After a reasonable night's sleep (still quite a few people coming and going at silly hours and some weird dreams thanks to the malaria meds) I woke up at 7:15. I was pretty happy with that, given I'd gone to bed at about 9:30. I hopped up and got ready, then went downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast turned out to be toast and watermelon, which was not ideal, so I decided to go and find something else. After a bit of a wander (nothing seems to open before 11!) I came to the restaurant where I got the steamed bao yesterday. I got a pork steamed bao and a peanut steamed bao with a 'kopi tarik', which is strong black coffee sweetened with condensed milk then poured from container to container to create froth. Much better breakfast! I got a fair few weird looks, being the only white person in the restaurant, but oh well, I didn't want to take away my whole breakfast. All of us in the Intrepid group were really surprised by the reaction by the locals to us, they're obviously not so used to westerners in Borneo, which I found surprising given I would have thought there'd be so much tourism. Overall throughout the trip we were surprised by the lack of tourists, and particularly by the lack of white people. We got a lot of people calling out to say hello and waving at us everywhere. The guy cooking the bao forgot my pork bao so by the time I got it, I had it takeaway so I had time to clean my teeth and stuff before the pick up time for the trip to the village. It was a big novelty to have pork, because most of the country is Muslim, most places don't serve pork, so I haven't had it since being here.

At about 9:15, the girl who I booked the tour with turned up in the foyer, and myself and two other girls from the hostel headed off to the Mari Mari Cultural village. One girl was australian and the other was British and they had met climbing the mountain two days ago. The Australian girl lives in East Bentleigh! Small world. It was about a half hour drive to the Mari Mari Cultural Village, and there we were met by an in-house guide and some other tourists. We had to choose a leader, and basically no one volunteered so a Japanese guy was chosen.

After an overview of the site, we walked over a small suspension bridge and came to the first house, belonging to the Dusun ethnic group. This is the same group as the homestay that I stayed in, but it was a much more traditional house compared to the place we stayed in! Our guide took us around to a little stall by the house where some women were cooking food inside pieces of bamboo over a fire. Our guide explained how they combine the food, put it inside the bamboo, cover the ends, and then cook the bamboo over the fire, essentially steaming the food inside. We got to try the food, which was nice, and then we made our way inside the hut. We were shown the inside of the hut and our guide explained that the Dusun people were traditionally rice farmers, and therefore were the people who made the rice wine. He demonstrated this process and then we tasted some rice wine. It was very similar to the wine we had in the host village, but once we were outside he showed us a slightly different way of making it that produces a stronger batch, and that wasn't quite so nice - much stronger and less sweet! The guide also explained that you could tell if a woman was single by looking at her sleeves - short sleeves meant single, long sleeves meant married.

The next house was a Rungus longhouse, and before we entered there was a stall outside with small native bees flying around. These bees produce a type of honey that is cultivated by the people from the Rungus villages. We got to taste the honey, which was more savoury than normal honey. Then we moved into the house, which would be shared by a number of families. It had an internal shared 'verandah/corridor' and then rooms off the corridor for each family. In this house, there was a demonstration of how to make fire from pieces of wood. We were told that in the Rungus tribe traditionally it is the women that make the fires, and if they are not good at making fire, they probably would not be married! Our 'leader' had a go at making fire and after a few attempts actually succeeded!

After the longhouse, we walked down to a hut by a stream, which was the house of the Lundayeh people. It was a pretty clever house, with open sides to let air through, and a roof that could be closed or wedged open to let in air. The opening in the roof was also used as a vantage point, as the Lundayeh was one of the two tribes that did head hunting (exactly what it sounds like, chopping off heads). In this hut, we talked about the traditional dress of the women in particular, and about how this tribe showed their 'relationship status' by single women wearing a beaded headband, which was then not worn when they were married. We had a taste of some cassava, a traditional snack of the Lundayeh, and then moved outside, where there was a stall explaining how the men made vests for protection from poison darts using bark. They could also use the same bark to make rope. We also saw a sword used for head-chopping, and then took a few photos with a 'warrior'.

