So on monday afternoon, we carried on to the Sepilok Orangutan centre... We managed to get there in time for feeding time, which was pretty cool but it was soooooo hot! Saw probably about 5 orangutans, though. We then carried on back to Batu Puteh, about a 2 hour car journey, where we ate dinner. Still not quite got the eating with hands thing! We then went to another culture show where we received gifts from the community.
OK, I thought I could write a bit more but I can't! No time!
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Sunday, 25 April 2010
2nd week!
The beach last Sunday afternoon was really nice, although a little cloudy! Not ideal... But was still nice! As far as I remember Sunday evening was pretty uneventful although it seems like it was about 3 years ago now!
On monday I went to the local school to teach for the morning. This one had two classes - 3-4 year olds and 5-6 year olds and went from 8-12. I was teaching the younger class and it happened that there were only 4 of them then! With 2 teachers and also me, so maybe a little bit pointless.... We did some letters to start with, some were really, really good, and knew all of their letters (which considering they're 3 and 4 was not bad going!). We had breakfast at about half 9 - biscuits and milo (like watered down hot chocolate, can be cold too though). After breakfast they played with some stuff that they had to make shapes with, and it clicked together - not bricks, I don't really know how to describe it! Then the kids did some colouring in of a hat, top, socks, shoes and trousers, and had to cut them out and stick them to another bit of paper. There were a fair few upside down people! Then it was time to go back to the longhouse. We had lunch and then organised a dance we'd been asked to perform for the community that evening, of our culture...... we did Grease, ha. We were also going fancy dress that evening so we got all that sorted, too. There were a fair few pirates (me included), gypsies, army, and jesus and baby jesus. Lots of people from the village arrived at about 8 and there were speeches and prizes for sports day and then we got on to the rice wine rounds! I wasn't doing too badly until I was the one taking it round to everyone, where it seems to work on an 'I drink when you drink' basis.... It was after we'd done a fair few rounds of rice wine that we did our dance, which went surprisingly okay! The rest of the night was lots more rice wine, and we exchanged bracelets - they all gave us one and we'd made some for them too. I think we went to bed at about 3 in the end.
Woke up feeling a little the worse for wear on Tuesday! Wasn't really appreciating the hour drive to the beach but felt fine by the time we got there! Was much nicer looking in the bright sun. We swam around a bit and went for a walk along the rocks. Lunch was a barbecue and rice which was nice, although I didn't have the barbecue part, I had some vegetables in a nice sauce that they'd cooked for me - delicious. We left the beach for Kudat at about 3, so we could all get some money out etc. Got back at about 5 and had to pack up and stuff.....
Wednesday we were supposed to be leaving at 7, but by the time we'd all said goodbye it was more like 8! We had a big coach for us, which was pretty good to spread out on, but got a bit boring by the end of the 6 hour drive - past hundreds of miles of palm oil plantations - to Batu Puteh (translation white rock, apparently). We were given refreshments and then went to our 'homestays'. Here we were each staying with a local family, although we were all expecting something a little different, more remote. We were under the impression that we were in the middle of a jungle and had electricity for only 2 hours a day, where this is definitely not the case! We had dinner - sitting on the floor and eating with out hands, definitely an experience - and then went to a 'culture show', dressed as the locals were - they gave us clothes to wear. This was lots of traditional dancing and music but I think we were all a bit too tired to appreciate it properly!
On thursday we left for the jungle on a boat at about 8. We went on a mini 'trek' (not actually much of a trek, more of a gentle stroll!) to collect seeds and to look at all the cool bugs etc. We had lunch by a lake and a few of us went for a wander. We were just on our way back having not really seen anything when wild Phil spotted a monitor lizard. We were looking at it and trying to get closer for a while but had to back off when we realised it was probably getting a bit freaked out and we didn't actually fancy being attacked by it... Was probably about 2ft body and 3ft tail we reckon. We went back to the village where we went to the nursery to plant the seeds we'd picked up, as part of a forest regeneration programme. Dinner at the homestay again - still haven't mastered eating rice with my hands. Then we all hung around for a while before an early night.
