Selamat malam from our lovely homestay in Kuala Tahan! Today was another day successfully spent; it was full of learning and, of course, laughter and light as always. We started off our day with our usual morning routine: a wake-up time of 7:30 and a sizable cup of coffee (lots of condensed milk to mask the bitterness or, in Sienna’s case, sugar as well). Breakfast included orange slices, scrambled eggs, and cheese-stuffed naan. After Jah picked us up from our house, which is the furthest one out from the village, we set off to the boat jetty for a quick morning meeting. Then we took our 15-minute boat ride to the nearby Bateq village we had visited a couple of nights prior. 


Our visit to the village was primarily so we could speak more closely with tribe members and dive deeper into learning about their ways of life. With Andrew, Stella, Jah, and Angah as our Malay translators, we listened to detailed descriptions of their day-to-day routines and elaborate folktales about tiger people. All of this new insight into a community that lives so differently from our own, and off of the rainforest, is so fascinating to learn about. It really helped us put into perspective how little we need and how natural it could be to live a much simpler life out in nature.

We also got to see a blowdart demonstration and try it out ourselves. Some of us were really good at it; some, less so. Neil and Ananya managed to pierce the target (a Hello Kitty stuffy), so Andrew treated them to boba afterward. Ananya got Oreo boba, which tastes way better than it sounds.



We went back on the boat and ate lunch at the same floating restaurant, which consisted of our usual: chicken, rice, veggies, and watermelon. After lunch, we went to Angah’s house and continued to work on our eGuide presentations, focusing specifically on the village of Kuala Tahan and ECOMY’s Jungle Hut project. Angah and her mother fried up these addictive chips that we dipped in sweet chili sauce while we worked, which was a treat. We also sang Stella “Happy Birthday” and ate some cake that our homestay mom, Hidayah, made.

Speaking of our homestay mom, our home consists of our mom, Hidayah; our dad, Ayen; and our two adorable little brothers, Syafi (age 1) and Syaddad (age 3). Hidayah is an incredible cook, and we’ve been eating so much good food here. For dinner, we had delicious fried chicken, salad, dragon fruit, noodles, and orange juice. We’ve been so well taken care of here—we lucked out, and both of us have air conditioning in our rooms. Syafi and Syaddad have kept us incredibly busy when we’re not with the rest of the group. We’re always playing games with our mosquito bracelets or having mini dance parties (Syafi’s go-to move is shaking his head until he gets dizzy, which is adorable). Also, his favorite show is the Malay cartoon Didi & Friends, so we watch that every single morning while eating breakfast. We could probably sing you the theme song by now, if you asked. Syaddad goes to school during the day, so we don’t see him as much, but he is just full of energy and loves playing with us. Both of them are so cuddly and affectionate all the time, and they love running to us when we come back after a day full of activities.

Before dinner, a couple of our families met up and drove to a lookout point in the mountains called Bukit Awan. We had a little picnic there with delicious mangoes, spring rolls, fried plantains (SO GOOD), and more. We took some pictures with our homestay families and each other, and it was so quiet and peaceful up there. We were able to look out over Taman Negara, the national park, and the river as well. Everything is so green and lush here, and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. The overcast fog rolling over the trees made for some comfortable weather and truly cinematic photos :)

Tomorrow, we have a rest day at the Tekoma Resort and plan on lounging around in the pool and reading some more good books. See you in about a week—the days are flying by!

-Ananya and Sienna

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