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Little Kirsty Ventures to Pastures New
Muslim wedding, adopting a baby orangutan, watching a mummy turtle lay her eggs, releasing baby hatchlings to the wild, trekking through the jungle in swamps of mud, going down the biggest river in Sabah in a long boat with man eating crocs beneath us, not wearing shoes and not getting more than 2hrs sleep for 5 days, partying it up for St Patrick's day in KK- was a friggin awesome March hol!!!!!
I've been dreading writing this up cos I know its gona take for EVER and I do apologise if I miss loads out, my memory's awful!!
O.K- gota do this in sections cos I don't have time to do the whole shebang.
Last weekend-
Friday 10th March. KK-BED
Had a meeting in the deaf dept about the deaf camp and Aman and I taught the kids the "Everywhere we go" song and dance for the camp. We then went to an industrial estate place to buy prezzies for the deaf kids for the camp- i.e- for best group etc. We headed to KK for the weekend in the afternoon and grabbed a quick Chinese then got ready to go and party it up. Rupert decided to fly all the way back from the east coast to join us as he had a little time to spare before heading to KL and what better way than spending a night out at "BED" with us! Unfortunately Sarah was away climbing the mountain but Jade Madlen and Georgie were down for the weekend so was aall good. Kirsty (other Scott) arrived in KK around 10pm so we stocked up on beverages at Tong Hing's, drunk up in NBC then headed to BB. Got T-shirts and head-scarves there- rokin. Had an ace night out- discovered an amazing cocktail at BED and our 15% off tickets certainly came in handy again. We headed to the Api Api bar afterwards and had a full on meal at 3am- best chips ever!!! And cheese n ham toasties- mmmm!! Didn't manage to blag our way out of paying this time tho, which sucked.
Rupert headed home pretty early on Saturday to fly to KL then Kirsty and I headed off to Sapi island with Georgie. We flukily met up with 2 gappers from West Malaysia, at the jetty so we dragged them along to Sapi as well and we went banana boating- was intense! Hittin the water at high speed was sometimes nasty but fantastic banter.
Headed back to KK in time to get a shower and doll up for our "big meal out" to Little Italy. I had the place booked for 20 and we took over most of the restaurant. Was really looking forward to it but it was a little too hectic and crowded to speak to everyone and after the previous night of zilch sleep, we were all pretty knacked and took such effort to socialise. The new gapers were great tho- Sarah and Fiona. They're working at the outdoors' centre in KK and just arrived on that Saturday morning from Aus, so they were pretty knackered as well.
I was sooo hungry cos we missed lunch so Fiona (new gapper) was shocked, yet pretty impressed when I had an entire bruchetta (6 pieces) to myself then continued to share a large pizza then order an entire plate of pasta. Was the meatiest meal I've had in a long time. Scoffed the lot though!
Aanyway, we were determined to show the gappers a good night in KK even though we were done in, so we took them to BB café but to be honest, they were havin none of it- noone was up for a good time. So Georgie and I ended up getting on the dance floor and dancing Kadazan style to some Malaysian music. We then ended up headin back to NBC for a quiet night in and to recover as Aman and I had a wedding to go to the next day.
Sunday morning was an oober early rise, had to get back to the school to finish packing for the East Coast and get ready for the wedding.
Muslim Wedding
We arrived back at around 7.30am, only to discover that we weren't leaving for hours so we just chilled out and hada little nap.
Rakeema drove us to the wedding, which turned out to be pretty far away and the air con in her car was bust so I was genuinely gona pass out in the back of her car- was sooo hot!!
Arrived to discover that it wasn't in fact the wedding, but the post-celebration. We were greeted by some of the women, who escorted us to our seats- Rakeema was holding onto me so tightly and it was seriously a bit odd- like I was genuinely being treated like I was the bride. Aman didn't seem to be noticed as much but cause of my blonde hair, I was automatically the subject of much attention. We got some food and watched some of the men doing karaoke. It was all outdoors, like a garden party but in a really rural place, with the men in one section and the women in another.
We were definitely glad we didn't wear our Chinese dresses as it was a Muslim wedding and we were obviously the only non-Muslims there.
