Riding the rapids

There are certain moments when you realise just how much you stand out as a tourist, and arriving at Kapit was one of those. Without even bothering to ask our names, a man wearing a Regency Pelagus T-shirt hauled our bags onto the jetty and informed us that the speedboat for the resort would be leaving in an hour.

This gave us an hour to look around Kapit, and more to the point, to find a toilet. This proved more difficult than expected since most of the street cafes didn’t have any facilities, so we ended up in a hawker centre which had the most awful ‘hole in the floor’ squatting toilets. Still, needs must…

The final leg of the journey was in a small speedboat which seemed to go at full tilt even in the face of piles of jagged rocks clustered in the middle of the river. Along the river’s edge we caught sight of many longhouses - home to the indigenous tribes of the region (mainly Ibans). Occasionally we would pass a small longboat or a few people out collecting stones in the river.

On our approach the resort the briefing dictated that we put our cameras away, for we had to ride up the Pelagus rapids and there was a high likelihood of getting soaked. Not to mention drowning, I thought, as I surveyed the murky swirling waters. Riding the rapids was fun but I was certainly glad when we reached calm water at the hotel jetty. A welcoming glass of rice wine soon settled any remaining nerves.

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