We are now staying in an Iban Longhouse with a local family. There are four of us. David and me plus Matteo (Italian) and Sally (British but living in Oz). The family we are staying with are really nice and have made us feel really welcome. They are Kibie, his wife Anna and their daughter Bunga (flower) who is very cute.
David and Matteo are rather hungover today as we all went out last night and the boys got on the rice wine until about 3am. Not ideal if you are heading out into the jungle! We did this after lunch so that we could find some wild vegetables for dinner. Kibie pulled up bamboo shoots which he peeled down to the inner section which is the tasty bit. He also gathered loads of leaves which he said were good to eat. When we got back Kibies father made up some parcels of rice wrapped in banana leaf and put them into bamboo tubes to steam over the fire. We had this and our vegetables from the forest for dinner and it was delicious. Anna is a great cook.
We are a bit of a novelty with the family children. The extended family all live in the longhouse, each having a section of their own so the children all play together. They love having their photos taken and then looking at the results on screen. The trouble is that they instantly pose as soon as they see the camera come out so it's hard to get an action shot.
Kibies sister was weaving a new mat for her house so we watched for a while.
She was really fast and very neat. Obviously well practiced.
After dark we went down to the little river in the forest to catch crabs by torchlight. Kibie had laid some bait and just walked along the river picking them up. We caught 27! They were all pretty small but I didn't complain when I got them in my soup for dinner!
After dinner we all sat around and played Uno until the early hours which was really good fun. Who needs a TV?
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