Excerpt: Travel Log, Malaysia

Interlude: An ode to the past

One of the men at longhouse number two intrigued me. He was a younger man, maybe upper thirties, low forties. He had long straight black hair, a plethora of tattoos and was in excellent physical shape. He worked in the bow of the boats and was masterful with the long pole. He seemed to command a bit of respect from the other Iban men, though he was not the headman. The headman these days, as much as anything else, has to be a politician. This intense long-haired fellow did not appear to have slightest inclination or disposition for political dealings of the modern ilk. He seemed…stuck in time, a throwback to the past. A modern day incarnation of old Iban life-ways, born in the wrong century.