Onward!: stay one more night: the bario hospitality

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

stay one more night: the bario hospitality

I came back from Bario, one of the greatest places in Borneo. The reason we went {the were 6 of us} was to transport musical equipments to smk Bario and to teach them how to take good care of the equipment so they can use it for a long time.

Smk Bario is quite unique in that the seniors of the school are form three. After form three they have to go to Marudi to continue their studies. Not sure why its like that but there's basically no higher education after form three in the school.

We received a very warm welcome. A very formal welcome to the school so much that i felt like a dignitary. True to the Bario warm hospitality, they offer pineapple drink to all visitors, doesn't matter if you've been there before, its their way of saying thank you for coming, we receive you. The drink is fantastic, its basically pineapple with a straw in it, and you have to drink all the way until its finished. The also offered the bead neacklaces for everyone of us, Bario rice and salt. On top of that they played the local flutes for us singing all christian songs. Wah i tell you the feeling is very good. But we came to serve not to be served la.

Pastor Hii, his daughter Charis, Michael and Robin came earlier in the year, so this was the second trip to Bario for them. For Edward and myself it was our first trip. I was told Bario is quite cold so most of my clothes were black and i came with my jacket but surprisingly it wasn't that cold. In fact in the afternoons its quite warm. The nights are cold but not as cold as say genting. What is cold though is the water so taking shower can be quite a challenge. But even the water feels cold only initially after that it becomes sweet and enjoyable, you dont want to come out.

We were fed like kings all through our time there, we stayed at the school in a chalet style house. There was electricity the whole time we were there. The main source of electricity in Bario is through diesel generators. Some people supplement this with solar panels. The house we stayed didnt have any TV but the other houses had astro but we didnt really have time to watch tv.

Setting up the equipments was fun. The students were very enthusiastic to learn the instruments. A few of them were already quite good especially on the drums and guitar so a bulk of the time was spent teaching them new techniques and inspiring them to be creative in their worship leading. This session was basically done by Robin. He's really good with the kids.

On the first night we had a male bonding time, just talking about stuff, life, relationships and stuff. Pastor Hii really enjoyed himself but basically Edward and Michael were playing match maker for Robin. I didn't participate much and well you can understand if i dont talk about the details of what transpired.

We got the chance to go deep into the forest into the place where they make the salt. Its not like the normal white salt we're all used to. The process of making the salt is very tedious. We didnt see it live being made but brother Morris {the pengatuan} explained the process to us. The journey to the salt spring is very long, about 20min on bike and then another 45min on foot. Good exercise however it became apperent i need to get into shape. I was panting the whole journey but it was nice la except for the bumpy roads, my butt still hurts.

Overall i had a very good time. Would love to go again sometime with a better camera so i can really take better shots. I find i really enjoy taking pictures. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the trip. More pictures at my flickr page. {I need a pro account} Sorry the post is kind of long.