After leaving Mulu National Park, we headed to Bintulu to try to catch a ride to Belaga. However, this was a bust due to the rain on the backroads. So, we rode a bus to Sibu (which is actually mentioned in the new movie, Venom!) and stayed there overnight. We strolled in the night market and then the next morning (on Saturday) we decided to head to Kapit in search of the remaining authentic longhouses.
- What is a Longhouse and Why Did We Visit One?
- How to Get to Kapit
- How Do You Even Find a Longhouse Near Kapit?
- Visiting Rumah Jandok Iban Longhouse in Kapit
- Leaving Kapit
- A Short Summary on Visiting an Iban Longhouse in Kapit
What is a Longhouse and Why Did We Visit One?
A longhouse is basically just that, a very long house. It is a house that fits 10-20 different families within its structure.
The traditional longhouses were built of wood and on stilts since the ground where they were built was extremely uneven.
Nowadays, longhouses are quite modern and look like a regular house, just extremely long.
The indigenous people of Malaysian Borneo still live in these longhouses and it is a big part of their culture. There are many longhouses to visit, however, we wanted to visit one that was less touristy and more authentic. So, to find those we had to head to Kapit or Belaga!
Kapit has many Iban longhouses. The Iban group is famously known as headhunters. More on that later…
How to Get to Kapit
Getting to Kapit from Sibu is very easy! The ferry terminal (also known as Terminal Penumpang Sibu) is right on the river and near Li Hua Hotel Sibu Town which we found in our guidebook.
The boats that you take are known as flying coffins since they go ferry fast and look a bit like a submarine lurking in the water.
There are 1-2 ferries per hour starting at 5:45 am with the last ferry at 2:30 pm. We took the ferry at 10:45 am so we had time to eat breakfast and decrease our chances of being seasick. There is no food on board, so eating and bringing snacks is recommended.
The journey took about 3 hours. The boat goes extremely fast and passes a lot of longhouses on the river. We saw locals bathing in the river as well as many cool docks.
Tickets cost 25 MYR for economy class (7.8 CAD/54.7 SEK), 30 MYR(9.4 CAD/65.6 SEK) for business class, and 35 MYR(10.9 CAD/76.5 SEK) for first class per person. We took business class since then we heard the engine a lot less and the seats were better.
We took overnight bags with us and left our big backpacks at our hotel in Sibu. This was totally free, which was great! I would suggest having little bags since it is nice to everything with you. Also, if you have big bags then they need to be secured on the top of the boat. And if they are on the top of the boat, then maybe a pesky snake will be in the cargo area upon arrival in Kapit!
How Do You Even Find a Longhouse Near Kapit?
So, we arrived in Kapit and we thought to ourselves: how the heck are we going to find a longhouse to visit? There is very limited information online. I mean, I searched for hours and all I could find was the following information.
Things that did not work
- Alice and her daughter, Christina, are registered tour guides through Sarawak Tourism. The numbers we found online were not valid, so we couldn’t even call them for more information. I have read on blogs that they charge a lot of money for their tours. Also, we like to do it ourselves.
- Mr. Selamus is a retired policeman who can help do tours. Well, we went to the police station as suggested in the blog I read, and voila, they have never heard of him. They suggested that maybe it was a scam? I hope that blogger did not pay too much…
- Do not do a guided tour with a man named Joshua. Apparently, he rips off tourists and drinks too much booze. Our hotel did give us his number when we asked about longhouse visits. So, great? We did not contact him.
- You should ask locals about longhouse visits. Yeah, right. We talked to many locals and they didn’t really know a lot!
- Ask the New Ranjang Inn and other tourists about getting to the longhouses. Nope. The Inn knew nothing and other tourists…HAHA, we hadn’t seen a tourist in days!
Things that worked
- Contact an engineer on Facebook that is named Ee Fan Kong. This one did work. He was really helpful and he is not a tour guide. Just a nice local that someone met and posted about in their blog. He has a friend that drives to the longhouse for about 80 MYR, which is cheaper than taking vans, but his friend was not available. So, if you want to do this option, write to him in advance.
- Go the Wet Market (Market Teresang) and find a van driver to take you to Rumah Jandok Iban Longhouse. According to Ee Fan Kong, this is the last remaining authentic longhouse in the area. This is the only option that worked! We told the van drivers that we would return around 9 am the following morning (on Sunday). Since it is quite far away, van drivers take 120 MYR (37.5 CAD/292.3 SEK) for a return trip to Rumah Jandok.
What to Do in Kapit
With our transportation booked, we had a whole night to kill in Kapit. We stayed at a very seedy hotel (Hotel Meligai), which was the cheapest one we could find. That evening, we walked around Kapit, which is quite a cool city since it is situated right in the middle of the jungle.
We had some weird dessert that had corn in it. That’s right, it had corn mixed in with the ice cream.
This is an ABC which is a dessert that also has corn in it and me talking to some locals to find out what they were drinking since it looked good (it was honey lemon tea)
We also ate some delicious food and talked to locals. Since tourists do not often make their way out to Kapit, some children were excited to see us.
Visiting Rumah Jandok Iban Longhouse in Kapit
Our Drive Out to the Iban Longhouse
We had our transport booked, which is super simple. For a price, the van drivers will take you where you want to go. Since it is quite expensive (120 MYR), it would be smart to split the price with other tourists, if you can find any!
