Had a busy week as usual, and now I am feeling rather gulity for not being as productive as I planned this weekend. I didn't even work on my thesis at all yesterday when I had originally intended to spend the entire day working on it. Ahhh, I'm finding it really hard to drag myself in front of the computer these days. I'm not sure if it's because the studying for the bar exam is wearing me out, or what. We are kind of in an intense bar study period right now because we are pushing through to get all the lectures finished so that I can send them back by the first week of march. This means that we spend three days a week closeted away in one of the library study rooms for around 8 hours listening to recorded law lectures. I have even started drinking coffee because it is literally the only way to keep myself focused. I am really looking forward to a break next week! It is our spring break and I am going with my Indonesian law class on a trip to Jakarta for the first part of the week (our prof has set up visits to places like the Supreme Court, the university, a law firm, etc), and then over to Bali for a mini vacation for the last part of the week. I'm also intending to use the trip for some field research for my thesis, so I need to get myself organized this week and figure out which organizations I need to visit and what information to try to find.

One fun event did happen this week. My friend Dawn was on a business trip to the Philippines and found the opportunity to pop over for a brief visit. She was literally over here for barely more than a day, but we made the most of it. Ran all over town during the day and then went out for drinks and to one of Singapore's newest clubs, Ministry of Sound, at night. I wasn't very impressed with Ministry of Sound actually. Wednesday night is ladies' night here in Singapore, and that usually means free drinks all night, but that wasn't the case at MOS. I think they are still sliding by on newness and name recognition, but after awhile they are going to have to get back in line with the other clubs and start reducing prices and providing free drinks on ladies' night. After all, Singapore is the land of conformity!

Chinese New Year goes on and on... I enjoy the repeated opportunities to indulge in Yu Sheng (the special Chinese New Year salad that I mentioned before), but the cacophonous drums of the lion dance get old really quick. Especially when they start up at 8 in the morning outside my bedroom window. At least today I had blessed relief from the incessant banging, but that was not the case several mornings this week.

Had a big night out on Saturday. It was my friend Heather's birthday and we celebrated by going to a Brazilian carnivore restaurant and then on to one of Singapore's hot spots, a restaurant/club called Indochine on Clarke Quay. I'd actually never been to Indochine before and quite liked it. Because drinking is sooo expensive in Singapore ($16-$18 for a cocktail), it's important that a venue make up for the cost with a bit of style, and Indochine has that. The courtyard that fronts the water is lined with giant Chinese warrior statues, and the inside is stylish Asian decor, complete with a trendy "ice bar" at the back. I haven't actually gone out all that much in Singapore, but this was one of my favorite places thus far. Wednesday I'll have an update of the big new Singapore hot spot- Ministry of Sound- because we're planning to go there for ladies' night. Ooh, and my friend Dawn will be in town for a brief visit then- can't wait! She's stopping by for a couple of days after a visit to the Philippines. As always, it's great to see friends!

Chinese New Year passed by pretty quietly for me, as I stayed home for the rest of the weekend and did such mundane tasks as cleaning and laundry (I actually really really like taking a "day of rest" each week to putter around the house), and worked on my thesis some. Following dinner with my friend, my only reminder that it was a holiday was the occassional pop of firecrackers in the distance and the drumming sound of traditional dragon dances rising up from the street. I was going to go to a party on Sunday night where they had planned a dragon dance, but I felt that I had gone out too many nights in a row and needed a break. It was a good decision. Tomorrow starts the beginning of another week of my usual gym/bar study/class/thesis schedule, and I feel more rested and ready to get back to work now.

