By: Tham Kok Hui (Guest Blogger)
This article by Tham Kok Hui was extracted from http://rkhtham.blogspot.com/
My name is Tham Kok Hui and I am a student of University Technology Malaysia. Here I would like to share with you an eye opening experience that I had on my semester break in one of my university’s programmmes- Lestari Bario, which was made possible by the kind support of my favourite airline MAS.
Lestari Bario is a community project organized by the Students’ Representatives of Residential College Tun Dr Ismail of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) at Bario, Sarawak from 16 to 19 June 2009. Under UTM’s new Vice Chancellor’s leadership, all community programs have been made mandatory to impart technological impact on the society, and Bario is the right candidate that fulfills the criteria. Remotely located in the rainforest, Bario is privileged with unspoiled nature, and enjoys cool and refreshing weather all year long. Bario has been well known as a producer of premium quality rice known as ‘Beras Bario’ and other highland products.
The showcase of the program is to introduce and promote the employment of the ‘Effective Microorganisms’ or popularly known as ‘EM’ in agriculture sector in Bario. Through biotechnology, EM has been widely used to enhance agricultural productivity, to minimize infestation of pests, to convert organic wastes to premium grade biofertilizer, and to overcome malodours and the leacheate problems in landfills.
The preparation for this program took approximately 4 months. The week prior to this program, we went back to our college to carry out our final preparation for the trip. There were a lot of things to do during the course of the week, such as getting the flight tickets and finalizing the documents, packing the stuff and some of the members were busy practicing Johore’s traditional dance- the Tarian Zapin that they planned to present to the folks in Bario on the Cultural Night at the long house.
Everything went well and smoothly during the final week of preparation. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude towards Ms. Wan Tipah Wan Yaacob from MAS Communication Division as she had been a great help to us in preparing for this trip.
Our journey started on the 15th of June 2009. We took the 12:30 pm flight from Senai to Kuching. We departed from UTM at 10:20 am to the Senai International Airport; we decided to leave early so that we would have ample time to check-in our luggage at the airport.
Just according to plan, the traffic was fine and we reached the airport at 10:45 pm.
Transferring hundreds of kilograms of stuff into Bario was one of the challenges for this program as goods can only be transported into Bario by a tiny 19-seater plane that travels in and out from Bario twice a day, weather permitting.
There were a lot of things that we brought over to Bario for the folks there, there were clothes, school books, stationeries, apparatus needed for the ‘EM’ showcase and etc. We took 12 trolleys to mobilize our stuff in the Senai International Airport. The boxes and luggage shown in this photo were just the tip of the iceberg. We are grateful that MAS had granted us extra luggage weight allowance or we would have had to leave behind half of the things at the airport.
Group photo taken at the Senai Airport
At the MAS counter, we were informed that our flight would be delayed for about an hour due to a minor defect on the plane. Although all of us had to spend another hour waiting at the airport but the anticipation was still running high in everyone of us.
Why so? As for me, this was my very first time flying with MAS, one of the best commercial flight services in the world. Moreover, this trip was my first time flying to Sarawak. I was overjoyed when I got to know that MAS agreed to sponsor us the flight tickets to Bario. I have heard so much good comments from my friends and family about the services provided by MAS for both of their domestic and international flight services.
I had always been looking forward to experience it myself. Besides that, I was very much excited about this trip as I had always wanted to step foot into the land of a thousand handshakes (which is Bario) and to experience the locals’ unique culture and lifestyle.
Our wait for the flight to Kuching ended in about one and a half hour. We did not really feel the hours because we were chatting and moving around the departure hall while waiting to be called for boarding. I noticed that we caught a lot of attention at every airport that we had been to because we were moving in a big group and all of us had the blue MAS cap on our head. We like the cap very much and once more I would like to thank MAS for it. I am sure the people were wondering what this big group of UTM students were up to.
The time for us to board the aircraft finally arrived and everyone was extremely excited. We walked through the boarding gate and the aerobridge and finally we were at the entrance of the aircraft. There were smartly dressed cabin crews with their friendly smile standing at the doorstep to welcome us on board. The cabin crew was extremely friendly as they acknowledged each and every one of us.
