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Sarawak´s Pandaw Cruise: Slow boat downriver |
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Heidi Munan
Source :Travel Times, New Straits Times,12 January 2010
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Eight days
sailing the length of the Batang Rajang? It´s definitely not a trip meant for
hasty travellers, as HEIDI MUNAN finds out on
Sure, we´ve all been on a Rajang cruise. The cruise where
you file into a torpedo-shaped air-conditioned speed launch in Sibu and tumble
out onto the jetty at Kapit.
The cruise that needs you to close your eyes and ears to the
video entertainment that´s screeching and crashing up front while you only get
the occasional glimpse of riverside settlements as the boat whizzes past. So,
this Pandaw cruise is supposed to spend eight days on the Rajang? Serious? Man,
that´s like going back into the 19th Century!
Pandaw´s Point Exactly
In 1865, the Irrawadi Flotilla Company started to ply
Today´s fleet, all vessels called Pandaw (which means white
flower) majestically sails the Irrawadi,
Passengers are in no hurry to get to the end of their
voyage, but they want to see a lot on the way.
The RV Orient Pandaw lies alongside Sibu´s town jetty, ready
for the travellers who will occupy her 30 cabins staterooms. She is 67m long
and 10m wide, and she can steam upriver at 8.5 knots, Rajang currents
permitting.
All aboard in time for a simple lunch of an extensive salad
and fruit buffet, half a dozen different breads and four dishes to choose a la
carte.
Cuisine, wine list and service alone would make the Pandaw
cruise unique, eastern-western with deft local touches (Sibu olives anyone?),
one surprise after another, for the whole eight days of the trip.
The hard-working international crew of 31 cares superbly for
a contingent of equally international travellers. During longer sailing
stretches, there´s entertainment on board — either from the visiting local
cultural troupe or from the multi-national crew who will get its collection of
guitars and talent out to serenade the guests. There are also several lectures
about the people and cultures along the Rajang.
But no matter how excellent the catering and accommodation,
sailing upriver in a stately barge can get a bit monotonous. The shore visits,
all agreed, are the highlights of the tour.
"Oustation" at Kanowit
The Pandaw makes regular stops at Kanowit or "outstations"
as, once of historical importance in ruling the wide hinterland of
Slated to become a museum, the fort cannon is said to
protect the busy trading town if necessary, and controlled shipping into and
out of the
Back onboard for lunch and then all retire to sleep in their
staterooms or loll in lounging chairs on the sundeck while the good ship steams
upriver towards Kapit.
A Night Halt In Kapit
At Kapit – an important up-country administrative centre,
the RV Orient Pandaw lays at anchor for a couple of days. Pandaw passengers
spend a morning at the town´s Sunday market before visiting an Iban longhouse
to see a habitation and lifestyle very different from their own, to sample tuak
rice wine and even try their hand at ngajat dance.
The Rajang rises in the far-off plateau of Central Borneo.
Just above Kapit the waters gush over a series of rocky rapids into the
lowlands. Upriver traffic has to move in smaller, shallow craft.
The passengers are transferred to a tongkang, a sturdy
boat-of-all trades rigged with a canvas roof and rattan chairs for the
reception of a human cargo.
The Rajah Bakun chugs her way past dozens of longhouses and
villages, to make a wide U-turn at ´Kaki Wong´, the foot of the Pelagus Rapids
which used to keep the warlike Orang Ulu and their equally belligerent Iban
foes apart.
Jungle Walks At Balleh & Song
Another side trip explores the Balleh, a major tributary of
the Rajang, stronghold of Iban culture and tradition. Just to make the point
that it´s not all longhouses, the group calls at a government school and
hospital at Nanga Mujong. Both impress the visitors.
For a bit of healthy exercise, the passengers take a jungle
walk on the slopes opposite Kapit town. They return to the boat tired, happy
and rather proud of themselves. To an excellent dinner, of course.
The best jungle walk of the whole trip is however achieved
without walking. Early rising at 6.15, just as day dawns, a small flotilla of
longboats comes alongside the Pandaw berthed at Song.
Passengers embark, four or five per boat, which then make
their way across the mist-shrouded main river and into smaller side-streams.
Travelling at low speeds, then without engines, the
passengers sit practically level with the tranquil water and enjoy the morning
calls of nature. The only human noise is the occasional paddle stroke.
The
Days drift like gently flowing water. The good ship makes
her way downstream, passes the busy towns of Sibu and Sarikei, into the wide,
silent mangrove marshes that form the Rajang delta.
The last stop is, appropriately, at the last village before
the mighty river meets the sea, Kampung Rajang. This normally busy village is
on a festive celebration when the Pandaw arrives.
Villagers in their best outfits come to the long jetty to
greet the boat - "... and why don´t you drop in at our Open House?"
If the passengers missed out on seeing the weaving
co-operative for which this Melanau village is famous, they have a great time
sampling home-made delicacies, photographing children in their prettiest
clothes and admiring the well-tended flower gardens which are a hallmark of
this community.
A river cruise is not for the hasty traveller. It´s a new
experience, leaving great memories behind... see you on the
■ Pictures by HEIDI MUNAN