Happy Chinese New Year! I took part in welcoming in the Year of the Dog tonight with my friend Liz's family. This is the same friend with whom I enjoyed Christmas dinner- her family is so gracious and I do enjoy sharing the holiday meals with them! Her grandma prepared a traditional Chinese feast tonight- we had all kinds of things I can't quite name- a big, delicious salad with a shaved carrot base, with things like nuts, fruit compote, pomelo, and octopus mixed in, shark's fin soup (very controversial I know, but I figured I ought to at least try it while I was there), salad with abalone, pork and fish maw casserole, hand-made noodles with pork and vegetables, and a dessert made of yams and red beans. I was prepared ahead of time and brought two mandarin oranges, as is the custom for visitors during the new year. And Liz's parents gave me a red packet as I was leaving- a red envelope with money in it. It is typical to give money to visitors during the new year to help them welcome in a prosperous new year. In fact, the new year celebrations are really focused on the idea of having a prosperous, or wealthy, new year. It seems that Chinese culture emphasizes wealth as the key to being happy. Not what I would usually associate with "eastern" ideals- in the west we often think of the east as representing a simple, feng shui kind of life, but reality here in Singapore seems to be that happiness is wrapped up in commercialism and wealth. Or at least that's what people think. Although I have read in quite a few magazines lately that Singaporeans wish more than anything to spend more time with their families, and work less. People work really hard here- there is definitely a similar work ethic as the United States.

I'm looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow. It's been a long and exhausting week and I feel like I need a break! Put a lot of time into bar studying- Heather and I are listening to the lectures now- and had quite a few outings planned in the evenings, including a trip to Chinatown on Thursday for the festive season. One of Heather's friends from class took us on a tour of Chinatown, introducing us to many of the special holiday foods, and explaining the traditions of the holiday. The streets of Chinatown were full of venders selling all kinds of holiday treats- dried meat, candies, nuts, fruit- decorations- red and gold are the colors that everyone decorates with- and special gifts for loved ones. It was SO crowded in fact, that we inched along from vender to vender at a snail-like pace. Not something I feel that I especially need to experience again, but I'm glad I went!

For the next 3 days the entire city will be virtually shut down. Almost all employees have a 4-day weekend for the holiday, and indeed, some businesses are closed for the entire week. I was told not to expect to be able to go to the grocery store, any restaurants, or shops for the next several days. So I have stocked up for the long weekend and plan to hole away in my apartment tomorrow and get caught up on some sleep and other things that need to be done.

Hanging out with mom in Bangkok was lots of fun. I don't think mom was all that impressed with Bangkok- it is a big polluted city after all- but I think she will really like the north. It's more the quintessential Asian experience. Rice paddies and mist hanging in valleys lined with rolling hills and limestone cliffs, etc. We did have fun together though and I know she was really happy that we got to spend those few short days together. Luckily her tour leader was really nice and friendly and let me join in with all their activities. So I played tourist with her for 2 of the days- visiting a flower market and a couple of temples, and then going on a day trip to the floating market and a place called the Rose Garden (there were some flowers but mostly it was a place to learn about Thai culture- they have a little village set-up and put on a cultural show). On our time off I introduced mom to the heart of Bangkok- MBK, the shopping mall extravaganza. As such, she also got to experience the sky train and taxi service in Bangkok. She wasn't too keen on the sky train since it involved packing onto a train with just about every other person in Bangkok (after all, you have to experience the crowds for the true Asian experience), but the taxi was more her style. Air conditioned comfort for a mere 75 cents each. I told mom that Thailand is very inexpensive, but I don't think she realized just how inexpensive until she got there!

So what else did we do? I took mom out for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cabbages and Condoms. Despite the name, mom quite liked the restaurant and has enjoyed trying all kinds of new Thai food. And I made sure to order everything NOT SPICY because, for the novice, Thai spice can be really hard to take.

Other than that, we mostly just had lots of time to talk and hang out! It was really nice :-) Too bad the time flew by so quickly though.

A new travel first for me- I brought my laptop with me and am now sitting at my hostel checking email, etc.- and planning on actually doing some studying tonight as well. Because this trip only involves one stop- Bangkok- and I have been expecting some down time while mom has tour-related stuff that she needs to participate in, I thought I could safely bring my laptop and maybe even make up for some lost time at school. So far so good! I hope mom's hotel has wireless too, cuz the hostel has it and I have to say it is very convenient! I'm getting bitten by mosquitoes while I sit here though....

Spent pretty much the entire day at MBK (one of Bangkok's mega shopping malls) getting some errands done- haircut, eye exam and new glasses, etc. V. happy with having this day here in Bangkok before I meet up with mom tomorrow- funny to think that Bangkok, though a 2+ hour flight, is easily considered a short jaunt form Singapore for weekend shopping and errand-running trips. Prices are MUCH better here, and it is easy to find cheap plane tkts, so very worth it. I guess it's the equivalent of a weekend shopping trip to New York City, though much much much better-priced.

