The Journey from Miri to Bario

          I was excited during the journey from Miri to Bario because it was the first time I boarded such a small plane like MAS Wings. The sound of the plane engine was rather noisy but the scenery outside the plane was beautiful - you could see a lot of "Tasik Ladam", contoured hills and mountains. We reached Bario airport about an hour later and we were warmly welcomed by aunty Nicole, our Bario Asal coordinator at Bario airport. 

       

                  The small MAS Wings plane that we boarded from Miri to Bario

                              

Aunty Nicole. The woman who can speak four different languages! (Kelabit, Malay, English and even Mandarin!)

          It was about an hour walk from Bario Airport to Bario Asal. We stopped by a handcraft shop in town on our way to Bario Asal. There were many handcrafts that were hand sewed and made out of rattan and beads. The prices of these handcrafts are slightly expensive but I think the price is worth it for the effort that the people put into making the handcrafts and for the traditional value of the handcrafts. Also, sad to say that we came across a plane crash memorial on our way to Bario Asal.

      

                         It is a long walk from the airport to Bario Asal

          After a lot of stops, we reached Sina Rang's Homestay in Bario Asal. I would describe Tepu (Grandma) Sina Rang as a very smily, friendly, welcoming and motherly person. Later, for the first time in my life, I tasted Bario rice, Bario pineapples and jungle vegetables. I must say that the taste of these food are almost the same as the food in town but these food has a more pure taste, organic and they are really delicious. In fact, I went for a second round and I was planning to go for a third round, which is something I rarely do in town!

                                      

                                  Meet our homestay host Tepu' Sina Rang

         After our meal we were shown around the longhouse. The house was so long that it can accommodate about 20 different families in that house. They were also a lot of photos outside each part of different family's long house. I was happy to see those photos as some photos displayed the Kelabit's achievement in a few aspects such as graduating, having a good job and some are well known among the community for doing research in the Kampung.

          

    A familiar sight of Tepu' Sina Rang's living room with a lot of photos displayed 

    on the wall.

       

       

   Uncle Gerawat, the father of Aunty Nicole. A wise man and a talented self-learned  sape player !

           We met quite a number of Bario Asal ladies for our night session. Sadly, most of the ladies from Arur Dalan could not show up for the night session due to unforeseen circumstances. Anyway, we had a great time with each other during the pass the egg game in a circle. The person who holds the egg when the music stops has to introduce themselves in both the Kelabit and English language.

       

                    A Bario women attempting to catch the egg during the game.

           Later on, we had a small talk with the Bario women in small groups. They are just like any other caring and loving grandmother that you can imagine. I had a good time talking with Sina Ribet that night. She held my hand for a long time while I was introducing myself, laughed most of the time and she even advised me to eat more so that I can put on weight - my grandmother would do the same too. Overall, the Bario women are still young at heart and have a good sense of humour!

       

                              Bonding session with the Bario women.

         We wrapped up the night by having a post mortem session and separating ourselves into the gardening crew (clean Nicole's garden) and the longhouse crew (clean Sina Rang's homestay and the longhouse) for the purpose of community service the following day. I volunteered to join the gardening crew as I prefer outdoor more than indoor activities.