before we arrived we were interested in being able to sneak a peek at the environment that was able to support humans for such a staggeringly long time, but we learned in the small onsite museum that the environment has been constantly changing throughout the 40,000 years of continuous occupation. During the last Ice-age it was far from the sea, since so much of the Earth’s water was locked up in the huge glacial sheets in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and had a temperate climate that supported many types of large mammals. Borneo was also not an island at all, but connected to mainland Southeast Asia! As the Earth warmed up the sea encroached on the cave and the ecosystem changed again, until it became like it is today, a tropical dipterocarp swamp about 15km from the South China Sea. What is most interesting about these drastic changes is that humans were able to adapt to them all and thrive, for most of the time with simple stone tools and even without control of fire. In today’s world Western tourists that we meet get all stressed out if there isn’t constant electricity to charge their iPads and hot showers in the tropics.

We spent another night in Batu Niah, which was an interesting small town just outside of Niah Caves. Since it was Ramadan there was a market set up selling all kinds of Malaysian foods which we had a great time sampling. We then headed to Miri, which is very close to Brunei. Miri was built on oil and continues the tradition with big trucks clogging the streets and a lack of sidewalks for pedestrians. We spent a few days there waiting for our flight back to Kuala Lumpur. One day we hiked up to Canada Hill, which is the first place they struck oil and the first oil well of Shell. We found a very comfortable guesthouse where we were able to get all of our ducks in a row for the rest of the trip and relax a bit. We even found a spot in the Central Market to get our last taste of one of the delicious stouts on offer in Sarawak (8%, yikes). After another quick stop in Kuala Lumpur it was bye bye Malaysia and hello Indo.

Amanda tries to get into the spirit of Sibu by becoming its patron animal, the Swan.

Having a very American picnic lunch in the park in Sibu for the Fourth. The only difference with at home was that a homeless Iban man came and chatted with us as we ate.

Some chickens awaiting the dinner plate in the Pasar Central in Sibu. You can pick up dinner and the day's paper at the same time

Some well arrayed produce lined up in typical Malaysian style at the Pasar Seni, Sibu.

Konpia getting cooked up in Sibu. The young guy on the right actually owns the joint and turns out massive numbers of these little beauties every day for a line up of locals. Thanks for showing us Uncle Lim!