We were up at 5.30 on friday, for an early morning river cruise. We saw a few monkeys (mainly long-tailed macaws - not sure on spelling!) and a crocodile, and lots of kingfishers. We went back for breakfast and then had a morning at the nursery, moving the seedlings to bigger pots etc. We went back for lunch and packed up our stuff ready for 2 nights in the jungle! We went by boat again and set up our hammocks before going on an evening river cruise. We saw another monitor lizard, lots of long-tailed macaws, some pig-tailed macaws, some silver somethings (monkeys), proboscis monkeys and lots more kingfishers. In the evening we went on a night walk, where we saw a massive spider, some big bugs, a cavat cat in the trees, a snake and a load of other bugs and smaller spiders - pretty cool. We went back and had a fire by the side of the river for a few hours, and then bed in our hammocks. They were actually really, really comfortable. I saw a few cavat cats when I got up for the loo in the night, looking through the trees.
The hammocks were so comfortable that despite how noisy the jungle was I managed to sleep through until about 7 on saturday! Probably the latest so far on the trip! We had breakfast and then walked to where we were clearing vines so that they didn't kill the recently planted trees. We used parangs - basically machettes that are longer and thinner, quite fun but had some nasty blisters! Was around then that I started to feel a little bit ill. We walked back to the camp and hung around a bit before going for another river cruise. Unfortunately still no orangutans, just the monkeys and a few black squirrels. We went over to the other side of the river for a barbecue but I just lay infront of the fire - was so, so cold enen though I was practically lying on top of the fire! Saw a crocodile on the beach while we were still on the water but it'd gone by the time we got there. Went straight to hammock when we got back.
I was feeling a bit better on sunday morning. We left at 6am for a 'solo hike'. We were left in a little patch of jungle for half an hour to see what we saw. I saw a family of the black squirrels and a monkey swinging through the trees. After going back for breakfast we walked through the jungle to where we would be planting some trees. I wasn't a whole lot of use so I tried to sleep - far too many annoying flies for that though! Was pretty glad when we walked back.. although we went a longer way in hope of finding orangutans - wasn't massivley happy about that as the chances of seeing an orangutan up a tree from the ground are pretty much zero! Went straight to bed in my hammock when we got there, only waking up for about an hour to pack up my hammock and go back to the village to sleep again! So I slept pretty much the whole day in the end.... I think a few of the others went to a wedding reception in the evening which they said was good, but I still wasn't feeling well so stayed in bed!
This morning we had to get up at about half 6, and although I'm feeling better today, still not brilliant! And haven't managed to eat hardly anything yet..... Bad times. Today so far we've been to a Sandakan POW memorial park - for the Australians and British that were sent on death marches in the area by the japanese in WWII. Horrible reading about what they went through. Then we went to a buddhist temple, very pretty. This afternoon we're going to Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary, and although I'm gutted about not seeing one in the wild, seeing them here is better than none at all! :)
On monday I went to the local school to teach for the morning. This one had two classes - 3-4 year olds and 5-6 year olds and went from 8-12. I was teaching the younger class and it happened that there were only 4 of them then! With 2 teachers and also me, so maybe a little bit pointless.... We did some letters to start with, some were really, really good, and knew all of their letters (which considering they're 3 and 4 was not bad going!). We had breakfast at about half 9 - biscuits and milo (like watered down hot chocolate, can be cold too though). After breakfast they played with some stuff that they had to make shapes with, and it clicked together - not bricks, I don't really know how to describe it! Then the kids did some colouring in of a hat, top, socks, shoes and trousers, and had to cut them out and stick them to another bit of paper. There were a fair few upside down people! Then it was time to go back to the longhouse. We had lunch and then organised a dance we'd been asked to perform for the community that evening, of our culture...... we did Grease, ha. We were also going fancy dress that evening so we got all that sorted, too. There were a fair few pirates (me included), gypsies, army, and jesus and baby jesus. Lots of people from the village arrived at about 8 and there were speeches and prizes for sports day and then we got on to the rice wine rounds! I wasn't doing too badly until I was the one taking it round to everyone, where it seems to work on an 'I drink when you drink' basis.... It was after we'd done a fair few rounds of rice wine that we did our dance, which went surprisingly okay! The rest of the night was lots more rice wine, and we exchanged bracelets - they all gave us one and we'd made some for them too. I think we went to bed at about 3 in the end.
