Before anything else, let us regress and digress a bit. When almost everyone was inside the bus, Redline introduced bar_guarding (formerly Bagading) to a few other Britongers such as kutieng, mbsy, kittie and wonderboyz. I suspect there a are few more Britongers whom Redline did not introduce for reasons best known to him. So soon after the introduction, we were all talking and smiling just like as if we have known each other for years. Safe to say that those on the trip is a sampling representation of young and old, jabbers and non jabbers, BGAs and non BGAs and DBNAs and non DBNAs. And we immediately came to terms with each other including with those few representing SDNU. Wow! Who says Dayaks cannot unite? And especially the Bidayuhs who are regionally well represented form Serian to Lundu/Sematan.
And so back to Day 2 of the journey. We had breakfast at the hotel's cafe. There we mingled some more getting to know each other much closer. When time was up, we dispersed according to our assignments (or the lack of it).
I was an NGO of my own. While NGO members of BGA and SDNU get to work, I as an NGO of my own also started to get "busy" doing my own task. What I did was taking pictures and moving around the hotel lobby with a steady puff of a certain clove cigarette.
While NGO stands for Non Governmental Organisation, my NGO I aptly mean Nadai Guna Orang. Thus I was free to move around advertising my smiles and creating jokes and laughter amongst those who need them; even strangers! After all, smiles and laughters doesn't cost a dime (or rupiah if you will).
For lunch, we headed to Rumah Adat Dayak Kalimantan Barat (also called Betang) at the heart of Pontianak City. While waiting for lunch to be ready, many of us spend hundreds of thousands if not millions of rupiahs on crafts made of beads. Redline, mbsy, wonderboyz and some others looked like real Dayak warriors when they put on those accessories they have just bought. bar_guarding juga nggak mahu kalah, dong!
When food was ready, we were invited to a dining area for lunch. The food was terrific as they were prepared Dayak style, with pansoh, sambal and ulam. Oyouk was in the list. Here again we mingled with the local Dayak prominences; asking normal questions such as names, addresses and professions. Smiles, jokes and laughters flowed freely. Joining us are their Peoples' Representatives (ahli2 DPR and MPR), academicians and candidates for their upcoming election in year 2009.
After lunch, representatives from BGA and SDNU had their informal "bidapod" (meeting) with local Dayak leaders there and this will be shared later in my next post.
To be continued.
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