Trip up Katibas river

last month i made a week long medical trip into the interiors of Sungai Katibas, which is tributary of the Rajang river. though im in charge of KK Song, there are 4 other Klinik Kesihatan (KK) along Sg. Katibas which is under my care and are manned by medical assistants.

During the day we will run the clinic. Patient load varies from KK to KK. It all depends on how many long houses there along the river. The more longhouses there are, the more patients there will be. During the 4 days there, i saw a total of 189 patients. Most of the cases were hypertension and diabetes follow up cases. We did pick up 2 suspected cancer cases and they were referred to Sibu for further management

At the end of the day, it was time to have fun. River swimming is the main activity. I could not believe that there are still clean rivers in Sarawak with all the over logging going on. It was simply beautiful to see crystal clear river water cascading down the rocks and boulders as the occasional fish jumps out playfully.

The water was so clear that you could actually see the fishes swimming between the rocks. It makes it easy for spear fishing. The Ibans here have their own home made spear gun. It’s a very simple device made of wood, elastic rubber band and a thin metal spear. But it is dead accurate.

Once the swimming and fishing was over, it was time to barbeque whatever that we caught. The one thing that will forever be etched in my memory is how we laughed and joked as we barbequed the fishes and wild boar meat by the rocky river bank as the sound of the flowing crystal clear river water filled the air. It was simply awesome. I’ve never experience something like that before.

And every morning, i wake up to a misty morning sky and the sound of river flowing punctuated by the beautiful chirping of the early morning bird. The air was cooling and simply refreshing as we cruise along the Katibas River early in the morning. This is simply as close as you get to the beauty of Mother Nature.

At night everyone will gotong-royong to help cook dinner. It didn’t matter what position you hold, everyone was equal and all helped out. I was of not much help though since my culinary skills are pretty limited.

It was great seeing how everyone worked together as a team regardless of position or rank. It was like one big family all working together and joking with each other.

After dinner, we had a different activity for every night. The first night in Tekalit we just sat around and drank tuak and ijok as the senior staffs recount their live stories. Got to say this, the ibans really love their tuak and ijok. And i love it to myself. Its cheap, nice and safe.

On the second night in Bangkit, i was introduced to this iban gambling game called “Holo.” Its a sort of pictorial roulette. The objective of the game is try to bet on the same picture as the dice.

The third night in Engkuah, we made a trip to the opposite bank to visit the longhouses there. The host was nice enough to whipped supper consisting of frog meat for us and, need i mention, tuak as well.

It was here that i had the misfortune of drinking one of the worst whisky I’ve ever tasted called “Cap Ah Pek.” Its some cheap whisky that is locally made and consumed by the bucket load by the locals. It goes for RM17 per bottle. Even though i just had a single shot, i was still feeling light headed the next day.

The 4^th night was spend in this place called Lanjak Entimau which is forest research centre that is not open to the public. The river here is even prettier. By this time i was already dead tired. It seems i snored so loud that the wooden floor panel was shacking ahahah....

overall it was a wonderful trip. going to make more such trip in the future.