Longhouse Live

The Rungus and most rural ethnics of Sabah, lives a quiet and bucolic lives, amidst its endangered verdant environment. They don't have as much rush and jam like us urban dwellers have to go through daily, for whatever reasons that are driving us into. Or the lives we perceived to get. These rural dwellers live a quiet life.

The Rungus wakes up to a cool misty dawn, with the skittish chatters of mother hens and strutting roosters, catwalking down the rafters. Tangy scent of fresh coffee and fried banana strips wafts in from the bamboo kitchen and the hushed undertone of their children's exasperation, getting ready for school. You could also hear the muffled coughs and gags and the creaks of the bamboo splits floor, as some of the native move around groggily, still draped in their night sarongs.

The afternoon is just as quiet if not, for the distant incessant shrill of insects in the sweltering forest. The Rungus men and women, usually by this time, had their lunches and find themselves indolent on the veranda, hoping to catch that incidental whiff of breeze, coming through the gratings against the tepid longhouse atmosphere. In one or two of this groups, you will find someone red in the mouth, after effect of gnawing betel leaf and nuts.

The night is just as lacklustre as the day. Right after dinner which usually comes right after sunset, some adults would gravitate back to their favorite spot on the bamboo veranda, mending their nets or continuing with their handicraft works or join their children crosslegging on the linoleum floor in front of a TV. Usually after the prime time news at 9 or a P. Ramlee reruns, one by one as if on biorhythmic schedule, the lights flicker off and the longhouse is dark again, blending in with the night.

In the photo, a middle aged Rungus married couple, on the covered veranda of a longhouse, getting quality time over betel leaf and nut afternoon talk.