A Birthday in a Hmong hilltribe village

Shower time

The one pony

My most enthusiastic pupil

As with all touristy tours one is never sure that it is going to be at all what you expect it to be but I'm pleased to report that this one was wonderful and surpassed my expectations. We travelled by mini van about 50 km along the river and then were dropped off with our guide, myself and another charming young Swiss couple. We trekked about 4 hours before we reached the first village, which was a small village of about 200 people and the first building we came to was the school and of course you've guessed I couldn't resist going to have a look. There were about 15 children sitting at the desks but no teacher so a perfect opportunity for me! I sang a few action songs and most of the time they stared and were wondering what this mad woman was doing but towards the end they started to join in and the 3 year old boy that had come along with his big brother thought I was hilarious. I gave them all stickers but I wished I'd known before how much they needed.They had a blackboard and chalk and no paper, pencils or books as far as I could see and I suspect the teacher only turns up when he has nothing else to do in the village. The village was surrounded by pigs, cows, ducks, hens, dogs and there was a heavy aroma of cow dung. Since it is the dry season everything is very hot and dry and there was a lot of preparation going on into repairing roofs and burning the land in preparation for the rain in April/June. There was a very small dirty stream running through the village and some mothers were trying their best to wash their children but with everything so dry it was difficult. They were also peeling the bark from the mulberry tree and drying it to sell for paper in the market which they apparently get about 5 euro per kilo.

The girls aren't so sure!

Our homestay

Preparing mulberry bark

We set off again, up much steeper terrain and eventually arrived in our host villages about 4 ish. Much of the land had been cleared and so there was very little forest left but around the villages there some which is protected now. There were actually two villages on either side of a hill where the school and meeting room were built. One being only Hmong and the other village mixed Hmong and Tai Dam.The first thing that we were told to do was wash which you can imagine we needed. So off to the wash area with everyone, through the forest and down to a stream where  - us two girls were given a sarong and were told we could have 2 buckets of water to wash and basically left to get on with it. There were women, men and children all washing together and no one looked or paid the slightest bit of attention to us which was a relief as washing under sarongs is not something I have ever done. Someone helped me for my final rinse of cold water and afterwards I felt so refreshed and rejuvenated. After a hard days work and everyone is washed, then it is the time to relax and it was a lovely sound to hear, people chatting, children playing and some of the men playing the cross between volleyball and football game also played in Sabah. We wandered around the villages and said hello and people were polite but obviously used to these odd white people wandering around their villages. The Hmong tribe have not been influenced by Buddhism and believe very much in the spirits. We were allowed to go into the Shaman's house and saw the many objects used to ward off the spirits . At dusk we went back to our hut and were served our meal of sticky rice, chicken and vegetable soup and other vegetables which was delicious. We then sat and chatted around our candle and went off to our mattresses about 9. So not the wildest birthday celebration that I've ever had but very memorable.

The future generation off to work

These villages were different to the first one we had visited and I realised why in the morning as we had come the long way round and there was access by a track to the road which only took 2 hours.   The headman owned a truck where they could take things to the market and buy other items. The villages were well organised and there were animals everywhere but also beautifully kept vegetable gardens. There was one generator in the village, owned by the headman and it was switched on and about 40 children and adults squeezed in to watch the TV in the evening. I suspect it won't be too long before there will be more generators and their village life will change. We set off in the morning with a group of teenagers who were going to work in the fields. There were a few that had mobile phones and had their ear phones in whilst carrying traditional tools and baskets. These young people only have 3 years of schooling and then their future choices are limited I imagine. I wonder what it will be like in a few more years. I felt that these villages were very similar to the villages in Sabah where many have been touched by modernisation now but some more isolated ones are just on the turning point.

