Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
A late flight time over to the Duis family's motherland seemed to fit in with the crew's topsey turvey sleeping patterns. A 9.30pm flight time had been arranged on a Malaysian Airways Boeing, and not on some brick with paper mache wings that had just about survived the Vietnam war thankfully. We inhaled a hearty KFC feast at the KL airport before departure, where Melissa also shared an observation to me about the inside roof design to the main departures building looking like it massive vaginas (or Hoo-haas as she put it) built in all over it. I had to concur, it was a very erotic look ceiling (hay mummo, here's some thing to doctor for the grandparents). Got to meet two of the production only crew members, Kim the tall camera assistant and wispy Annas the soundman. Seem like a decent duo, quiet but organised workers. Smooth ride and made good time, only a 2hour flight.
Now I can't comment much on the scenery just at this point as it was pretty early in the morning, but it looked much like the outskirts of KL, not too built up but did have a few high rise office buildings and quite a few luxury apartments looking out over the bay. Already looked like a party town with quite a few bars and clubs still open late on a thurs morning. We were picked up from the airport by our lively (and a bit of a whirlwind in the convo department) Sabah representative and support manager; Janice. I can't quite remember if she was releated to Gen or to the other Executive Producer to the company Rachel (who we'll meet later on), but she was closely tied to every one involved. She took us over to a family owned pent house apartment on the top floor of this block over looking the sea, which apparently hadn't been lived in for nearly 10 years, and had only just started to renovate. Naturally being the oldest out of Monty, Kim and Annas (only just mind you ;)), I chose the main bedroom, which was massive for a flat. Everyone was pretty happy with their rooms as they all looked decent and had en suites as well. Before we hit the sack we stomped off to the nearest 24 hour scran shop for a pre bed time snack.
Next day brought the brilliance of the island to it's full contrast. Looking out from the balcony to the left let us take a view towards the main chunk of the city and beyond that the rolling jungle lined mountains in the distance. To the right was a bright blue ocean speckled with mini green islands and boating resorts, pretty nice to wake up to all of this. We got up towards mid day and got picked up by Janice and taken to meet with everyone else, who had crashed at Gen's family home, for brekkie. This was never going to be the conventional British style of breakfast we all know and love, nope this consisted of brothy beef & liver stew, chopped chillies and a glass of the local citrusy cold beverage; Lok chai. After that we bombed it up to Rachel the exec producer who help a quite high up position in the local area being the wife of the Technology minister of Malaysia. Lovely smiley lady let me use her mansion/condo toilet. We swapped and borrowed more cars before moving on.
First task of the day was to split into two groups and film two separate points from around the area in the city called Jessleton, the old port side of town that used to be main British settlement. I went with the group down to the pier to look out to sea and take in a sight not too dissimilar to looking out from Lee on solent to the isle of Wight, but just a little smaller and a bit more paradisey. We took in the tour boats and the ocean pamarama for an or so before meeting back up with the rest of them (Johan, Kim, and Gen). Next stop was the local golf club and hotel resort to check out the 100 seater theatre we would be using at the end of the month to show off the finalised Kadazan documentary to the local press. We also, whist we were there filmed Janice's young cousin take some hits off the driving range so we could profile more of the new generation's modern activities and use it to explain how the old ways of the people there was slowly being carried out less and less. The last task of the day was to go visit an old Aunt of the family and to shoot her playing and talking with her 5 year old nephew. She was very well to do lady, quite prim and proper, and the style of her large house and garden showed it as well. Quite a successful family it seems most of her offspring graduating from university, as displayed in many typical scroll holding graduation photos. Crashed quite early that evening as we had to get up pretty early for the next assignment.
