The sun went down casting a fiery red in the sky over the misty hills in Bengoh. I took a quick opportunity to peek out of the window and take this shot. We were in Kampung Nyegol, a relatively new settlement of people who were originally from Kampung Rejoi. They had been forced to move to this higher ground after finding out that Kampung Rejoi would become flooded over the next few years by the Bengoh dam reservoir. Pastor Simo, our guide and village pastor, led us to Aheng's house where we would be spending the night.
There was some cooking happening next door and meanwhile, Aheng was showing us his skill at playing the letung: a fascinating bamboo instrument he made himself. I had a go, hitting alternating bamboo strips to make a tune and concentrating very hard. The village people watched smilingly and laughed every time I made a mistake and had to start again. I even managed to pick up the rhythm within a few minutes of trying. They seemed quite impressed at this. Daveency later had a go but gave up shortly after failing miserably. :P
After we showered, Ps Simo called us over for dinner in the house next door.
Ps Simo said grace for us in his thoughtful quiet manner before welcoming us to tuck in. Food was simple but delicious: some vegetable, chicken and sardines with the nasi bungkus we had brought. Once we had filled up we were ready for our task. Saw distributed the half-sodden witness statements to us - two per person. Each of them consisted of about three sides of legal document stapled together, detailing a personal account of their land issue.
I won't bore you with too many details, but basically their situation is similar to that of the people in Muk Ayung: Much of the land in their old kampung will be flooded by the dam waters and so having accepted their fate they moved up to settle in Kampung Nyegol. They were told to accept 'without prejudice' the compensation for the land that would surely be flooded - which they did. That just means that they do not give up any rights. Now, as in Muk Ayung, they are being asked to leave the area and move to the unpopular resettlement site: Kg Semadang. The company involved also sent people into their land to do "biomass clearing" - which essentially means just cutting down their vegetables and trees. They weren't too happy.
The witness statements were taken about a year ago in preparation for the court case, but it wasn't due until just recently. Our job was to interview each person and refresh their memory about what they had said in the statements and make any corrections if necessary. The relatively simple job was done in about forty five minutes. After that, we spent some time idly chatting with the villagers about things like how to kill wild boars and when durian season is.
We were up at 8.30am the next morning. Eally, Pastor Simo's wife was already making us maggi mee and milo for breakfast. Wisps of low-lying cloud and cool humid air clung to the hills around us after last night's rainfall. I had slept quite well.
For a person who always sleeps with the air-conditioning on, sleeping in a tropical jungle can at first be a struggle. The first night was in Muk Ayung where I slept on an unzipped sleeping bag: incredibly uncomfortable. The silly thing about sleeping bags in general is that they are designed to keep you warm and so are often made of some sort of polyester covering - great for cold dry weather. In the humid and warm tropical environment, the warm material makes you sweat and being that sort of fabric, the sleeping bag sticks to you like a wet plastic bag. It was a nightmare especially since we were sleeping indoors and hardly any breeze could get to us.
For this trip to Nyegol, I ditched the sleeping bag when I saw them pulling out mattresses for us. Stuffed with crumbling foam though they may have been, they were a whole lot more comfortable than my sleeping bag! Rain also meant that the air was cool and comfortable, becoming even chilly in the middle of the night.
As we had our breakfast, Aheng sat by the back door indulging in his chewing habit. It's a combination of daun sireh (betel leaf), pinang (some sort of nut) and powdered river snail shell which is supposed to be mildly psychoactive and they believe makes their teeth stronger. In reality, chewing the it produces a blood red mixture and stains the teeth - many village women have this tell tale black teeth and very red lips. Aheng told us gleefully about a white tourist who once tried it and had a shock because she thought her mouth was bleeding!
It was soon time to leave for Kuching. I took a picture with Aheng, thanked him and said we would be seeing him again soon. Indeed, our following journey brought us back to Nyegol.
The caucasian guy, if you've noticed him, is Ai Fern's good friend from Switzerland who was interested in seeing the bamboo bridges.
Along the way we passed the school buildings of SK Semban, the nearby primary school which is also going to be flooded and destroyed when the dam is functioning.
It felt somewhat a privilege to be walking through this beautiful landscape that is soon going to be flooded completely by the dam reservoir. We trudged on through muddy soil and hilly terrain - I felt sure the trek out was much harder. The only motivation was the prospect of a nice warm shower and a proper toilet!
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