Lunch time

Before the other tourists arrived

The rest of the next day was also memorable but apart from saying that we kayaked for 4 hours down the Mekong through amazing scenery it was uneventful but wonderful and not too tiring. The last part of the adventure was perhaps the most disappointing .The elephant ride in the jungle was an elephant ride around a track with no jungle in sight but the worst thing for me was I was with a couple from UK who wanted the whole ride videoed and kept waving and commentating about where they were and what they were doing. I wanted to disappear so if you see a grumpy lady not smiling on a video of an elephant ride - that is me! So enough for today but I have much more to tell. Tonight I'm getting the sleeper bus back to Vientiane and with a very heavy heart will say "au revoir" to this beautiful place and people. I will be back.....

A charming Hmong lady who seemed pleased to welcome me

Young farmers

Vientiane and Luang Prebang, Laos

 It's been an action packed week with three days at the Sutera Harbour hotel on British Council business i.e mid-year review. It was Andrew's turn to be my groupie at a 5 star hotel and he wrote reports while I sat in air conditioned rooms talking about ??? We did, however have a couple of fun social evenings including a pub quiz, musical chairs and beer drinking races and some dancing so it was nice for Andrew to meet some of my colleagues - we even were invited to Lilush's first birthday party by the pool on Friday afternoon. We flew off to Kuala Lumpur together spent the night in the airport and then I was on the early morning flight to Laos, while Andrew had to hang around until 6 pm for his flight to Mongolia via Hong Kong. Anyway off I went totally unprepared and not having read or booked a thing about my holiday. I had a few minutes panic when I saw that they asked for the number of our visa on our arrival form. Visa? Oh dear - I thought we could get it in Laos but never thought to check. Fortunately luck was with me and apart from having to get some local money outside I was able to get the visa. This is a warning to anyone who thinks I'm an experienced traveller - don't follow my advice. I am always winging it and don't know what I'm doing but it nearly always works out ok ??!

Vientiane

Buddhist monks in Luang Prabang

Normandie??

A dream house overlooking the Mekong

weighing live pigs at the river

 Anyway so far so good. I shared a taxi with a lovely British couple from the airport and I found a cheap backpackers which only had me staying in the dorm - perfect! I had a wander round Vientiane which is nothing special except lots of nice craft shops and restaurants. The french influence (les baguettes, du vin, les croissants etc..) is very evident as well as hearing french being spoken. I visited the night market, met up with Clare and Di, had a beer and fortunately was able to charge up my computer with their adaptor and complete my assignment due on Sunday (yes another thing I have been procrastinating about)

A Primary school waiting for an English teacher??

 I had an early morning rise to catch the 10 hour bus ride to Luang Prabang - supposedly the jewel of South East Asia - but I had yet to find out. The bus driver for once drove very safely and the climb through the mountains was stunning and beautiful although a little hazy during the dry season.   We arrived at 6 ish and then wandered around trying to find somewhere to stay. I found somewhere  that was fine and in the right price range for the night and went off to the night market to explore. I have always suffered from an illness known as fabricitis which I believe is genetic (maternal side) and this is a place where it is tested to it's limits. The fabric is beautiful and is either hand cross stitched as a border or hand spun in silk or cotton and the myriad of colours is breathtaking. This is going to be a place where it is very difficult to resist and what is even more lovely is that all the local people are wearing their "sarongs" including the children as their school uniform.

Early morning market

  This morning I woke up feeling coolish which I wasn't expecting and went off to the local vegetable market to have a wander and basically that it what I have done today - wander. I can officially confirm now that I too would award this place the jewel of South East Asia award and I wish I could find the words to describe it - Simon where are you?? It is of course a UNESCO heritage site and the charm of it is that it is unchanged and the architecture which to me reminds me of Normandy is very French with a colonial feel to it. I have moved to a "colonial" guest house that overlooks the Mekong river and the shutters, doors and even the colour of paint remind me of France - not to mention the number of French around! Anyway I perhaps will be able to conjure up the ambience another day but a sunset cocktail by the Mekong river is calling. Tomorrow is my birthday and I have booked a 2 day trip trekking, kayaking, elephant riding and sleeping in a village of one of the hill tribes. If this blog does not continue, you will know that things didn't go so well but I'm hoping I will have lots to tell......

