The official currency of Malaysia is the Ringgit (current exchange rate about four to one US Dollar), and the people in the local villages we visited don’t miss many opportunities to try to earn a few. There are many community projects and local initiatives happening, which is an encouraging contrast to the huge palm oil plantations that otherwise seem to be taking over everything.
Here are a few of the business ventures we saw:
Rubber Tapping
This seems to be a side industry for many. The men (at least the ones we saw were men) go out very early in the morning and cut a gash in each of the rubber trees. There’s a bit of an art to it apparently as the gash has to be deep enough to draw the sap, but not so deep as to damage the tree. Anyway, the cut is made in such a way that it forms a spiral around the tree so the sap runs down a little trough and drips directly into a small cup that is fastened to the tree. Then the workers go home and go back to bed, only to go out later in the day and collect the full cup. The sap that dries on the tree between cuts is, indeed, stretchy as a rubber band!
Just figured out how to add video to a post, so here you have it! If you play it, you’ll also hear my friend, the rooster who kept me company during the night–all night–or at least it felt that way!
Beekeeping and Honey Production
At another village, the primary industry consisted of raising bees and selling the resulting honey.
The women showed us how it was done and then asked if we wanted to try.
I volunteered Mariah.
Gong Making
The gong making village reminded me of many of the artist villages in Oaxaca. It seemed that everyone in the village was involved in making and/or selling gongs. And, as we learned with all the dancing the night before, gongs are the primary musical instrument used by the Rungus people. This village also made what is undoubtedly the largest gong in the world. Someone probably needs to help them get it in Guinness.
Once again, we were offered an opportunity to give it a go. This seemed safe enough, so I tried my hand at gong-making…
Probably best work on keeping my day job…
And here we have a person with much more skill actually playing the gongs…
Virgin Coconut Oil Production
We didn’t actually get to see the production of this because they recently won some sort of award as a community enterprise and were using the prize money to remodel so the “factory” (using the term loosely and on a very small scale) was shut down. Don’t know if you’ll be able to read the label, so I’ll tell you that it indicated that virgin coconut oil is good for just about anything that ails you–on the inside or out! Supposedly it can help with a whole laundry list of conditions, including: skin care and acne, hair care, malnutrition, diabetes, heart disease, weight loss, and digestion. It also has antibacterial and antiviral properties, and with the addition of a little citronella, makes an effective insect repellent. I can’t personally vouch for any of this, but it did smell really, really good!
Road Scholar 