Hello everyone! I’s been a while since my last adventure…this holiday has been the most tiring holiday I’ve ever experienced…why? Cause I went to Belaga/Bakun for the first time to catch fish/deer hunting/wild boar hunting…I admit I’m not good in any of those but the thrill to experience it first hand is too good to turn down.
One thing for sure, I’m going to picture-tell (as usual…) my whole journey rather than writing it..:) Enjoy!
Day 1 (I come…)
A 7” Fishing net that I bought…specifically we are going to catch Tapah (sorry for my lacks of vocabulary…don’t know how to name it in English…)
We leave on Monday morning and headed straight to Sebauh, Bintulu to join our team (hunter a.k.a fisherman a.k.a jungle man a.k.a everything-you-need-to-know-about-belaga) my brother in law.
Stretching the fishing net..30m deep and 300 ft wide!
“One shoot one die” as said by my bro in law…haha
Heavy rain has cost us some valuable time!
My loaded bag…It was suppose to be 2 days and 1 night trip but we ended up 4 days and 3 nights! Luckily I bring enough shirts…
Last luggage, a 15 h.p engine(untested) being loaded into Ford Rangers …It wasn’t our first choice engines as the first one being ‘hijacked’ by someone else..little that we know that this engines will get us into trouble later…
Refueling tank at shell and there’s a free hot drink outside the counter…I grabbed several cups as spare (to be use in the jungle, we didn’t even bring extra cup…)
A short stop at Bakun junction, bought some food and drinks…really expensive..
By that time, it was already late evening and dark, we couldn’t make it to Bakun and had to stay in a
longhouse located at Long Mejawah…we get rest while waiting to secure a boat on the next day...it’s still raining as we reached the longhouse, facing hilly terrain and steep slope…In the mean time, my adrenalin was pumping non-stop as I couldn’t wait to get my feet at Bakun and Belaga…
Seriously, this cat looks black from head to tail…hahahaha, really tame too!cute!
Day 2 (I see…)
The night was cold, but I awake feeling fresh and excited.
Typical longhouse design, natural light is allowed to enter the living room via transparent roof…fantastic!
While waiting for my bro in law to arrange the boat, I took a walk outside the longhouse. It’s raining albeit not as heavy as yesterday. The air was fresh, quite and calm.
Outside the longhouse: notice the clouds on top of that hill? Below: Nokia hand phones, the only way to get service here is by hanging it at ‘ruai’…
It was pass 10 o’clock when my bro in law came back and asked us to join him for a meeting with ‘tuai rumah’…it’s a 40 minutes meeting with me awkwardly not understanding a word they utter as they were talking in Kayans…I spotted Kancil, Myvy and old Proton Saga around the village! Gosh, to see the road leading here you would’ve never expected those cars to reach this place! Salute!
(I conquer…)
Then after, we continue our journey straight to Bakun…it’s a 40 minutes drive, all the way up and finally…from afar I could see water spitting out from a channel high into the sky…whoaa!!!
There are nine gates at the dam…Behind the barrier is the source of electricity, a massive human made lake 200m above sea level!!that’s where we’re going later on…
I couldn’t believe my eyes! It’s huge and look at the power of the water coming out of the channel…the road is wet and some trees beside the road are dead due to the stench of the water(mud+whatever inside the water…)
It was a quick stop, so I manage to snap some photos as we’re in a hurry…after that, we went to the bay to get our boat, located behind the dam…
Various signboards at offload bay…
The parking lot and offload bay…from here we have another 4 hours boat ride to our last destination…
Crystal clear water…small fish is seen swimming around…
Our longboat and 15 h.p engines(untested engines and soon to be cursed)…
Floating shop beside the bay, selling food stuff and gasoline…
A moron taking a picture knowing it was a long journey hence exposed to sunlight, wearing only t-shirt, short pants and no cap!! Sigh…
It was a smooth ride at first, a while later, the engines suddenly stalled and shut off! We thought it was a minor problem but our worse fear didn’t end here…the engines shut off five times before we reach our destination, 3 and a half hour later. Every time it shut off, we were stranded in the middle of the massive river under the blazing sun for 10 minutes!!…huh!such a horrible experience!…
Despite the unforeseen setback, I manage to capture the surrounding and here they are…
The massive river…it was once a small river and now everything has submerged under the water…imagines what lurks below…..hehe
The other side of Bakun Dam, 200m above sea level..we were on the other side just now…
It was once on top of the hill, what’s left now is only a portion of the tree and islands (hill top…)
The chocolate melts from the heat!...
We’re only half way and look at the time… (when the engines stalled yet again) this is driving me insane!!..my skin has turned red…
After what seems to be forever, finally we reached our stop, a floating hut…we took some supply and look at the smoking drum, there were ‘salai ikan’ inside and that’s what we ate as snack..yummy!
Next, we headed to our final destination located 10 minutes away across the river…
This will be our home for the next few days…
Look at my hand, this is what I get from the intense heat!!
We arrived around 5.30 p.m and quickly offload our luggage…I’m not really tired but sitting in the long boat for a good 3 and a half hours really does take a toll…
Manage to catch some fish (wasn’t me…) for our dinner…
Later that night (looks like some kind of illegal indon hut!hahaha)…
The night didn’t end there, around 8.30 p.m we went out to set up the fishing net despite the rain and it nearly cost us our life….you wouldn’t believe this…
To be continue…..
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