Refugee "Camp" and Black Magic

Wise Women in the market

Yes, at last calm has been restored with sadly many people being needlessly killed. It was a hopeless mission between 100-300 men against the Malaysian police force and army and was doomed to failure. There just wasn't the support for their cause with very few sympathisers. On the other hand  it has made people very nationalistic and very suspicious of outsiders. My teacher Asmah's husband has returned to Ranau and she was telling me he is a lot thinner and quieter because of the stress and tension of having never being involved or seeing violence before and also she whispered because of the black magic. "Black Magic!?" I asked surprised "Yes, the Sulu terrorists used black magic to protect themselves and make themselves invisible so that they could move without being seen. They were like the walking dead," she continued, "no matter how many shots were fired at them, they wouldn't die." She continued about how she was worried about the curse they may have made on her husband and his colleagues and seemed anxious about the future.   So the belief in magic, ghosts and curses is not very far from the surface - a crisis happens and the ancient beliefs come to the fore again.

  On Friday I went to KK to collect Andrew from the airport and popped into the Hyatt where 16 of the British Council's mentors are setting up a "refugee camp" by the swimming pool. For some of the Semporna and Lahad Datau colleagues, this will be their 12 th  day away from their homes. Of course, it is difficult to have too much sympathy in that case but I did feel sorry for them as they were bored, they were worried for friends and colleagues in their schools and they wanted to get home plus there is the worry that their contracts could be shortened as the Foreign Office believe it is unsafe to work in that area now. We shall see what happens but at the moment their future is very uncertain and I'm thankful I'm up in the mountains.

 

More dead and the future uncertain...

One of the towers opposite the hotel

This has been a very violent week in the usually peaceful state of Sabah. There have have been up to 27 people killed and the army and air force have moved in and have bombed the two villages to "flush" the terrorists out. It all seems very heavy handed for 150 terrorists and rumours are flying around as to whether the government are trying to prove their strength to the Sabahans  or whether it is the opposition stirrings things up. I must emphasise that I myself am perfectly untouched by the situation and apart from Police roadblocks and no Zumba classes for the moment, I am totally unaffected and life is continuing as usual. However for many of my mentor colleagues from the East coast, life has changed for them - they have been evacuated to the Hyatt Hotel in KK where the British Council will pay for them until they think it is safe to go back to their areas. We now have a contingency plan of evacuation and if a text comes through with the words e_a_u_t_ (secret but I'll let you guess!) Emily and I have to meet at my house and go in her car over the mountain and down to KK where the Hyatt will be waiting for us. The other negative effect of the "troubles" is that all the Filipinos get clumped in with the pirates and are immediately under suspicion. There are thought to be around 1 million Filipinos in Sabah - most of them legal and I feel very sorry for them all at this time.

Was Batman a guest??

Little India 

At the weekend I had a taste of what it might be like as a wife groupie in 5 star hotels as I flew over to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with Andrew. Andrew is now working in Kuala Lumpur after being in Bangkok, Kathmandu and Chiang Mai and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. We stayed in two different hotels and the last one was opposite the Petronas Towers and a huge shopping mall. Those of you who know us will know that Andrew is not a shopping mall person and I am always looking for bargains so Prada, Gucci and other smart brand names are not really to my taste. We did though have some lovely meals, cocktails, a visit to Chinatown and Little India and generally had a relaxed weekend in nice hotels. We even had our first go at archery which was on offer in a shopping mall and felt that we weren't too bad at it!! Sadly it was over far too quickly but Andrew will be coming over to Sabah next weekend and this week I am hoping the situation in Sabah will return to normal.

