The journey towards the Julau port lasted almost 2 hours, where after that, we boarded the boats, sitting in a single file (yea, they're small boats). It was a journey up the Kanowit river that was a little rough and hard. On the journey up, we witnessed the finesse and skill of both our longboatmen. I wonder how many falls and knocks it would take me to be able to maneuver the boat with such skill. It took us another 2 and the half hours to reach our longhouse.
Arriving at the 1st longhouse (will put in the names later, kinda got all of them jumbled up), we were all taken by surprise when we found our boatman, who was also our van driver, changed and wore the traditional Iban headgear. He then led us up the longhouse, doing the iban dance! (the boatman is in one of the pictures below, wearing a red cap)
And so there we were, dancing together with them (erm, trying to la), doing one circle around the longhouse. Tea came shortly, where upon, we had our devotion after. Then, we unpacked and had our 1st ever bath in the river. (actually, we dun wan to bathe in the river, but that long house did not have a bathroom. So, what to do?)
It felt quite odd, bathing with ur swimming trunks (and for some, underwear! wouldn't want to be caught bathing in my underwear though) and trying to soap and lather yourself, with so many people around. Anyways, when, some of us guys were almost done, the gals came! In their sarungs too! Along with them were some local ladies, to teach our gals how to bath gracefully in their sarungs, without looking odd. Nevertheless, one sister shared that it was really awkward on her 1st time bathing too.
Then, did not really know what the rest did as I napped until it was just before dinner. In dinner, we made sure we did not just sit among ourselves, but with the Iban people, so that we could talk to them, instead of sticking to our group.
That was swiftly followed by our team ministering for the night. 1st was introductions, then came worship, eagle's wings, testimony and finally some sharing.
Introducing ourselves was counted among the craziest things we did that day (and for next few days). Here, each of us had to tell our names, location we're from, whether we're studying or working and finally if we're bujang or sudah kahwin. Yours truly added some extra when it came to my turn.
What came next was the highlight of this tiring day. They took out their traditional instruments and began to play with the hostess putting this traditional hat on someone. And, when someone gets the hat, he/she has to dance.
The hat was passed around, with the dancer, who had just dance, putting the hat over someone else. It was being happily passed around the Iban people, when one of them decided to put it on us. So, out went Chris, followed by the other team members. Amazingly, even Pastor Joanne had to dance! (yea, we sorta forced her to *grin*)
We ended the day with a team debriefing, where the citizens of the longhouse kept looking at us, thinking we might be doing something more. So then, the debriefing was short, before we went to bed.
Oh yea, before the night ended, some of us noticed we had sunburns. Aiks, we forgot to put on our sun lotion! (dat's why you might not recognise us now *hint hint*)
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