I ended up getting dragged onto the karaoke to sing Westlife- flying without wings- was painful.
We were then invited to the Bride's house to have some Sabah coffee and home made biscuits. It was a wooden house and in her living room area, there were 2 thrones, in which, her and her husband (the Islamic teacher from our school) were wed. Aman and I took some pics on the thrones and we were then invited to meet the bride in her bed room. She was having her make-up done by her friends- she looked pretty young.
We thought it would be a very long ceremony as many of our friends have told us about Muslim weddings they have attended- but we left after only a couple of hours.
Luckily we gota lift back in Hashyim's (ICT teacher) car which has amazing air con but a major hole in the exhaust!
Once back, we finished packing, then Cathrine picked us up to take us to the Airport. We were really early so just got something to eat, then caught out flight to Sandakan.
Sandakan
We were greeted at the airport by Margaret, who we were staying with. She is Cathrine's, sister in-law's friend. Bit random I know- but she was an absolute legend!!
Her house was quite near the airport and she showed us our room and left us to settle in a little bit. Her house was pretty spacious- the biggest I've seen in Sabah so far anyway. Her and her husband were really kind and her daughter let us use the computer and we looked at her photo albums, listened to her music. She's obsessed with a Korean musician called "Rain". She had loadsa posters of him and showed us video clips of his performances.
Before bed, Margaret gave us some home made dough things. They were reeeally heavy on the stomach. They were dough filled with some mushrooms, chicken, Chinese tasting stuff (the family were Chinese).
Sepilok- Orang-utans.
On Monday morning (next day), Margaret drove us to Sepilok, orang-utan sanctuary. When we arrived, I bumped into Sarah and she had a raging fever- turns out she didn't get to climb the mountain cause she came down with a crappy flu thing so she'd just been chilling out at Sepilok, waiting to get better. Was so cool to see her again, so we went together to the11am feeding. Was crazily immense. As we walked into the jungle over a wooden walkway, an oober sexy orang-utan climbed down a tree right next to the path and landed on the wooden handrails. He walked along beside us (there were only about 5 people on the trail at the time) and he just stopped next to Aman, turned and looked straight into her eyes for about 10 seconds- was amazing. He was a big poser and kept strutting up and down, loving getting his photo taken. He then took the lead and led us down the path to the feeding platform. That was instantly the highlight of my GAP year at that moment (but it got even better!)
There was a feeding platform about 3 meters away from the decking, where people could take pics. Loadsa orang-utans had come for their lunch and there were also other little cheeky monkeys there to nick the bananas. We had a couple of (baboon looking) monkeys sitting right in front of us- as in we coulda easily touched them but I think they're pretty vicious and we've been warned loads to keep a tight hold of cameras and bags as the monkeys tend to nick loadsa tourist's stuff.
Anyway, the male baboon started humping the female full on infront if us. He was blatantly showing off for the cameras but the monkeys bits were on full view and it was a little too rampant for my liking. Got some hilarious photos though.
The young orang-utans were sooo cute. They were tiny and- aw, just can't explain how immense they all were. They all had huge big brown eyes, and looked right at us and did amazing acrobatics on the rope that led from the jungle to the feeding platform. Like to move along the rope, they would do little cartwheels- sooo cute. Really hard to catch on camera- they went so fast that all of my pics turned out like big orange blurs!
We stuck around for as long as we could, then went on a short jungle trail- didn't have much time since Margaret was waiting for Aman and I outside. We watched a presentation on fundraising for the orangutans and about the sanctuary in general. The presentation was given by one of the volunteer's we had previously met at NBC.
She managed to persuade Georgie and I to adopt a baby orangutan together. Was soo cool. We adopted a baby called Sogo-sogo. She was born in January this year and is still in the rehabilitation nursery.
Can't wait to get some pictures of her- cause they will send us an adoption pack.
Sight seeing.
Margaret was fab. She took us on a major sight-seeing tour of Sandakan. First we went for lunch and picked up her daughter, Teresa and her friend, who joined us for the rest of the day.
We went to some lookout points at the highest parts of Sandakan- we could see out to some islands and over the town- which is pretty small, and no offense but the main town of Sandakan was a bit of a dive. Tis used for a lot of trade between the Philippines and Sabah and it's a bit "seedy" as Kirsty M said.
