Life in Keningau

*You might be wondering why I put the lyrics of the Jimmy Palikat's "Yoku Tanak Kampung" in the front of my previous post. Well, it's a minor error because I thought I would put everything in one post. Well, you'd understand why I put it here. The following text is taken from my hand written journal, and some additions are done for further elaboration.

Day 1
Reached Keningau around 12 something. Net and her dad came to pick me up at 1 pm. We drove around town a bit before going to her house. Keningau town was a little less developed than I expected. But after my trip to Sandakan, I was more than prepared for what I saw in Keningau. It's basically a small town with a lot of short buildings and heavy traffic. Kinda like Bukit Mertajam in Penang.

Talk about surprises, Net's house wasn't exactly like what I pictured (read the previous post). Net's house is a kampung house, half wooden and half cement. Kinda like the Mak Cik's house opposite my house and other houses in the paddy field area near my taman (I live in a housing estate, but who says you can't have a kampung next to the housing estate?).

I was given a cozy bedroom upstairs with a window that overlooks the car workshop behind her house. It gets kinda noisy in the morning, but it's nothing compared to the TUDM airplanes which I hear everyday in my 16 years in Telok Air Tawar. I think that room belonged to Billy, Net's younger brother, because I found a Form One school time table in the room.

Oh right, I forgot to talk about Net's family. Net lives with her parents, her two brothers (Ben and Billy) and her elder brother's family. Her elder brother, Ben, has three children. Brenda (5), Belinda (3) and Brian, who is still a toddler. Net's father, Uncle Jon (his kampung name), is a very friendly person and tells a lot of funny stories. It seems he's very good at making tapai. Didn't have the time to ask him to teach me though =<

Belinda (left) and Brenda (right)

Net's sister in law, Kak Anne, is quite a good cook. I finally got to taste some home cooked food after quite a long time, and it was good. After lunch, I slept for 3 hours. The weather was pretty nice for a nap then lol.

Choked on a fish bone for the first time in my life during dinner that night. I think it's still in my throat as I write (that was last Wednesday. I don't feel it anymore now). Net's parents taught me a few stuff which one should do when we choke on fish bones. One of them was some traditional Dusun "ritual", where you turn a bowl of hot soup 3 times before drinking it down. It kinda helped, because then I didn't really feel the fish bone, although it did hurt occasionally.

We went to a relative's house after dinner. I was invited to join the men for beer. There was Net's father, her sister's father in law, her sister's husband and her sister's brother in law, who is in the air force. They finished the bottle of Chivas by the time I joined them.

Net's family was very welcoming. Her father was particularly happy to teach me about the ways of a Sabahan and the traditions of the Dusun tribe. I believe it won't be hard to fit in. They're already treating me as one of the family.

Drank four tins tonight. Damn, everytime I drink a lot, I'd have to visit the toilet a lot as well. Must be some kind of self-defense mechanism which prevents me from getting drunk. Shouldn't have drank so much though. I was actually feeling kinda sleepy before they asked me to join in (it was midnight then) and I downed 3 tins, and here I am, still wide awake and writing this journal at 3 am. Somehow I find it hard to fall asleep after drinking a lot.

There's no 3G coverage in Kg Muhibbah, so the net access here is very slow. Could only achieve 273 kbps. Takes ages to load a page -.-'''

Day 2
The weather here is great. I slept for one whole night without the fan.

One good thing about being brought up in various conditions: I am a survivor. I realized that my body adapts to almost every environment really fast, except maybe air con rooms and cold water (didn't have any problems with the cold water in Net's house though). The problem with me and air con rooms is probably the product of me hardly sleeping in air con rooms while my problem with cold water is my refusal to bathe cold water ever since I was small. Still, I survived well enough to endure cold water so far (no heater now that I'm in college lol). But air con still kills me.

Went out with Net today. We went to a nearby recreation park where there was a river (Sungai Bingkor, if I'm not wrong). The river was murky not long ago, when Net went with Annitrah's cousins, but it was clear today. Too bad Andi and Annitrah wasn't here. It would have been fun.

We went to Sungai Bingkor in Net's father's car. I drove lol. It's my first time handling an auto transmission car, and it took some time getting used to it (no clutch to step on and can't play with the gear handle =<).

Cooked fried spinach for lunch. Wasn't too successful, although it was edible. Based on my usual standards, I'd call it a failure though. Have to start cooking regularly again.

