Thursday, October 15, 2009

visit to orang asli settlement


Last month I got a call from the district office asking me to follow a mobile team into the interiors of Banding Island in Perak to investigate some outbreak of acute gastroenteritis there. I was like "huh? ur kidding me?". Cos seriously i never get this kind of request before. Well, apparently the officer in-charged has been transferred elsewhere and with no replacement whatever, they simply have to find some Tai Sei Guai (替死鬼) somewhere to Sek sei mau (吃死錨) (meaning to look for replacement to do something nobody wants to do). So im their next target in the rotation until the new replacement officer comes (which could be next year or next millenium).



It was supposed to be a 3 day 2 nights stay in some orang asli (aborigines) settlement so remote that we can ony reach there via speed boat and 4WD Pajero. And stupid me I thought this kind of place only exists in Sabah or Sarawak. But luckily the trip was cut short to 2 days 1 night. Reallly lucky cos i dun think i will come out as a normal human if it was prolonged any longer. I might have mutated into a zombie for all u know. Will explain why later LOL

So we reached the Banding jetty after about an hour drive. Here:


The overhead bridge connects to the eastern part of peninsular Malaysia.


The Royal Belum Forest of Perak lies just 1 km from here. No time for sight seeing though. Hmm....i wonder if there is anything worth visiting there. Should appeal to those botanist, geologist or biologists i guess. Maybe got some unexplored old civilization or dinosaur fossils, who knows?
There is even a small little Marine post located in a cosy corner. When there is no emergency around, probably the officers will have plenty of time fishing or simply cruising on the speedboat on government enpenses. So nice eh?

The boat ride lasted a glorious 1+ hour. The strong wind makes my hair indented to one side after the boat stopped. LOL. There were some waves in the water so whenever the boat goes through the waves, the boat will literally jump up and down, together with the 10 of us on the boat. Luckily no one fell into the open sea. Some say there are crocs in the water. Gosh! How come they never tell me before i take the boat ride?? I don't have insurance, u know?

Then when we were about to reach the shore, something happen. Our boat was stuck in the muddy water! And we were still about 100m away from the shoreline.In my mind i was actually laughing cos i thought since the boat cannot dock, then the trip would be cancelled. But unfortunately, the navigator managed to get us out from the mud. He was using the oar cucuk here cucuk there in the water. God knows how many unlucky fishes died in the process. Its too late.... My dream of patah balik was dashed...completely :(
Farewell to the civilised world...There was no mobile phone coverage. TO be continued.......

11 comments:

Gratitude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gratitude said...

So, you ended up cucuking with the navigator hor? wakakakaka

I would love to go to this place, but not for too long a stay.

Your post reminds me of the time I wuz posted by the bank to Pulau Ketam when the branch manager had severe gout from overeating seafood. Gosh, the speedboat ride was indeed scary, mostly drenched in seawater especially in choppy waters of the open sea. Width of the boat wuz only ehough for 2 butts. Scary dude! Ada insurans pun takda guna. Hampir mati mengigil sial! lolz

Next trip, round up some bloggers and we cld have lotsa fun there.

TZ said...

Hmmm... I think i would rather stay in the polluted metropolitan KL. At least not so tension. :) Jungle life is not a cup of tea for TZ.

blue said...

hey anton, "cucuking with the navigator" sounds kinda perverted LOL. Seriously u wanna go to this place? Better think twice lor...
Pulau Ketam i never been there before. Whats the attraction there? Orang asli and loads of crabs?

blue said...

Tension exists everywhere, whether in the concrete jungle or real jungle. Im not a Tarzan material also, but work is work, what to do?

Gratitude said...

Pulau Ketam? Hmmmm.. loads of teochew peeps eating teochew porridge till 3am, the sounds of loud "cina" karaoke, motorcycles on loose planks till you can't sleep, hotel toilets whereby you cld hv a view of where your poop lands on the muddy banks .... and yup, loads of delicious seafood.

blue said...

doesnt sound very inviting to me..seafood is not my forte hahaha..nor those teochew peeps

Allison said...

im sure it is not that bad? i wont mind tryin tho i think to get a feel of it in case i get posted to someplace like that next time!

blue said...

thanks for dropping by, allison. Ur blog seems to attract alot of erm..males. hahaha..Its a compliment, no worry LOL. Wanna know why this place is not my cup of tea? I will continue the second part later on. But anyway i dont think they will post you to such interiors, unless of cos ur working in east malaysia :P

Anonymous said...

Ooi...Sarawak not all like that lah! Come over to Sibu... You'll be amazed! My friend from Penang was...very pleasantly surprised! It's VERY different from towns in the peninsula. Hop over to have a look...

blue said...

no need to be so defensive STP :P . I went Sibu few years ago. I know not ALL Sarawak is like that haha. Well, if i have the time maybe i'll hop over again :)