Leonie (in Rungus traditional attire) trying out the ladder.
Dinner is served...
Leonie (2nd from left) doing the Rungus dance (can't remember the name)
Rice wrapped in leaves
The Gang
(a continuation of my earlier post "What a Weekend")
I have somewhat recovered from the tiring weekend events. Travelling is fun as we get to see and experience places not seen before, especially living in the longhouse. We stayed in one of the Rungus longhouses in Kudat, a homestay actually. I grew up in a kampong, so living without modern luxuries is really not strange to me. However, this experience was really different. The experience of living with bare basic amenities and somewhat primitive, really make me appreciate what I have now.... and the 'spoilt baby' in me is really thankful that I don't have to live there for long periods....:p. The absence of basic amenities is I think done deliberately to preserve the authenticity of the Rungus traditional way of life during the yesteryears. To me, prime importance is cleanliness and thank goodness it was quite clean. The view from the longhouse was spectacular, of hill padi, fish ponds and greens trees - cool clean air - so refreshing! The longhouse is made out from traditional materials of split bamboo and what looks like tree barks. The rooms were furnished with a mattress, pillows, bed sheets and mosquito nets. Light was powered by a generator which was switched-off at 1am.
The house seemed like it had not been lived-in for a while though - so the creepy crawlies were inevitable and that put me off. Imagine sleeping and suddenly finding scorpions or spiders or other bugs sleeping with you! So we resorted to sleeping in the hall, and then I discovered, there wasn't any door. So we were like sleeping in the open…lol. Thank goodness, the ladder was made out from a tree with cuttings on that served as steps and so no fear of wild animals coming in (but what about humans?). The bathroom cum toilet were way out and there wasn't any proper lights. The torch light wasn’t enough to warn me off the giant ants whose bites felt like fire! Gosh I thought I'd die of pain ..lol! We also had a taste of traditional food like rice wrapped in leaves…(ok will show you pictures). It was a humbling experience and what strikes me most is that the people are so welcoming and hospitable. Thank you folks… we’ll visit again.
The house seemed like it had not been lived-in for a while though - so the creepy crawlies were inevitable and that put me off. Imagine sleeping and suddenly finding scorpions or spiders or other bugs sleeping with you! So we resorted to sleeping in the hall, and then I discovered, there wasn't any door. So we were like sleeping in the open…lol. Thank goodness, the ladder was made out from a tree with cuttings on that served as steps and so no fear of wild animals coming in (but what about humans?). The bathroom cum toilet were way out and there wasn't any proper lights. The torch light wasn’t enough to warn me off the giant ants whose bites felt like fire! Gosh I thought I'd die of pain ..lol! We also had a taste of traditional food like rice wrapped in leaves…(ok will show you pictures). It was a humbling experience and what strikes me most is that the people are so welcoming and hospitable. Thank you folks… we’ll visit again.
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