Our final part of the journey to Skandis, an Iban longhouse, was by boat. On arrival, we were greeted by the chief's wife as the chief himself was out hunting.
The longhouse at Skandis, built on stilts, consisted of 14 doors. Behind each door was a single room where a single family would live. All doors would face out to an open gallery shared across all families and where most people would sit during the day. There was an open veranda beyond this that would be used to hang clothes to dry, or dry rubber, rice etc. The longhouse was very basic with electricity only for a few hours in the evening, powered by a generator. The chief also has a fridge and satellite TV, which everyone would gather around at night to watch their favourite Indonesia soaps. The 'longdrop' toilets were outside.
There were kids and adults everywhere you looked. It was impossible to determine which kid belonged to who as it seemed like one big, happy family. Kids as young as 10 were drinking and smoking. There were roosters going at it all day and night.
We sat around until the chief returned from his hunt, something we would do a lot of - problem was there was no cushioning between my butt and the bamboo floor. It was getting late so the chief's wife asked Aldrin to present 'our' gifts to them - Aldrin had done a mass shop that morning of tobacco, toothpaste, fruits, and also a pig's head. Soon after the hunting party returned, guns in hand. There were around 20-25 of them, including a 7yr and 8yr boy, both bare-footed, who had been out for over 12hrs since 7am.
They were late as they caught and shot dead a barking deer. We were lucky, as well as our usual dinner, we were invited for some deer with the chief in his house. Someone also spotted a civet, but despite a few gun shots, it got away. We then had some chopped up pig's head as a snack during the rice wine session. There was more meat on it than I expected. The rice wine session simply involved lots of drinking and it was particularly fun for the teens who were lightweights by all accounts. We went through 11 bottles I think. It was then time for bed. The chief's wife pulled out three ultra-thin mattresses and laid them out outside. We tied out mozzie nets and that was bed - it was like my mum's village in Bochasan!
The next morning we went for a short walk walking up and down hills, across streams seeing how the Iban people extract latex from rubber trees. We were also pointed out iron wood, local plants and veggies, fruit trees etc. They have a use for almost every plant. The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent doing nothing, except every few hours we would be invited to eat something - I was eating like a beast and doing no exercise - great!
We went for a few swims/baths a day in the river to kill time. The kids loved the river and could swim from the age of 3! They would swim, splash and bathe in the river.
The final night, after dinner, was market time, where all the families bring out souvenirs for tourists to buy, except there were only 2 this time. Both Anne and I felt bad and bought something, but it was awkward to say the least.
The next morning we returned to Kuching, and notably the boatswoman fell in the river as she was paddling to prevent the boat from getting stuck in the rocks.
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