On Wednesday last week, we decided to drive to Melissa’s school in Selangau to clean up her room prior to her moving in on Sunday before school reopened the following Monday.
Yes, it isn’t very far – about 1½ hours’ drive away but when it is me who is driving, I may stretch it a bit but it would be less than two hours, that’s for sure. I don’t really drive very fast but I am not one slow coach either – just that I am in no hurry so I just cannot understand why there is a need to rush. After all, we do not have multi-laned highways like the ones our counterparts in the same country enjoy in the peninsula – here, we have one lane going and one lane coming back…
…and traffic can be pretty heavy sometimes so overtaking may not be all that easy…and if it is not your lucky day and there are people working on the road along the way…
…you will probably be delayed a bit. That is why it is better to plan ahead, start early and give yourself lots of time to get to your destination and you will not have to be rushing like a lunatic on a one-way ticket to Hell! Well, that is the impression that I get looking at some of those people on the road and honestly, it’s no wonder at all that accidents happen…and fatal ones, at that.
Get it into your heads, guys – you’re no hell-raiser, no F1 driver…just another road user like me and everybody else and if you see it fitting to put your lives at risk, just make sure that you do not drag everybody else down with you. If I am going 80-90 kmph (that’s the speed limit here) and you can overtake me and disappear from view within a split second, I can well imagine how fast you’re going, my friend.
On my part, usually, when I see people tailing me, the moment I see that the road in front is clear, I would signal and move as far left as possible to make it easy for the fella to overtake. I’m in no hurry…so after you, if you please. I do not have a problem with that, not at all. But unfortunately, there are some very slow vehicles especially some old jaunty jalopies that have seen better days, looking like they are about to fall apart any instant now…or those overloaded trucks or lorries that seem to be groaning at the weight of the things they are carrying and the sad thing is they will just plod on right in the middle of the road, never mind that there is already a long queue of cars trailing behind them – it’s their great-grandfather’s road and there is no way they are going to let anybody overtake them!!!
My dear friend, Mandy, once went to Selangau on a working trip and she can tell you that it is generally one hell of a roller coaster ride and the condition of the road isn’t really cut out for fast driving. Sure, there are some nice bits and pieces along the way, few and far between…
…but most of the time, the road reminds me of Swiss cheese – full of holes…or a patchwork quilt where they have filled those potholes instead of resurfacing the whole thing, making it one hell of a bumpy ride so one would have no choice but to go a little bit slow over such stretches. Perhaps I am not that well-seasoned so I do not know how to manoeuvre around to avoid all those without having to slow down, I wouldn’t know.
You will drive past lots of longhouses – some modern, looking quite pleasant, really…while there are others for which time seems to have stood still. I would think these would be more authentic, very much more worth a visit than the nice-looking ones. Past the small Selangau town, you will come to this place where the Miri/Bintulu-Sibu buses would stop…
…for the passengers to go for their tea and pee-breaks. They’re nowhere near those very nice rest areas along the highways in West Malaysia , of course.
Then you will go past the Selangau police station…
…and the klinik kesihatan (health clinic)…
…and the junction to Mukah and when you see this milestone…
you will know that you are 122 km to Bintulu (over 90 km from Sibu) and you have reached the school – there, you can see the red roofs behind the row of banana trees.
They are still waiting for the green light from the authorities concerned (After three years already, mind you!) to move into the “new” teachers’ quarters…
…so in the meantime, Melissa has to stay in a room in one of the old wooden ones…
Of course, they’re not in very good shape since obviously, nobody has bothered to maintain them properly. I can guess how difficult it is to get the school to do that (and they in turn will need to pass the buck to some other department) plus they may have other “better” things to do with the allocation that they get…but if I were staying in one of these and knowing that I would need to stay here for a while, I would do something about keeping the place in good shape and looking more presentable – no need to depend on others and wait till kingdom come before anything happens.
Actually, does it really matter one bit that you will not be staying there forever and others will move in after you…and reap the harvest of all your effort? I have only one word for the likes of this – SELFISH…and perhaps, irresponsible, not very innovative, couldn’t-care-less and everything negative, all rolled into one! Gee! If this is the kind of person you are, I can imagine what kind of teacher you will make! This is what is MOST important – the simple basics in life – things our parents (mothers) taught us before we went to school…and we need to educate ourselves in these matters first before anything else. And never mind what philisophy, what blueprint, what syllabus you have, what experts you spend a fortune to rope in from abroad to assist, if this is the mentality of the educators concerned, it is really very easy to see the direction things are going.
Still, despite the not-very-pleasant condition of the quarters, I would think it is really a very nice place to live. One can just sit back and relax and enjoy the peace and quiet all around, the clean fresh air, the soothing green grass and forests and the clear, blue sky…
…and one can plant some vegetables in the vicinity of one’s house…
…like these terung Dayak (Dayak brinjal), for instance…
…or even some pineapples, if one so desires…
These cangkuk manis certainly look a bit too old already…
…but one can always replant and get a steady supply of free, pesticide and whatever chemical-free vegetables right outside one’s door.
It was around 3.00 p.m. already when we decided to call it a day. We stopped by the market in Selangau and I saw some Iban ladies selling this – with a swarm of flies hovering over the meat. I bought a bit to bring home to cook soup , our traditional way…
…to see if it was any good and it was. Maybe I would buy more next time. In case anyone’s wondering, I was told that if there are a lot of flies, it is good and you can just go ahead and buy – just wash clean or if you are fanatical about the cleanliness, trim away the outer layers before cooking. If there are no flies, the people must have used some chemicals to kill the animal or to prevent the meat from going bad, so much so that not even those common houseflies would bother going near.
All in all, I would think that was a rather fruitful and rewarding trip, indeed…and after what we managed to get done, we certainly hope Melissa will find it a little bit more comfortable staying there in the days ahead.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 