The colours of the seats in a MAS aircraft were absolutely unique and have caught much of my attention. The combination of the colours i.e. blue, red, orange and green has indeed given me the cheerful impression towards the flight and eliminates the dullness and boring interior of most airlines.
After all the passengers settled down and the safety briefing by the cabin crews were done, the aircraft took off. I was super anxious when the plane took off as I do not travel very often.
Lunch was served after the take off.
Nasi Goreng with fish or Spaghetti with chicken, sir?
I chose spaghetti and a lunch set was handed over to me. The food was nicely placed in a big lunch box and it was quite a complete set of lunch as it has the main course which is my spaghetti with chicken and also some broccoli in it, besides that, there were fruits, mango juice and a green cookie which looked like a soap that tasted surprisingly good. I enjoyed my lunch very much.
Spaghetti with chicken…. Bon Appetite!
After an hour, our flight arrived at the Kuching International Airport. It was only 3.30 pm which means that we had another hour before the next flight to Miri. During that hour we had a simple meal that was prepared by one of our members’ parents who came all the way from Simunjan. Later on, I heard that it took about 3 hours for them to get to the airport. This simple gesture touched me a lot and this just goes on to prove that Malaysian Hospitality is indeed a reality.
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Kuching International Airport’s arrival hall
After about an hour, we went back on board and headed to Miri. On this flight, we were given packets of peanuts to munch on. The flight from Kuching to Miri was quite quick. The weather was fine and we had a safe landing in Miri airport at 6pm.
After picking up our luggage, we were sent to a budget hotel in Miri Town by a school bus that we chartered. While unloading all of our stuff from the bus in front of the budget hotel, we realized that our banners for our programme were missing. This was something that we did not expect to happen on our trip. Fortunately, when we contacted the Lost and Found department at Kuching International Airport, the personnel there acted promptly on our report and they went on for a search at the places that we had been to in the airport. Less than half an hour, we had good news from them that they found our banners at boarding gate number 3. We were so lucky that they had found the banners or else it would have been a waste of effort spent on getting the banners done for this program.
Few of the members and I went to the Miri Airport to file a report on our lost items. This procedure was needed to be done so that there would be some arrangement for us to claim our banners at the Miri Airport10pm when we arrived at the airport and there was no flight arriving or departing from the Miri airport, in another word, most of the administration departments were closed. We were worried then, however we were lucky enough to meet with a MAS officer who was about to head home after work. She was very helpful and patient, she assisted us in filling up the forms and did the necessary arrangements for us to ensure us that we would get our banners the next morning. Thus, there is certainly no doubt that people would say MAS serves their customers best. in the morning before we depart from Miri to Bario. It was about
After settling the ‘missing banners’, we went on for supper in the Miri town. Since we were ordering food to eat, I ordered a plate of the famous local delight which is the Mee Kolok and a glass of ‘Teh C Peng’ (ice tea). I regret that I didn’t snap some photos of the food and drink that I mentioned. The ‘Teh C Peng’ was not just nice to drink but it was also nice to see. The drink has got 3 layers of colors that make it quite interesting and special.
It was quite late after the supper; we headed back to our hotel for some rest and prepared for the trip to Bario. The rooms were not comfortable at all but everyone was quite tired after a whole day of traveling so there were just sound of snoring in the rooms rather than complaints.
16th of June 09, Tuesday.
We woke up pretty early that morning and took the chartered bus to the airport for our flight to Bario. All of us seemed to be more excited than we were on the day before although we had quite limited hours of sleep. I think it might be that we were going to sit on the MASWing’s Twin Otter or the fact that we are going to Bario to meet the highlanders that made us so excited.
There were 17 of us from the ‘Lestari Bario’ program that took the MASwings to Bario on that morning. Since it was quite many of us hence we were split into two flights. I was in the first batch and we took the 8.30 am9.30am. flight. The second batch of our team took the following flight which departed at
Taking the MASwings’ Twin Otter was quite an interesting experience.
