wherearetheloves2006

13 July, Changi Airport

I guess this is the last blog before we arrive home tomorrow!

The last few days have been very eventful, continuing the 'things falling into place' theme of this whole trip.

On Monday, after Arthur had shown his photos of the area in 1977 to the staff at the resort and on the advice of the manager who knew some of the people Arthur worked with then, we decided to play it by ear and hitch a ride on a boat going back to the landing on the other side of the lake (at the dam wall) and ask for directions to the best name he had - Arbing, one of the party working on the feasibility study for the dam (about 20 years old then). He was also the son of the chief of their longhouse - Skarrok longhouse. One of the guys at the landing had his car and offered to take us to Arbing's house (now Councillor Arbing, deputy chief of his longhouse) where we found him at home! ...... and he recognised Mr. Arthur and remembered all the rest (Mr. Peter, Mr. Jim, Mr. John). From there we were taken on a round of visiting ... the boatman (now retired and about 68), another fellow, whose name I forget and the little girl (Ellen), about 12 then, now a widow and a grandmother, who used to give Arthur a lot of cheek!! Al these people are now living down stream of the dam as their longhouses were either relocated or disappeared under water when the dam was finished in 1984. It was an amazing day and completely unplanned.

Tuesday we went on a long day trip in a longboat, first to a longhouse for traditional dancing, rice wine, tea and buying traditional crafts; then up river to fish (Liz caught the first one, Arthur caught another and our guide another) and then a picnic and a very refreshing swim in the cool rapids of the Batang Ai river upstream where there are gravel banks. The guide cooked the fish with some fern fronds gathered earlier, in disposable bamboo cooking vessels!! (also gathered on site). It was such a relief, after the very warm swimming pool at the resort. We have lots of photos and will put them on when we get home.

Wednesday we travelled back to Kuching, arriving about 6pm. After a swim we found the amazing Topspot Seafood Centre where the fish, lobsters, crabs and prawns are extremely fresh and cooked for you on the spot. They are charged by weight and you then add vegetables, rice etc as you wish. Our meal of 2 small crayfish, large prawns (grilled in butter), fern fronds, mixed vegetables and rice came to the princely sum of 60RM (about 24 AUD) for 2!!!

This morning we flew from Kuching to Singapore (managed to change our 2 flights - skipped the KL leg fortunately), arriving at 1235 - only problem is the long wait for our next flight to Brisbane/Sydney.... couldn't change that one. However, I am getting some free internet time in the Rainforest Lounge where we also have a bed to catch up on some sleep (Arthur already has had 90 minutes).

posted by lizandarthur @ 6:09 pm