Next we went up a hill to a Bajau house, a big house of a wealthy family. Out the front there was a stall where a woman was making 'cookies' by mixing together a batter, then using a coconut with holes poked into it to make a type of fish-net pattern in some hot oil. As the batter fried, she shaped it into a triangle. We all had one and they were simple but very tasty. The stall next door had warm pandan juice with ginger, which was also very nice. Then we made our way up the stairs and into the house. It was much larger than any of the houses so far (although shorter than the longhouse), but was set up for a wedding so was potentially a special case. There were lots of colours and decorations and the guides explained that the Bajau lived on boats or near the sea and traded with ships that went past. Colour was a sign of wealth and the house we were in must have been very wealthy!

Next we had to form in two lines and make our way down to a bamboo fence, where we were surprised by two Murut tribe members jumping up and shouting out a warning. The Murut tribe is the most well known of the ethnic tribes of Sabah as they were the last to give up the practise of head hunting. After our 'leader' had greeted the 'leader' of the Murut tribe, we were granted permission to enter their compound. We were taken to a display of weapons, where we were shown a combination spear/blow pipe which was used to disarm someone with the poison darts and then chop off their head. Some people had a go at blowing the pipe, but I didn't want to catch or transfer germs so I gave that a miss. Then we headed up some stairs into the longhouse, where we were shown the traditional 'trampoline' that the Murut used to compete for prizes - and even marriage. They'd used bamboo to construct a lowered platform covered with a mat below floor level, that bounced. If a warrior could use the trampoline to jump high enough to catch something (a bone, skull or lock of hair usually) there would be a prize of some sort. Very strange! We all had a go on the trampoline as a group - about 8 of us probably, it was very strong! Then we all had henna tattoos done by a few 'warriors', who did beautiful designs all freehand! Very cool.

After this longhouse, we headed down into a seated area under a shelter. We had to wait for a while for all the groups to sit down, and then we were given a performance of dance and music. The dancers were very impressive, initially just doing some simple dances that were similar to the one from the homestay, but progressively becoming more complicated. Towards the end they got some big bamboo sticks that they clacked together in pairs on the ground, and the dancers had to step in and out without getting their feet squashed! The beat kept increasing so by the end there was a 'warrior' dancing very quickly! We were quite impressed.

Once the dancers and music were all finished, we headed up some steps to a big dining area on top of a hill. We were served a buffet lunch, which was very good - steamed rice, chicken, green veg, tuna, soup, cabbage, fruit and water/tea/coffee. I sat and chatted with the two girls who'd come with me, and we all said how pleasantly surprised we'd been with the experience. We had all heard that it was a bit cheesy, and of course it was, but it was also very informative and interesting. After lunch we got back in our van and headed back to KK.

When we arrived back in town, we went to get an ice cream and found a cool coconut ice cream place. We all had a scoop of ice cream and then the two girls went to get a massage from the place the intrepid girls had gone to. I headed back to the hotel for a little while, and then remembered I was going to go to a little shop that Amanda had found and recommended. I walked over to the 'Australian' quarter (which used to be an Australian barracks) and went up to this little stationary store, which was absolutely gorgeous. They even had hand-crafted stamps, wax letter stamps, and decorated masking tapes. I got a few bits and pieces (although I had to make a trip to the ATM as they didn't take card!), and then walked back to the hostel. Once I got back, I bumped into a girl who had just arrived and had a brief chat to her. Then I repacked my bag for the flight tomorrow and headed up to the rooftop. The girl I'd just met was up there so we ended up sitting together and chatting for a while, which was nice. Then I headed downstairs and met the 2 girls from this morning in the bar. After chatting there for a while, we headed up to the rooftop with some Danish girls from our dorm as well. However, after a while of chatting, I was starting to lose my voice again, so I left the others to go get some dinner so I could have an early night.

I went down to the night market again, and this time got some char kway teow (fried rice noodles) with seafood. I was sitting right next to a whole table of fish and seafood! The noodles were great, so once I'd eaten I walked back towards the hotel. On the way I stopped for a roti with kaya, which was also very yummy. Feeling very full, I headed back to the hostel and just rested up. Checkout time isn't until 12 tomorrow so that gives me a fair bit of flexibility with the morning. I'll probably just have a wander around though and then catch the bus or an über out to the airport.