We went up these longhouse stairs and reached the Iban Longhouse. We don’t have the specific name for the stairs so we have decided to call them the longhouse stairs. Before that, you will be welcomed by planks of wood again. They have even made the handle grip to assist with the stairs climbing.

There is a common area before entering the longhouse. This common area is usually used to lay out the crops under the sun.

Upon entering the longhouse, we met two beautiful ladies dressed in the traditional Iban constume. I had a picture with them.

In every longhouse visit, there’s traditional costume for rental and that includes the Iban Longhouse of course. The friendly staff there explained that there are costume for both man and woman and she kept persuading us to rent a costume but we didn’t take up the offer because it was a hot and sweaty that day. Maybe next time. Wonder how we look like in those traditional costumes. Hehe… :p

- This is the counter for the costume rental.

From this angle, we can see some interior decorations hanging from the ceiling. We also noticed that this longhouse has an upper floor which we can’t find in Bidayuh’s longhouse. We asked the staff and found that those rooms are for the stay of guests who wants to experience the Iban’s life. We have learned that actually we can stay overnight in the  cultural village with extra charges. Would you like to try?

Bidayuh and Iban’s longhouse both look very similar, but there are some differences. From our observation, this area is the main difference between Bidayuh’s and Iban’s longhouse. Iban’s longhouse has one big common covered area outside each room at lower floor, and from here we can see the upper floor’s windows.

Iban’s Musical instrument.

There is a piece of weaving on the wall. According to the staff, the Iban ladies who perform the weaving must have had a dream about the design the night before and the weaving usually comes with special meanings. These Iban ladies are specially trained and the higher their skills are, the more tatoo they have from their fingers up to their arms.

The making of Iban’s delicacies.

We did not try them because the food was fried with oil and the weather was very hot. We could feel the heat.

- They store things in big ceramic pots.

- Their doors and walls are decorated with artistic wooden carving.

- Iban’s long house from side view.

We missed the chance to see the traditionnal musical performance at Iban long house, do you know why? Read the previous post and you will know about it.

We would like to know the name of the internal and external common area, the musical instrument, the ceramic pot. If you know them in Iban’s language, please let us know.