I hope mom likes it here! I think I've probably talked about how much I love Thailand so much that she has really high expectations!

Just had my first class of the new semester. I am taking Indonesian Law from a French Canadian man who used to teach at McGill (in Montreal) and has now been at NUS for 10 years, primarily because of his scholarship on Indonesia and the convenience of being based in Singapore rather than Canada. I think it will be a great class, and already we are planning a class trip to Jakarta during our Spring break. I'll use the trip to do some research on my thesis as well. I think the professor will be able to help me set up some meetings with various people to discuss security issues.

it's still raining. I wonder when it will stop? Rainy season comes with a vengeance here.

And it's a bit surreal to be here for another semester and see a whole new slew of exchange students wandering the halls, looking lost, as I am sure I looked back in August! I feel like a seasoned veteran here at NUS, and I even feel that I know Singapore quite well by now too. I'll have to find a few new places to explore this semester.

The big move to my new apartment in Holland Village is this Saturday. I have loved living at Karen's place for the last several weeks, and being right at Orchard Rd, but I am also looking forward to moving to my new place and settling in for the next six months. I will really really miss the gym at Karen's condo though! It is so nice and convenient to have it right there. I'm going to join a gym as soon as I get back from my trip to Bangkok to see mom though.

The monsoon comes to Singapore in December and January, and during that time I've learned that you can expect a good rainstorm every afternoon, if not for the entire day. I think we're going on about 72 hours of constant rain right now. I love it though! The main reason I love it is that it gives me a small comfort that Singapore has at least two seasons- the hot and the monsoon. Well, it's still pretty humid and warm even when it rains, but at least it's not nearly as hot as usual! Plus, rain makes it a wee bit more winter-like. And Singapore is equipped for the monsoon, unlike many other cities in Southeast Asia. There must be a good drainage system here because I don't see water sitting around on the roads. If this were Chiangmai, for example, the water in the streets would be a good foot or two deep by now. Instead, I can go out with my umbrella and merrily walk through the empty streets and come home only with a slightly wet hem.

I've been a lazy bum for the last couple of weeks, doing pretty much nothing AT ALL, so I haven't had reason to write. I did, however, have a quite enjoyable New Year's Eve with friends here. One of the girls from school hosted a murder mystery dinner party, with a 1920's theme, so I thought you might enjoy some of the pictures:





That was my best effort at trying to look appropriate for the era... and these are all friends from school. They were all in Constitutional Law with me last semester.

Other than that, it is the monsoon here in Singapore now, which means it RAINS HARD every afternoon. It's also a bit cooler than usual, which is very pleasant. Not that I've been getting outside much to enjoy the weather. I'm staying in the shopping center of Singapore right now, and I have to say that after a couple of afternoons/evenings spent wandering around the shops and such, I got bored with it. And I didn't spend much money at all, mostly because the after-Christmas sales here are rather pathetic. Singapore's idea of a great sale is 10-20% off, and that just doesn't cut it for someone who is used to post-holiday sales of 50% or more!

Since Eli left I've spent a lot of time inside getting caught up with emails and getting my life organized. Otherwise, I've gone out on errands. Today it took me over five hours just to go to my old apartment to pick up a package, to the post office, and to the grocery store. There went my entire day! I'm used to things taking a long time when I have to wait for the bus, etc, and then the grocery store was packed because of all the holiday shoppers, and the taxi queue was soooo long as well! grrr, well at least that is done and I am back in this cozy condo drying off from the rain of the day.

I really miss having Eli and other friends around already. Life seems to have returned to the momentarily mundane. When friends are here I go out and explore Singapore and learn to really love this city. Then they leave and I retreat back into the life of studying and more studying, and the time goes by and I can barely convince myself that I know Singapore at all.

Some of the highlights that Eli and I had hanging out in Singapore included: treetop walk and monkey sighting, the zoo where Eli was kissed by a sea lion, Chinatown shopping spree, drinks at the 70th floor New Asia Bar, excellent dinners at La Cave (Italian) and Cafe Iguana (Mexican), "The Promise"- Chinese epic film by Chen Kaige. And... here are a few more photos of Singapore.