MASwings’ Twin Otter
We were all super excited and anxious when we were checking in. Due to the size of the aircraft, every single pound that was brought onto the aircraft was very crucial for the safety of this plane during take off and landing. Therefore everyone was weighted at the MASwings’ counter during the check-in. I noticed that they had grades for each of the passengers in the weighing process. Luckily none of us was overweight and thus all of us passed with an A.
On check-in, passengers were only allowed to have a maximum luggage weight of 9 kg. This was so that they could estimate how much weight that is available in the cargo for them to bring in goods into Bario. However we did not have to worry much on this issue as MAS had already made the necessary arrangement for us to bring in all our things to Bario.
The first batch of our team boarding the 8.30 am flight
Before the take off, I confessed that I had butterflies in my stomach because I sort of had horrible imaginations that my journey on the Twin Otter was going to be bumpy because the plane is very much lighter and smaller compared to other commercial planes that I had been on before. I have already had the emergency bag ready in hand just incase I was going to hurl. Eventually the 40 minutes journey to Bario that I have spent on the Twin Otter was nothing like what I imagined. The plane was steady from take off till landing. I actually enjoyed the flight very much because the plane was flying quite low, so that during the journey I could look down through the window to enjoy the splendid beauty of Mother Nature from an aerial view. It was quite a fascinating experience looking at the natural formations and patterns created by the trees and rivers as though you were viewing a big piece of ever changing art. It was truly a breathtaking experience.
Auntie Joy- standing at the far right of this photo
Finally, we made it to Bario! We were welcomed by Mdm. Juana Joy who is the PIC at the Bario airport and she was also our lovely host at Bario who managed our whole trip from lodging to our meals.
She was very excited when she saw us as she had been anticipating us for our program at Bario for a few months. She told us that the folks at Bario especially the children were all looking forward for our program. Her words had certainly boosted our spirit and we were even more excited to meet all the folks at Bario.
Mdm. Juana strikes me as a wonderfully jovial lady, just like all the other folks in Bario who are so warm and friendly. When we first met her at the airport, her warmth made us feel close to each other even though we had just met each other. So we started calling her auntie Joy throughout our stay in Bario.
I wouldn’t miss the chance of taking a photo by the side of the MASwings’ Twin Otter
The Chairman of the Bario’s school PTA was also at the airport to welcome us
Besides the warm welcome by some of the folks that we met at the airport, the second thing that drew my attention when I first stepped foot to Bario was the cooling environment of the place. The air in Bario was so fresh and the temperature is neither too cold nor too hot that I personally find it very comfortable.
After unloading all our stuff from the Twin Otter, our local Mr. Tour guide, Taiyun had helped us to load our things into his Toyota 4x4. He was a very good tour guide and I would recommend him to anyone who wishes to pay a visit to Bario.
The only means of transportations in Bario are either by motorcycles or a 4x4. This is because there are no proper tar roads in Bario, the roads that they have are all covered with unevenly sized rocks, portholes and mud. It is unlikely for them to make their own tar roads here because it is very costly to bring in the materials to the highland.
Our transport in Bario- a Toyota 4x4 Hilux
There is a table-tennis table at the middle of their small scaled airport which I found to be pretty interesting. While waiting for the second batch of our team to arrive, we had a friendly game of ping-pong with a local kid named Abel. We had fun and lots of laughter while watching Abel play.
A friendly game of Ping-pong with a local kid
The Bario Airport
The arrival of the second batch of our team
The second batch of our team arrived at 10.30 am. After loading in the rest of things that were brought over by the second batch into the 4x4, we got on to the 4x4 and had a bumpy ride into the Bario’s town. On the journey to the town, we saw padi fields, pineapple plantations as well as the beautiful jungles at the side of the road. Besides those, we rarely saw any houses or people until we reached the town. The actual distance from the airport to the town was not very far but due to the poor road conditions, the 4x4 took about 15 minutes to reach the town.
The town area of Bario
On the way to the Kampung Bario Asal’s long house which was our first destination in Bario and also our place of lodging, there were passers-by along the road that waved and greeted us.
