Batang Ai National Park
On 9 June we took a bus ride to Batang Ai National Park, about 100 miles (165km)
east of Kuching, in the interior of Borneo near the border with the Indonesian part of
the island.  Our route was generally through thinly populated rolling hills covered by
forests, palm oil plantations, and pepper growing farms.   We stopped in the only two
towns along our route, the small market town of Serian and the village of Lauchau
Bazaar which served us as a lunch stop.  We passed several scattered houses along the
way, including several longhouses which will be described below.
After four or five hours our bus ride ended at a landing on the shore of the large
Batang Ai Reservoir.  From there we went by boat on a twenty minute ride to the
Hilton Long House Resort. In this Hilton lakeside property the guest rooms are in
several walkway-linked single-story wooden buildings on stilts, imitating the
traditional longhouses of the local Iban people.  The main attraction of the Hilton
Longhouse Resort is that within a few miles from the Hilton are several genuine Iban
longhouses along the Batang River whose occupants have been induced to welcome
groups of visitors from the Resort.
The following day we got into "longboats", each an oversized wooden canoe
propelled by an outboard engine.  In our longboat we rode on the Batang Ai River
for about an hour to the Delok Longhouse.  This wooden longhouse is built on stilts
at the river's edge and is about 150 feet (55 meters) long and perhaps around 40
feet (15 meters) wide.  The building houses about 150 persons, about twenty related
families.  The rear half of the longhouse is divided to provide a small apartment for
each family, while the front half of the longhouse consists of a long veranda along
the entire front half of the longhouse, to serve as an open communal area.  Attached
to the front of the building is a long roofless balcony for drying laundry and other
open air activities.  Under and around the stilted longhouse roam pigs and chickens.  
Close to the longhouse are family farm plots for subsistence agriculture and to grow
pepper.
Male Dancer at Delok Longhouse
Woman Dancer at Delok Longhouse
Entering the Delok Longhouse we took off our shoes and sat around on the veranda
where we were offered welcome drinks and heard a translated welcome speech by
the Chief of the longhouse.  After snooping around the longhouse for a while we
were offered a buffet lunch of various Iban foods.  Then a quartet played drums
and gongs while several residents performed traditional dances for our
entertainment.  After about three hours at the Delok longhouse we again boarded
our longboats and headed back to the Hilton Longhouse Resort.
Dusk at Batang Ai Reservoir viewed from the Hilton Longhouse Resort
Ready to go from the Hilton
Resort to the Iban Longhouse.
Reception at the Iban Longhouse.
Male dancer at the Delok Longhouse.