Right, the homestay....

#From packing a small overnight bag we ventured in a hollowed out tree trunk down the river Kinabantanga heading for our jungle experience. Before we could plonk oursleves again back in our tree trunk with our 80's lifejackets, which were more about the fashion than actually doing anything to save us if we fell into the water, we set up our hammocks for the night. Mine being located between 2 bendy looking trees which apparently would rock me gently to sleep... but no - it felt like i was incased in a fabric coffin! To make it work out a star fish position had to be assumed, though when you woke up each limb was at a different height and angle which accounted for the numbness and feeling that none of them were your's.

#Before our disrupted hammock night's sleep though, we had a river cruise looking out for a wildlife and what we mostly found was a lot of Makacks doing what I called their ''welcome dance'' for us... yep a lot of monkey's doing their monkey business in broad daylight was the comedy highlight of that boat trip. Another comedy moment was the night jungle walk which produced a sighting of ... wait for it .... a BIG tree... wooohhha hold your horses there Li that's too much for us city folks!!

#Our 1 hour refelction time in the middle of the jungle does make one do abnormal things... others slept... or even contemplated their life or existance... me on the other hand decided to make a Ti-Pi tent for a monkey out of twigs from my surrounding area. I even added cleared a path so that they could find it and added some leaves for comfortable bedding (way too much time spent on my own!).

#From a night in the jungle it was a welcome change to then head to a local's home named Fatimah. Kate and I had the best homecooked Malaysian food, and had a glimpse of what real life is like for a lot of the Malay people. They are so happy and smiley it's so infectious. Their life is basic yet so happy; we showered using a bucket of water and a saucepan to dowse oursleves with; they cooked on open fire and massive wok pans; and about 8 people lived in one house. As an eye opener this was the biggest yet, but I never felt sorry for them once, I even envied how happy they were with the basic lifestyle and not consumed by having the biggest and best gagdets we all strive to get back home. It was so great just living with them for one night.

#After viewing the surrounding areas at the top of the bat mountain, which funnily enough had a cave full of bats (I call it this as I can't remember what exactly the name was but it was pretty high and had 270 steps if anyone's in any doubt I didn't do it), we then kicked the local's asses at volleyball. I say we, I meant to say the Danes, but I was a good pom pom girl!

#We had to make that night's meal which we didn't mess up. I won't have a clue how to make the green vegetable dish that we ended up serving as I had no idea what the lady was saying to me but she kept smiling so I did too as I added and chopped things that were placed under my nose!

#As it was Earth hour we were grateful for all the lights to be switched off as we were dressed in the traditional dancing clothes - though i think they were having a laugh. Not one of us looked half decent - me I looked like an oversized floral Pink satin sack. Everyone else looked like a haberdashery store which only dealt with fabrics only people who were colour blind or had really bad taste would go to. This was short lived as we were then placed in a row of chairs so everyone could see us. With us looking soo fine in our garments they then made us get up and dance. Again we tried to introduce the hokey kokey but to no avail as there were too many fabrics flying all over the place that you didn't know what leg/arm was being flung in and out!

#We did so much with these guys in such a short space of time and had so much fun the trip to Sandakan was quiet, but by the evening we had all perked up and ready for the Kareokee bar that was promised with cheap beers. At this point we became aware of Hairy our guide's one and only talent.. finding cheap beer...useful for these trips. There was lots of dancing and bad singing but the locals loved us - who wouldn't when you pull out the rock anthems and air guitar moves?!Smmoooooth!

Next Part III Turtle Island!!