That is the Bario Asal long house behind the signboard
At the long house, we were welcomed by the Kelabit elders. They were the Kelabits who had been through the hardships of war. They shared with us lots of their experiences and stories about the days when there were headhunting activities, the Second World War, the incorporation of Sarawak into Malaysia in 1963, Indonesian confrontation and also the way that the community has changed and improved over the years.
During lunch we were served with the Nasi Bario (Bario Rice) and some dishes that were prepared by the Kelabit housewives. The fragrance and sweetness of the rice made it impossible to not have second-helpings! It might sound a little exaggerated but the Bario rice was really the tastiest rice that I have ever tasted.
After the lunch, we were invited to tour around in the long house. The architecture and structure of the long house were unique, according to the dwellers of the long house; the whole house was built by the locals themselves. I noticed that at every 10 meters of the long house, there would be a fire place at the centre of the area. The fire place is where the Kelabit families prepare their meals and is also a spot where the family gathers to get some heat when the weather is cold.
The fire place in the long house
Photos of the Kelabits’ past activities and family photos can be seen as we walk past these history-filled corridors.
At the Bario Asal’s long house
In this approximately half an hour tour in the long house, I have noticed that most of the parts in the house were vacant. According to a Kelabits housewife who I met in the long house, most of the young people have decided to move out from Bario to town to pursuit their careers. Less than 2000 Kelabits now live in Bario and the population is decreasing yearly
Our first program at the Bario Primary School
At 3 pm, we had our first activity with the students of SK Bario. The children were just adorable, check out these photos.
At the beginning of the activity, we did a round of self introductions to the students and teachers. The children have pretty amazing memory though as they could remember all our names although we only did introduce ourselves once.
It was quite normal for children to feel shy to strangers, so we did some ice-breaking activities together with the children so that we could break the divide between us.
The most interesting part of this session with the school children was when we had a quiz challenge for them. They were very enthusiastic about it. Everyone was rising up their hand wanting to answer the math, science or general knowledge questions. Goody bags from UTM were awarded to the students who managed to answer our question correctly.
The children were sitting in a circle expressing their creativity through their drawing
Board games sponsored by SPM were handed over to the headmistress of SK Bario, Mdm. Dora from our college principal Dr. Firdausi
The classroom of SK Bario
After the photo session with the school children and teachers of SK Bario, we were invited to the teachers’ office for refreshment. The teachers were very kind to us; they have prepared their locally grown Bario pineapple which is one of the sweetest and juiciest pineapples in the world and also their local delicacy which is the Nasi Kelabit for us to enjoy.
There was no water and power supply on the first day due to the drought season where their reservoir had dried up. For that evening, we went to the small reservoir not far from the school to wash-up.
The small dam was built at a slope is actually the source of water for the community, non the less it is also the source of electricity for them as the water pressure stores in the dam is used to generate electricity by using the micro-hydro facility. Even though there is the micro-hydro generator but the families in Bario are still very much depending on expensively fuelled generators to get their electricity because the hydro-plant built in Bario is only able to supply electricity when there is rain that provides enough water to be stored in the dam to feed the turbine of the generator. Only the army camp and schools have 24 hours electricity supply as the authorities have spent millions of Ringgit in storing the fuel to generate the electricity for these facilities.
In the evening, after we had our dinner, we went to the Secondary School of Bario to have a movie night with the secondary school students. The students enter the hall with very much discipline and settled down according to their class within a minute. I believe that the school teachers have done a good job in training their students. The students enjoyed the movie very much and we were pleased that they liked it.
When the movie was over, the students quickly took up their duty and got ready for supper. I am impressed by the way the students carried out their duty as it was very systematic. It was 9.30pm when the movie was over and we were informed by the school teachers that the students will normally have their supper at 9.30 pm and get back to their dormitory to rest at 9.45 pm. Without fail, the dormitories’ lights were all off at 9.45pm and the children were at their beds already.
