The frogs and the waterfall part 2 B

Back at the village, we sit down for a cold coffee and a break. Suddenly we encounter  new arrivals ...  And a guide who was the spitting image of our guide John. Johns brother. John and from what we are told are not difficult to spot in a place where people are about 5 ft tall and quite small built, John and his family were built like Samoan rugby players. John was keen for us to meet his older brother Nixon ... We later found out that all his 4 brothers were named after American presidents, and were all involved in the guide business, including one of his sisters .... Well that's going to be fun later then...
A couple from York were in the new arrivals ... And a brief chat showed that this ex postman was a true northerner from the old school. " I only like pie and chips and peas ... " he commented.. man he was going to be pissed off in Borneo ... He had barely survived thus far on chips and chicken... You can bet there will be no Yorkshire Puds on the menu here !!!

The roof of the rooms (that's the roofs
 for all 4 rooms) 

The air con rooms with mod cons :)

Nixon was taking them off to show them their room ... I made the comment that the AC switch was behind the door , and in room 3 the on suite was on the left..
Chirpy now.. Steve the posty headed off to room 3 .... Which is no different than our room or any other room. Nixon had a big smile on his face when he escorted them off... Suffice to say Steve did not when he came out of his penthouse suite.. His face was so good .. I cracked a huge smile ... He however did not !!!!! ( that will teach him for loosing all our important post for years and inspiring a kids programme that made black and white cats famous !!).

Nixon came over laughing .. Steve came over and his only comment was ... " I see you have a sense of humour" .. he hadn't at this point.

The Long House

The afternoon passed with various pranks and made for a light atmosphere.

Through the afternoon we were joined by some familiar tour guide faces from our previous trips .. Ben.. Ali the driver.. And Teddy. All guides (except Ali) and you could sense a perfect storm of pranksters and alcoholics.

Long House with John drinking Rice wine

Of course the guides are being very professional during their day..  but it was getting dark.. And after dinner is as always the trip to the long house .. chief .. sitting crossed legged ..RICE WINE !!!  etc. Mainly for the new comers .. We had been there the previous night.. but we had no intention of missing out on some booze.  

The long house was the only way to get alcohol .. so it's off for another visit then.. Nixon and his new charges went off. The onions sat around the table with Teddy their guide.  We tagged along for the wine and maybe a souvenir or two .. could only be seen hanging outside the various homes in the long house... Well that's our excuse for going .. you think what you want!!!

Another stray beetle ..

Rice wine consumed.. odd long boat from the long house .. after a long trip .. bought.. chiefs sons wife offers me a top or two.. well it may start a diplomatic incident to say no .... And it's back to the sitting area.
What we hadn't figured out.. until this point.. is Ben had a very dry sense of humour. He seemed quite serious in his normal activities.. but now.. at around 9.39.. he slips out a 1.5 litre of rice wine in a plastic coke bottle from behind his back... And starts taunting us with the fact that "this is mine - all mine" he is not a big chap and is unlikely to be able to say that soon. Into the back area of the kitchen out of sight of everyone.. he pushes us with his finger against his lips saying sush..... Don't make a noise... In the back is Ali, Nixon and John our guide all saying sush... The onions will hear. Clearly not only the Iban did not get along with the French.

10 mins later - our garlic snails went off to bed.. Ben who had been standing watch at the kitchen door told us with glee... and the cups came out ... its now nearly 10 pm... and if you have been paying attention.. the light go out at 10 pm.. (actually they turn the generator off as this is their only source of power).

We started off slowly.. John the consummate professional and Teddy (the senior chap there) only had a couple of glasses each ... Ben .. was getting very drunk and  an amazing high pitch excitable laugh .. and his story telling .. if you think I can spin a long yarn.. I am not even in the same league as Ben after a wine or two.. :)

Ali was slowly pacing along.. but we managed to get Nixon in on the game ...

Nixon

Some of the small insect life

Let me paint the scene ... the lights have gone out.. the open window from the kitchen shines the touches that now semi-light our table and this is attracting just about every insect within 500 meters of the place ...400 or more moths are now competing to dive bomb the touches on the table.. and we have the company of 2 or 3 bats whizzing around in the blackness after the insects.. flying beetles hit their hard shells against the table, the touches and us... and amid all this chaos we are having a "down in one" drinking game with Nixon and Ben to finish off the last half of the bottle of rice wine.... At one point we think we can hear something scratching up the tree out side .. but only spot a sleepy cat sat out side.. no night predators to spot then .. a nice big cat would have been good .. maybe ... or maybe after so much rice wine .. maybe not .. 

Its not long before the rice wine is finished .. everyone looks very tired .. and off to bed .. we don't feel that drunk .. used to it I guess .. but Nixon and Ben are showing some small effects ...  They will look worse in the morning.  I expect I wont hear much scratching, snoring, and screaming tonight !!!