Finally I dedcided to buy a small laptop, not only to write in the bllog, but like this I can also work a bit with the pictures. I am writing sitting at the entrance of a small bungalow in the middle of the jungle in Taman Negara, the biggest National Park in Malaysia.
But today I write to tell you about some things that happened to me in Borneo. Because telling you about all the places I go is quite ok, but if I only tell you this kind of stories you miss the small details which make this an adventure. So before going on, I am going to tell you a couple of things so you can understand why my trip across the north of Borneo has been a bit chaotic (this doesn't have many pictures).
My plan after leaving Zuzana and Tomas in Miri was going to Kuching, in the south of Sarawak, and start visiting the two states going to the north-west. The idea was that after finishing the activity I had with the agency in Kuching, I would go to the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) to ask for some information and see if they would be interested in buying any picture. After that I would be traveling north towards Mulu Park stopping in the interesting places. Then I would go to Sabah where I would visit the most interesting places, and from there I would fly back to Kuala Lumpur. As you can see, all was very well thought and organized.
The last night of the activities with the agency, when I arrived to Kuching and before going to bed in the hotel they booked for me, I went to look for a cheap hostel for the next night. I found one which looked nice and I booked a bed in the dorm for one night.
When I came out from the hostel I remembred when I went to the newspaper in Kuala Lumpur to show my pictures from the independence celebration. The photo editor of told me that when that when I go to Borneo, I should call him and he would give me the contact with their photographers there so they could help me. So I called him on the phone, we talked a bit and after a while he sent me an sms with the telephone number of Nadim, a local photographer in Kuching to whom I called and we decided to meet the day after. On the next morning (Friday) I woke up and I went to the hostel… and there, everything changed.
Just arriving I met Anddreas, a local guide who loves photography. After talking a bit and telling him that I wanted to go to the STB to talk about my pictures, I got a piece of paper and wrote there the name of a friend of him who is working there and he tells me that I should talk to him and tell him the he gave me his name. Since I see it seems to be a good opportunity I decided that when I go to the STB I will also ask about financing for the book I would like to publish with pictures of the trip to Malaysia.
In the meeting with the STB it seems that, about support in Sarawak, it could be a good first contact. I filled in the applying form and the guy working there tells me that he will submit it to his boss I they will let me know. To make it easy I leave my trip quite open to fit in whatever they could need. But unfortunately about the fund-raising for the book, the STB is not the right place because they don’t sponsor with money. For that he suggested me to go to the Ministry of Tourism and he gave me the address of the Ministry in Kuching.
Just coming out from the STB I call immediately to the Ministry and a woman pick up the phone, then I automatically start telling her the story I tell everybody: “I am a photographer from Spain, I am working in Malaysia for 4 months and bla, bla, bla…”. 15 seconds later she stops me and says “but what are you exactly looking for?”… then, from the very deep in my heart, not even thinking about it, a single word comes out clearly: “sponsorship”. After two seconds of silence she transfers the call to a man to whom I explain everything again, he asks me for my telephone number and tells me that they will call me back. A bit aggressive the “sponsorship” answer, but like this there is no doubt, they know I am going to ask for money. After 20 minutes my phone rings, it is the Ministry of Tourism, I have an interview on Monday at two.
After all this, you understand that I decided to stay in Kuching for the weekend to see how all this goes. During the weekend I spend my time with Nadim, the photographer, or with Anddreas listening stories about Sarawak and enjoying the ambient in the hostel, which is quite ok. The hostel is managed by some young Iban people. The Iban are one of the aboriginal people of Sarawak, maybe the most known of them, and if you ever go to a longhouse it is likely that it will be an Iban Longhouse. These guys are quite modern, they play guitar (almost every evening) and wear casual, well, many times without t-shirt. During the days I was there they made a birthday party for one of them and all we were invited.
Other day Anddreas thought that it could be funny having a dinner for all the people in the hostel, so he went to buy food for all of us and then they cooked several typical dishes (Anddreas is the one wearing in yellow).
And almost every evening the guys from the hostel ended up playing guitar in the terrace... after some days I knew the songs by heart.
I spent there a good time having fun and making new friends. I was nice.