Both the primary and secondary school children have to stay in their schools dormitory because most of their houses are situated in other more remote villages that are far from the school. These children can only return home by foot during the weekends to be with their family. The journey for them to go home will usually take not less than an hour; some even have to take routes through the jungles just to get home. Learning the life of the students here in Bario, it made me feel how fortunate I was when I was schooling as I have either my parents or the school bus to send me to school everyday. Moreover I had everything i.e. my room, meals and laundry all taken care by my mom. One of the things that made the children here special from all other students that I have met is that they have learned to be independent since they were barely 7 years old.
After the light supper and chit-chatting with the school teachers, we headed back to the long house to prepare for the activities that we had on the next day. At around 11 pm the electricity was cut-off and the night started to rain. We had our briefing and discussion for the next day’s activity done in the dark. It was quite late then when the meeting at the Rang family’s living room was over, since it was still raining and dark outside, my friends and I were quite tired so we slept over at the living room for that night and did not go back to our lodge which is at Auntie Joy’s house.
17th of June 09
After having our breakfast prepared by the Rang family, we headed out to the community hall at the town area for our first program of the day which is showcasing the EM technology to the folks of Bario who are involved in agriculture and also the official launch of our program at Bario.
On the way to the community hall, we dropped by at Dato Sri’ Idris Jala’s home in Bario. Dato Sri’ Idris Jala is one of the brilliant and successful Kelabits who was born and brought up in the Bario community and who is now the CEO of Malaysian Airlines. Dato Idris’ father was not around in the house that morning; we were welcomed by his mother. The hospitality offered by her was overwhelming even though we knocked on her door early in the morning without any early notice. She was very glad that we came all the way from the Semenanjung to visit the Kelabit’s highland; she told us about the festivals that they celebrate here in Bario annually and she extended her warmest invitation to us looking forward that we can come during the festivals so that we can witness more about their culture and also sharing the joy together with them.
Dato Sri Idris Jala’s home in Bario
After the short visit to Dato Sri Idris Jala’s home in Bario, we headed to the community hall in town. The weather was quite cold that morning due to the downpour last night; everyone was shivering after bathing in the morning.
On the way to the community hall, we noticed all the folks have already started working at their padi fields and etc; on the contrary during the 7-9 am in central town like Kuala Lumpur, everyone will be stuck in the jam on the way to work during these hours.
We did the necessary setup such as hanging up our banners and setting up our sound system and etc when we got to the community hall. The folks slowly started to fill up the seats after 9 am and our program started at 9.30 am without any delay.
We were honored that on behalf of YB Nelson Balang Rining, who is the ADUN of Ba’kelalan, CR. John Terawe who is the councilor of the Bario community represented him to officiate our programme at Bario and also delivered his opening speech in both Malay and Kelabit Languages. A speech by our UTM Tun Dr. Ismail College’s principal AP. DR. Firdausi Razali was also delivered to explain to the folks about the objectives of our program at Bario.
CR. John Terawe, councilor of Bario
Before entering the highlight of our program, we did a lucky draw session just to make the program more lively and interesting. The locals seemed more eager to learn about the EM technology that we were going to introduce to them.
In introducing the EM agriculture technology to the folks, we had the support from the Chemical Enginnering Pilot Plant (CEPP) of UTM, Mr Aidee Kamal bin Khamis and Dr. Firdausi Razali giving their expert explanation to the folks on applying the EM technology in their agriculture. For your information, CEPP has been actively disseminating the EM know-how in agriculture and environment for the past four years throughout Malaysia.
Everyone was so interested in learning the EM technology
During the demonstration of mixing the EM ingredients by Mr. Aidee, many questions were asked by the locals to get a better understanding in this technology
Dr. Firdausi was explaining to the folks on some of the uses of the plants in enhancing the yield of their plantation
The folks and the Lestari Bario team were getting their hands on in preparing the organic fertilizers. Through the demonstration and explanation by CEPP, many of the folks learned that there are a lot of organic materials around them that can be turned into valuable fertilizer for their plants.
Everyone enjoyed the program and I hope that the folks would be able to benefit much from the new technology that we introduce to them.
