Tongtanah has moved again.

http://penantongtana.blogspot.com

This boy got his hair dyed.

This boy got his hair dyed.
Originally uploaded by tanboonfoo

Sleepy eyes.

Sleepy eyes.
Originally uploaded by tanboonfoo

School kids in SK Long Napir.

Official Gmail Blog: Evolution of Gmail chat

Official Gmail Blog: Evolution of Gmail chat

Flickr

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Long Napir Video

This amateur video was taken by WLF on our 4th day at 9am while we were walking to Sekolah Kebangsaan Long Napir.

Asik Nyelit "The Poison Man of Ba Ubong

Saturday "Agong Birthday" and Sunday, Dominic and me exchanges sms just because of a sms from Susan Dawat about Asik Nyelit.

"Kalau mauh jumpa Asyik, kita pergi Ba Ubong lah. Turun Long Seridan dulu. then jalan kaki lah ke sana. Asyik sakit sekarang ini. Dia kebas seluruh badan di Ba Ubong"

The following are Dominic sms:

In May 2006, I brought him for treatment in Miri and Kuching and Doctor said heart problem. That Doctor told me last night that he will arrange and ask me to see another Doc to get the medicine. Asik son will go on Thursday with the medicine and he is hoping for assistance from you for the flight. If the condition is very serious he will call from Ba Ubong.

Another sms;
I think you got wrong info. His son said the msg we got from Haini was his condition in March. His son was there in March and now they don't know his condition. To clarify this, his son will call his brother ( who is suppose to be back in Seridan today). in Seridan tonite. He suggest to hold on till he confirm with him.
( Asik's son is in Std 4 in Seridan, He got 8 children)

A sms from Haini in Mulu too.
Dia mula sakit pada bulan Mac sampai sekarang ini. Sekarang ini dia masih sakit lagi. Dia penah pergi Hosp. Kuching tapi sembuh skjp saja ni sakit lagi.

Flickr

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Facebook | Faye Osman's Notes

