By “west” I mean Kalimantan Barat (West Kalimantan). The PRCF scoping mission crew consisted of Pak Im (Imanul Huda, Director of PRCF Indonesia), our project coordinator Dedy and myself. The plan was to interview women in 10 villages from Putusibau to Kantuk Asam, in order to assess the current situation of traditional weaving in the area. We visited Dayak Iban longhouse after longhouse, drank copious amounts of heavily sweetened tea and coffee, photographed many traditional cloths and filled pages with interview notes.
Extremely bumpy motorbike rides on unstable terrain preceded extremely bumpy car rides on unstable terrain. A very small motorized canoe barely made it to Kampung Kelawi and back. The trip involved pushing the boat manually by hand or with sticks and holding on very tightly over rapid water. This was very unlike our speed boat ride through the Danau Sentarum to Pulau Melayu where we picnicked for a late lunch.
To my co-workers annoyance, I constantly brought up my desire to go to the lake of this national park throughout the trip. With a fumbled illegal border crossing (I’ll come back to this later) my amazing boss felt he should make up for abandoning me, with an afternoon off at the lake.
At first glance, the serene and pristine natural reserve looks like Parc des Hautes Gorges in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. The black water creates a perfect mirror image of the sky, and mountains.
This serene moment was made possible by the fact that our gang was ready to sneak me across the Indo-Malay border to accompany them on their market assessment. No one seemed concerned by the fact that I would be traveling without a passport, that I would be assuming a fake identity (Sanita from Ambon) or that I would be re-entering Indonesia without the required visa. In the end, I opted not to take the risk. Although disappointed at the time, I was very happy it led to a Danau visit.
The villagers of Kapuas Hulu were mostly very kind and eager to participate in our discussions. Tattoos were popular with the men and I even got to see one person with elongated earlobes. The older women sat bare-breasted without shame while younger women opted to cover themselves in a sarong, or sarong and t-shirt combination, during our discussions. Children still run and play outside, whether they have shoes or not.
This is the last glimpse of a culture that is rapidly modernizing despite their geographical isolation.
Ten years ago I set a goal to visit 30 countries by my 30th birthday. With no plan or country list to fulfill this goal, I decided to let life take me where it wished.
“See Simi Travel Blog | Adventures of a travel snob“, is just that. The account of an ex-20-something year exploring the world, usually solo, and on a very limited budget.
Every other week I try to tell you a story about the friends, food, fun and fails I’ve had along the way.