After lunch, we chatted with Auntie Joy’s mother and her neighbor at the fire place in her house. They were so excited that a young group of people like us who were willing to sit around them and to chat with them. Personally, I was more than happy that they were willing to share with us their precious lifetime experience and also some interesting facts about Bario.
After having a few hours of rest at her house, we went out to the primary school for some friendly games with the school children, teachers and the army personnel.
The games were arranged by the primary school teachers, we had games like football, volley ball and Ping-pong. It was very enjoyable, playing football with the kids although my side was trounced by our opponents. Some of the kids really have good potential in playing football for the country though. Playing sports at highland was another sort of new experience to me as the weather was cooler and I did not sweat much as I would back in KL.
After playing games with the children at the field, they brought me to the hill behind the secondary school where they told me that it is the spot where I can have a good view of Bario. I had a race with the kids to the hill. We ran across the field and climbed up to the hill. I felt like I was back in my school days then where I could run freely and laugh like nobody’s business. At the top of the hill, the children sat with me and enjoyed the peacefulness and great view of Bario.
Here, I also found my best pal in Bario who is the boy wearing the red t-shirt in this photo. His name is Sageng. He is a brave and friendly young lad who has been around with us for the days in Bario. He taught me a few words in Bahasa Kelabit and after the visit to the hill, he brought my friend and I to visit some other spots in Bario. Although we knew each other for only two days but he did not treat us like strangers and he told us much of the things he knows about Bario. We enjoyed his accompany in Bario very much.
In the evening, after we had our lunch, we were invited to attend the cultural night that was specially arranged by the locals for us. It was one of the activities that I was looking forward to attend in Bario. I was overjoyed when I met the children there as I saw all of them were dressed in their colourful and unique traditional costumes and accessories.
Our UTM ‘dancers’ were also very much excited to present their Tarian Zapplin to the folks, they were also dressed in the traditional Baju Melayu and Baju Kurung for the guys and girls respectively.
The show started with the performance of traditional warrior dance by the school children of SK Bario. They were very good and I believe that the many requests from other visitors to see them perform are a testament to their abilities. The music was so tempting that I wanted to join them in their dance! The crowd, especially us from UTM was all applauding and cheering for them.
After the first two performances by the SK Bario students, it was our turn then to do UTM proud by doing the Johore Traditional Malay Dance- Tarian Zapplin. Our dancers did a good job as well and the dance was successfully presented without anyone forgetting the steps.
Cool!
It was equally impressive when the Bario Secondary school’s students did their performance. In their first dance which is a traditional local dance, the students amazed us with their strength and uniqueness of the dance.
The second performance completely took us by surprise as they did a modern cowboy dance along to a mandarin song. The students were all dressed like cowboys with blue jeans and red scarf. They were so adorable and the choreography was so modern and lively that we were all captivated by their dance. A big applause goes out to both the SK Bario and SMK Bario students as well as their teachers for making it such an unforgettable event for us.
That night got even more interesting when the Kelabits housewives lined-up to perform their dance to us. The housewives were dressed in their costumes and their hands were carrying the fans made of feather. It was a rather slow and graceful dance that we enjoyed all the same.
Our professors were also invited to join Cikgu Dora to perform the cultural dance. We did get to see some of Dr. Firdausi’s hidden talents in doing Taichi when he was performing the dance.
After all the performances, we were each presented souvenirs by the representative of the Bario and also Cikgu Dora. Each of us was given a Bane Kaboh (a bead necklace) and Bane for the men and women respectively. We also got a packet of the famous Bario Rice each from the SK Bario as a souvenir to bring home.
A photo of Auntie Joy’s mother and me
On the 18th of June 09, we had the morning free, so Taiyun brought us to visit few of the interesting places in Bario. First, we went to the pineapple farm, we only took some photos there. There were a lot of sweet and ripe Bario pineapples that were right in front of our eyes but unfortunately the owner of the pineapples was not around so we were not able to sample those delicious looking pineapples but towards the end of our trip, we managed to buy a few home to try.
