Safari To Asia (1960)

[Music] these are not hats they are not umbrellas they are boats coracles a primitive form of boat found all over the world the coracles are woven of reams believe it or not they're very practical Armand was very curious to see how they were propelled and steered well the men use an ordinary paddle but the steering is a mystery we wanted to organize a race so we offered a reward and soon the men were lined up ready for the starting signal [Music] I wanted pictures of the spectators especially the children [Music] this little boy has seen our lawn using his binoculars the little girls and boys were soon as much interested in watching videos been watching the race when the boats returned I noticed that the stroke was particularly skilled could you paddle a coracle this is the winner notice this one standing in his boat using a double slicing action resisting spin by standing with his legs apart [Music] here's a man maneuvering his coracle without any paddles at all he is standing with one hand on the edge and bouncing his boat forward [Music] we propose another race without paddles but apparently this has never been done before to which we naturally reply well let's try nobody can find an answer to that so the men accept and start throwing their paddles down on the beach but we noticed that some of them kept paddle in the coracle presumably as insurance the men jumped in and starts bouncing for dear life [Music] our contestants are on their way back approaching the finish of the race one turns over our skilled one-handed performers way ahead he casually holds a paddle in his other hand running all over his face the winner reaches the shore [Music] one man has arrived with a coracle full of water it's easy enough to tip it over lift it in the air and drop it again on the surface [Music] here's a late comer who obviously gave up trying he pulls his coracle out of the water and up for Sandy Beach it gives us a chance to make a picture showing the close weave of the strips which are the secret of the construction of these coracles amazingly light yet durable and strong we flew to Malaya I don't know who in Malaya or in Thailand first thought of training monkeys to pick coconuts but it was a terrific idea coconut trees are very tall and the nuts on one tree don't all ripen at the same time so it's a tremendous and dangerous labour to pick them by hand monkeys do the job far better the earlier monkeys we have ever seen trained for coconuts picking wherever species called the pigtailed rhesus their training is very much a family business and a skilled occupation unknown outside of Thailand and Malaya the handlers direct their monkeys partly by calling instructions but much more by pulling and jerking the rope with which each monkey is held in leash the relationship between handler and monkey is very close the monkey will obey only one master the pigtailed rhesus monkey is extremely ill-tempered given to furious outbursts and is very powerful the owners of some of these monkeys have been savaged by their valuable pets the relationship between master and monkey is not based on love but more on mutual respect the owner of the monkey treats him well because he is a big money earner and the monkey has learned that the trainer after all we'll always have the final word in an argument [Music] let's watch the monkeys at work this is a young monkey two and a half years old and he's only starting his training and he's very excitable but now suddenly he gets stubborn no go on up all he's being taught so far is to go up and come down on signal this monkey is four years old almost fully grown and pretty well trained but he still needs experience his judgement in selecting the ripe as coconuts is not too sure yet he still gets a lot of instruction and advice from his owner he gets to work perhaps a little resentfully the naughty is ordered to pick his jam tightly between the others and almost impossible to move the owner advises him from time to time and encourages him by little tugs on the rope [Music] that was a difficult knot but this one is easier I was afraid he might lose his balance from this time it nearly did [Music] watch him using his feet a good trained pigtailed rhesus is worth a fortune in local currency in Malaya or Thailand a well-trained monkey can pick several hundred nuts in a day's work and do all the picking for an entire district he can earn enough for his owner to support his family in comfort you see that the monkey does not need to waste any time or energy coming down from one tree and up into another apparently this business increases by leaps and bounds a few hours of flying takes us back to Bangkok to see a performance of the most graceful dancers of the Far East classical dances of Thailand [Music] the dancers were all girls highly trained they were beautiful and charming their costumes made of the shimmering hand-woven silk fabrics for which Thailand is famous where of course the traditional costumes of the dances of the royal court elegant so perfectly cotton fitted that the girls were actually sewn into them the hands and fingers of the dancers have been trained since childhood to attitudes which seemed almost impossible to us and they play a great part in Thai dancing this perfection of movement is due to the Thailand government's regard for tradition and for their artistic heritage these dances are students of the National Academy of Fine Arts dancers musicians and costumes are all generously subsidized by the state the instruments of the orchestra are fascinating xylophones with padded hammers dancing softly on the hardwood Keys drums of different sizes and shapes gongs of silvery tone these are wonderfully dignified instruments built to high artistic standards here are expert musicians playing them [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] traditional also in Thailand is the terrifying sport of sword fighting traditional the ceremony which proceeds each bow traditional the music of flute cymbals and drums played by a blind old man and two children sword fighting usually