Orang means human in Malay and Indonesian. We Caucasian white people call orang puti, that is, white man. Monkeys are one of the most popular animals in zoos.. While monkeys watch those who come to see them at the zoo, prying eyes follow them.. They just look at each other for a long time.
We felt just like these monkeys in the zoo in Indonesia.. We used to use the phrase “two monkey in the zoo” often while traveling.. Sometimes when we had some events, Farid and I just had to look at each other and say “monkey”, to understand each other.. “Monyet” means monkey in Malay. Now he was going from Miri to Marudi town to watch The Baram Ragata kono competitions on this interesting boat with no other orang puti in 2 monyet puti.. I have never seen such a bot in my life. It was like a submarine above the sea. The seats of the boat with metal parts, up to 20 meters long, are designed in the style of a train compartment.. It was dim and cold inside the boat with a capacity of 100 passengers.
I think it would be nice torture to go without air conditioning in the hot weather that burns your skin even at this early hour of the morning.. We looked for an empty seat inside the boat, looking left and right, but we were able to find one.. When my fellow traveler Farid sat in that seat, I was brooding over how I could go 3 hours in a boat in which I could not even stand upright, but a group of friends who went to watch the festival gave me a place.. On the other hand, he was stuck in a 2-person seat next to his friends.. There is no deck, where are these people going? When we followed them, we saw that maybe 20-30 people were sitting on the boat, enjoying the view of the river with the cool wind in such weather where the sun is behind the clouds.
Every trip is a new experience, that’s it. A few minutes later, two monyet puti were watching the beauty of nature, feeling the cool wind blowing on their faces, on the boat, which was winding through the jungle, on the river, mixed with rain water and blurred, with crocodiles in it, accompanied by curious glances.. It was a beautiful, interesting and unforgettable journey, an experience.
It was almost noon when we arrived at the Marudi pier.. We wandered around the many open-air restaurants lined up side by side and ordered something according to our taste.. We met a native named Nancy, who was sitting at the table next to the table where we were sitting with her 3 children.. He also said that he has many Turkish friends from online gaming sites and even knows a little Turkish through them.. It was a strange feeling to hear the words “I love you” from Nancy’s mouth in this remote town of Borneo.
The town is so crowded, there are local tourists everywhere.. There are many Chinese Malaysians coming from Miri city. The number of foreigners we could see did not exceed 5. In Mulu, where we went to see Mulu National Park, we went to the Mulu house where the Mulu team resided to find Robert, whose house we were staying at.. Lots of tents set up. From here, we followed the pier towards the river and reached Robert and his team.. After a very short hello, 16 people including Robert left with their canoes to race.. Just to the left of the Mulu team were the canoeists of the Brunei team.. There are piles of garbage and plastic bottles everywhere.
After watching the competitions by the river for a while, we left and walked towards the hill behind.. We set up our tent on the grass in the shade of the old trees with a beautiful view, a perfect spot. Just 10 meters away, fresh water was gushing from a burst city water pipe.. When you get to the main road from where we are, there were many security guards around as there were official buildings where important politicians were staying.. And when we added the river view in front of us and the colorful boats racing there, everything was perfect.
We came back to the town center and visited the stands that were opened there.. You can get information and commercial contacts about their production from the stands of the farmers in the region, as well as information about the animals, forests and activities living in the region from places such as the National Parks Stand in Sarawak.. Since I wanted to hang out at the stands for a long time, my travel mate Farid and I parted here.
Most of the town’s roads were closed to traffic and one of these roads had red carpets.. Around this carpet, Sarawak tribes were lined up in their traditional clothes.. They were eye-catching with their colorful outfits and interesting jewelry.. At the end of the line were Muslim Malays, dressed in plain, closed and ordinary yellow and black clothes.. He said that there is no pharmacy nearby, but if I want, he can go with him to the hospital and get medicine from there.. We went to the hospital with her 3 children in her tiny car.. His friend working at the hospital gave me 9 allergy pills in a bag, as well as some paracetamol.. Nancy works as a lab lab at the hospital.
She said she had a few tests to do, and then she could drive me back to town.. What more would I want to stay when there is wireless internet and air conditioning in the hospital?. I’ve been in hospitals a lot over the years because of my job, but this was one of the most interesting.. He gave blood and urine and did all the tests I wanted, free of charge.. Two of the children were playing on the mats laid out in the hospital as if they were at their own home, while the elder Naomi was drawing pictures on paper and bringing them to me and showing them to me.
After Nany finished their work, we went down to the city.. We decided to have dinner together and sat in a Chinese restaurant.. I phoned Farid, he joined us. His wife left the house a year ago and Nancy didn’t know where he was.. She said she often leaves the kids at home alone, with 9-year-old Naomi watching over them.. She speaks very good English and she said she learned it over the past year by chatting online.. So what was it; It is necessary not to go to language schools and invest thousands of dollars in order to learn a language.. It’s more fun and easy, I think.
When Nancy told us that there were dance performances and then an inter-tribal beauty pageant, we all went there after dinner.. The prime minister of Sarawak, the mayors representing the cities, some foreign consulate members and politicians from Brunei walked down the red carpet to the section where the demonstrations would be held. continued with “we are different but we are one” speeches. Malaysia is a country where people of hundreds of different origins, religions, languages and cultures live together in peace.. All these cultural differences and colors were preserved and kept alive.
Speeches were held in English as well as in several different languages.. English and Chinese are already part of life in Malaysia. After the speeches, the beauty contest started. The girls selected from each ethnic community showed off their beauty on the podium in traditional dresses.
After the day’s full activities, we thanked our new friend Nancy and her children and left them and went to our tent palace.. The noise of the day was replaced by silence.
Day 423: Borneo:11 Marudi, 1 October 2011