And here's an idea of the cheesiness the Singapore infuses into its Christmas decorations (kind of fun actually):

Here are some of the photos from the Thailand part of the trip:


Eli and I at a traditional khantoke dinner in Chiangmai


traditional dancer at the khantoke dinner


Giving the elephant a treat after he danced for us at the elephant camp near Chiangmai




Two pictures at the sculpture garden in Nong Khai


On the river in Bangkok


Grand Palace in Bangkok


Eli and I at Nong Khai

I've got all my pictures sorted from the last trip, and there are A LOT. I've decided to post some choice photos in different entries. This is my Laos posting. Here you see Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and the road in between. What a breathtaking country!

It rained for the entire final 48 hours we spent in Thailand. It was supposed to be our beach time, but instead we gazed out over the beach from the shelter of various waterfront bars and restaurants. The rain brought out the slight stench of mold in our bungalow and washed out the paths between East and West Railay. On one travese between the beaches, we took off our shoes and waded through ankle-deep mud to get to the other side. Despite the never-ending rain, we still enjoyed our time at the beach. Of course, it was not quite what we envisioned, but still enjoyable. Instead we filled our days with massages, books, and hot chocolate with baileys.

Returning to Krabi was an interesting experience for me. A scant 4 years have passed since I last visited, but in that time the place has become almost unrecognizable. Railay East was a bit trash-covered and there was construction all around; apparently it was hit by the tsunami and I am assuming that this was some of the aftermath of all that. Maybe they kind of just gave up on the clean-up effort somewhere along the line. Other than that, the main change was just the massive development. resorts and guesthouses have popped up everywhere and it is no longer the remote get-away that it used to be. Prices have skyrocketed and tourists flood onto the many beaches (mostly Europeans), demanding sun and service. It seems that the area must be going through an economic boom, which is good of course, though I do regret the loss of what used to be a "paradise" and what is now only one of the many beach resorts around the world.

Since I last wrote, we crossed over the Lao border to Nong Khai, Thailand, spending a day or so there and then journeying south through Bangkok, Phuket, and Krabi (where we are now). We've hit the finale of our travels and will now spend a few days just hanging out on the beach, etc. We have been hit by a few afternoon rainstorms that have sent us scurrying for cover, with towels and flip flops hastily gathered up from the sand. We're really a bit perplexed over how this weather can exist during the "dry" season! However, we have been able to get in some quality beach time and otherwise are planning a scuba diving excursion tomorrow, and quality time hanging out in beach-side cafes, etc.

I enjoyed seeing Nong Khai, since it was a part of Thailand I had previously not visited. We spent a slightly uncomfortable night on a lumpy matress (really three matresses shoved together) on the floor, with ants and mosquitoes swarming all around, but otherwise enjoyed a bicycle ride out to a giant Buddha sculpture garden and some pleasant hours sitting in the Mut Mee Guesthouse's garden restaurant, talking with fellow travellers and gazing across the river into Laos.

Bangkok was its usual fast-paced, breathless experience. Spent 6 hours at the Chatuchak weekend market on Sunday, introduced Eli to Khao San Road that night, and then made the requisite visit to the Grand Palace on Monday, tried to visit the new aquarium before realizing that there was no way we would ever make it in with a line nearly out the door, so went to MBK instead (Thai shopping mall at its finest). Decided to scrap our backpacker compulsion to take an overnight bus to Krabi and opted for a quick flight to Phuket instead, followed by a short 2 hour boat ride to Krabi the following morning. Didn't see any of Phuket really- just out the window of the van as we drove from the airport to our guesthouse and then to the boat launch the following morning- but the little I saw of the island confirmed that I have no wish to visit Phuket anytime soon. Lots of raunchy bars and too built-up and geared toward resort travellers. We have been passing our time on the much quieter and nicer peninsula known as Haad Railey. Though I have to say that this area also seems quite different from what I remember- I am wondering what might be the result of the Tsunami???

