Through A Friend's Eyes

Dr Benjamin (or as I call him 'Ben') is a friend of mine who came to visit Bario a couple of months ago to check the hydroelectric dam/station here and play his role as, he quoted, a British tourist. After he returned to his homeland in UK weeks after his stay, he contacted me recently, telling me how much he liked (and missed) Bario. Apparently, he had kept a couple of diary pages whilst he was here and he has emailed some of the pages he wrote along with some pictures he took too.

This is one of them written by him:

"Day 8: Prayer Mountain

It’s raining heavily. At least it is while I am writing this. Every time so far I have cycled to Bario center I have been caught by the rain. It didn’t rain this morning. This morning I climbed to the top of Prayer Mountain. 

The mountain is one of the highest peaks surrounding Bario. It’s quite a climb; the combination of the altitude and the climb had my heart pounding. It’s a climb that takes about an hour and is, at times, very steep, but a rope has been strung along the side of parts of it and there is a church about half way up to rest. The church is wooden roofed but otherwise open air and with a great view.

I’ve made the climb with Oliver and we get into some deep conversations whilst sitting there. Best of all though is the peak itself, marked by a cross and with a view over the whole of Bario.

In the distance, looking out the other way, you can see a ridge with a gap in the trees.

This is where the Kelabit boys on the verge of manhood would trek to cut down a tree, the gap left being something they could point to showing they were men… Or where a wealthy family would have a tree cut from to signal their affluence when holding a feast for the whole village… depending on who you listen to.

When we first arrived at the peak it was like standing in the clouds, which you can literally do later in the day, but in the morning it’s just mist.

Slowly it drains, first from Bario and then up the mountain. You can see it rushing past, swirling and flowing like a white river.

It’s hard to pull yourself away from the place and the climb down is as hard as the journey up, but we have fruit to pick today and maybe rice to collect from the fields… and by this point I’m very hungry for breakfast, so off we go." 

Here's another one that he wrote:

"Day 13: Bring Earplugs

If you’re coming to Bario, I’ve got some advice for you: bring earplugs. I could give you loads actually.

You know the Baz Luhrmann song sunscreen? (If you don’t, then go look it up now because its great)… well, I could ramble a whole lot of advice off, just like in the song, but like old Baz and his insistence on the benefits of sunscreen, the rest of my advice could be useful, could just be what worked for me… but trust me on the earplugs.

The reason I adamantly insist on having these earplugs is simple. There’s a thin metal roof above you most places you might stay and it often rains during the night. I have never before felt the need or even had the mildest inclination to wear earplugs. The ones I have had been given to me on the plane and have sat unused ever since…. Until now when, by shoving these little bad boys in my ears I have just turned a thumping cacophony into a mild pitter patter. I stumbled on them quite by accident, forgot I had them even, but after 2 nights of being woken around 3am by an onset of rain and with the rain currently beating down hard, I’m glad I did. 

Other than that the days had been good, I picked some fruits, ate some fruits, and did a bit of work and a bit of play. I’ve been teaching Victor, the eldest of Nicole’s kids, how to fix bikes and he’s enthusiastic and quick to learn. We went to look around the wind turbine control centre after. It’s redundant but all the equipment and wiring is fully set up and ready and Victor would like to be an engineer so he finds it interesting.

I think the family is really warming to me now so that’s giving me a nice warm glow and I’ve got to know the 3 Western guys who have made Bario their permanent home. The combination of these two things is warding off any feelings of homesickness. 

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day."

I didn't know the rain could be that loud to wake you up at night! However, I have been living in Bario a very long while. Come to think of it, I realize I don't notice the rain because I'm so used to it! Or perhaps because I'm a heavy sleeper? Hmm...

Here's another one:

"Day 15: Loads of Stuff

Yup, loads of stuff; so much that I thought rather than writing out every detail, I‘d go more the way of just listing it.

I woke early and watched Karate Kid with one of the kids before breakfast. Then, I had a big breakfast with Gerawat later and I was off with the kids and Ollie to buy myself a plane ticket. I wasn’t leaving for good but I had a Skype interview for a job in the UK and I didn’t trust the web connection here in Bario. Instead I was flying off to Miri and back to do it. 

We made it back just in time for lunch, which consisted of Bario rice, freshly hunted deer, freshly plucked degnayen (a green herby thing they use to make soup), freshly picked Kieran fruit (my new favourite fruit) and chicken.

After lunch, I taught Victor a few more bike fixing tricks. I think I’ve taught him all I know now. Then I was off to meet Stuart. He’s a Canadian fella whose been living here some while now, on and off; and I enjoyed the rare bit of Western company to share past experiences with. He has got a pineapple farm here, a guest house and kayaking experience business.

He also helped in running the hydro-station here, which was what I was interested in (though I love kayaking and a trip along the river that runs by Bario is definitely worth a go as a way of seeing some of the jungle; apparently, it’s got a good mix of white water and lazy drifts). Plus, a day of kayaking with Stu had a barbeque by the river thrown in."

I don't know if he has any more but I believe that's all Dr Ben shared with me.