We visited four Dayak villages along the rivers in Central Kalimantan: Pahandut, Tanjung Pusai, Tumbang Nusa and Pilang. Some of the villages had no road access, so you could only reach them by boat. They shared several common characteristics: Visitors were always welcome, there was plentiful kids, and people appeared to be genuinely happy.

Tanjung Lusaka Village (above) had a school where kids went to class for two hours a day six days a week, right next to the cows (upper right). Sadly, it was clear that most of the homes had never been maintained since first constructed. All buildings here appear to be made with community love, but then left to deteriorate from that day forward (bottom row). Also, sadly, plastic bottles and trash are a major problem, with trash just thrown into the river, between the houses (upper left).

Many people we met were entrepreneurs, selling fresh vegetables, fresh fish, cookies, donuts, dried fish, gear for fishing and many other items for daily living. One woman gave us two dozen of her fresh mini-donuts as a welcome, and to thank us for taking a photograph for her Instagram marketing. They were delicious… ☺

We also met various skilled weavers, who made hats, baskets, and mats from pond fronds, reeds and other weaving materials.

A unique product was honey from the bee hives from the Tumbang Nusa Village. The black bees do not have stingers, and the owner allowed us to sample the honey with a straw, directly from the hive. It was excellent honey, and we bought a small bottle from the beekeeper.

We enjoyed all of our guides and fellow travelers, including John (upper left), David Metcalf (our photo guide, upper right), Julie (our river guide) and Eri (her friend) (middle left), our houseboat captain (middle), Evelyn enjoying her birthday cake (middle right), and Fritz (lower left).

Of course, John was larger than life throughout the trip, so he earns a second appearance, in his form as Pied Piper of every village we visited (lower right)