My First And Final Sawah Experience

One day Aunty Dayang had to escort some important people to a village 6 hours away, so I was advised to follow another lady. I decided to follow Alicia and the lady she was paired with- Sina Mayda. They were going to her paddy field (Alicia conveniently calls it sawah) that day and I have not been, so it was a good opportunity I couldn't resist.

Alicia. Kelabit name: Ruran

Sina Mayda’s sawah is a little far off from Bario Asal and Arur Dalan and requires a small hike up before descending down into a secluded valley surrounded by mountains. Her sawah, has the most beautiful scenery and the fact that it was so secluded gave me this feeling of detachment from the already very detached village of Bario.

Not a soul in sight. 

What made this place feel like haven was the little charming pondok (hut) that Sina’s husband- Tamak built himself. It’s small, nothing fancy, and just wonderful. In fact, I love the pondok more than the scenery! The steps to the pondok is special itself, I almost feel like I’m climbing my way up to a tree house! I really give props to Tamak for the creativity or maybe I was too excited to fulfill my dream of having a tree house. I can’t help but feel certain exclusivity when climbing up the steps because I assume not everyone can climb up and not everyone is invited to go up.

Climbing up!

The very narrow steps up.

Inside the pondok, Alicia and I changed into sawah clothes and waited for her Sina while she fills me in on her and their English learning process. When Sina arrived, we did the usual introduction and then she brought us down to the sawah. I couldn’t contain my excitement; I left my shoes in the pondok and got into the sawah first. My feet were sinking but my excitement was soaring.

The pondok has a place for cooking inside.

Much excites, so mud, very sawah.

We spent the whole day weeding and let me tell you it’s a tough act balancing yourself in waist deep mud while throwing weeds to the side. I lost my balance a few times a nearly fell face first into the mud. I had a lot of fun though, happily wadding my way through, pulling out weeds while Alicia and I chatted with Sina. Alicia was so proud when Sina was using words she taught her when talking to me.

After showering, we had lunch in the lovely pondok while Tamak told us stories. 

It was there and then that I realised how precious this entire experience is and how much I’m going to miss it all. From building relationships with each of our Tepuq/ Sina and learning valuable life lessons from them to seeing everyone perform on Cultural Night. 

I definitely will miss the time we played Captain Ball/Rugby in the sawah and walked fully covered in mud to the hydrodam to wash off. 

I will even miss Turu the resident hornbill who took every opportunity to disturb us and hover over us. 

And I know no other place except Bario where everyone you pass by in the street waves at you as if you are an old friend.

I shall end this blog post with a picture of Turu because I don't want to get too soppy. Just know that Bario is a beautiful place with amazing people and I was genuinely happy for the whole 15 days I was there.

A protected species: Turu the hornbill

Ai Jin 
Aren