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Two Chicks & a Climber Reach New Heights
A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step as soon as I walked through the departures gate at Heathrow on the 30th August. Pleased to say I regret nothing and will be heartbroken once I return home, I have looked upon this adventure as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I know it sounds clinch-y but the words couldn't be any truer. It is a very privileged position for one to be in when they have that opportunity to travel the world.
From overnight buses to cold-water-only hostels, from Chinese cooking lessons to seeing the Buddhist temples for the first time, the whole shebang are what makes a journey. But here are the memorable highlights:
• Mingling with the El Misti crowd, drinking caiprinhas, dancing to samba music in the streets of Rio in full party mode. The excitement on the Lapa streets is unsurpassable with Brazilians, who live life head-first.
• Being in awe of the 'spectacular' *Kevin's tone* Iguacu Falls, definitely one of the world's wonders. The stupendous roar of 275 different waterfalls crashing into the Rio Iguacu certainly made my heart skip a beat.
• Drinking a hot chocolate up in the mountains surrounded by beautiful virgin powder snow everywhere in Bariloche.
• The nerve-wrecking 134m Ben Nevis highwire bungee jump. After '1, 2, 3', jumping off the edge of a metal shed on a clothesline was unbelievably surreal, really soared like a bird.
• Discovering incredible ever-changing ice formations and amazed at the dazzling sapphire blue colour of the ice, glacial lakes and caves at Franz Josep Glacier.
• Ejecting myself from a plane at high altitude of 12,000ft with views of Mt.Doom at Lake Taupo and plummeting earthwards with only a few meters of cloth strapped to my back was unbelievably immense.
• The breathtaking scenery of the Whitehaven Beach with very fine dazzling white sand and magical clear waters in the Great Barrier Reef.
• Shopping till I drop in the early hours of morning, surrounded by neon lights in Mong Kok
• Getting an intimate glimpse of the orang-utans with their ginger fur and intelligent eyes at Sepilok.
• Conquering Borneo's magic mountain, Mount Kinabalu with an extraordinary summit-view sunrise, really took the breath away. Awe-inspiring.
• Lapping it in Boracay, Philippines's pure paradise with its laid-back Bob Marley atomsphere.
• And not to forget, communicating with my fantastic fellow travel buddies in the ASA (Aman, Semhar and Andre) language, especially on that Santiago to Auckland flight *giggles*.
Of course it's great to see the Grand Palace, Opera House, Petronas Twin Towers etc but it's the everyday people that inspires me. I like to travel because it motivates me unlike anything else. I travel because it tests me and pushes me to my limits such as teaching in Malaysia Borneo. I saw and experienced a Malaysia Borneo that nobody else has or ever will. It's in my veins. And the only consolation is the fact that I will return to visit. Someday. I'll never forget when I first walked through those DPM doors with my backpack on, excited kids ran up to me and it was all smiles. Malaysia Borneo provided me with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of my mind.
As an English teacher, my spoken English held up nicely, despite the nervous shaking that accompanied my first lesson. I was scared. It was a good excited state of fear though. Throughout the challenging months, I have taught the deaf kids English in fluent Bahasa Melayu sign language, and it really gave me the chance to take everything by the horns, I don't think it would have worked any other way. The art of standing up and talking in front of a multitude of people is a skill I have acquired from my GAP experience. The more I got out of it was as much as I put into it, such as the successful deaf camp 2006. I could tell by the look on the children's faces how much they appreciated what I did for them, definitely a great feeling. It is hard work, but the long days certainly didn't prevent us from going out numerous weekends with friends that Kirsty and I made.
At first, I thought all Chinese, Kadazan and Malay people looked typically the same with their identical features. But now it is a different story as I recognize them all as individuals. Everyone here is still wildly religious, with Islam of course being the dominant belief but I saw another side to Muslims that I never thought I'd see. Not only Islam is the dominant but the national religion so although other religions are not frowned upon they are not taken seriously and everyone must follow the rules of the Muslims, be careful not to be alone with a Muslim boy, covering yourself up etc. Other customs I learnt the hard way! Of course I did miss the odd home comfort. But it's made me appreciate things a lot more, both material and otherwise.
Will never forget those chompy chocolates and juicy-licious fresh pineapples sessions with Kirsty. The soothing shared taxi rides with Mr Soo. The delicious Little Italy meals. The highly amusing toilet scenerios. Those beasty bug and gignatic grasshopper episodes with my high-pitched scream with Kirsty constantly going OTT 'Oh My God!' in her Scottish accent *titters*. Oh fun times they were *memorable sigh*. Not only I couldn't have wished for a better GAP partner but I am glad to have found a friend for life through this experience. Same goes for Semhar and Ginger Mutt.
I truly cherish the children cheerfully saying or signing 'Morning/Afternoon/Evening Teacher/Aman'. They have certainly blossomed from being shy to confident around me. I am going to mention a few names and their well-known characteristics that will be greatly missed by me.
• Florence's friendly face.
• Fedeilia's sense of humour.
• Irdayanti's cheeky remarks on how I don't wash my thick curly hair properly *shakes head*
• Shairatul taking the mick out of me being a typical Westerner?(so she likes to think).
• Dale Ladies (yes, that is actually his name) using his so called charms on me and chomping the chicken off the bones like a dog at dinner times.
• Roderick in my English tuitions slyly going off the point and hassling me with pointless questions *chuckles*.
• Saparuddin's sweet face and always willing to talk to me, whenever and wherever.
• Lennie jumping from behind to tickle me.
• Joyce's heavenly voice and playing the guitar next door.
A part of me is attached and leaving the lovely students at DPM brought a lump to my throat and tears, but at the same time life moves on, and I hope the work that Kirsty and I have done at DPM will leave an impact where the volunteers next year can pick up from.
I would recommend anyone to go on around-the-world trip because it will breathe new life into you. Simply, you will grow as a person. You will become (hopefully) a better person, more accepting of other cultures and more empathetic towards differences amongst humanity, especially if you are in one place for long. (Geez, I am expecting an awful lot from my fellow beings!)
Opportunities like these do not come often but every now and then they do. Much as it may seem like a difficult decision at the time, if you ever get the opportunity to see more of the world, what are you waiting for? Go ahead! There's a big ole world out there just waiting to be explored.
Just a few travelling tips to bear in mind:
• Save as much money as humanly possible. It's very difficult to make cash magically appear in your account while abroad.
• Let your memory be your travel bag. Be open to new and radical experiences. The more you experience, the more you learn, be it good or bad. Just use common sense!
Remember, as inspiringly quoted by St Augusti, 'The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.'
It is finally time to draw a line and put an end to this website. Thank you so much for tuning in to our adventures. Much as I wanted to, I could not physically take you with me but felt that with this website, it was the next best thing. Thanks also for your messages and emails that made me feel closer to home, which I have greatly appreciated.
To finish off, not only I've had the time of my life on this GAP year but it has also been an indelible memory of a dream fulfilled.
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