Location : Dusun Pala Pasang, Desa Pala Pasang, Kecamatan Entikong, Kabupaten Sanggau, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.

If you have ever been up to the Borneo Highland Resort and stood near the border peg and looked down the cliff over to the Indonesian side, you would have noticed numerous spots along the Sekayam River. One of these spots is the village of Pala Pasang which can be reached by boat via Entikong. Travelling time – 3hrs. We have passed this village over the years on two occasions on our way to Suruh Engkadok to celebrate ‘Gawai Nyarok’ a joint Gawai event between it and the Sarawak village of Sadir. (Check out our Gawai Nyarok at Suruh Engkadok here)

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This is how Borneo Heights look like on the opposite side, not as flat looking

But this time we decided to spend 2 nights here in Pala Pasang. The down side of traveling the Sekayam river during the dry season is that passengers need to disembark now and then to push the perahu through shallow waters. For the villagers this would be the most exciting time of the year to do ‘gang fishing’ where groups of villagers would pick different spots to lay their long nets along and across the river. Slowly, they would draw in the nets to corner the fish so they could dive in with their goggles and spear guns to shoot. We noticed one group equipped with air compressor on board so the divers could go deeper and longer. A big group could comprise of 30 villagers with the catch equally divided among them. Soft shell turtles, large tapah, catfish and assorted fresh water fish were among the catch on a lucky day.

Fishing trip

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Setting off early for the gang fishing

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Borneo Highland in the backdrop

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Creating a shade from nearby plants to draw in the fish, like the Philippine ‘payau’ technique for fishing tuna.
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Cute little boy. Barely 3 years old but learning from grandpa

adventure, authentic, Dayak Bidayuh, Boat ride, Borneo village, catfish, culture, fresh water fishing, indigenous, Indonesia, Dusun, native, nature, outdoor, Soft shell turtles, tapah, Tourist attraction,

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Soft shell turtle, tapah fish and catfish
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Not bad for an afternoon’s job

Come late afternoon the most amusing way to pass your time would be watching the pig feeding session, confined to the opposite bank of the Sekayam River. Once someone waded across the water with bucket in one hand and a trough on the other, these free ranch pigs would go into a frenzy with squealing that could send shivers up your spine. The impatient ones would swim in single file towards the owner. Just too cute.

Pig feeding

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Pig feeding time
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Making a U turn back to where they belonged
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She had to chase away the pigs that didn’t belong to her

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Threesome piggy style
adventure, authentic, Dayak Bidayuh, Speedboat ride, catfish, culture, fresh water fishing, indigenous, Indonesia, Dusun Mangkau, native, nature, outdoor, Sanggau, Soft shell turtles, Suruh Tembawang, tribe, tribal village,
Village kids swimming in the setting sun

adventure, authentic, Dayak Bidayuh, Boat ride, Borneo, catfish, culture, Desa Pala Pasang, Entikong, fishing, fresh water fish, indigenous, native, nature, outdoor, Soft shell turtles, tribal, village,Coincidentally during our visit, a group of students from the University of Jogjakarta were also doing a 2 month long study in Pala Pasang too. Friendly, curious and somewhat surprised, they invited the three of us to their dorm on the second night to share with them why we had made this journey to a remote village deep in the interior of Borneo.

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Sharing with the Jogya students with just the torch and candle light
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Jogjya students playing volleyball
adventure, Borneo, Bidayuh culture, Desa Pala Pasang, Entikong, fresh water fishing, indigenous, West Barat, Kampung, native, nature, Sanggau, Sungai Sekayam River, tribal, tribe, outdoor,
Jogja gang

For these students, they sure took a lot of trouble to arrive here from Jogjakarta in Java but for us it was just another stroll in the park. They thought that Kalimantan had nothing to offer except for the orang utans. I hoped they grasped what I explained to them that night on ‘CAN’ tourism and how to package ‘Culture, Adventure & Nature’ to sell to tourists. Perhaps, they were still naive and oblivious to the gold right in front of them. Someday when they get bogged down by city life, the memories of Pala Pasang will make them realize that real life is where nature is- where kids go to a real river with a real gun to shoot real fish. Need I say more?

Desa Pala Pasang

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Early morning view
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This one escaped from Terminal Island
adventure, authentic, Boat ride, culture, fishing, fresh water fish, indigenous, Kampung, land dayak, outdoor, Sungai Sekayam River, trekking, tribal, tribe, village, Primary jungle,
The Baruk
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Bamboo stilt walking, the most popular pastime for kids
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Grating tapioca for the pigs
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Blacksmith at work-notice the offering
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Drying paddy
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4 months pregnant but still able to carry a 20Kg sack of paddy
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Collecting drift wood for cooking
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Bathing @ Sekayam River

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Up and coming peppers
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My host gathering vegetables from his garden

On the way back to Entikong

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Stopover at Mangkau village. This was the spot where we slept 4 years ago.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Wonderful story, thank you for sharing it.
    Saw the little girl is trying to chase away the pigs that are not belongs to her, but how can she reconise, dont they all look the same? 😀

    • Hi Wilson, interesting question! It was the same question we all asked including the Yogjarkarta students who happened to be there too. If you look closely, they all have subtle differences and the family who owns them would be able to recognise these differences easily since they feed them everyday and from young. Just like baby zebras can recognise the mother’s stripes which are all different but to our human eyes they appear to be the same.

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