Facebook Faye Osman's Notes

Long Seridan to Ulu Magoh 7Feb-13Feb2008

The Trek That Was
BY FAYE OSMAN{max_recipients:20}

1:36pm Sunday, Feb 24
This post about the recent trek is long overdue.While my triathlete friends have come nearer to the "true meaning of life" after being humbled by the intensity of the Ironman at Langkawi yesterday, I too have been humbled, in a different kind of way.It all started with a trip to Bikepro in late December last year, when I wanted to get a box to pack my triathlon bike for shipment to Miri. Boon Foo, the proprietor, told me of his impending trip to Sarawak during Chinese New Year to meet the Penans. He and his gang will be trekking from Long Seridan into the interior to meet as many Penan settlements as they could find. Their objective is to aid the Penan children by sponsoring them in their education.Me, being the unemployed, freelance photographer wannabe that I am, jumped at the chance to trek into the rainforest. Boon Foo wasn’t convinced at the time that I could handle such ‘extreme conditions’. Hahaha, well … I’m here writing about the trip now, so I figured I did just fine (for a first time overnight trekker).So, between the months while waiting for the day to arrive, I did my preparations which included plenty of cardio and strength workouts (at the gym and at Lambir Hills national park trail), hiking gear purchases (haversack, sleeping bag, dry sack etc) and also some ‘extras’ like a portable storage device and additional batteries for my camera.Trek members were Boon Foo, his wife and daughter, Yatie (a teacher) and her husband Doc Param (an MD), Thomas (an IT personnel at CIMB) and myself.This trek was not part of any tour package. It was self-arranged by Boon Foo via his contacts in Long Seridan. The trek was inspired by Bruno Manser (the Swiss Penan activist) and the book by James Ritchie.Here was what we went through:Day 1: Long Seridan to Ulu Magoh (11 hour trek)We arrived at Long Seridan via Maswings twin otter flight at around 11.30am. After meeting our guides and getting supplies, we were advised to tackle Ulu Magoh first because it is a tough route. Our guides estimated that we would reach there by 6pm. Little did we know they had underestimated the time it’ll take to reach the destination. It took us 11 hours!We started at 1 pm and trekked up to 12 midnight! We got separated into two groups. The first group reached Ulu Magoh before 12 am, but my group got lost along the way and opted to camp by the river until the next morning. This particular trek was the single most HARDEST thing I’ve ever done physically. I do believe I am not exaggerating when I write that if you fall down those steep hills or get pulled by the strong current of the river, well … you could end up dead.The route takes you up onto steep hills, treacherous ridges, slippery downhills, river crossings with strong currents … and you had to do it in the forest at night! It doesn’t help that I had to carry a heavy 15kg load on my back!I fell so many times during river crossings at night. I had so many leech bites. I got bitten by fire ants while scaling a steep wall. My spirit nearly broke because the tough route really wrecked havoc on my mental strength, especially during nighttime in the jungle.Day 2: Recovery at Ulu MagohAt dawn, the Penans came to our campsite to lead us to their settlement. The first group who arrived late the other night was already sleeping safe and sound. We arrived at the village about 7.30 am. The longhouse is in fact a huge hut built with tree logs held together with rattan strings, and old zinc sheets as roof materials. We spent the whole day here recuperating, and getting to know the friendly semi-nomadic Penans.Day 3: Ulu Magoh to Long Balau (11 hour trek)We got ourselves three Penan guides from Ulu Magoh to lead us to Long Balau. The first hour of the trek was spent climbing up steep hills inside the forest. After that it was walking on paved timber track all the way. The elevation we were on was quite high. At some point, we were at the same level as the clouds! The view was spectacular, as we could see Gunung Mulu from where we were. After walking for nearing 11 hours, we arrived at Long Balau village at 6.30 pm.Day 4: Recovery at Long BalauWe spent the day recuperating. The Penans here are settled, and very well-off from the semi-nomadic ones at Ulu Magoh.I finally ate some sago grubs. Delicious! Hahahha, I want to have more. I read there's plenty in Limbang :PIt is here that I got 'stalked' by a Penan woman named Marina. Oh my God, she was like my shadow, wanting RM10 for cigarettes and asking for extra pants and sarong. On one hand I sympathize with her situation at being located in a remote place, but to disturb us incessantly (especially me) was rather annoying.I kept thinking about the people at Ulu Magoh, about how they had so much less than the people here in Long Balau, but never asked anything of us.Day 5: Long Balau to Long Seridan (6 hour trek)We departed for Long Seridan at 8 am, with three guides from Long Balau accompanying us. The route to Long Seridan is half forest and half timber track. The trek was not really tough, but it was interesting, taking us through scenic river and stream crossings. As we proceeded along, two more Penans joined us, and before long we were all laughing at the jokes the happy-go-lucky bunch were cracking.We arrived at Long Seridan at 2 pm but not before crossing the mighty Seridan river.Upon reaching Long Seridan, we decided to take the flight to Miri from Marudi instead, since the flight from Long Seridan is not a certainty because the plane will only land when the weather permits. After asking the locals on the best route to go to Marudi, we were advised to go to Long Meraan and catch a 4WD to a jetty where the express boat will take passengers to Marudi.That evening, the six of us went to Sekolah Kebangsaan Long Seridan to take photos of the Penans kids there, as well as to hand them ang-pows and other goodies. The photos will be used for collecting funds back in KL. I intend to submit mine to photo agencies for editorial content, so that their plight will gain exposure (acceptance to these agencies is tough, so I'm crossing my fingers).Day 6: Long Seridan - Long Meraan - Long Bedian (Longboat + 4 wheel drive)Early morning, we took a long boat (commandeered by our host and hostess at Long Seridan) to the small village of timber workers at Long Meraan. A 4 wheel drive arrives early morning to drive the timber workers to work and returns them at noon. We hitched a ride on the 4 wheel drive to the Kayan town of Long Bedian when it arrived at noon time.Boon Foo, Thomas and I sat at the rear trunk of the 4WD. The funny thing was at first we were so excited at the 'first class view' we had at the back, but half an hour later we all fell into silence because the 4WD took we waaaaay up above sea level, and we were shivering!At Long Bedian, we decided to spend the night because it was raining, and no 4WD was willing to drive to Temerlak.Day 7: Long Bedian - Temerlak - Marudi ( 4 wheel drive + express boat)In the morning, we hired a 4WD to take us to the small jetty at Temerlak. At 10.30 am, the express boat arrived to take us to Marudi for a two hour ride on the Baram River. At Marudi, we found out that the next day flight to Miri was limited to 5 seats. Thomas and I opted to take the available flight to Miri that evening, while the others spent the night at Marudi for their flight tomorrow.All in all, I had fun. Sure I fell countless of times, in a ditch, in the river, on the trail with my foot wedged INSIDE A LOG. I lost a toenail, I had infected blisters, I have scratches and bruises all over my leg. And hey, I sure as hell mastered the art of peeing in the bushes. But I still had fun!I have HUNDREDS of pictures which will take weeks to process because it is in RAW format. To process each one and to apply artistic treatments on them in Photoshop will take ages, so I've uploaded some using Adobe Lightroom's export action plug-in directly to Flickr. You can view some of them there.Now if only I can wrestle my laptop away from that little dictator ...