81
middle of their turf. Mary Ann negotiated friendly relations with the cows, but then
saw me glide past on the far side of the river, heading further downstream, toward
the agreed-upon town. Frantic calls to my phone revealed that my battery had died.
After I reached the town and realized the issue, I found a kindly river fisherman who
lent me his phone. Now I could find her, but this required paddling back upstream
about two miles – exhausting!
In the meantime, the cows’ guardians, who spoke no English, came angrily striding out to investigate this random white woman and her Land Rover, apparently
messing with their cows. They carried big, well-used parangs (machetes) which
could sever limbs with ease. Mary Ann grabbed a large staff of thick teak, part of
our standard equipment, and braced it across her chest as she met them, prepared to
deflect a machete assault. In halting Malay, she explained that she waited for her
husband and explained our Science Expedisi. Machetes came down and were tucked
into the back of sarongs as they became interested in this unusual event. When I
finally dragged myself up the river bank, it was to quite a reception committee!
Whatever Floats Your Boat
Usually it took several days to complete a section of river, especially big ones like
the Kelantan. On some rivers, I used my motorized skiff but finding launch sites was
always difficult. Although boats are used extensively on the coastal parts of rivers in
Malaysia, boat launch ramps are rare. People just keep their boats in the water or
pull them up on the shore.
While working the Endau River (Fig. 5.2), I put the boat in at a remote Orang
Asli (the aborigines of the peninsula) settlement deep within a huge oil palm plantation. By the time I returned, the tide had gone out and the bank was revealed to be a
straight down drop. There was no way to winch the boat up the vertical bank to the
trailer. Dusk was settling in and most of the villagers had collected nearby to play
football (soccer) or sit on the bank chatting. A stack of long wooden poles, the parts
of a new deck platform, was piled handily nearby. The locals gave us permission to
use them to build a skid ramp to help us pull the boat out of the river and up the bank
using a rope extension on the trailer winch. It was a very successful group effort!
I used my skiff in coastal waters for surveys of the headlands and close-to-shore
islands in SE Peninsular Malaysia. But it was not seaworthy enough for the wind
and waves that usually come up in the afternoon. Also, it was hard to run shore
surveys where the boat wouldn’t be beaten on the rocks by waves. The islands of
Malaysia are often ringed with huge boulders and have poor access in the places
where evidence of past sea level is likely to occur. Reaching land can be a treacherous process involving leaping from the front of the boat, loaded with gear, onto
large, slick boulders while the boat pitched wildly on the waves (Fig. 5.4). Being
crushed between the boat and the boulders was a very real possibility if you missed
your mark.
5 A Different Kind of Sea-Level Story from Malaysia
middle of their turf. Mary Ann negotiated friendly relations with the cows, but then
saw me glide past on the far side of the river, heading further downstream, toward
the agreed-upon town. Frantic calls to my phone revealed that my battery had died.
After I reached the town and realized the issue, I found a kindly river fisherman who
lent me his phone. Now I could find her, but this required paddling back upstream
about two miles – exhausting!
In the meantime, the cows’ guardians, who spoke no English, came angrily striding out to investigate this random white woman and her Land Rover, apparently
messing with their cows. They carried big, well-used parangs (machetes) which
could sever limbs with ease. Mary Ann grabbed a large staff of thick teak, part of
our standard equipment, and braced it across her chest as she met them, prepared to
deflect a machete assault. In halting Malay, she explained that she waited for her
husband and explained our Science Expedisi. Machetes came down and were tucked
into the back of sarongs as they became interested in this unusual event. When I
finally dragged myself up the river bank, it was to quite a reception committee!
Whatever Floats Your Boat
Usually it took several days to complete a section of river, especially big ones like
the Kelantan. On some rivers, I used my motorized skiff but finding launch sites was
always difficult. Although boats are used extensively on the coastal parts of rivers in
Malaysia, boat launch ramps are rare. People just keep their boats in the water or
pull them up on the shore.
While working the Endau River (Fig. 5.2), I put the boat in at a remote Orang
Asli (the aborigines of the peninsula) settlement deep within a huge oil palm plantation. By the time I returned, the tide had gone out and the bank was revealed to be a
straight down drop. There was no way to winch the boat up the vertical bank to the
trailer. Dusk was settling in and most of the villagers had collected nearby to play
football (soccer) or sit on the bank chatting. A stack of long wooden poles, the parts
of a new deck platform, was piled handily nearby. The locals gave us permission to
use them to build a skid ramp to help us pull the boat out of the river and up the bank
using a rope extension on the trailer winch. It was a very successful group effort!
I used my skiff in coastal waters for surveys of the headlands and close-to-shore
islands in SE Peninsular Malaysia. But it was not seaworthy enough for the wind
and waves that usually come up in the afternoon. Also, it was hard to run shore
surveys where the boat wouldn’t be beaten on the rocks by waves. The islands of
Malaysia are often ringed with huge boulders and have poor access in the places
where evidence of past sea level is likely to occur. Reaching land can be a treacherous process involving leaping from the front of the boat, loaded with gear, onto
large, slick boulders while the boat pitched wildly on the waves (Fig. 5.4). Being
crushed between the boat and the boulders was a very real possibility if you missed
your mark.
5 A Different Kind of Sea-Level Story from Malaysia