Woke up feeling a little the worse for wear on Tuesday! Wasn't really appreciating the hour drive to the beach but felt fine by the time we got there! Was much nicer looking in the bright sun. We swam around a bit and went for a walk along the rocks. Lunch was a barbecue and rice which was nice, although I didn't have the barbecue part, I had some vegetables in a nice sauce that they'd cooked for me - delicious. We left the beach for Kudat at about 3, so we could all get some money out etc. Got back at about 5 and had to pack up and stuff.....
Wednesday we were supposed to be leaving at 7, but by the time we'd all said goodbye it was more like 8! We had a big coach for us, which was pretty good to spread out on, but got a bit boring by the end of the 6 hour drive - past hundreds of miles of palm oil plantations - to Batu Puteh (translation white rock, apparently). We were given refreshments and then went to our 'homestays'. Here we were each staying with a local family, although we were all expecting something a little different, more remote. We were under the impression that we were in the middle of a jungle and had electricity for only 2 hours a day, where this is definitely not the case! We had dinner - sitting on the floor and eating with out hands, definitely an experience - and then went to a 'culture show', dressed as the locals were - they gave us clothes to wear. This was lots of traditional dancing and music but I think we were all a bit too tired to appreciate it properly!
On thursday we left for the jungle on a boat at about 8. We went on a mini 'trek' (not actually much of a trek, more of a gentle stroll!) to collect seeds and to look at all the cool bugs etc. We had lunch by a lake and a few of us went for a wander. We were just on our way back having not really seen anything when wild Phil spotted a monitor lizard. We were looking at it and trying to get closer for a while but had to back off when we realised it was probably getting a bit freaked out and we didn't actually fancy being attacked by it... Was probably about 2ft body and 3ft tail we reckon. We went back to the village where we went to the nursery to plant the seeds we'd picked up, as part of a forest regeneration programme. Dinner at the homestay again - still haven't mastered eating rice with my hands. Then we all hung around for a while before an early night.
We were up at 5.30 on friday, for an early morning river cruise. We saw a few monkeys (mainly long-tailed macaws - not sure on spelling!) and a crocodile, and lots of kingfishers. We went back for breakfast and then had a morning at the nursery, moving the seedlings to bigger pots etc. We went back for lunch and packed up our stuff ready for 2 nights in the jungle! We went by boat again and set up our hammocks before going on an evening river cruise. We saw another monitor lizard, lots of long-tailed macaws, some pig-tailed macaws, some silver somethings (monkeys), proboscis monkeys and lots more kingfishers. In the evening we went on a night walk, where we saw a massive spider, some big bugs, a cavat cat in the trees, a snake and a load of other bugs and smaller spiders - pretty cool. We went back and had a fire by the side of the river for a few hours, and then bed in our hammocks. They were actually really, really comfortable. I saw a few cavat cats when I got up for the loo in the night, looking through the trees.
The hammocks were so comfortable that despite how noisy the jungle was I managed to sleep through until about 7 on saturday! Probably the latest so far on the trip! We had breakfast and then walked to where we were clearing vines so that they didn't kill the recently planted trees. We used parangs - basically machettes that are longer and thinner, quite fun but had some nasty blisters! Was around then that I started to feel a little bit ill. We walked back to the camp and hung around a bit before going for another river cruise. Unfortunately still no orangutans, just the monkeys and a few black squirrels. We went over to the other side of the river for a barbecue but I just lay infront of the fire - was so, so cold enen though I was practically lying on top of the fire! Saw a crocodile on the beach while we were still on the water but it'd gone by the time we got there. Went straight to hammock when we got back.
I was feeling a bit better on sunday morning. We left at 6am for a 'solo hike'. We were left in a little patch of jungle for half an hour to see what we saw. I saw a family of the black squirrels and a monkey swinging through the trees. After going back for breakfast we walked through the jungle to where we would be planting some trees. I wasn't a whole lot of use so I tried to sleep - far too many annoying flies for that though! Was pretty glad when we walked back.. although we went a longer way in hope of finding orangutans - wasn't massivley happy about that as the chances of seeing an orangutan up a tree from the ground are pretty much zero! Went straight to bed in my hammock when we got there, only waking up for about an hour to pack up my hammock and go back to the village to sleep again! So I slept pretty much the whole day in the end.... I think a few of the others went to a wedding reception in the evening which they said was good, but I still wasn't feeling well so stayed in bed!