Two of the guys from the hostel also have an studio were they make traditional Iban tattoos. In fact all them working in the hostel have Iban tattoos. I think it is nice because like this they try to keep alive the tradition of Iban Tattoos. Nowadays these tattoos are getting lost because in the tribes there is no "need" to show off the deeds of the trips they make or the skills as a headhunters, which is what they were showing years ago. During that weekend, Ernesto and Robin were going to make a traditional tattoo to an American guy who lives in Korea and he had gone to Borneo to get the tattoo (and then visit Malaysia). So they told me if I wanted to go and take pictures during the tattoo session. These traditional tattoos are made with two sticks, one of them has a needle (there are different sizes) and with the other one he hits the first one to draw the tattoo.
On Monday morning I talk with Nadim about the interview in the Ministry and he asks me if I have long trousers, because it is better to wear them or they wouldn't take me seriously. As you can imagine, the way I travel and the places I visit, I didn't bring many smart clothes to Borneo. So Javi goes to the shopping mall, ask two of the shop assistants to help me and I finally buy long trousers and... a shirt!! May be that some of you don't know me very much, but seeing me in shirt is not exactly the most common thing. But don't panic, the shirt I wear it loose. I bought both things suiting my leather trekking boots, because, absolutely, I am not buying new shoes.
Then I leave the hostel absolutely ready and with time enough to the address of the Ministry that Anddreas just gave me in the hostel. I arrive there and I start asking everywhere where is the man I have to meet (as it si usual here, asking several times until you reach what you are looking for). After 15 minutes I look for the address that the friend of Anddreas gave me in the STB and it is not the same place... ups. I get out to the street and it is raining one of these nice tropical rains. I take another taxi and I give the driver the new address, it is 13:55 already. Half a minute after I get a call from the Ministry, the man I should meet has just finished a meeting somewhere else and it is not possible to meet him today. So we change the appointment for the nezx day at 9 in the morning. I go to the hostel.
In the evening I try to talk with the guy from the STB but he is not in the office. Definitely I give up today, tomorrow's another day.
The next morning I am at 9 in the Ministry and I have an interview with two people. Unfortunately they can not help me with the book because I want it to be a book about the whole of Malaysia and not only about Sarawak, so they told me that I have to apply to the central offices in Kuala Lumpur. It is a pity because I think if they cold have decided anything they would have given the subvention, we were talking for two and a half hours and they seemed to be quite interested in my project. They even told me that I should say in the STB that I had been talking to them, because they knew the boss of the guy I was talking to. This is more important than it seems, because the Sarawak Tourism Board depends on the Ministry of Tourism when talking about their budget, so a good feedback from the Ministry is a good thing when taking decisions in the STB.
From there I went to the offices of the STB, but the boss was on a business trip and they wouldn't know anything until he came back on Wednesday. On the next day I didn't need any feedback from the Ministry, I met Anddreas' friend and he finally told me that the STB will sponsor me with 200 ringgits for my trip to Mulu and with 1000 ringgits (something like 250 € all together) for a trip close to the border with Indonesia, with Anddreas as a guide, to visit different ethnic groups, and one of them will be the Penan. The Penan are the group which most has defended its customs, its traditions and its lands in front of all the colonizers passing by Borneo; that's why they are considered as one of the most authentic ethnics groups of Malaysia.
After all this I decide to leave immediately to Mulu Park. I book a flight on the next morning from Miri to Mulu and I take a night bus from Kuching to Miri (only 12 hours trip).
Before leaving, I talk with Nadim to tell him how was everything. Nadim is Muslim and in those days we were in the Ramadan, that time when Muslims don't eat, drink or smoke, and reduce some other activities from sunrise until sunset. Ramadan changes its dates from one year to other in the Gregorian calendar (the one we use), but it always finishes with the new year of the Islamic calendar. In Malay "New Year" is "Hari Raya", and we could think that it is something as our Christmas as long as celebrations is concerned. This year the Hari Raya was on the 1st and the 2nd of October and, as in many celebrations in Malaysia, it is celebrated with openhouse activities, in this case in Muslim neighborhoods. So Nadim invited me to join him for Hari Raya and enjoy the openhouse days in his neighborhood during the next week, when I came back from Mulu.
Hmmm... I just wanted to pass by Kuching and... I almost find petrol here.
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