The Iban of Sarawak: Day 1

In a college anthropology class, I studied about the Iban people from Sarawak. My professor did field work with the Iban and write a book called The Iban of Sarawak: Chronicle of a Vanishing World. I didn't read his book even though it was required reading for his class, but I was still very interested in learning about the Iban.

I was really excited to travel to Sarawak, especially because I was able to stay overnight at an Iban longhouse. The Iban live in the middle of the jungle. To get to the longhouse, I had to travel 4 hours by car and then 1 hour by boat. It's only possible to get to the longhouse by boat. No roads go there! Unfortunately, during my 1 hour ride on the uncovered boat, it started to rain. The sort of downpour you would expect in the rain forest. Many things got wet. My clothes, my passport, the copy of my e-ticket, some money... I used a poncho I had purchased 2 hours earlier to cover as much of my bag as possible, but it wasn't good enough. Meanwhile, the boat driver/steerer/captain guy quickly tried to bail out the boat so we wouldn't sink.

After changing my clothes, I went to meet the Iban. I had a brief tour of the longhouse, which didn't look at all like I had imagined during my anthropology class. I even saw 2 human skulls on display. The Iban used to be headhunters and would use human skulls as trophies to prove bravery. (as recently as WWII)

After a delicious meal, the other visitors and I gave small gifts to the chief. The gifts were shared equally among the families who live in the longhouse. The chief and a few other people entertained us by dancing. And then they expected us to dance with them. Fortunately, Iban-style dancing is slow and not too difficult.

And when the few hours of electricity was turned off, it was time for bed.