This morning we had to get up at about half 6, and although I'm feeling better today, still not brilliant! And haven't managed to eat hardly anything yet..... Bad times. Today so far we've been to a Sandakan POW memorial park - for the Australians and British that were sent on death marches in the area by the japanese in WWII. Horrible reading about what they went through. Then we went to a buddhist temple, very pretty. This afternoon we're going to Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary, and although I'm gutted about not seeing one in the wild, seeing them here is better than none at all! :)
Saturday, 17 April 2010
first few days
So I left my house on sunday night, for a flight at 5 to midnight. After a 13 hour flight, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 8pm (7 hours ahead!). After being knocked over several times while attempting to lift my rucksack, I managed to find a cash machine and get a taxi. I had a hotel booked in the centre of KL, which took about an hour to get to. I thought that paying about 35 pounds for it would ensure I could get a nice nights sleep there..... but there were cockroach's in my bathroom! Nice.... Having breakfast the next morning was interesting, too. Not sure about rice and noodles for breakfast! I left my seat for a minute when I spotted some toast and found I was joined about 5 other men! A strange experience to say the least. I was staying right next to the towers in KL which was pretty cool. My flight was at 11.10am so I made it back to the airport for about 9 and managed to pick up a Malaysian simcard. It was a 2 1/2 hour flight to Kota Kinabalu but the pilot somehow managed to get us in half an hour early. I had a drink at the airport and met Ant and Mel before meeting Man (Man the man..) and heading for Tinangol. I slept most of the way but it seemed that we picked up a lot of people on the way! It was about a 3 hour drive to Tinangol and it rained torrentially the whole way. Luckily the weather had picked up a bit by the time I got to Tinangol and had to get out of the car though!
I met everyone there and we had about half an hour before dinner time. And time to start on the rice wine! Rice wine is made locally and tastes something like watered down Vodka. There are 3 grades.. We've been drinking grade 3, the weakest, which is still something like 20%. You drink in rounds, the first being a full glass and half or quarter glasses thereafter, and it's considered rude not to have the first. I managed a relatively early night the first one, and avoided drinking too much!
I woke up at about 6.30 on wednesday, and we all had breakfast before walking in to the village for about 9 to start work. We're helping build a new kindergarten, and this morning involved levelling the ground where they were going to concrete for a playground, using spades and hoes. This was pretty hard work as it's so humid and so hot anyway! I don't think I've ever been so sweaty! We managed to get the whole day's work done before stopping for lunch at 12. We had a 2 hour break as they tried to find us some more work to do! We varnished logs that will be used as supports in the afternoon, but this didn't take us too long either. We played badminton for an hour or two before heading back to the longhouse at 6ish. The long house is about a metre and a half above ground level, with a kind of ladder to get to the porch, and then another to get in to the main house. There's a big communal kind of living area on the right, and the left is split in to 5 rooms for all of us. Toilets and showers are separate, and the loos are basic to say the least!
Thursday we were all up and in to the village at about the same time again. The village has 3 main longhouses, which each house about 100 people, I think. There are a few other smaller houses, too, a school, and a small shop. As we had been so speedy the day before there wasn't much to do. We did a tiny bit more levelling, and did a second coat of varnish on the logs. It seemed that the guys had done so much before I got there, too, that they were at a loss as to what we could do as they had no more materials! We had a pretty chilled day before doing a little more varnishing and a little more badminton in the afternoon. I think everyone else had done a lot of rice wine evenings in a row so we decided an early night was good for everyone!
