Next stop, new swamp.
The last week has not been so eventful, or maybe I've just got a bit more used to this hot island. It's a bit cooler here in Miri, which is quite an affluent oil&gas town on the north east coast of Sarawak (I think I've got the pronunciation down now), and closer to the coast than Kuching was, so a bit more breezy. I'm still itching though, a lot, but my foot blistering has reduced and I've not got may new mosi bites, so am nearly de-bumped.
Since I last wrote, I collected about 5m of soil from the transmission station of Malaysia's equivalent to the BBC, RTM (Radio Transmission Malaysia). I was very fortunate to get permission to do the work on there, seeing as it's a bit of a top-security site. I think the peaty work attire I was wearing when I went into their headquarters in the town to meet with the Director may have done the trick. An eager smelly white girl from Oxford asking to dig peat from under their pillons probably didn't look like too much of a terrorist threat. And there were some lovely smiley men who helped us out when we got there, and strongly encouraged me to use their washroom at the end of the day before I left the site. (I've attached a photo of what I looked like, to perhaps explain why.)
The day before collected that soil, I, well, my wonderful assistant, Kit, interviewed three lovely village heads for me, whilst I tried to keep up with facial expressions and note down all that Kit was translating to me. It seems that most people are wanting to, and indeed often being encouraged by the Government, to plant oil palm everywhere now. Forest regeneration is not considered a viable, or necessary option. It was quite an eye-opening day for a naive DPhil student from Bubble-land. I found out that pineapples grow very well on peat though, and was sent home with two delicious ones, plucked straight from the bush/very-spikey mother spike, by a wonderful old man. So much kindness.
The day before that, the day of 'rest', I spent in a Bidayu village in the limestone (I think) hills behind Kuching, mostly eating fruit and drinking langkau, the distilled rice wine. Gosh, it was strong. Luckily I wasn’t made to drink as much as the boys, as the lovely Robert, host Kelvin’s friend there, kept me supplied with water to wash it down with. There was a lot of drunkenness about, which I wasn’t quite sure what I thought about (slightly sad to see but did appear quite harmless), but all very jovial and not British loutishness. It was fun being the only girl, as usual! I’m really being quite spoilt here.
The last few days have been less eventful, touring around in an air conditioned car looking for peatswamp forest. I could have been so much more prepared for this trip....but will hopefully learn for next time (if I’m allowed back, and away from the microscope on my return!).
The internet cafe/cheesecake bar is closing so I’d best go back to Mr Khoon’s (the Miri host). Terima kasih for reading (I know about 20 more Malay words now – still getting plenty of laughs/concealed smirks though).
Since I last wrote, I collected about 5m of soil from the transmission station of Malaysia's equivalent to the BBC, RTM (Radio Transmission Malaysia). I was very fortunate to get permission to do the work on there, seeing as it's a bit of a top-security site. I think the peaty work attire I was wearing when I went into their headquarters in the town to meet with the Director may have done the trick. An eager smelly white girl from Oxford asking to dig peat from under their pillons probably didn't look like too much of a terrorist threat. And there were some lovely smiley men who helped us out when we got there, and strongly encouraged me to use their washroom at the end of the day before I left the site. (I've attached a photo of what I looked like, to perhaps explain why.)
The day before collected that soil, I, well, my wonderful assistant, Kit, interviewed three lovely village heads for me, whilst I tried to keep up with facial expressions and note down all that Kit was translating to me. It seems that most people are wanting to, and indeed often being encouraged by the Government, to plant oil palm everywhere now. Forest regeneration is not considered a viable, or necessary option. It was quite an eye-opening day for a naive DPhil student from Bubble-land. I found out that pineapples grow very well on peat though, and was sent home with two delicious ones, plucked straight from the bush/very-spikey mother spike, by a wonderful old man. So much kindness.
The day before that, the day of 'rest', I spent in a Bidayu village in the limestone (I think) hills behind Kuching, mostly eating fruit and drinking langkau, the distilled rice wine. Gosh, it was strong. Luckily I wasn’t made to drink as much as the boys, as the lovely Robert, host Kelvin’s friend there, kept me supplied with water to wash it down with. There was a lot of drunkenness about, which I wasn’t quite sure what I thought about (slightly sad to see but did appear quite harmless), but all very jovial and not British loutishness. It was fun being the only girl, as usual! I’m really being quite spoilt here.
The last few days have been less eventful, touring around in an air conditioned car looking for peatswamp forest. I could have been so much more prepared for this trip....but will hopefully learn for next time (if I’m allowed back, and away from the microscope on my return!).
The internet cafe/cheesecake bar is closing so I’d best go back to Mr Khoon’s (the Miri host). Terima kasih for reading (I know about 20 more Malay words now – still getting plenty of laughs/concealed smirks though).
posted by Lydia Cole at
07:05
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