The army camp is just next to the pineapple farm that we visited. We were invited to pay a visit to the army camp then. In the army camp, a ranger told us about the mesmerizing history of the camp. The camp was set-up during the Indonesian Confrontation and since then a platoon of the army is deployed here to safeguard the border of our country and also the security of the area.
At the entrance of the Bario Army Camp
After the short visit to their camp, the armies then volunteered to escort us to trek to the salt spring. They got on to the 4X4 with us and we headed off along a narrow and rough track that took us about 40 minutes and then we reached the jungle at Pa’ Umor where we had to trek.
We walked past the turn-off to the Indonesian border and arrived at the salt spring after another half and hour of trekking.
One of the army personnel explained to us that there are many versions of the origins of the salt spring. He told us one of them was that some years ago when the Kelabits who dug a well here noticed that there was salt crystallized on the wall of the well, and then they started to use the water here to produce salt for their daily use. After sometime, the Kelabits commercialized the salt from the well and selling it to the outside world. It is believed that the salt processed from the water of the salt spring contains high percentage of iodine that it can reduce the risk of Goiter for those who consume it.
Every week, by turns, one family gets the chance to make salt here. The family has to collect firewood from the surrounding and store it at a hut by the spring. Salt water is withdrawn from the well by buckets and poured into large cooking pots. The pots of salt water are then placed on the fire and left there till the water has completely evaporated and leaving the salt behind. The salt is then left to be dried in the hut by the heat of the burning firewood. Eventually when the salt is completely dry, the salt is then wrapped with a leaf into a tube and it is sealed with twines.
When we were at the salt spring, we met a family that was preparing to head back home after a week of making their salt here. They had been staying at the hut for the whole week to make the salt. We managed to get a good deal from them and it was good business for them as each of us bought at least 2 to 3 tubes of the salt from them.
The army personnel taught us some survival skill that they are equipped with when we were on our way return from the salt spring.
For lunch, we stopped by at a family who stays in Pa’ Umor.
The lady was preparing the delicious Bario pineapples for us
You will ask for more of this pineapple
In the afternoon, we were all very tired after trekking to the salt spring but we were still very much excited for our following activity at the Secondary School of Bario.
The dormitory of the secondary school students
The students were walking to the hall
The Secondary School of Bario only provides the early part of the secondary education which is from form 1 to 3 to the local youth. The whole secondary school has only about 160 students. The local adolescences will normally have to enroll to secondary schools in central towns like Miri to complete their secondary education.
The first activity that we had for the students was a forum on further education. The objective of the forum was to give the students an idea of pursuing their tertiary education in the future and also to create awareness in them towards the importance of education in their future. The students seemed very interested towards our topic, and most of them already have the ambition of getting into a university to further their education in the future.
After the forum, we did a quiz challenge for the students like what we did at the primary school two days ago. Indeed the questions that we asked here were much more challenging than those being asked in the primary school. IQ questions and questions related to their PMR subjects that we thought were tough were being used in our quiz challenge. The students did not disappoint us at all and the respond from them was overwhelming which the students managed to answer all our questions correctly and confidently.
Later, we asked for volunteers from the students to introduce him or herself to us in English as we wanted to tell the students about the importance of languages in the working world that requires good communication skills. We did not wait long and a girl who is a prefect bravely put up her hand and volunteered herself. She talked about her ambition, hobby and her family. Her confidence won all of our applause.
Smile on the face of a student who won himself a gift from us in the quiz challenge
A form 1 student who was explaining to the others on how he answered the IQ question
The SMK Bario’s prefect board
Here are some of the photos that I snap in that evening.
The scenery of Bario
The secondary school of Bario
A Kelabit woman heads home after a long day work at the Padi field
The garden besides the long house
We did not have our dinner at the usual time as the time we had on the last two days in Bario as we were going to have a barbeque party later at auntie Joy’s house.
Before we headed on back to Miri on the next morning, we had a movie night with the primary school students at their school hall.
The children were not much interested in the movie as they were all gathered around us to chat with us. I miss them a lot!
After the movie, I exchanged contact with the school teachers so that we can always keep in touch.