We are in Vientiane right now, wasting a couple of hours catching up with emails, etc, before we get our transfer over the border to the town of Nong Khai. We spent the last couple of days in Vang Vieng (VV), a town that is famous for innertubing, caving, and smoking weed. I'd heard before from other travellers that VV is really only a good place to visit if all you want to do is smoke and drink, maybe while simultaneously tubing down the river. While I can't dispute that this is certainly the draw for many of the backpackers that find their way to VV, Elizabeth and I had a great and relaxing visit to VV, and I would recommend a stop here to anyone who is travelling through Laos. After the sleepy sophistication of Luang Prabang, VV is little more than a ramshackle set-up along the Nam Xong River, but the stunning beauty of the landscape and the many possibilities to innertube, kayak, go caving, climbing, etc. make it a fun stop off on the backpacker trail, and also offers something a little "different" from other towns in Southeast Asia.

First, the area around VV is absolutely gorgeous. As Elizabeth and I spent the afternoon placidly floating down the river on our innertubes, we were surrounded be towering limestone karsts (cliffs) that looked like something right out of an ancient Asian scroll painting. We lounged back on our tubes, soaking in the sun and watching dragonflies buzz around, occasionally landing on our knees.

The stretch of river around VV set up for tubing is dotted with small riverside establishments where locals have set up rope swings and cables for jumping into the river, and also offer many beers to those floating by. Imagine lots and lots of young white travellers drinking, listening to reggae, and jumping off swings and cables into the river. Kind of surreal and almost what I would imagine a Vietnam War era BBQ to be like- of course, minus the war, but the beer, sun, SE Asia vista, river, etc.

Arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, on Sunday evening after a short flight from Chiangmai. First saw the town at night, and was immediately enchanted by its candlelit riverside cafes, attractive guesthouses, and narrow stone streets. Since Sunday I have decided that Luang Prabang is one of the best cities in all of Southeast Asia, if not the world. It is so sleepy and cute, with friendly people. There is a shadow of french colonialism in the architecture, though it is mixed with the many Buddhist wats and Asian-style buildings that make the town so enticing to the visitor. There are amazing cafes and bakeries all through town- they easily rival those in North America or Europe. There are used bookshops that show movies every evening and travel agents that provide free internet for their customers. The main street is full of art galleries and handicraft shops, and at night the street closes down to become a bustling night bazaar. I love this town! Of course, I just wish I could stay longer, but unfortunately our time demands that tomorrow we head on our way...

The only thing that has marred our time in Luang Prabang is that Elizabeth unfortunately contracted one of the traveller's stomach sicknesses from something she ate on our first night here. So she basically spent all of yesterday in bed trying to recover, while I wandered the city and took photos for both of us. She has been much better today, though still has not managed to eat anything and is bothered by a rather severe stomach-ache. She is a trooper though and managed to accompany me this morning on a boat ride up the Mekong to visit an ancient cave filled with Buddha statues. This afternoon we were supposed to visit a nearby waterfall, but we both scrapped that plan in favor of spending some time in Luang Prabang and getting foot massages and facials (an hour and a half of pure heaven for a mere $6).

I am in Luang Prabang, Laos right now, after spending the last couple of days in Chiangmai, Thailand. Elizabeth and I flew from Singapore directly to Chiangmai. We did the usual- caught a taxi at the airport to our guesthouse where we crashed for the night, arising to a glorious morning. The weather was soooo perfect the entire time we were there. Sunny but not too hot. What a difference from Singapore! Chiangmai was certainly still humid, but nothing compared to Singapore where the wetness just hangs in the air, day and night.

We rented a motorbike for next few days and spent our time zooming from place to place. We did a lot of shopping at local markets and factory stores. Elizabeth had a list about a mile long of people she had to buy gifts for, and luckily Chiangmai is the perfect place for gift-buying and she was able to find things for nearly everyone there. Besides shopping, we also went out to the Elephant Camp at Mai Sa. I had been there before with Colleen, Chizuru, Nathan, and Sarah, but what a difference! The place has developed so much- many more elephants, more visitors, and the show now involves around 20 elephants instead of the handfull that performed for us 4 years ago. Also, the elephants have learned all kinds of new tricks. They play soccer, play the harmonica, dance, curtsy, bow, and even paint beautiful pictures.

