1/12/08: Taking the Borneo's Headhunter's Trail

At 6.45am, we began our hour long journey to a logging district of Ulu Medamit. Here, little wooden huts were erected by the river. Blue and white vans were parked right outside the small harbor. Several perahu-s were also parked by the banks of the river. The stairs leading up to the huts were typical of the Sarawak Longhouses; a wooden tree trunk, L-shaped at every foot, laid about 60 degrees against the hut.
When Amelia emerged from one of the huts, she excitedly told me, “Jean! Guess what? I heard a pig went ‘oink oink’ just now!”

I innocently asked, “Oh! Amelia! Do pigs actually make ‘oink, oink’ noises?”
Hahaha! Amelia broke into laughter! “Of course not! They snort. But I didn’t know how to imitate them. So, I just made the most common sound for pigs as commonly depicted in cartoons!”



When the owner of the perahu came, we hopped into the perahu. The perahu was really narrow. It was 1 feet wide at its base, and 2 feet wide between both sides. We barely had room to stretch our legs.


As the pakcik maneuvered the boat upstream, we sat on our plastic chairs and enjoyed the sights.


As we went further upstream, I noticed a pile of rocks in the middle of the stream. I was curious. Did somebody put it there? If so, for what reason? I later learnt that those piles of rocks in the middle of the river were formed by Mother Nature. Carried by the river from upstream, it forms not only in the middle of the river, it also formed by the banks of the river. Since the river was shallow, we could see through the water.


After 2 hours, we stopped at Bala Entakong longhouse, belonging to the Lunbawang. They invited us in and offered us biscuits and orange juice.

Fishing Nets outside the Longhouse

Then we headed off to the Mentawai Ranger station. I soon learnt that because the river was shallow, the weight in the boat was too heavy, the base of the perahu touched the riverbed. So, every now and then, we stepped out of the boat , wade through the water, walked on the rock deposits to a deeper end, and get back on the boat. Occasionally, we even helped to push the boat, which was really fun!

We reached Kuala Terikan at 2pm. Thus, began our journey into the jungle, to Camp 5, the foot of Gunung Api, right in front of Gunung Banarat. We stopped at Lubang Cina to have some bananas and drinks. According to Mr. Lim, bananas are energizers. Consuming one banana provides energy sufficient for one to go on for 8 hours continuously.

Why Lubang Cina? U may ask. It’s because there were 2 Chinese who came to one of the caves here to collect the prided delicacy of bird’s nest. Suddenly, the heavens opened up and rain poured down through the skies. These 2 Chinese men had nowhere to hide, so they stayed in the caves for shelter. The heavens rained for many hours and showed no signs of stopping. Soon, the rivers overflowed and the whole place was flooded. Water rised up slowly and reached the caves. “The poor men had nowhere else to go and they died here.” Thus, Mr. Lim ended this story.

Wow! What a great way to begin our journey, Mr. Lim! I thought to myself. Stories of death of people might have inspired me to walk faster in this thick jungle, but there certainly could have been other ways.

Then we crossed a monkey bridge and proceeded with our journey. By 5pm, it began raining. We pulled out our ponchos and draped it over our heads. It kept us from getting wait, and made it easier to spot the leeches. But, I still got a few leech bites! I screamed my head off. It was a good scream. All my stress relieved! Yes! This is better than riding the roller coaster! Oh My God! I actually feel good about being bitten by a leech! How much more sadistic can I get?

By 6pm, it was pitch dark. I couldn’t see anything. My eyes were bad. Severely short sighted, I couldn’t see the stones, or tree trunks! I kept stumbling over them and that slowed the team tremendously. Mr. Lim tried shining the path for me yet, I couldn’t see very clearly still. I had to call on Adam every now and then to shine for the path in front of me. Poor Adam! He had to lead the way and still shine to the back every now and then. By then, I was feeling really bad. “Geez! Jean! If you knew yourself, You wouldn’t have come! What have you got yourself into this time?”
The new black Malaysian made natural rubber shoes were a little too tight for me, and my two big toes were victims of my frequent stumbles. The nails rubbed against the skin and soon it became sore. With every step that I took, I grimaced in pain. “Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!” with every step. Soon, I stopped ‘ouch-ing’. I bit my lip in silence. “Suck it up, Jean! And complete the journey! You can do it!”

I had almost called it quits when I saw that we were only 200m to Camp 5! Only 200m! Come on Jean! You can do it! Just inch your way through! As I dragged my body forward, the 200m seemed like 1km! No matter how much I move, the destination seemed unreachable! It was like chasing a moving train! Finally, Adam spotted a light in the distance and shouted out, “Hey! I see the light! Come on! We’re approaching!”

Yes! Yes! Yes! I mustered all my strength and moved faster in the dark. When we finally crossed the last bridge, and saw our lodging at Camp 5, I almost cried for joy! “Yes! Yes! Yes! You did it! Jean! See! Who says you can’t!” I told myself.

There was no time to cry. The thought of leeches leeching onto every inch of my body prompted me to walk further still to reach the steps of the lodge, peel away the layers of socks and pluck the leeches out one by one. Eeeew! The blood sucking creatures!

After a good, clean bath, we had a simple meal of bitter gourd, salted egg and four angled beans. It was so delicious. Then, I realized that my toes were sore, my legs were aching! My muscles were stretched to their limit with every moment I make.
“Oh No! I don’t think I want to climb up to see the Pinnacles tomorrow!” I told Amelia.

“No! Well, it’s up to you.” Said Amelia. “But you paid so much for this trip. Don’t you think you should at least climb up to see what it is about? Think about it. Have a good rest tonight first and decide tomorrow.”

That, I definitely did. As I lay on the mattress, I could only lie facing upwards because if I did otherwise, my toes would be contact with some hard surface and I’d probably shout out in pain. Towards midnight, it became colder. I began putting on more layers of clothing until I wore 2 layers of tracksuit, socks and a jacket!

“Jean! Jean! What have you got yourself into this time? Is it worth it? The cold, the pain, and all the suffering!” That night, I went to bed mumbling to myself.