Aren’t they just adorable?
Hooray! It was time for barbeque. We were served with all types of delicious local foods
Teachers of SK Bario and UTM students were having fun times playing games at the barbeque party
The party ended about 1 am and we headed back to our tents to sleep
19th of June 09, our program Lestari Bario has finally come to an end and it was time for us to say good bye to the folks at Bario.
Before we left the long house, we took a group a picture in the long house at Bario Asal
Friendship forever!
Everyone was leaving the long house with a heavy heart
At the airports, we coincidentally met with the MASwings officers who have just landed to Bario. Here is a photo of us with Auntie Joy and the officers of MASwings.
Lucky me that I was allowed to feel the pilot seat at the Twin Otters’ cockpit.
Our plane took off at 9.30 am and it was really good bye to Bario for us.
When we got back to Miri, we spent a few days visiting all the interesting places here. We have got a better hotel rooms this time at the Miri town.
On the 19th, we went for bowling and movie in the evening. On the following day, we charted a school bus and headed to the famous Gua Niah National Park. We knew that it would be quite tiring after trekking into the Niah Caves, so we decided to rent a chalet at the national park so that we would have a place to rest in the evening and so we did not have to rush back to Miri then. The rental charge for the chalet was quite reasonable and the place was indeed comfortable.
The chalet at Gua Niah National Park
We started our journey from our chalet at about 2 pm, we were reminded to bring our own touch lights as it would be very dark in the caves.
We walk through the bushes and finally we reached a cave, I thought we were already at the Niah Cave but when I saw the signboard, we were only at the trader’s cave. Niah Cave was still few kilometers away.
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The Traders’ Cave
The small hut for the visitors to rest their legs
It took us around 3 hours to explore the whole Niah Cave, we managed to see the places where the bird nest collectors used to collect the bird nest and also most importantly we got to see the ancient paintings on the wall of the Painting Cave.
After the trip, I wouldn’t agree less that Niah Cave is a must visit spot for those Mother Nature lovers as at you would be able to enjoy the breathtaking view of Mother Nature in her full splendour!
On the 21st June 09, we were back in Miri town again. It was a day for shopping. First, we went to the Rong Reng Heritage Store where we bought lots of the local handicrafts as souvenirs for our friends and family. We did a comparison on the prices of the items that they sell in Rong Reng with other shops in Miri and we found that Rong Reng offers the best bargain for their items. For tourists who wish to visit Miri, I am sure this is something that you might want to take note.
Next stop was the Miri Handicraft Centre, they have a variety of handicrafts here as well but we couldn’t get any better bargain here compare to Rong Reng. Our shopping spree then went on to the wet market in Miri Town; we got all the famous local products here such as the salted fish, black pepper and the highland rice.
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It was whole day of shopping and at the end of the day we ended up spending our night at the Parkson shopping complex playing bowling and pool.
On the 22nd of June 09, 8.00 am, we were back to the Miri Ariport and waiting for departure to Kuching. Everyone had so much fun in Sarawak and we wished that we could stay longer.
On the flight from Miri to Kuching, we were served by a very friendly and nice steward whom we would remember with fondness. His name is Maryazlan. The seats were almost full and he was extremely busy but I could see that he did his best in serving all the passengers equally well with a smile. Another stewardess named Swee Peng did an equally good job in serving the passengers as well. However, this should not have surprised me as the MAS cabin crew has always been recognized as among the best !
Photo of me, Maryazlan and Swee Peng
50 minutes passed and we landed in Kuching International Airport. At the airport, we still managed to do some shopping and we bought the famous Sarawak Layer Cake from the airport before departing back to Senai.
On the flight from Kuching to Senai, we were served with lunch. Unfortunately, the green colour soap-like cookie was not in the menu. However, all in all the lunch was still warm and tasty. Time passed pretty fast and we reached Senai before we even realized it.
It was indeed a pleasant and memorable to experience being passengers on MAS. Once more, I cannot say enough thanks to MAS for it’s kind support on our project and also for giving us the opportunity to have this wonderful once in a lifetime experience. |