Orang Asli Village @ Kuala Gandah - 21 June 2015

Most of us have heard of the Kuala Gandah elephant sanctuary in Lanchang, Pahang. But within walking distance from this sanctuary is a small Orang Asli village, known as Che' Wong tribe. The tribe is a subgroup of the Senoi indigenous people group. They live near the villages of other races and close to the jungles. There are about 25 simple houses here, built with nipah, bamboo, rattan and wood. Thanks to the popular elephant sanctuary, there is a road access to the village, thus allowing the young ones to look for jobs in the surrounding plantations and factories. Due to easy access, they're quite used to visitors dropping by from time to time. However, the orang asli villagers are quite shy. When we first arrived, we could see children playing from our cars. But most fled when we came down.... 

The Che' Wong villagers still forage in the jungles, hunt and do some subsistence farming. Most of the times, the old folks, women and children are around in the village. They're still very much living in a semi-nomadic lifestyle though living in the village. Their compounds were more unkempt than the neighbouring villages. Stray cats and chicken were wandering around freely and there's no proper hygiene care yet. But in time, they will eventually learn to settle down. The children will learn when they go to schools. It'll be much faster for them to assimilate into the modern world cos of easy access to roads. It's an eye opener to our city kids, seeing a group of people caught in transition between two worlds.