With scarcely time to recover from the party of the year at the Dayak village compound, we are summoned to attend the official opening festivities in the quayside at 8am the next day.
Bleary eyed and with a few bad heads we all park our dinghies and make our way to the stage area.
We were all very pleased that we didn’t give into the temptation of getting a few extra zzz as the entertainment was spectacular!
After some singing, a group of children dressed in purple and gold performed a joyous and energetic dance to Arabic sounding music. They were so tight and professional it was astonishing – they must have practised day and night to get such a polished end result.
The next group of of dancers was equally impressive – this was a Dayak dance performed to a piece of percussion music by an older group.
A Chinese dragon dance was next followed by another demonstration of derring-do similar to the one we had seen at the Dayak village (without the chicken heads).
This guy walked on glass, did fire walking, stood and laid on knife blades, put skewers through his cheeks and supposedly rubbed acid on his arms and put it in his mouth!
Each boat was presented with an amethyst by the Tourism Minister who made a very good welcome speech.
A delicious early lunch was laid out for us and some energetic souls danced with our hosts before we staggered back to the boat to recover from a two-night sail, a crazy party and an early start to a full on morning!
Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday 
Wow, your visit to Borneo sounds incredible – the people look so beautiful in their traditional costumes, and the dancing by all ages sounds wonderful. Why don’t we dance like that?? There seems to be a real cross-cultural mix there – lots of Chinese influences within their own strong tribal heritage. The party sounded like one to remember – or for some, to forget quickly!! You must be sad that this fantastic trip is nearly over. But great that you are going to meet Hannah in Singapore! Much love to you both
Julia XXX
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