The Sun Rises Early

The sun rises early in the morning in Sorinsim. The milky clouds start to scatter and a pale sky appears, still and blushing in the cool air, as the orb begins its ascent. It pokes over towering hills of eucalyptus and pine and then hovers precariously atop the dark silhouette of Mount Kinabalu. And as the sun arches upward like a yawn, the face of the mountain begins to emerge, rising high over the lesser hills. Slowly, crevices deep and sharp, etched into its steep walls of granite, start appearing, as gentle morning sounds signal the stir of life in the village.

It usually rains just before dawn, so the green grass of the slopes that greets the early riser smells clear and sweet. Its fragrance turns the mind to thoughts of a quick dip in the flowing mountain river, or perhaps a splash on the face, and a drip on the neck and shoulders, and down the curve of a solid back.

Roosters crow, magpies caw and sparrows chirp. And two mountain creeks parry with moss-covered rocks in their way. Here and there, old driftwoods of bamboo tumble along to the junction where both ice-cold streams merge into the deeper and slower flowing river.

Wooden doors open, and flat woven paddy trays, circular in shape, are filled with handfuls of long white grains to be shaken and stirred, separating pebbles and inedible stalks from newly harvested rice.