We got a lie-in friday morning, before heading down to the sports field so we could put on a sports day for the kids (aged between about 3 and 13). We stressed a lot all morning about our lack of organisation, but when it came to it we found this wasn't really a problem as the kids pretty much did as they pleased anyway! We did lots of different events, including egg and spoon, coconut shy, 3 legged race, pass the balloon, bulldog, etc. There was a lot of cheating but I think they all had fun! The kids then seemed to attach themselves to us, and while some went round arguing over who got my camera, two little girls kept demanding to be picked up, so I have very sore arms! It was great fun but so knackering! We managed to get away at about 5, and back to the longhouse for dinner. As we had missed out the night before a very heavy rice wine night was had, with a fair bit of karaoke!
Saturday I think we all felt a bit the worse for wear, but none as bad as Emma, who threw up the whole way in to Kota Belud, and had to buy some lovely new clothes...... We had a little look round the shops and had lunch before heading off again. On the way back we went to a bee centre, where they showed us how they made honey, and then a village where they make gongs. I bought a few of the smaller ones but they weren't quite as impressive as a 20ft one they have standing there - the biggest in Malaysia, apparently. We headed back to the longhouse where I proceeded to be eaten alive all evening by mosquitoes!
Today we're in Kudat for a few hours in the morning, to catch up on internet and some shopping, and then beach this afternoon. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told it's gorgeous! :)
I met everyone there and we had about half an hour before dinner time. And time to start on the rice wine! Rice wine is made locally and tastes something like watered down Vodka. There are 3 grades.. We've been drinking grade 3, the weakest, which is still something like 20%. You drink in rounds, the first being a full glass and half or quarter glasses thereafter, and it's considered rude not to have the first. I managed a relatively early night the first one, and avoided drinking too much!
I woke up at about 6.30 on wednesday, and we all had breakfast before walking in to the village for about 9 to start work. We're helping build a new kindergarten, and this morning involved levelling the ground where they were going to concrete for a playground, using spades and hoes. This was pretty hard work as it's so humid and so hot anyway! I don't think I've ever been so sweaty! We managed to get the whole day's work done before stopping for lunch at 12. We had a 2 hour break as they tried to find us some more work to do! We varnished logs that will be used as supports in the afternoon, but this didn't take us too long either. We played badminton for an hour or two before heading back to the longhouse at 6ish. The long house is about a metre and a half above ground level, with a kind of ladder to get to the porch, and then another to get in to the main house. There's a big communal kind of living area on the right, and the left is split in to 5 rooms for all of us. Toilets and showers are separate, and the loos are basic to say the least!
Thursday we were all up and in to the village at about the same time again. The village has 3 main longhouses, which each house about 100 people, I think. There are a few other smaller houses, too, a school, and a small shop. As we had been so speedy the day before there wasn't much to do. We did a tiny bit more levelling, and did a second coat of varnish on the logs. It seemed that the guys had done so much before I got there, too, that they were at a loss as to what we could do as they had no more materials! We had a pretty chilled day before doing a little more varnishing and a little more badminton in the afternoon. I think everyone else had done a lot of rice wine evenings in a row so we decided an early night was good for everyone!
We got a lie-in friday morning, before heading down to the sports field so we could put on a sports day for the kids (aged between about 3 and 13). We stressed a lot all morning about our lack of organisation, but when it came to it we found this wasn't really a problem as the kids pretty much did as they pleased anyway! We did lots of different events, including egg and spoon, coconut shy, 3 legged race, pass the balloon, bulldog, etc. There was a lot of cheating but I think they all had fun! The kids then seemed to attach themselves to us, and while some went round arguing over who got my camera, two little girls kept demanding to be picked up, so I have very sore arms! It was great fun but so knackering! We managed to get away at about 5, and back to the longhouse for dinner. As we had missed out the night before a very heavy rice wine night was had, with a fair bit of karaoke!
Saturday I think we all felt a bit the worse for wear, but none as bad as Emma, who threw up the whole way in to Kota Belud, and had to buy some lovely new clothes...... We had a little look round the shops and had lunch before heading off again. On the way back we went to a bee centre, where they showed us how they made honey, and then a village where they make gongs. I bought a few of the smaller ones but they weren't quite as impressive as a 20ft one they have standing there - the biggest in Malaysia, apparently. We headed back to the longhouse where I proceeded to be eaten alive all evening by mosquitoes!
Today we're in Kudat for a few hours in the morning, to catch up on internet and some shopping, and then beach this afternoon. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told it's gorgeous! :)
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