I had the opportunity to witness and experience first hand some of the traditional ways of the Semelai people during one of my recent rainforest adventures. I have always been intrigued by how aborigines (Orang Asal) co-exist with the natural world around me. In fact, one of my dream is to spend weeks with some Orang Asal in some remote places and learn first hand from them the skills to survive and live off the land. Many of my friends did tell me that this dreams is rather easily achievable, but I guess I am not confident with myself enough to take that step.
The Semelai people are friendly and very helpful. Their way of life seems to detach them from the ills of the modern world, namely money. While the dough is useful to them, they seem to be very contended with what they have. They still live in simple houses made from jungle produce. Wooden pillars, tree bark walls and bamboo flooring is cooling and very comfortable. The lack of big scale deforestation has probably continued to supply the Semelais with ample building material.
Only the roof is made of zink, the rest are materials from the jungle
Tree barks are used extensively, especially for the walls of the houses
While TVs and generator sets have made its way into the villager’s house, cooking and eating has somewhat remained an outdoor affair. We stumbled across a mother roasting a corns for her children using open fire.
A Semelai mother preparing meal for her children
Yum…corns roasted over an open fire
A Semelai boy and his sister sharing a roasted corn
I wondered what the Semelai’s daily menu looked like. According to our guide, they do hunt wild animals but they still prefer the freshwater fish from the nearby lake. Fishing and fish traps like Bubu is very used widely.
Tortoise / terrapins are considered a delicacy among the Semelai
Well, I did not get the chance to taste the local delicacy. The closest I got were fishes from the lake (which was really good!). They fishes we caught were small, some tiny even. We were told that some of the fish species grew no bigger than and adult’s two fingers put together. Some on the other hand grew to sizes that can topple a small moving motorized craft. Now, that’s a scary thought.