“At a visit to a longhouse outside of Kuching, Borneo, I was treated to a ceremonial event in which the shaman danced around a banana tree carrying a live rooster and a couple of women wearing elaborate dresses danced along with him. Then we sat and ate what must have been the rooster’s relatives. I didn’t speak any of the local language, and knew practically nothing of their traditions, except that going back three generations, they were real head hunters. There are still some skulls lying around in some of the rooms in the longhouse – where the whole village lives.

“Otherwise they’re very modern. One of them in fact took picture of me before I managed to take my camera out. It was very, very hot but I drank the shaman’s wine and danced around the banana tree as roosters crowed and the children watched and giggled. I was so drunk and dizzy afterwards, it felt like I indeed lost my head.” – Andrew Lam

Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia.

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