Amongst to ancient tribes in the Malaysian jungle

A quick synopsis, I was leaving Thailand on the motorbike I owned on an island for two years with a long held dream to drive around Asia. But when I got to the Malaysian border they did not let me continue because not everything was in order concerning my bike papers.

I drove around looking for a place to stay until I could sort this out and stumbled on one resort which was still under construction, managing to swing a good deal with the owner.

Eventually became friends with him, who is a good friend of the leader of the indigenous population of Malaysia (the shorter folks before the taller short folks came up from Indonesia).

Because of my various web-based and computer skills, he suggested that I could help the chief with a jungle resort they wanted to build, promoting it on the web. I was driven in on bouncy dirt road way into the interior and spent about a week with these people, eating foliage from the jungle and occasional boiled monkey meat. Felt like a bit of a cannibal, but it was a great experience.

Almost had the opportunity to visit all the jungle villages in the area, each running on solar only, but got sidetracked in the end and returned to base camp.

Did some great cave exploration, this page showing two videos from my time there. The most interesting for me was the performance the first village put on for me. I was treated like a special guest and they wove a special hat for me out of flowers and straw, with a bouquet of flowers, both of which I was asked to carry around if I wanted to wander through the village. Everyone continually wore a special straw hat, but mine was certainly the most colourful.

Perhaps they planned it anyway, but they put on a performance in the performance hut the first night I arrived. You will find excerpts of the audio in the videos and the full version downloadable through the soundcloud link below.

What particularly struck me is that I felt I was taken back to my tribal, primordial roots. To a time before distractions such as smartphones, facebook, TV or any media, but a time when people entertained each other in a hut or other central location by acting, singing or other forms of entertainment. I felt truly close to my human roots and it felt like a great honour to be there.

After the performance was over, I had to walk under a row of hanging flowers, previously soaked with a bit of water, so that it would drip on my head. At the end of the profession I was blessed with additional water squeezed out by the village priest from a bouquet of flowers. Wish you were there! Was allowed to record the audio but was strictly asked not to video any part of my stay there.