We only stay here for 1 week, and it was our last stop of my Borneo journey. We split up into pairs and were given a family to stay with while we were here. We knew very little about each family so it was just a random selection by all of us. This place is just amazing. I loved it. We definitely saved the best until last. There were no parts of it that I didn't love. Our home stay had a lovely family, so welcoming. Our guide was so knowledgeable and funny. The project work was difficult but worth every minute. Just so many things to talk about!
Home Stay
This family showed me how important it is to be to close with your siblings and parents. There are the parents, 6 girls and 1 boy, all 9 of them share that one space. This is a close knit family. They all sleep next to each other on the living room floor, they eat together, watch TV together, play together.
They included me and Mica in all their games, watched films which were in English or had English subtitles and they always ate with us. I have never felt so welcome in someone else's house. Even though the language barrier was a problem at first, soon we didn't even notice. I don't think I could have asked for a better family.
Meet the Locals
Our home stay mum, Misa, gave us traditional dress to wear to a local wedding. The locals here are Muslim. Unlike western weddings, weddings here are a community affair. The whole village was invited to this wedding! They had a stage with performances and a separate buildings for food. It was almost like it's own festival, with a river cruise to end with as well! We were able to sit in on the ceremony and eat with the immediate family too, it was an honour.
Project Work
A bit of history on the work they do in Batu Puteh:
This program by KOPEL - http://www.mescot.org/ (home stay and preservation of the jungle) has been running since 1997. Started with 5 home stays and now there is 36 just around Batu Puteh. They specialise in Eco Tourism and Conservation.
In 1998 there was a forest fire which burnt around 300 acres of jungle. Since then volunteers from all over the world have replanted 1000/4600km squared of forestry. They have been aided by WWF. The primary (oldest) forest is around the village, further out is virgin rain-forest. The voluntary work includes seed collecting, clearing, planting and conserving.
We picked saplings from the jungle, then planted them in a nursery, so they could grow bigger before replanting them in a destroyed part of the jungle. I felt like because of what we had done while we were there, there was going to be another part of the forest that the Orang-u-tans can roam. That’s a satisfying feeling.
Find all the information you need on my YouTube video:
Stay safe our there,
Comments