We went to a Chinese Temple, which was relaxing (as all Chinese temples I have been to always are). Then to some more lookout points, and an old Church, which was strange to see as it was made from old brick and had proper stain glass, and you just don't see buildings like that here.
Sandakan memorial park.
This was pretty full on, as I expected. Approximately 2400 Australian and British Prisoners of War (POWs), held by the Japanese were killed by their captors- by starvation, overwork, beatings and punishments and the forcing of over 1000 sick and weak POWs on 3 marches under brutal physical conditions. In 1942 and 1943, the Japanese brought to Sandakan about 2700 Australian and British POWs (most of whom were captured at the surrender at Singapore in Feburary 1942). They were used as a labour force to build a military airstrip. In late 1944, the airstrip was bombed and destroyed so in early 1945, the Japanese decided to move the POW's 260km west, into the mountains, to a small setlement in Ranau. On 3 forced marched between January and June, approx 500 prisoners died. The remainder died at the Ranau and Sankakan Camps. Only 6 men survived- 2 escaped into the jungle during the second march, were assisted by local people and eventually picked up by Allied units. Another 4 escaped Ranua, again with the help of locals, who fed and hid them.
The Memorial park consited of some ponds with lillies inside, some wild turtles and a pavilion, which gave detailed accounts of the Death Marches. There was one board that was especially touching, which gave quotes and interviews from the 6 survivor's- was really brutal stuff.
We then went to the English Tea house, which was quite amusingly full of white people. Why come from the U.K, to visit Borneo, then sit in an English tea house?! Fair doo's we were there with locals. Admittedly, the scones I had were pretty much to die for (clotted cream and jam-mmmmm). Was so funny- it had a croquet lawn and everything!
Crocodile Farm.
And sorry to say it, but it was by far the worst place I have been to ever. Was just horrible to witness the cruelty of the animals kept there- I'm sure it's nothing compared to other zoo-type places around the world but it was enough to make my skin crawl.
Basically, when we arrived, we walked over a bridge above loadsa crocs kept in a tiny tiny enclosure. We then headed to see a "crocodile show", which consisted of the men working there, pushing the crocs by the tale and shaking them in the water to get some action out of them, then play fighting with them- holding them in the air, then dropping them head first on the concrete. They were just taking the absolute pee- like dancing with them, throwing them about with complete disrespect. Then they brought out a huge croc that they just again treated like it was a piece of crap. The men poked it with sticks, expecting us to find that impressive, lay on top of it- etc etc- stupid nasty stuff.
Then around the rest of the tiny park (if you can call it that), there were miniscule enclosures containing beautiful animals. One that I couldn't stay at for more than 2 mins was a bear. He was locked in a tiny cage with nothing but concrete and bars. He just looked at me with his head lay in his paws and his nose though the bars with the saddest big brown eyes- pleading to get out. He just looked like he had given up-was so so sad.
Then there were the same cheeky monkeys we saw at the orangutan sanctuary, yet they were in awful condition. There were about 20 of them per cage, with nothing at all to entertain then, just tiny ledges to sleep on. And the worst thing- couldn't believe it- was that there were bananas hanging just out of reach of the cage so that the monkeys were reaching through and groaning to get at them and you could see the sores under the monkey's arms from the bars rubbing on them. Was just horrible. Visitors could pay RM1 to give them bananas so I got a few and they were obviously starving. I tried to get the bananas to the scrawniest little ones.
Ahhh- just back from the deaf camp and I'm totally done in- will try to finish this though.
O.K- so that evening Margaret cooked us a fantabulous meal of sweet and sour prawns, which of course Aman and I nabbed the recipe for afterwards. Twas an immense meal after a long day.
Turtle Island
Up early next morning to go to the airport to meet the Guide, to be taken to Turtle Island (only me, Georgie and Catherine were going due to the extortionate price, so Aman remained at Margaret's).
We picked up Georgie and Cathrine en route and headed up an exceedingly dodgy bumpy track in this shabby mini bus to reach the teeny tiny jetty on the edge of a river. (Along with about 20 others).