The next day was a hard one to get up for, harder it seems the most for Annas, as I literally thought he'd died from the shock of waking up. After crawling out of my bed, and went to see if the other two were getting up as well (we were running late at the time). I knocked on their door, and with no answer I meekly opened the door to see what had befallen them. There Annas was completely wrapped, head to toe, in his bed sheet, like he was about to be moved to the morgue. Having to make sure if the night had really finished him off, I poked him a couple of times...with my finger...no response...poked him a couple more times...again with my finger...then a small snort and body shuffle. He was actually alive then and we could actually turf him out of the building and on our way to the next assignment.
It was actually quite a packed day going around different parts of the area filming some important sections to the documentary. The first port of call was 40 miles down the road to a small township of Papar. On the way there Kim decided to poke his head out the sunroof to shoot some daring on-the-move footage. No low bridge decapitations thankfully, as filling out the insurance form would have been well boring. The town was having their beauty pagent as part of their month long harvest festival. We stopped off at a fruit seller's stand, and timed that brilliantly, as an old steam engine puffed by over a road crossing near to us. It was pretty packed out in town, as it was market day right next to the large village hall. Nearly everyone were wearing their traditional Kadazan costumes, made up of black material and gold decorations. For us blokes we came a little too late to check out any appropriate aged totty on stage for the competition to eye up, instead there was the girls under 8 beauty pagent, like the ones in America. Outside, under a palm tree roofed shack, some traditional 'da gong' players were belting out a face melter on their instruments, got some good footage of that happening, culture in motion. They actually invited me to drink from one of their gordes of rice wine with a bambo straw, pretty refreshing stuff, it will probably be the only thing i'll be drinking the next time i'll be back in Borneo, will have to start getting used to it. Got my photo taken with some of the older totty before I left, happy days, but unfortunately no touching.
Next port of call was lunch with every one back in KK. As it was Janice's birthday (who kept rather quiet about it), we'd booked a table at a Singaporean cuisine restaurant. Loads of large dishes of random mixed wok fried lovelies were served, waaay to much to eat, even with the 7 of us muching away, we could only get through half of it. The only thing I couldn't eat all the way through was this Tom Yum dish, seafood cooked in a hot strong tasting broth, that was so sour it made my lips hide in the back of my head. Hung around with Janice for a little bit after that, got to see her parent's house as she freshened up for the evening shoot out of town.
We travelled out to a place called Limbanak out in the sticks, where we were to film a harvest festival ritual to appease the rice spirit, who had sacrificed his daughter to ensure that they would get great harvests each year. Each grain of rice had a piece of his daughter's soul with it, so because grains of rice do get wasted, you have to give a gift of prepared food to him and chant to make him happy again. It was very scenic and peaceful in this part of the world, it held as a great setting as we filmed the old high priestesses performing the ritual in this permanent gazebo type structure next to a normal homestead. It went on til midnight, with a few different stages to the whole process, one part being a bit of a conga line right at the end, so at least these old dears n-knew how to party. I could almost expecting some one to break out the old Kagagoogoo LP to top the night off.
Next day we were allowed a little bit of a lie in til 12pm, this time Annas looked less like the undead and got up a bit quicker this time. Kolopis was the next destination, to soak up another local beauty pagent and local fête. Loads of the locals were getting pissed up, bringing back floods of familiarity to the ways of the Pompey people of South Hampshire, another race of tribal people who loved a good boozed up swaré. The prospective Miss Kolopis looked lovely, although it looked like they'd all been cloned, as the amount of make up they were wearing filled out any discernible natural features. Wasn't there long enough to find out the eventual winner, as we were taking bets on who would win. Apparently number 2 won, she was in my top, so not a bad judge really. Before we left some drunk guy accosted me with the offer of a beer and to talk about Scotland, where he'd visited and what England was like.
The flight back was at a horrific time 6am, so we had to get up at 3am, the sort of time of the day that you couldn't really kip just before it without feeling awful for getting a couple of hours. Well in my case anyway. Pretty sweet little taster of the island at only 50% on the gage of extreme shenanigans, lets see how high up the scale round two in Borneo will be like.
- comments