On the way back from Niah Caves, we stopped to visit an Iban longhouse. The Iban are the largest of the native tribes of Malaysian Borneo, and longhouses are their traditional dwellings. As the name suggests, longhouses are big long houses within which all members of an individual tribe can live together. They come in all shapes and sizes - some more traditional and wooden, others new and made of brick and concrete; some with satellite dishes and new cars parked out front, others built by poorer tribes from a patchwork of rusted corrugated steel and salvaged wood.

We entered the longhouse from one end into a large corridor that stretched the entire length of the longhouse. This was the main shared space of the longhouse, the centre of communal life for the tribe. The corridor was about 5 metres wide and 200m long, with a floor of polished timber. All the way down the left hand side were the front doors to the apartments of individual families – about 80 in total. The beauty of a longhouse is that as the tribe grows and more families join the tribe they simply build more apartments on to the end of the house.

As walked down the corridor a couple of small children peered around one of the doorways, giggling with amazement at the foreigners and shoving their terrified younger sibling out in front of us, who shot back inside like a startled cat. We snuck a look in the open door after him and caught a glimpse of large sofas, rugs and a widescreen TV. A comfy modern home.

On the right hand side of the communal space, doors open out at regular intervals onto an exposed wooden balcony, where rice and wood and washed clothes are dried and feats are held during important festivals (including the annual harvest festival). Sitting on the floor in the breeze of these doorways were many groups of older tribespeople, whiling away the day with gossip.

Halfway down the longhouse is the chief's apartment, outside of which, hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the corridor is a collection of wicker and rope netting. As we got closer, we saw the skulls hanging within. These were the skulls of the tribe's defeated enemies – the Iban used to be head-hunters. Inquiring of a group of old men and women quietly chatting near the skulls, our guide told us that they belonged to fellow Iban from a rival tribe that they fought long-ago.

Talking further with the tribespeople in Malay our guide told us that they were quiet today because they were all tired from staying up late to watch the football, and most of the younger men weren't even awake yet, having drunk a little too much rice-wine with the game. Once they ascertained that we were from England, one of the men slapped his hand to his head and said, 'England? Wayne Rooney! England he play badly! No good! Play better Man United!'