Finito-ish.

Some beautiful clouds. (One of my favourite toilet stops.)

A rather late posting, since I'm flying back to Ingerland in about an hour, but if anyone is still reading, here's a quick lowdown on the last couple of weeks in this wonderous place. (As an aside, they really seem to believe in spirits here. The native people here (the orang ulu) can be taken over by spirits and evade death. Also, spirits can affect you if you do something silly or bad, or push your luck. It's so interesting to listen to people's stories.)

The last two weeks have been quite busy, trying to finish up, although I wasn’t entirely sure how much data I wanted to get to start with, so am not sure where the end fits in. My supervisor told me I’d collected enough peat soil though (having sent home about 50kilos), so I was atleast that’ll keep me busy for a few decades. The first week after arriving in Miri I was in search of more peat swamp forests for sampling. One day I ended up spending about 6 hours in a hired 4-wheel drive to get to the vast Loagan Bunut National Park, after it was suggested to be a suitable place to sample peat, only to find out that I’m about 2 months too early to be able to access it. The same person who told me it was a good place to find intact peat-swamp forest, mentioned when we got there that he had forgotten to get me to check whether we could get to it or not. Umm....bummer. I took a deep breath, went to the loo and thought pragmatically. Atleast I got to see the edge of the park though, as it was stunning. Interesting drive too, although I fell asleep, after my 5.10am wake-up, despite the very rough slippy road. Later that day, Sylvestor, THE man of the woods here in Sarawak, who perhaps could’ve given me a little more information before the trip to Loagan Bunut, completely made up for his oversight by helping me take a core and survey the vegetation in a fragmented patch of peat swamp forest just at the edge of town. His also brought along two of his assistants, super-hard nimble jungle men, of Tarzan-ilk/elk, who cleared me a beautiful, if slightly extreme, pathway through the swampy vegetation to a suitable site for coring. It was an exciting core (for a palaeoecologist) and the men made it so much easier, especially since I would’ve definitely sunk into the peat or been gollumphed by a peat-swamp monster, had they not helped me. It was great to experience a really wet, mosquitoey peat-swamp too, with some monkeys and think rooty vegetation. I sweated a lot.


Sylvestor in the swamp. Taxanomic legend!

Another study site was in a degraded peat-swamp area where ferns and grasses and sedges were the main plants, up to shoulder height. The day before sampling there, I stood infront of this vast green area wondering quite how I’d ever get in to it to get some soil out....but no plant is too big for these super-jungle-mans. Within a few minutes the valiant Lela and his side-kick Khoon, had cut into the jumble of vegetation and laid out a red carpet for me (perhaps a little bit beyond the truth), so I could easily walk in with my metal poles....once I’d crossed the knee high drain, that is. We thought we’d built a stable bridge to avoid a second wetting (my yellow wellies nearly drowned), but when I tried to come back across it, I slipped in up to my arm pits. Luckily I risked my life and managed to save the soil. Khoon’s phone and wallet died that day though. I was a bit sorry for my involvement in it.


A huge expanse of logged peat-swamp forest waiting for planting with oil palm. One tree left, as a reminder.

After cleaning and vaselining my poles, putting my wellies to rest and sending off the last batch of soil last weekend, I donned a clipboard and spent most of last week doing interviews. I, well, Abell, my brave (if a little bit smokey) field assistant, interviewed village chiefs and other available people from communities that farm on peatlands. It was very interesting, if a little frustrating at times. I was lucky enough to visit lots of different communities, from a Malay fishing village to an Iban longhouse community, and ask them about how they use the peat and what they think about forest conservation. I seemed to attract fruit as well, and in one day acquired a couple of kilos of rambutan fruits from our interviewees (a delicious local fruit, that may have been responsible for some slight tummy unhappiness....along with wild Durian – a bit too exotic for me, praps). People generally were very helpful and after they’d relaxed told some interesting stories. There really are some big land rights issues here. Land ownership can basically be overturned by the Government if they want to, and turned into oil palm plantations. We drove through a huge area of recently logged peat-swamp forest, that was in the process of being planted up with oil palm. I interviewed the manager of the one of the estates there (which was very good of him) and he seemed completely unphased by planting on peat soils and by the forest clearance. There really are different issues here that I will have to get to grips with. Lots to think about.


A pineapple farm to rival the wonderful smiley Mr Pineapples' farm of Kuching District.

After about 16 interviews, some phonecalls, some rejections and some unexpected insights, I decided to stop work last Friday, since otherwise I could have just gone on and on, and probably on....and to have my last weekend off (eventhough “it’s not a holiday”). It was so much fun. On Friday night I was invited to a party of a beautiful Javanese princess called Maria, who put on such a fiesta for her 35th birthday, at a lovely ocean-front venue in Miri town. There was more than enough alcohol (as I realized the next morning) and many games and dancing. And I nearly won the limbo competition, shamefully losing at the last duck to a boy. I must practice. Then on Saturday, I was really priviledged to be sort-of invited/get gate-crashing permission from Esther, Kelvin’s cousin (or maybe her Aunt? I really am terrible at remembering the family relationships here), to attend her wedding. She’s a Kelabit, which are a community of native people that live quite far up in the highlands inland from Miri. It was such a treat. The ceremony was a mixture of Kelabit traditional rituals with a splash of Dutch, since Esther’s husband is from the flatlands of Western Europe. Again, there was plenty of delicious food (and I may have slightly forgotten about my vegetarianism for one night, but obviously haven’t lost (all of) my morals) and dancing and more alcohol than I could keep up with nearly, especially since I joined the lads for a crate of beer after the champagne reception and before the dinner. Gosh. I’ve been working hard to avoid the beer belly, and enjoying other peoples! After an amazing evening of wonderful alien culture and festivity, we went for a 4am semi-skinny dip in the South China Sea under the moon light. It was pretty surreal. Then Sunday was one of the most chilled out days I’ve had....basically just “barbeque”. More beer, pork, cocktails, music, sunshine, chat, cucumber, fried banana flower, jokes, sandy knickers and ice. My most strenuous exertion was giving a much-owed massage to my previous host. I really have been spoilt here.


Prior to the sea dip....not yet skinny.

I’d best go and get on my plane....but thank you if you have read. Although I’ve found bits tough, I think that’s probably very important, and I wouldn’t have got as much out of it. And the toughness has definitely been balanced by wonderful experiences. I’m a very lucky girl. I hope I can now use all of the help I’ve had and information I’ve gathered to write a good and hopefully insightful and useful thesis. (If I don’t see you for a year, it’ll be because my supervisors have chained me to my microscope.)

Terima kasih orang di Sarawak.