The Culture of Borneo

Prior to starting on this wonderful journey in Asia, all I could think about in relation to Borneo were the Orangutang’s and how exciting it will be to get close to these amazing primates. Orangutang meaning “people of the forest,” is quite coincidental as this part of the blog is about the people and culture of Borneo.

The Primate family. Mother feeding baby!

Having admired the hotels and cosmopolitan side of Borneo now it was time to see some of the real life style. What better way then negotiating with one of the local community who happened to have a boat, well not sure if you would call it a boat other than a rowing boat with a small engine that certainly looked as if it needed some care and attention. But eh is this not what travel is about. Why did I want to take a chance on my life by adorning this piece of hollowed wood? It was those houses on stilts in the ocean with families going about their everyday business that intrigued me.

The community

Armed with camera having negotiated the balancing act to get on the boat, I was ready for some action. As we got close to the houses I was grateful that we had chosen this mode of transport and a local, as he communicated with the individuals we were able to get close to their castles, well, as the saying goes, “every mans home is his castle”

The repairs? The work has to go on!

The people were friendly full of smiles and waves and we certainly felt welcome. As we observed the men of the families working on their boats I thought about back home where often you would see men tinkering with their cars, but how many of us don’t even think about repairing our own transport but taking it straight to the experts to deal with it.

The women went about their daily tasks of washing and cooking. The occasional wave and smile then they continued with the job at hand.

The children, as children do world over, started to show off and throughly enjoyed posing for photographs. They were having a great time swimming, jumping and diving into the sea, no xboxes or modern toys anywhere to be seen. What did replace the wonderful technology was friendship and peer communication. Laughter and smiles were noticeable throughout this wonderful trip.