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The last 10 days have been a bit non stop so I will try and remember everything to update you on!
I'll start with climbing - we had a guy called Simon and his team come to the centre to teach us how to set up and climb the canopy platform, so we can take field groups up ourselves. It was a really good day, we spent the first part of the morning learning different knots, (yes that's right, I now know the figure of 8 and the clove hitch) and how different parts of the equipment works and where it's needed. Afterwards we went to the canopy and were taught how to rig the climbing ropes up the tree using pilot lines and how to use other trees to anchor the climbing rope. We then took it in turns to climb the ladder up the tree and where to attach our harnesses once at the top and also had a go at being the person who is at the bottom feeding the climber the rope. I can't remember all of the technical names... The plan after lunch was to go out and learn how to set ropes up on trees and free climb without the ladder. This was so we could help set up the orangutan bridges (ropes across tributaries connecting the forest either side). However it started to rain so Simon decided it wasn't a good idea to go all the way there to set up and if it started to rain harder the equipment would get wet. So they set it up for us to have a go just outside the main building. I discovered that I'm not such a natural climber and with little upper body strength and a weak ankle still, I failed at it and didn't get very far! I think I'll stick to walking.
The next day I went out with Danica to help with her final plot. It just so happened to be in a swamp... To get there we waded through near waist deep water and once there it was knee deep. As I was the scribe I was able to stand on a dry-ish bit of land (roots of a tree) and write from there. The big downside however was, although I avoided the leeches, because I was standing still my arms were completely covered in mosquito bites, I was even wearing long sleeves and deet! I'll put a photo up later. That night I did plan to go out and find the slow loris, but there were a couple of male elephants hanging around still so I didn't fancy running in to them in the dark so gave it a miss.
On the 19th myself and Josie left DG to go on our first visa run! We left the centre at 6.30am to get the boat 40 minutes up river where we then got picked up by a bus on the side of the road to travel for 6 hours to Kota Kinabalu (capital of Sabah). The journey wasn't too bad, I slept pretty much the whole way, but when I was awake there was a badly translated sub titled film on and we drove past mount Kinabalu which was cool to see. In the evening we just walked around the water front and the night markets before heading back to our hostel. The next day we left to catch our flight to Singapore.
We arrived early evening so dumped our stuff in our dorm and as we were staying in Little India found a place nearby for a curry and a tiger. For the rest of the evening we just spent it at the hostel chatting with other backpackers, a few of who were living in the hostel while looking for jobs. The next morning we walked around little India looking around all of the markets. It was so cool and everywhere was very colourful which may have been because it was Deepavali while we were there. After getting drenched in the rain at midday we headed back to the hostel to get changed and then headed out to China town. It wasn't quite as busy and manic as Little India but had lots of little stalls with cool clothes and weird medicinal things... We had dinner at one of the food stalls and there wasn't much else to see so went to Clarke quay. It was really nice here, everything lit up and the river was lined with nice bars and restaurants... we like all of the other backpackers bought some beers and sat on the bridge people watching. There were some street entertainers too as well as a really old Chinese man raving to a stereo, was a tad bizarre...
On Saturday we went to look around the marina. It was really nice here, but it was strange as all the buildings looked so new. Here was also the marina sands (?) casino and hotel. It was huge tower blocks with a building on top in the shape of a boat... You could go up it so we decided to. We were told if you just say you're going to the bar the entry fee was just one drink, but when we asked the woman at the ticket desk, she replied with 'there is a dress code...' so we bought a normal ticket. At the top we saw the bar and realised that the customers were dressed very smartly and realised we wouldn't have fit in there... The view was incredible though and you could see out over the city. Later that day we continued to just walk around the city and to find a cafe at Raffles hotel that Josie's mum had been to and recommended. It took a while to find as there are many places with the name Raffles, but eventually found it and had a tea and cake! Very sophistcated... however the evening didn't go the same way. We had been told by so many people that we had to go to the altitude bar. It's on the 63rd floor of a building tower and is 282m high. The bar is on the open top roof and so we went up there that night to see the view at night. It was so so cool up there, but the drinks were rather pricey... Also, when you haven't drank alcohol for two months and start with Singapore slings you may, like me, lose your purse or, like Josie, break your camera. All in all, it was a good night. Sunday however started with a trip to the police station to report my purse and a trip to a camera shop. In the afternoon we went back to the quay and watched the rugby world cup with a pizza. Afterwards we were still a little tired from the night before but it was too early to go back to the hostel, so we went to the cinema to see One Day. Monday was our last morning in Singapore so we walked down Orchard road. I have never seen so many huge designer shops in one place. As we both had no money and Josie was currently paying for me for everything, we didn't spend long here. That afternoon we flew back to KK and spent another night there before catching the bus the next morning back to DG.
It was a bit crazy back at the centre, there were a group of about 10 from Chester Zoo with the climbing guys helping to set up the orangutan bridges, along with the Wildlife Rescue Unit who were here to help with elephant and crocodile tagging as well as getting samples from proboscis monkeys!
So that is a full update from me! Sorry it turned in to a bit of an essay. Hope everyone is well at home!
xxx
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