Vanishing Tattoo --
Trip Updates
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Still no real idea who will win the American Presidential Election. The voting debacle in America and the ensuing confusion has raised a lot of eye-brows here in Malaysia. There are many references to the fact that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones... i.e., in Asia many people feel the Americans take too keen an interest in other people's elections and are a little to free with their advice. Now it appears as if the Americans have been hoisted on their own petard. Everyone wonders how this could happen to the world's last super-power and the most technologically advanced nation in the history of the world. How indeed? But politics and tattoo ink don't mix so on with our journey...
Our travel plans change, and then change again. Ed and Simon have turned out to be a God-send. With their sage advice, Thomas and I have decided to alter our original itinerary for Borneo. We had originally planned on two trips, but now, thanks to the Davids, we decide to make one long expedition. Ed and Simon's father, David Kalum Umpie, was born in a longhouse far up the Skrang river. He has always wanted to take his sons back to where he grew up. His wife, Alice will come along. This is a hugely advantageous development, because by traveling with the David's we will be considered as family and treated as such. We will get access to Iban longhouse culture and tattooing that we would never otherwise get. Also accompanying us will be an interpreter, Ahngau Raid, who speaks almost a dozen languages and dialects. And last but not least, Jamie Dehlin, an American tattoo artist who like Thomas and my self is making a circumnavigation of the tattooing hotspots in Asia and Polynesia. We get out our maps and scramble to co-ordinate transportation, a van, two long boats, a bus and then more long boats and finally a quick flight back to Kuching. With all the people going, sometimes it feels as if I am trying to herd cats. Because we will leaving at 4:00 am tomorrow morning, Alice invites us to stay at their house. And Eureka, their house has air-conditioning. We provision for the trip at the local market and then head across the Sarawak River to see the Palace of the White Rajah, Charles Brookes. A testament to what one Englishman with money, boats, guns and ambition can do. The fortifications are impressive, the guns more so. The local people respect Brookes, carving out a country for himself as he did. Kuching is a vibrant mix of Malay, Chinese, East Indian, Iban, and other tribal cultures. We have an early dinner and go to sleep early. Vince Hemingson |
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