letters from Sabah - #2

I am heading to Semporna, the town from which I will be catching a
boat to Mabul. The drive from Sabahmas (the name of the estate I had
been staying at) to Semporna is 3 hours and as I have explained in my
first email, there is nothing but oil palm plantation in the
landscape. This explains why I am eager to write. (also, I am a litte
tired of reading a fiction book about a Ukrainian family in the UK. It
is not bad, I am just bored)

Plantation life is somewhat colonial. The oil palm industry was
previously dominated by the British (of course-which industry wasn't?)
so even though the estates are now owned and managed by Malaysians,
life there still smacks ever so slightly of old colonial ways.

In general, the Malaysian Chinese are the men that run the show from
the top. The office staff is mostly Bumiputra. Mid-management is
mixed-Chinese, bumi, kandazan-dusun (indigineous peoples). At the
bottom of the organizational chart are the field laborers, and they
are mostly immigrants from Indonesia because the work is too lowly and
menial for Malaysians. I wonder where will we all turn for menial
labor when the third world (someday) becomes first?

Colonial practices continue. Among the mid and senior management,
meals are almost always eaten together. Every morning at 7am we gather
out on the guest house verandah and someone calls us in when breakfast
is served. This is not just a toast and butter breakfast. We get
noodle soup, sometimes poori and dahl or even curry noodles. Then we
break off to do our work. Mine was not laborious by any means. I was
attached to the ecological management unit and they were tasked on
doing an internal audit in preparation for the external "sustainable
palm oil" audit and certification. We spent time in the field watching
how harvesting was done, how they apply fertilizer to prevent surface
run off and water pollution (like we learned in geography class) and
make sure these procedures are safe and environmentally friendly.

At 12.30 we break for lunch and unlike the rest of us city rats, they
eat slowly, chit chat, watch TV for a bit and resume work at 2. At 7,
we all come back from our various areas of work and at 730 dinner is
served again in the common dining hall. After dinner we adjourn to the
same verandah that overlooks the vast expanse of oil palm and drink
beer while cracking jokes and peanuts.

Last night we went boar hunting. There is an overpopulation of wild
boar that feeds on the oil palm fruit so they have to be culled. I had
the privilege of joining on one such expedition. I sat high up on the
elevated seats of the land cruiser with the estate manager. A few
ex-hunters who are now on the estate's payroll stand in the back with
their spotlights trying to spot the glint of the animal's eyes. We
spotted about 12 in total but killed none in the end. They were hard
to target from the land cruiser and the ground was too muddy to run
after them. So we ended the night/early morning with no prize but I
think it was the first time I had ever seen and heard a gun being
fired.

The staff address everyone as Mr so and so. If it is an english name,
it is Mr Jeremy or Mr Philip. If it is a chinese name then it is Mr
Foo or Mr Chang.

Plantation life is simple and good but one would have to get used to
giant milipedes and locusts that hover around and sometimes bump into
you.

Ok, I have arrived at my destination. So long folks!

letters from Sabah - #1

Writing from sabah. I flew to kota kinanalu and from there to sandakan
where I was picked up and we continued on a 3 hour drive to lahad
datu, the nearest town to the plantation I was headed for. For almost
the whole 3 hour journey, we were driving past plantation after
plantation. The whole landscape of this part of the state is dominated
by the oil palm trees. Before palm it was rubber. It is the resource
curse.

The plantation I'm at is quite comfortable. All the guests are out up
in the guest house where we have air conditioned rooms. the problem
here is insects. They are all over and come in all forms. At any one
time there will be fruit flies buzzing around my face and houseflies
settling on my forehead and fingers. I am slightly paranoid they will
enter my respiratory system whenever I inhale. There are moths of
strange colours -pink and white- one of which landed on my leg this
morning to my disgust. I thank goodness I felt it before I saw it and
so brushed it off thinking it was a fly. Had I seen it first, I would
have jumped out of my chair. I have to keep my cool as I am the only
female in the company of these plantation men.

Then to add to the log of crazy insects, today I saw a foot-long
milipede. Think our garden ones times 50. Definitely a strange sight.

Mozzies are everywhere and I seem to be their only victim. My first
night, I had just arrived and was being introduced to everyone, after
standing still for only 5 mins, my whole left forearm was covered in
red welts. They also like attacking my eyelids for some reason. I wake
up in the night feeling itchy and my eyelids are heavy. In the morning
I look like I have cried my eyes puffy the night before. Hylexin does
not help in this case.

Then there is this nervous lizard that lives in my room. He has brown
grey striped translucent skin and is fat from all the bugs he can feed
on here. He is nervous because unlike the cool ones that sort of stick
around on the walls, this guy scampers whenever I enter the room. My
first night I was given a cool reception as I opened the bathroom door
and he ran across my bare feet. A sensation I would rather never
experience again.

But other than that, the food is great and I have been eating my heart
out as usual. Tonight we might go on a night safari and find the
nocturnal critters as they go about their nightly routines. I hope we
can hunt down some wild boar as I love the meat.

Spent some time touring the palm oil mill as well. It is amazing how
things are created behind the scenes. We have never thought about the
process of how our food gets to the table, but over here, I am
reminded everyday.

On Friday I head off to Semporna where we will be taken by boat to
Mabul Island. I am going to get my advanced cert and hopefully get to
see some great sights in Sipadan.