14 Killed in Sulu Rebel Shootout

Children in the Sulu Sea

The road blocks in and out of Ranau, mid February, first alerted me to the story that a hundred Filipinos who were the loyal followers of the Sultanate of Sulu, had arrived in Lahad Datu and stated their claim to the ownership of Sabah. We all thought it was amusing and many of us couldn't believe that a hundred men, despite being loyal and brave, thought that they could take on the whole of Malaysia. The road blocks continued and rumours abounded as to how many "terrorists or pirates" were trying to take over Sabah. Many of the pirates (sounds more romantic I think!) had been joined by the hawkers who sell things by the roadsides who often are illegally living here. However, it was taken rather light heartedly, among the public although I'm sure negotiations between the Malaysian and the Philippine governments were on a more serious note. So have they a good case to take over Sabah?

The sea gypsies on Mabul Island travelling between the Sula Islands

 Well, a long time ago there were two very powerful Sultanates who ruled the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak. One was the Sultanate of Brunei and the other was the Sultanate of Sulu. The Sultanate of Sulu controlled the seas and the many islands, known as the Sulu Archipelego , on the east coast of Sabah and became rich by trading and "acquiring" the cargo of passing boats. There were many indigenous tribes who lived in Sabah and Sarawak who did not share the same culture or ethnicity but as most of these people lived in the interior, the Sultanates were able to rule without anyone objecting. Many of the Sulu sea people lived along the coast and the islands and they are known as the Bajau people with their own language and culture. There were sometimes some uprisings and the Sultanate of Brunei would need an ally and vice versa. This was how the Sultanate of Sulu acquired most of Sabah and that is how the Sultanate of Brunei lost most of Sarawak to an Englishman called James Brook ( later self appointed The White Rajah). The orang putih's ( the white people) at this time, were very keen to sail the seas without being robbed so that they could steal themselves from other countries in the East and get back to their own countries to sell for vast profits. There were the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Americans and the British all vying against each other trying to make the safest and quickest routes back to Europe and America which meant making deals and taking over land that wasn't theirs to take. Hence the British North Borneo Company  was created and on 22 January  1878 , William Cowie, negotiated and obtained a lease in perpetuity of the lands of Sabah from the Sultanate of Sulu. Here lies the root of the problem facing Sabah now.
  Since then Sabah has been under the hands of the British, the Japanese and then finally gained their independence in 1963 by joining the Federation of Malaysia. The islands of Sulu, a few still in Sabah, have been under Spanish, American, Japanese and now the Philippines, although a treaty was signed this year to give Mindanao, predominantly Muslim, their own autonomy to rule. The Malaysian Federation still continue to pay a nominal annual rent to the Sultanate of Sulu for Sabah. The Sultanate of Sulu, no longer lives in a palace and it must be upsetting to see how wealthy the Sultanate of Brunei has become by holding on to his small but very oil rich country. Sabah too has much oil and there are new oil fields but the Sultanate of Sulu can't get his hands on them. 

   So I imagine it was this envy, rage, despair, impotence, that finally drove the Sultanate's brother to launch this brave but rather hopeless attack on Malaysia. We humans seem to be obsessed with taking land from others and will continue to do so for ever more I expect. However time has moved on and there is very little support in Sabah for the Sultanate of Sulu and sadly there are now 14 people dead and several seriously injured because of it. The stories are not clear as to who fired the first shot but the Sabahan police were closing in around the fishing village of Tandua, where they still are and they defended themselves losing 12 men and killing two policemen. They have lost any support they might have had and the Malaysian and the Philippine governments are negotiating to end it all as quickly as possible. On a more personal note, Jusita , my zumba teacher, has been sent there in her professional role as a policewoman and the husband of one of my teachers, so it is always more real when you know someone involved. Ranau is a long way from the coast so nowhere near the action, thankfully. The election date has been at last called for the last week in March and so I hope that this episode is not an indication of unrest to come. We shall see......

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21628758  for more info. if you're interested.

Update: Last night there was an attack in Semporna and five policemen were killed. The details seem to be unclear at the moment.