takes place in the courtyard of one of the temples the contestants barefooted in red jackets one with yellow sash one would think kneel fall cross swords invoke celestial protection and perform proscribed gesture [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] at last they approach one another they have in each hand a long heavy murderous sword sharp as a razor make no mistake the sport you're about to see is just about the most dangerous in the world [Music] one slashes violently the fight has begun [Music] we found this a terrifying spectacle we have heard tales of many accidents and of terrible injuries [Music] [Music] each contestant has lost one sword already one of the fighters has lost both swords be prepared for a surprise in Thailand the girls also take part in sword fighting they too have their traditional ceremonial of prayers and they have all the necessary courage the girls fight with the same swords as the men that each has only one sword held with both hands [Music] one loses her sword but almost instantly she succeeds and knocking the sword out of the other girl's hands the time has come to return to the house of our friends and to pick up our little Gibbon bamboo he came running to Michaela [Music] we like coconut milk and so apparently there's bamboo but I didn't get much of a chance competing against him this is interesting it's the way Gibbons always drink in the wild usually hanging from a branch over a pool or a river and dipping their knuckles in the water and licking room it takes quite a while for a given who has become a pet to learn to drink any other way by the way do you know that Gibbons are very jealous watch [Music] [Applause] [Applause] we went to Singapore by plane we had to be there on January 21st the day of type you Sam one of the most dramatic of Hindu festivals the little temple to which our guide took us was not at all imposing and only a small crowd mostly of Hindu women was at the gate but inside the courtyard of the temple there were hundreds of people already watching the ceremonial at once one could feel a great current of excitement we had our first view of the cavora teased the strange harness carried on the shoulders of the penitence who take part in the ceremony and of the weird business painful to see of the needles and skewers driven through the cheeks and the tongue the characteristic feature of a type Youssef [Music] as many as 200 pins which I believe are made of bicycles folks may be embedded in a man's chest let me tell you at once that this is entirely voluntary on the part of these men and there's a theory that they feel no pain that they're in some sort of trance or hypnotic state it is certainly true that no blood is seen to flow and no scars are left naturally what interested us most were the cavities which the pendants carry on their shoulders in the procession nowadays they are largely made of metal put together with nuts and bolts they're assembled on the spot just before the ceremony begins the men who voluntarily submit to the carrying of the Kivar Dee's to having their tongues and cheeks pierced with skewers their chests and backs with hundreds of needles and hooks may be atoning for some shameful deed they may also be carrying out a vow a pledge entered into in the hope of saving the life of a wife a mother or some other person dear Judith they may have promised to take part in a type you Sam every year of their life their pledge may even carry through two generations of their descendants it is not unusual for very young boys to take part in the typhoon sound often as a result of a vow made by their father or even grandfather the hooks inserted in the skin of the back are used to pull heavy chariots in the procession the hooks in the chest serve to hold small metal jugs containing curdled milk [Applause] don't ask me what he was made to swallow I couldn't find out there was a whitish powder also which was thrown on men who became hysterical or was rubbed on their foreheads and seemed to calm them at once but these things and the heavy fumes I could neither understand nor identified [Applause] [Applause] [Laughter] [Laughter] all this was an astonishing sight we couldn't get over the fact that no one seemed to pay the slightest attention to the milling crowd of sightseers tourists and photographers they got in the way of the attendants and the chanting priests and they showed little respect for proceedings which obviously for the performers had deep religious significance it was a striking example of the tolerance of the east we are approaching the final stages of the ceremonies of this temple men carrying offerings attendance penitence carrying the heavy Kivar Dee's relatives and friends shouting encouragement reciting prayers chanting incantations hundreds of spectators now leave the little temple where we are photographing they set out on the long tedious painful process march of several miles to the j'tia temple a tank rode to us this slow march in utter exaltation and absorption in the midst of the bustle of the city clattering tramways and cars seemed the most moving part of the most dramatic performance the type you Sam ceremonial is a tremendous act of faith when we traveled in the Far East we found ourselves using every possible means of transport from the modern to the ancient and the ancient can be very hard going at times but not always I want to show you our manned and Micheala deniz traveling in great comfort by boat wheel of the Far East and the people we met will tell you more of our adventures in a later program and of the everyday life of the people [Music] we travel through the clowns of Bangkok and photograph the people who live in what is almost a city of both on our safari to Asia we saw many strange sights this for example which you can work out for yourselves we saw tattooing which originated in the Far East and apparently it can be as painful as well as picturesque we filmed some wonderfully intelligent elephants and in our program we shall tell you more about our [Music] join us again on our next Safari to Asia [Music]