Gonna check on Bali in May 24 - 27 before going for Gawai

For RM30.00 each way from Kuching. Isn't that GREAT? Jom mari kita pergi - the hotel has been booked. Heard so much about it but never got the time to go and check on the place. If nothing we can always have our lunch in the middle of the paddy field.

Having lunch at the scenic mangrove trees

My trip to Johor Port Tanjung Pelepas on 24th April took me to this place. The impressive building is PTP office complex.

Fresh from the sea

My favorite "fishing" ground is the ABF Beach in Bintulu where fishermen unload their catch and spread it out for sale. Here one can get supplies of fresh lobsters @RM25.00 per kilo or ikan "aerod" for RM25.00, senangin for RM20 and "garupa" RM20.00 and tenggiri at RM10.00. People come here from nine till 10 am. Come late and you will miss the good fish. We usually come here on saturday or sunday morning - getting supplies enough for the whole week.

Birthday Cake Kids

Look at the happy faces waiting for the birthday cake. One kid commented the cake so should have been bigger so that there would have been enough for everyone to eat ...the same poor boy who lost her mother to cancer recently. Wonder when did he had his birthday cake.....his father is seldom home.....kena penyakit iban " kaki penyabong".

You see from the last picture- the one year old birthday boy as if he knew the threat around him went ahead and grabbed the poor cake before everyone had the chance to sing him a birthday song and said a prayer.

More pictures from the longhouse...........6 April 2008

20 Years MRP projects for folks of Jln Sg Dijih

Balairaya built a stone throw away from the longhouse..



A chapel... abandoned, has never been used...

Let these pictures show you how helpful our YB had been in the last 20 years.

Here's 2 MRP projects given by our ADUN (including when he was an MP before). One project is a balai raya, built on the land belonging to his natural father (his father's name is Nyami, the YB was adopted by Ekih). The balai raya is near his long house, Rh Bilie. I dont know how much was spent including compensation for the land.

The 2nd project is a chapel, built on his father's land beside the SRK Sg Dijih. Lalang grass have been the only companion for the chapel, which has never been used. Wonder how much was spent on the chapel and compensation for the land.

There's a 3rd project, supposed to be tamu, sited near Rh Merawin by the Sibu-Bintulu Rd, not far from Jln Sg Dijih. The tamu has never been used to this day. It is in the middle of nowhere, its not a stopping point for vehicular traffic. Selangau bazaar which is a kilometre away has a fairly big tamu. I wanted to take a snapshot but it was used by the army as their base camp for the recent exercise so I did not - will take pictures on my next trip. The ADUN has a bilik in Rh Merawin and his close associate, Dali Merawin, the husband of his niece is a resident there. Wonder how they acquired the land and how much the government had to compensate the land owner for the project.

4th project, built a dam to supply gravity feed water to the nearby longhouses, purported to cost RM250,000 excluding compensation to land owner. The supply was only functional for a few months, including to our longhouse, after that the pipelines were sabotaged by those longhouse folks who could not get the water supply due to too low pressure...Mebe one of these days I will walk over to the site to take pictures for you to see....

5th project - almost all materials for building the longhouse of Rh Bilie was thru the MRP project- nyau enda ulih kena pemayuh attap spindex...he has a bilik there..A little bird told me the value of the project could have been about RM100k.

We heard that Jln Sg Dijih will only be sealed after all the kayu batang abis diangkut, enggai ka jalai jai. Lama udah kayu abis diangkut....We also heard that water and electricity cannot be installed first until the road has been sealed. That's the official explanation for the delay in getting those utilities.

MesraFarms updates - 5 April 2008

My workers smiling after receiving their gaji for the day!

Men in Uniform - They came, they conquered and won the hearts of the longhouse folks in the area

These men have to earn their living the rough way. I was told they have to undergo this training once in 18 months ie to walk 80 kilometers over several days from one location to another passing thru my longhouse and at the end of it all had mock fight/war with another group.There were about 600 men in all. A few were involved the exhibition and provision of free medical and dental services to the longhouse folks in the area. Thanks to them for the good show and good work.