Day 3
Tasted Keningau's traditional tapai last night at Net's relative's house. It was actually her sister's in law's house. Her sister's husband was going back to Taiping so they had a farewell party. The tapai was very strong, but it was delicious. Tasted much better than vodka. Net's sister's father in law taught me how to make Penampang's traditional montoku (a type of alcohol drink made from the vapour of rice). It seems that it's different from the comercially produced montoku. I had two glasses of tapai (well, not really two glasses, but almost). After the first glass, my whole face got numb, and my fingers were also starting to grow numb. But I could walk straight even after the second glass lol. Well, there is a wedding tomorrow. That means more tapai lol.
Day 4
Didn't go to the wedding on Day 4, because it was too far away. Stayed at home and played with Net's nieces. They're a pretty noisy bunch. Very active and kept me busy for hours. Net and I went to buy cooking oil in the afternoon. It seems that items are constantly controlled in Keningau. Before that it was one packet of sugar for each customer. Now it's one packet (they didn't even sell the 5 litre bottle) of cooking oil for each customer. So we had to take turns to buy it. There was only one shop in the whole Keningau with cooking oil at that time @_____@

Day 5
Yesterday's wedding was held by the bride's side, in Kg Kirakot (not sure how to spell it). Today, it's the groom's family's turn. The groom was the nephew of Net's father. We went there pretty early. The bride wasn't even there yet (the convoy was just leaving the groom's house after we arrived).

The stage where the bride and groom are suppose to sit later on.

People hustling about the area preparing.

Not many people at the "tapai bar".

The extension of the shelter was made from bamboo!


You can only find this in Sabah lol.

A view from the wedding place.

FOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! :D

Gongs. A must for every Dusun wedding.

That's one big "tajau"

Tapai in bamboo. Tasted like coconut juice. You drink it by taking shots.

After a long long wait, the wedding convoy finally arrived. There's no honking like Chinese weddings though.

The lead car appears.

The newly wed's car.

They stopped right in front of me lol.

Bridegroom coming out of the car.

Then it was the bride's turn.

Both the bride and bridegroom were required to drink from the bamboo tapai after coming down from the car. Well, they weren't the only ones required to drink. The representatives from the bride's side had to drink as well.Bride's side drinking tapai.

Double shots for them since they only sent a small number of representatives.

The bride and bridegroom seated on the stage.

Pemalu-pemalu gong beating the gongs.

The tapai bar :D

Wedding started not long afterwards. I learnt that Dusun weddings are all about getting together and celebrating the occasion as one big family, and there's a lot of singing, dancing, games and tapai... Everyone is in a merry mood and there's a lot of dancing involved lol.

Look at the crowd.

The crowd playing games.

Cake cutting ceremony. They're cutting the bottom part of the cake.

Unlike usual weddings, both "storeys" of the cake is real.

The "Acara suap-menyuap".

The groom giving the bride's parents a piece of cake.

Wait a minute, another guy??? I thought it was suppose to be the bride's parents??? Both of them are actually representatives lol. The parents were absent.

Bride giving the groom's dad a piece of cake.

Then the groom's mom.

After that there was more dancing, and celebrating and tapai. Didn't drink too much last night because I had to drive. After that we went home and it was time to pack.

Left Keningau at around 9.30 am this morning in a van. I really love the road at Crocker Range. Reminds me of the Ipoh tunnel part of the PLUS highway. Steep slopes and curvy roads. Would be the ideal place for a car race (well, at least it's nice downhill) :D

Tried to get another pic of Crocker Range Park. But failed -.-

Keningau was a truely great experience for me. Although I haven't visited any famous tourist sites in Sabah (not even the Museum, even though I spent more than a week in KK!), but I managed to experience what most tourist will never be able to experience: The life in a Dusun village. My visit to Keningau was almost perfectly timed. During my 5 days in Keningau, there was a wedding, a farewell party and a funeral (didn't attend the funeral though). Had I been there earlier, I would have also witnessed an engagement party. This trip really opened my eyes. It's still not the end. I would really miss Keningau. Would love to come here again. Here are two companions who kept me very busy during my free time lol:

Net's elder niece, Brenda.

Net's younger niece, Belinda.

Well, I'm in KK now, sitting at Starbucks while typing this blog post. The posts of Day 5 is not in my journal. I just typed it out earlier. Here is the view from my seat:

Palm Square in Centre Point Sabah.

Well that's all from me today. Will be going to Inanam to get a ticket to Tawau. The bus leaves at 8pm and will reach Tawau around 4 or 5 am. Hopefully it's bright by then (Tawau is far east of Sabah, so the sun rises even earlier). Well, my Sabah adventure continues. Stay tuned.

My laptop. Finally found a power socket :D

End note: I didn't get to emulate Atama's Sapu Tangan Keningau... Well, not that there wasn't any beautiful girls there (I actually met one who looked like Kim Chiu at church!), but I didn't bother to get to know them lol. Not here to look for sumandaks anyway =P