Throughout our trip, we've had many opportunities to visit non-majority ethnic groups in their villages but we've resisted taking "hill tribe" treks and the like because we always felt that walking into a native village and having them put on a show for us is a little like walking through a zoo. We made an exception in Borneo, which has a "Cultural Village" or a "living museum" which showcases the cultures of seven different ethnic groups living in Sarawak: Bidayuh, Iban, Penan, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Malay, and Chinese. The village has replicas of traditional houses from each ethnic group and have hired natives to do traditional crafts, cooking, medicine and dancing during the day. We didn't mind going to this zoo because they made it quite clear that it was artificial and the people putting on the show were being paid to do it.

The first stop in the village was at the Bidayuh head house, traditionally a (male) warrior-only enclave where the tribes' weapons and skulls captured in battle were kept. We then walked the long bridge to the Bidayuh longhouse where a lovely woman showed us around. The Bidayuh are known for making most of their everyday objects from bamboo, including their poison-tipped blowpipes. Pearse had been salivating after a blowpipe (minus the poison tipped darts) this whole trip so he was more than happy to buy a small version of this weapon along with an intricately carved bamboo carrying case from the Bidayuh man who made it. We then moved on the Iban longhouse. The Iban make up the largest indigenous group in Sarawak but we didn't get much out of our visit to the longhouse other than watching a woman at her loom.

It was then time for the "cultural show" and a much needed rest in the airconditioned auditorium. The "cultural show" was really just a series of traditional dances from a few of the tribes. A couple of the dances were interesting and one included the traditional art of picking up a block of wood (about 2 feet by 1 foot) using only ones teeth and then dancing around with it. Apparently this is a very important skill for the Iban warrior to master. Truth be told, though, we aren't really native dance afficianados and the ending song "Malaysia, Truly Asia" (which you can also hear often on Malaysian TV) touting the multiculturalism of Malaysia and billing the populous as one big happy family was a little difficult to stomach. But it was airconditioned and we managed to survive.

After lunch, we moved on to the Penan hut, which really was just a 3-sided thatched roof hut since the Penan are a nomadic people and don't build permanent structures. The Penan are well known as the masters of blowpipe hunting and for a ringgit Pearse got 3 chances to try a real blowpipe and did some serious damage to a cardboard cutout of a wild pig.

The next stop was the longhouse of the Orang Ulu tribes. Orang Ulu is a catchall term for many of the smaller tribes but the longhouse was quite impressive, standing on stilts at least 60 feet off the ground. There were some interesting carvings and paintings done on logs that reminded me of totem poles from back home. But, alas, there was no one at this longhouse to explain anything about Orang Ulu life, although we did try some tasty tapioca donuts freshly baked by one woman.

Perhaps the most impressive of the longhouses was the Melanau tall house, which stood 4 stories tall with the first story being 20 feet off the ground. The Melanau are unique in that their primary food source (besides fish) is the sago palm. It looks like a time intensive process to make the pulp of the palm into sago flour, which is then baked into crackers or made into a tapioca like dish. I tried a sago desert one night and I was not impressed but maybe it's an aquired taste. They also had a traditional medicine display in the longhouse but, once again, no one was there to explain it. I had also seen in the Kuching museum that the Melanau make "belum" carvings of animal-like figures which are used as receptacles for spirits after they are excorsized from sick people. There are many of these carvings for sale in the markets in Kuching but I'd feel a little weird about bringing a figure meant to house a bad spirit into my house so I left the souvenir shopping to postcards only.

After the Melanau tall house, we came to the Malay house, which was quite beautiful. It seemed as if each panel of wood was intricately carved. The Malay house, like the indigenous tribal houses, was also built on stilts and was made entirely of wood, but other than that it wasn't all that different from modern houses.

The last house in the village was the Chinese farm house which was completely different from all the other houses. It was one story and was built flat to the ground, not on stilts. It also seemed to be comprise of only one big room and was not made of wood. The Chinese have been living in Borneo for a long time and make up a sizeable portion of the non-indigenous population. The Chinese house showcased the cultivation of pepper farms. Apparently pepper (as well as oil) is Sarawak's claim to fame. You can buy ground pepper (white or black), whole pepper (white or black), pepper sweets, oils and many other enticing products. Unfortunately, Pearse and I detest pepper in all its forms so we didn't get to sample the wealth. But seeing the pepper plants and the machines used to transform it from a pretty green berry to that noxious black powder that makes me sneeze was very interesting, indeed.

We enjoyed our trip through the mini-Borneo living museum but felt a little jipped that there weren't more tribal people there to explain the artifacts. The admission is a little pricey, too, at 45 riggit ($12) but it was cheaper than taking a tour upriver to visit longhouses, and it was an interesting way to spend a few hours. In July, the village hosts the Rainforest World Music Festival and it's the perfect setting for it.