We also went to two very different, but equally "cultural" shows, while in Chiangmai. The first was a lady boy cabaret, where the beautiful transgender thai men, who happen to look like stunning female catwalk models, put on an over-the-top cabaret show. The cabaret involved gorgeous costumes, elaborate sets of royal palaces, Asian jungles with a real waterfall, Havana Cuba, and even an Egyptian tomb, all while danging and lip-synching to English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai songs... The sets and costumes blew me away, as did the exceptional beauty of the Thai men perfoming for us, though the lip-synching and awkward dancing sometimes had me inwardly laughing. I think the "girls" were concentrating so hard on moving like women that they lost the abiility to dance with ease and their movements sometimes looked quite awkward and stiff. There was one girl though, who was quite amazing! After the show we go to see them up-close and I have to say that their beauty was more stunning from afar, because the masculine traits were much more apparent up-close and of course when talking to them...

The next evening we went to a Khantoke dinner at the Old Chiangmai Cultural Center. This was a traditional meal where we comfortably lounged on the floor watching Thai dance performers while tasting many of the different Northern Thai specialties. We ate till we were stuffed, watched the Thai dancing until we nearly fell asleep from satiation and the slow, entrancing movements of the dancers, and we decided it was time to go, hopped on our motorbike, and went off to the night bazaar.

Headed to the airport in a couple of hours for the next installment in my holiday travels: Thailand and Laos. We're flying into Chiangmai in the north of Thailand this evening, and then on the 16th we will fly out of Krabi in the south (where the good beaches are). The general idea is to go from Chiangmai to Laos- Luang Prabang and Vien Viang- and then down through Bangkok to Krabi and Ko Phi Phi.

A Canadian friend who has been living in Cambodia, Zorica, left today after a 3 day visit here in Singapore. I enjoy having friends visit because it gives me an opportunity to get out and be a bit of a tourist. Zorica's visit overlapped with Alex's on the first day, so the three of us went shopping in Chinatown and then to dinner at Boat Quay. Alex, who is half Chinese and has been to China several times, was especially enthralled with Chinatown as she found some great bargains and loved that it was very condensed into a small neighborhood.

The next day Zorica and I did the Little India -- Kampong Glam--Bugis--Colonial District walk that I have adopted for showing all of my friends Singapore's many ethnic neighborhoods in one day. Actually this is the "north of the river" tour day, and the "south of the river" tour day includes Chinatown and the quays. See how my tour director experience is so useful? ;-) We also stopped off at the National Library to see a terrorism show that I have been hoping to see. I was a bit surprised that it was so small after all the advertisements I have seen for the show around town. I didn't learn anything new for my thesis, but it was interesting to read about Singapore's history with terrorism- threats from the communists post-independence, bombing the MacDonald House, hijacking of a Singapore Airlines flight, bombing of an oil refinery, etc. One thing that seemed very typical "Singapore" to me was where they had this huge timeline of terrorist attacks around the world- 9/11, Lockerbie, Tokyo, Madrid, etc. And there, surrounded by all the dates of attack after attack, they had a date stuck into the timeline that said "Singapore foils ____ attack"- making Singapore appear singularly effective in fighting terrorism!

That night we went to the night safari, which was SO cool!! Now, you all know that I am not an animal person, but I loved it! I actually really wished Colleen was here to go to the night safari, because I know it would have been so awesome for her- imagine Portland zoo lights, but add in hundreds of jungle animals! The coolest was seeing a huge rhino really up-close. They have done a really excellent job making you feel like you are out there with the animals. There are no visible fences at all- even when by the lions and tigers and bears (oh my) and sometimes you feel like you can almost reach out and touch the animals (of course, you can't though, at least I think so...).

Yesterday we took the cable cars to Sentosa Island and had a bit of a walk before it started raining. So then we went off to Clarke Quay for some Mexican food, came back home to spiff ourselves up a bit, and went to the New Asia bar. This bar is famous because it is on the 70th floor of a building, with a panoramic view all the way to Indonesia and Malaysia. After our brief stop at New Asia, we went to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, which is where the Singapore Sling was invented. Sipping bright pink Singapore slings ($17 for one drink- drinking in Singapore is soooo expensive), munching complimentary peanuts (at least something is free!), tossing the shells on the floor, and taking in the colonial feel of the bar is pretty much a de rigeur experience for the visitor to Singapore.

