Traditional ciggies?
Besides the traditional fire piston, Tok Ali was also kind enough to tell us more about his blow pipe, aquarium and herb garden. With his charm and willingness to share his knowledge, we felt that the 2 hours spent with him is nowhere enough to learn more.
Tok Ali had showed us two pieces of blowpipes. One of them was traditionally made while the other had a ‘modern’ touch to it. It had a copper barrel in the inner core of the blowpipe. The outer part is still very much made of traditional materials. Below are some pictures of the blowpipe.
Tok Ali’s nephew with the blowpipe
The inner copper barrel can be seen from the mouthpiece
And if you are wondering, yes, the blowpipe works. Tok Ali demonstrated its use for us. Once is enough cause the darts may still have some of the poison on it. The last thing we need is someone accidentally being hit by it.
We were about to go outside to take a look at his herb garden when we a mate asked him about the fish in the aquarium tank. Its Ikan Puyu (Anabas testudineus) of course, same like the one I saw sold at the market in Slim River. Besides being an ornamental fish (thought it is not at all colorful or pretty), it is believed that it is also used to ward off evil spirits. Tok Ali agrees on this.
One of the ikan Puyu in Tok Ali’s aquarium
People believe that ikan Puyu will help ward off evil spirit
We then preceded to Tok Ali’s herb garden we he introduced to us a host of plants that’s used for traditional healing purposes. One of the most famous of course is Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia). Tok Ali manage to plant this plant in the yard of his home, something many have not done successfully. We were lucky as his Tongkat Ali tree was flowering at the time.
The flowering Tongkat Ali
A close-up pic on the Tongkat Ali fruits
Nearby the Tongkat Ali plant, under the shade of a hut that’s storing stuff, we spotted Tok Ali’s fish trap. He told us it has not been used for some time. It obviously is well made, sturdy and used. Not the ‘tourist’ type of product.
Tok Ali’s fish trap or ‘bubu’
Tok Ali shared with us names, usages of many types of plants that day. Too many that we can’t remember everyone of them. At the end of our visit, Tok Ali took some ‘sticks’ and passed them to our friend John. He claims that they are traditionally used to treat sinuses or Resdung. The way to use it is to actually ‘smoke’ the sticks…through your nose! John tried it and he said it was a ‘spicy’ sensation. We’ll take his word for it.
Traditional herbal cures for sinus or ‘resdung’ (Malay)
Tok Ali is certainly a bomoh with a wealth of knowledge. Not only does he keep his people’s culture alive but he has also made efforts to pass his knowledge and skills to the younger generation. As we drove away in our vehicle, we can’t help but wonder if we can come back and become one of his students.
I bought 2 of such ’smoking sticks’ to try them out when I was in Langkawi last year. Smoked one of them and it was the most terrible smoke I had in my life! The other is somewhere in my house – untouched
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Keep up on your reports bro. Very, Very interesting.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Ha…ha…that bad ah the smoke Kenny. I dare not try it. I looked at my friend’s face smoking it, enough to tell me it’s horrifying.
Keong,
Gong Xi Fa Cai to u n family….
Good to see new things on your site, and interesting to know that there is a local ciggie for sinus. Do you know the name of the stick as I’ve a friend who had tried everything including wasabi to get rid of his sinus (short of a surgical op)but without success.
By the way I’ve just bought the “malaysian-parang” or machete used by Myke Hawke in the Discovery Channel ‘Science of Survival-The Jungle’ program aired few years on Astro. Took me 3 years to hunt it down.
Cheers
How much did you pay for that parang? I saw it on youtube (Mike Hawkes) but never really got around getting it. Have you tried it? let us know what you think of it after testing it.
Thanks Loh!
That sinus root or ciggies is called AKAR SEGAR…. usually grows or rather hangs from meranti trees.
Cut them in2 short pieces and then dry them in room temperature….
u cannot get rid of sinus, u can only manage it – stop eating or drinking stuff that encourages sinus!
Every morning AND b4 u sleep, drop a few drops of the minyak cap kapak into a pot of hot water, wet a towel, cover your head and slowly inhale from the pot of hot water with the drops of minyak cap kapak…inhale and then exhale with the wet towel lifted. Do it for several minutes everyday.
That so called Malaysian Parang was designed by Wilkinson Sword for the Brit SAS back in early 80s and it really isnt a good piece of parang to be used in the jungles. The blade is too thick for a parang – just look at the shape of the small sticks cut up by the ” survival expert ” Myke Hawke – its never a clean cut!
Everytime the SAS operators came 2 train with us, they always loved our Bidor parangs and they found out that the hard way during our 5 weeks’ jungle warfare trainings in the jungles of Bruas, Bintang and Temenggor!!!
Check out the stuff the ” survival expert ” Myke Hawke carries with him into the jungles – WOW…. Id sure would like to have the luxuries he has if I ever was in a survival scenario….LOL!
Trust a westerner to be a jungle survival expert….yeah, right!!!! When are we EVER going to trust Malaysians as jungle survival specialists?
Thanks for that info forestgump! Much appreciated. This info really helps.
I think the westerners are always better at creating a hype over things (in this case, jungle survival) but somewhere along the lines the forgot to mention who the learn it from. A metaphoric example is the movie ‘Black Hawk Down’…am sure you know the story