A handy map so you know where the longhouses actually are!
Our driver did not speak English, which I was a bit nervous about. I mean, we wanted someone who could even speak a bit on English so we could ask questions to the indigenous people who live in the longhouses. But alas, Malaysian hospitality saved us.
Our driver, Tiong Nai Tung, made a pit stop on the way out of Kapit. We were a bit confused but then we saw a woman’s face pop out of the door and her and our driver returned to the vehicle. He had decided to bring along his wife, Wong, which was fantastic since she could speak English quite well!
The drive to Rumah Jandok Iban Longhouse takes about 30 minutes and it is a very windy road. There are danger signs (written in Malay) everywhere. Along the way, Wong told us lots of interesting information. She pointed out Durian plants and let us know that June 1st and 2nd is the best time to visit that is when the Iban Festival takes place. We also passed Rumah Panjang along the way which does homestays. Our driver told us that you could get a trip out there for only 60 MYR. I am not sure how much the homestay costs but could be a cool experience to stay with locals.
Once We Arrived at the Longhouse
Finally, we arrived at Rumah Jandok Iban Longhouse. It is literally the last stop at the end of the road. You walk down a wooden path surrounded by lush trees to make your way to the longhouse structure.
Since the houses are built up on stilts and this longhouse was old, it was a bit scary walking along the wooded path.
The price for admission was 65 MYR (20.3 CAD/142 SEK) for both of us. They get a maximum of 1 tourist per week (much less in the springtime), so we felt that the price was fair. Wong explained that all of the people have moved out of the traditional longhouse and live upstream the Sungai Yong River. They live in an area accessible only by boat.
However, there were around 10 people at this longhouse where nobody was supposed to live. Why were they there?
Wong explained that they were there for the tourists. What tourists? The ones that came not more than once per week! So, they went there every day just in case a tourist would arrive. Seems like quite an effort for so few tourists.
Rings after stipping bark and a wicker design
We signed the guestbook and the wife of the chief showed us around. The chief was in Kapit, so he was not around.
Pepper that has been collected and a woman and her daughter crush plants since there is no blender at this longhouse
We asked many questions to her which Wong did a great job in translating for us. We learned about her family and how they had moved to a new longhouse.
The chief’s wife
A lot of the traditional furniture and decorations had already been moved to the new home.
We did buy candy for her grandson, who was shy but very accepting of the candy.
After that, we walked around the main room and watched the chief’s sister strip bark to make wicker. She then explained to us about the traditional headhunting practice done by the Iban people.
The chief’s sister strips bark which she will then weave
Oh did I not mention that? The Iban people were known as the headhunters. They would collect skulls from their enemies and display them. A very old practice, but this longhouse still displays some of the skulls. Most other longhouses will not display them since when Christianity spread in Malaysian Borneo, they were to be removed. However, it was bad luck to throw them out so the heads are around somewhere in every Iban longhouse.
We walked around the longhouse and snapped many pictures. Although the new longhouses have moved into the 21st century, it was really cool to see how these indigenous people used to live. Especially when you can compare and contrast it to the First Nations surrounding the Vancouver Area. Very cool!
Views from inside of the longhouse
Leaving Kapit
We said goodbye to the chief’s wife, sister, and grandson, and then we drove back to Kapit.
Along the way, we quickly saw a modern longhouse which had many families living inside.
We got dropped off at the ferry terminal in Kapit and made our way onto another flying coffin to Sibu. We ate and then made our way to the airport to make our way to our current destination, Kuching! Finally, I start my quest to see a proboscis monkey and some orangutans!
Our tickets and Danne with a flying coffin
A Short Summary on Visiting an Iban Longhouse in Kapit
Okay, so you want to visit an Iban longhouse near Kapit and see the infamous headhunters. Here is a quick summary to understand how to visit Rumah Jandok Iban Longhouse.
- Take the flying coffin boat from Sibu to Kapit.
- Go to the wet market in Kapit and find a van driver for around 120 MYR return trip. The market is busiest on weekends.
- Ask for the driver Tiong Nai Tung and check if he could bring his wife, Wong, to help translate while you visit the longhouse. You may need to grab a local to help you translate since Tiong cannot speak very much English.
- Perhaps buy candies for the children. They really liked that!
- Visit the longhouse, ask lots of questions, and take pictures.
- If you want to do a homestay, then ask a driver to take you to Rumah Panjang for around 60-80 MYR. This is a modern longhouse.
Have you seen longhouses while visiting Borneo? What did you think of the experience? If not, is it something that you would like to do?
xx
Jasmine
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Good write up, thanks. Was thinking of visiting a Kapit longhouse but really not sure it’s worth the effort now.
Thanks! It was definitely a lot of effort, so I can understand putting time elsewhere. 🙂
Hi, I was to read your stories about my home town Kapit, btw there still have a lots place you need to explore there.. you can keep n touch with me at roland.mibang@gmail.com if you would like to come again..cheers mate
I am glad you enjoyed the read. 🙂 Thanks! Will do!
there is a lot more you need to explore at kapit for free. You should visit Belaga =)
I agree! I wasn’t there for long enough. 🙂
We stayed overnight in the longhouse 1992. We partied with the Iban hosts. They were energetic-each of us had to show a dance routine. It was hilarious helped with the drink they supplied. In return as was expected in those days we brought bottles of rum and gin.
Sounds like you had quite the trip. 🥰