After Bako, Alex, Jenny, Olof, Dave (an Australian traveler we met at our guesthouse), and I arranged a tour to go out to the longhouses of the Iban people. We decided to stay 3 days/2 nights so that Alex and I could make it back to Kuching on Saturday before flying out Sunday morning. So, we headed off early thursday morning with our driver and guide, Paul, stopping here and there to show us pepper plants on the side of the road and for lunch at rest stop, before we made it to the river that the Iban live along. We left our van parked in a shady spot under the trees and went down to the river where a couple of Iban boat men were waiting to take us up river to their home. We motored in long wooden boats up a river that looked like your typical jungle scene for about 30 minutes before their longhouse came into sight. The people who lived in this longhouse had built a separate longhouse to lodge tourists, which certainly made it slightly more comfortable for us, while still being able to observe and take part in activities with those who lived there. Jenny mentioned that the longhouse was rather like a barn for humans. It was basically a long wooden structure with cubicle after cubicle containing two damp mattresses and a mosquito net. After dropping our stuff on our beds, we had some tea and went up to the main longhouse to meet the people who lived there. It was very interesting walking through the place and meeting a shaman, the chief, as well some of the young men and women and their children. We saw how they built the house, and watched many women weave traditional ratan mats for the floors. We also sat around and drank a lot of whiskey and rice wine with the men. In fact, it appears that most of the men pass their entire day, every day, sitting around and drinking.

The longhouses are mostly stuck somewhere in between old traditions and modern life. I think they mostly maintain certain practices and build their houses in the traditional structure for the sake of tourists, though no doubt there are some tribes deeper in the jungle who have more genuinely maintained their culture. The people in this tribe were primarily christian (we met others in another house who were all bahai- seems the missionaries made their mark on this part of the world), and had many religious posters tacked to their doors. We also got a few secret peeps behind the hidden doors to the families' private quarters where we could hear music blasting out over speakers and where we were told there were televisions and many other conveniences of the modern world. And of course, I didn't mind the fact that they had a generator that provided electricity, as well as running water that enabled for decent toilets and showers!

The next day we went on a short hike through the forest and learned about making rubber, setting traps for hunting (very ingenious contraptions made of sticks and string, etc), and saw some old burial grounds. Oh, we also got to use the blowpipe (you know like in Indiana Jones - or was it Sherlock Holmes or something like that?- where the tribal people blow poison darts at their enemies?). It was surprisingly easy to accurately hit a target- I succeeded in piercing the designated papaya on my second try. Then it was back to the boats for a trip up-river and an afternoon spent swimming around in the river and cooking lunch over a fire. We roasted meat and had some rice and cucumbers cooked inside bamboo tubes.

That afternoon when we took the boats back to the longhouses we were surprised when our boatman leaped out of the boat past us and sprinted up the muddy embankment, returning a minute later with a gun. He and the other boatman took off back up the river with the gun, leaving us all curious on the bank, wondering what they had seen. We heard a shot ring out and about ten minutes later they were back with a giant iguana lying on the bottom of the boat. So that evening we had a special "treat"- roasted iguana. Not my favorite meat ever. It was so chewy you could barely get it down. Alex mentioned that it was a bit like chewing iguana bubble gum.

A delicious meal of ferns, pumpkin, and pork was followed by a night of revelry. Some of the young guys from the longhouse came down with their guitars and we all sat around drinking rice wine and singing- well, if you could call it that. Our rousing version of Hotal California went something like this, "mana a hmmm in the ditan, saw a shmarrarra loo, mmmm mmm Hotel California mmm errrr mrrmaaamooo". The Iban guys speak very little English, and don't understand any of the lyrics, so basically sing in their best imitation of English which is generally very far off the mark.

The next morning we watched a cock fight (de-clawed and no killing) and then back to the boats and the van for the ride back. We stopped off at an orangutan center where we saw the huge animals swinging from the trees, before we made it back to Kuching late that afternoon.

A couple pictures of the longhouse and a boat: