I Need To Tell : The World From My Perspective: In And Around Bario

Most of us woke up early. Some as early as 4.00 a.m. We were accustomed to waking up at the crack of dawn on working days after all. Me? I got up at 5.30 a.m. .... and joined my colleagues at the patio. It was raining that morning. The mountains in the distance were veiled in mists, and strong gusts of wind forced the trees and plants to bend at their will.

I stared out in the darkness, and I hoped that the sky would clear. We had a whole lot of activities lined up for the day, and the rain would sure dampen all of our plans.

As the sun crawled up, however, the sky brightened, the rain stopped and the wind subsided ....

At around 6.30 a.m., we had breakfast. Breakfast was a simple fare ....

Toasts and canned chicken curry

But I much preferred this homemade pineapple jam, made solely of Bario pineapples of course.

Naturally sweet homemade pineapple jam

After breakfast, I even had time to lie in the hammock ... and marvelled at the wondrous scene before me. Such peaceful and quiet this place was.

Swinging in the hammock

At about 7.30 a.m., we set out for the market.

On the way to the market ....

There were but 2 rows of shops and a food centre at the market. This was where the locals meet and catch up. Indeed, the busiest time at the market was early in the morning.

A row of shops painted in bright yellow

The other block of shops

Fresh produce on sale

Tengayen is a type of wild spinach that grew in shrubs. The locals loved this vegetable. They usually cook it in a soup. But I'd not eaten at all before in my life! A pack sold for RM2.00.

Salt ....
Bario salt was high in minerals. Usually it is wrapped in a cylindrical shape. These ones sold for RM20.00 per stick.

At the food centre, the locals gathered to have their breakfast. That morning, the local churches were having a fund-raising activity .... so we patronised them. Lol. We had our second round of breakfast here.

Porridge with with palm shoots

Porridge with mushrooms

Porridge with .... hmn ... not sure

Porridge or "kikid" in the local language is a breakfast favourite.

Mushroom rice

Mushroom is soaked and pounded, then sauteed and added to the rice just before it is fully cooked.

After our second breakfast, we went Pa' Umor. We were going to trek to the salt spring.

Jumping off the pick up truck to where our trail began ... look at all the pineapple shrubs. And do you see the Twin Otter in the sky?

This trail was not so difficult to walk on, except that it was really muddy at some places. I was thankful for the rubber shoes which I borrowed from the homestay .... those were waterproof and mud proof.

That's me with my walking stick ;P

I really enjoyed the trek despite the mud. Finally, we reached a wooden shack, where salt was processed.

The salt processing plant

The salt spring

Salty water from the spring

Vats in which salt water would be boiled over high heat

Outside the wooden shack, we came across some wild species of strawberries ....

Wild strawberries

We plucked the tiny bright red fruits off the tree and popped them into our mouths. Sour!

Gem's Lodge

Next destination was Kampung Baru

The trail

Kampung Baru

Back at the homestay, I braved myself to have a bath. Brrrr .... still really cold ...

After lunch, we headed to the Penan settlement at Arur Dalan, an area just beyond the Bario Asal.

The trail flanked by bright green paddy fields

We trekked for about 10 minutes before we were greeted by Iban songs, blasing from a stereo.

Wooden houses beyond the shrubs, inhabited by the Penans in the area

There were a number of wooden houses such as this in the area

At one house, there was a young lady who came out and spoke to us .... she was only 22 years old, and she lived alone in the house with her 1-year old baby.

The pretty young lady of the house ...

Near her house, there was a bamboo pipe which collected water from the mountains for drinking

Clean water flowing from bamboo pipe

After the Penan settlements, we went to the Ulung Palang village, perched on top of a hill.

The view from the hillock

There, we visited the Jungle Blues Dream Homestay and Art Gallery, operated by the world-renowned artist, Stephen Baya. At his homestay, I found it so interesting to read the art pieces on the wall .... not drawn by Stephen, but by his guests.

Inspiring messages on colourful wooden boards decorated the wall

The homestay ... right in the gallery itself.

Next door, we chanced upon a lady making Nuba Laya or wrapped rice. As we watched, she deftly scooped up some mashed rice onto a piece of Isip leaf, and wrapped it up.

Making Nuba Laya ...

Wrapped rice in bamboo basket carrier

Later on, she let us try these ...

Homemade Kelupis

The black glutinous rice was fragrant and naturally sweet. She sold this at RM0.50 a piece, and my colleagues ordered some from her to bring home.

That night, we would host a dinner for all the teachers in the school.

Plucking the stems out of the Tengayen

We were interrupted by invitations to a freshwater fish pond, operated by our driver J himself. We had wanted to buy 3kg of fish from him, priced at RM18.00 per kilogramme. And we were going to the pond to catch our own fishes.

Little did I know, however, that I had to trek 20 minutes to get there.

The trail to the ponds

This trail was friendlier to walk on, with just a few muddy patches along the way. It was an exhilarating walk nonetheless, one which I enjoyed.

One of the ponds. There were a total of nine ponds.

Goodness! Look at the great number of fishes in there! Red Tilapia. One of my colleagues called this "Ikan Sugar Bun" and managed to induce a few rounds of laughter. Why, he was rather apt as the Red Tilapia was served at all Sugar Bun outlets in Sarawak.

Our catch

While the others were busy preparing dinner, a few of us were merely sitting around ... eagerly waiting and anticipating the yummilicious food that would be served. That night, the weather turned cool ... and I had to layer my clothing to keep warm.

Stir-fried Mi Sedaap ... there were 25 packets in there!

Deep-fried chicken wings, and deep-fried Red Tilapia
I loved the deep-fried fish so much. Fresh from the pond, the fish was so sweet!! Some of the fish were being BBQ-ed. Of the two, I preferred the deep-fried version as it was crispier and devoid of the "muddy" taste which was so prominent in most freshwater fish.

From the top : BBQ chicken wings, Deep-fried chicken wings, pucuk ubi or tapioca leaves, angar or chinese chives. My favourite was the pucuk ubi which I relished with some Nuba Laya. They were seriously a perfect match. Love them to bits.