June 13 - Inland Borneo

Local village, inland Borneo

One thing that quickly becomes clear in a place like this is that you can't escape a market - even in the middle of nowhere you can guarantee that you'll find the opportunity to score yourself some fish, exotic fruit, and BBQ chicken bums on a stick. My favourite stall had to be one which advertised selling the following: bricks; cement; chickens. I mean that's everything you could ever need right under one (pseudo)roof. Genius! Being with Malaysians also meant that I had the unique and rare opportunity to not only head to markets us 'whities' never see, but also having the comments directed at me by market stall owners translated - a very entertaining experience.

For anyone who knows me well, you would know that I love bananas, need I say more. And so with this in mind when I browsed the 'banana markets' I was in my own little slice of heaven (and Garry you were definitely there in spirit as well). Malaysia boasts the world's greatest number of banana varieties, with 80% of them yet to be botanically identified. I can't think of a cheesy pun off the top of my head to slot in here so I'll just say it was sweet..

Bananas!

The next mission, thanks to a few local connections, was the chance to see a palm oil factory in action with a personal explanation of the whole process. So after checking out the restricted areas and how this fruit is converted into oil we headed through the workers villages to see the whole 360 degrees of the operation. Interesting stuff.

Heading further inland, in search of a rare variety of coconut available only in certain times of the year and in certain areas (ie those that are isolated enough to not be contaiminated by standard coconut palms), was a chance to see the real Malaysia. Markets selling food I didn't even know existed, longhouses so long they almost dissapear over the horizon, and one local bloke asking me into his house for some munitions-grade rice wine at 3 in the afternoon, all embedded colourful pieces into a vivid picture of the island. And although too late for the coconut, the timing was perfect for the sunset which accompanied us all the way back north along the coast.

Sunset over the beach

The culture class continued a couple of days later with a visit to a Sikh Temple, complete with the kit that conveniently combines the stylings of a guru, a bollywood movie star, and a teenage mutant ninja turle together in one sweet package. The hospitality I have witnessed in Malaysia is second to none, and this trip was no exception. Meeting the Sikh Priest was very insightful, as was the explanation he gave into all the different aspects of the temple, and coming from a catholic mass a couple of hours before was a feast for the mind.



Photos

East Malaysia, Borneo