5th February 2012 - Orang Asli Tribe visit

Last night we finished the first series of The Killing. Not sure if I mentioned it before but we started watching it in Kanchaburi and any night we weren't out we'd watch an episode. I have to say it's the best series I've ever followed. There were five episodes left to end the series and we watched every one of them in one sitting...each an hour long! I would seriously recommend a download if you haven't seen it already!

Anyway, today we went back to the rainforest. We organised a tour to visit the Orang Asli tribe. They are an aboriginal tribe who have spent their life living deep in the jungle. We took a boat down to them, was pretty happy with that because it would have meant we would trek for hours to get there otherwise!
We pulled up at the river bank about 40minutes away from where we had set off. There are ten families living in the settlement and each family has about six kids. The kids were so beautiful. The women too, dressed in their bright colour wrap around dresses with flowers stuck in their Afro hair.

We had some time to walk around the village and observe their habitat. There were many different shaped and sized huts. Our guide explained that it was the women's job to build the huts, when the men spent their time hunting. I have to say, the ladies can build a good shelter!

The tribe used to live much deeper in the forest but our guide explained that they have other needs now so have moved to a more accessible location so boats can reach them. They have needs like us too I guess. It was quite funny to see batches of bread and bottles of ketchup in their kitchens! They get grant aid from the government and receive a cut of the tourist fee when we go to see their village so they use this money to buy necessities, while still relying heavily on hunting.

taking in the washing!

Our guide explained how they have to move in the rainy season. He pointed out the level to which the flooding occurs and it was shocking to see actually how high the river rises. The tribe must also leave their settlement when someone in the village dies. The body is carried deep into the forest, wrapped in bark and raised high onto a platform in the tree. The tribe must set up a new village elsewhere and can return to their own village after about six months.

We were also told about their native language which was really interesting. They basically name objects after how it sounds! We were introduced to the tribal leader who explained some of these words to us. He also demonstrated how to start a fire, which he did a million time faster than Bear Grylls..Luke was in awe!

He introduced us to their lethal weapon, which is the equivalent of our gun. Its basically a really long bamboo stick with a ball of resin at the end. There is a hole in the resin where a sharpened dart is inserted and stuffed down with a leaf. You then blow through the resin ball and the dart fires. It's a very clever system as it's totally silent. That way, if you miss the animal it is not frightened away so you can fire again.

the black dart is the poisoned one!

We all had a go and it was shocking to see how powerful and efficient it is! We fired regular darts but he cautiously showed us some poisoned darts too. He explained that if the dart entered the prey at 1cm the animal would be paralysed and at 2cm, it would be killed instantly. We all backed away from the poisoned darts!!

After two hours our time with the settlement was up and the kids waved goodbye. It was a fantastic experience seeing life at its most primitive.

We travelled back up the river through the rapids and got completely soaked. It was a much welcomed cool down! Afterwards, we had dinner on one of the floating restaurants...I had rice instead of noodles today! We sat at the edge of the restaurant with our feet in the river and watched yet another thunder storm roll in. Some people dedicate their life to chasing storms, I'm beginning to think the storms are getting a good kick out of chasing us!!