“We always have certain ideas of longhouses but to actually live amongst the natives is an eye-opener,” said 65-year-old Pasupathy Jayaraj, who slept on the verandah.
Hani Nordin, 35, was pleasantly surprised to see well-maintained longhouses, with generators and washing machines.
“I was under the impression that the natives were very timid when in fact they were the ones approaching us,” said Fiona Hassan, 31. “Some of them even spoke English and were eager to learn the language.”
After Long Moh, we were to continue to the middle Baram River, famous for its raging Grade 4 rapids (high, powerful, irregular waves) and home of Sarawak’s annual Ulu Baram Whitewater Rafting Challenge.
But there was a problem crossing the rapids safely due to the condition of our boats.
“Seow was unhappy with the size of our longboats the first day we arrived here,” explained Pasupathy. “Being too light, they would definitely not get us past the rapids.”
Due to the rescheduled Baram Regatta that now clashed with the expedition, there were neither boats nor boatmen available.
The Long Moh boatmen agreed to take us to the next village at Long Silat, but they too had no boats. We also had arrived unannounced so we were facing a night without shelter. Fortunately, we were warmly invited to stay at the village chief’s home.
After navigating barely 31km of the Baram by longboat, we were told the next morning that we had to continue the remainder of our journey by road, thereby avoiding the treacherous rapids.
Our 223km route through logging and oil palm estate tracks was so rugged that two of our three 4WD cars had tyre punctures even before reaching the town of Long Lama.