Location : Dusun Laek, Desa Bengkilu, Kecamatan Tujuh Belas, Kabupaten Bengkayang, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.
Our visit to attend Dusun Laek’s Gawai celebration finally materialized on the 16th May 2018 when we drove to the Biawak/Aruk border on the invitation of our Bengkayang friend Ujang whose wife is from Laek. We had with us a guest Joshua an old friend but a fine young man who would like to visit Kalimantan for the first time before he took up a long job assignment in Kuala Lumpur.
As usual the immigration procedures for driving through the border checkpoint would take about 2 hours. The drive from Kuching with a coffee break at Lundu took another 2 hours.
Our original plan was to visit Laek and Manajur Waterfall for a few days, look up some friends there and come back the same way, based on the assumption that the road condition to the Takek/Dwikora junction would be the same as it was when I drove through less than a year ago. It was a very bad assumption.
While topping up my Simpati card credit at Aruk I even enquired with the vendor about the road condition and he proclaimed loudly “mantap” meaning stable or perfect. Bullshit, I found out 45 minutes later into the drive. Horror was the damage to the road and seeing those giant trucks passing by it was no surprise.
One of the locals on motorcycle seeing the situation we were in, suggested we turn back to a junction of an oil palm estate where another parallel road was in better condition. We drove back in search of that junction and found it guarded by estate security personnel. Had to pay one of them on motorcycle to lead us out of hell. True indeed that the private estate road was in a lot better condition and well maintained.
Continuing my drive to Sanggau Ledo along Dwikora Road, I had new plans for my return journey. First, avoid Takek at all cost. Second, I had to divert to Ledo in order to go to Sambas and using the new road to get back to Aruk.
We finally arrived at Sanggau Ledo 4 hours late but thank God my friend Ujang was still somewhere around waiting patiently for our arrival so he could guide us to Laek. From Sanggau Ledo to Laek was another hour of poor road condition.
On the way to Laek Village
Very extensive farming neighbourhood thanks to the locals as well as the transmigrants from Java. The vegetables that we buy in Kuching mostly come through Serikin but supplied by the farmers here. 
Dusun (village) Laek
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