It became clear why the tour had been so pricey as we noticed that out fellow Turtle Island go-ers had obviously come directly from swanky hotels with they're posh suitcases and safari gear. This was the only tour group with space left to visit the island and was obviously a hotel tour group hence pricey- but acht well.
We all piled into 2 speed boats and set off down the river, past a quaint little fishing village (if you can call it a village). It consisted of about 10 wooden shacks on stilts on either side of the river, with fishing nets hung below. The driver said that these were often used as retreats for fishermen to chill out in while they waited for their catch (they had additional houses on the mainland), however some of them were the full time accomm for the men.
We continued onto an island where we were briefed on the procedures over the next 2 days. Although we were on a random island in the middle of nowhere, I was so shocked to find it had a sit on toilet on sink- the 3 of us got a bit over excited and the other the other tourists were all a bit stuck up. There was a couple of blondies from Australia- mother and daughter, and while we were all chatting and getting excited about watching a mother turtle lay her eggs etc, the daughter aggressively asked the ranger when breeding season is and what is the likliness of actually getting a turtle. He said that they usually have 1 every night at this time of year, since peak breeding season doesn't start until June. And again she fiercley stated that in fact there may not be any turtles to witness laying eggs and that we may not be able to release any hatchlings into the water etc. We were like, chill out dude- although I was secretly thinking- crap, if we've spent this money and don't get to see a turtle, I'm gona be scuppered. But I mean the ranger made it clear to us what the chances were and she was just being down right mean about it.
Aanyway, we had a swanky lunch, which we took as much as poss of cause of the price we paid for it- we were saying, "right, we gota eat RM415 worth!".
We took a little stroll down the white sand beach before heading on to the real "Turtle Island". Twas gorgeous! The boat drew up to clear waters and white sands and I couldn't believe there were buildings on the island. I was expecting to be roughing it in a shack but we were shown to our actual "bedrooms" in actual "chalets" with REAL showers, SIT ON TOILETS and we gota friggin TOWEL and FREE bottle of water!! We couldn't believe our luck and obviously were running about going-wooo, etc and the other tourists obviously thought we were barking.
Twas the first time any of us have felt an age gap between travelers. When you're backpacking- you just chat and have banter with anyone and everyone- but with a hotel tour group- we felt soo looked down upon and everyone was in their own we cliché group or couple.
We spent the day at the beach, be it a bit breezy, but twas nice to chill out and top up on the tan. Snorkelling was pretty good but the water was only around 1/2 m deep for ages out and the fish were really territorial of the reef so there was some severe nippage going on. So I surrendered and headed for the Narnia book and the I pod.
Once back at the chalet, I rushed to wash the sand and salt off me and was in such excitement to see running fresh water that I seemed to ignore the "male" and "female" signs above the door. It was only until I was showering and smelt the distinct male shower gel odor that I thought "is this unisex", then as I left, I realized- I had in fact just bathed in the men's. Made me realize that Malaysia doesn't have urinals, which was an interesting new fact to add to my collection!
Later we watched a weirdo dance movie with the ranger- quite enjoyed it actually- me and Georgie just like taking the pee.
We were getting more and more excited about the whole seeing the turtles and when it reached dinner, there was a major buzz of excitement in the air (from our part anyway). We all had to eat in dimmed lighting as any bright lights scare the turtles and would prevent them from coming on shore to lay.
Again, twas a fab meal and we kept going back for more pineapple- mm, and topped up on looadsa coffee to keep awake. We all had our torches ready and the flash on our cameras turned off. We were all warned repeatedly about the flashes on the cameras and the use of light.
We were asked to pay an RM10 fee for the use of a camera (as is custom in Malaysia) and again there were objections from Blondie- she refused to pay the fee since we weren't guaranteed to see a turtle- we were like "what an absolute loser"- she was such a moaner.
After dinner, at around 8pm, we went outside to sit on the benches, which faced the beach, in anticipation of a visitor. We waited, and waited and at first we were in silence, then some people started to whisper, then right out talk- which peed the hell outa me- but then the ranger told us that the turtles don't mind noise- as long as the noise isn't so loud to make a big vibration. It's only light that puts them off laying.
Around 10.30pm there was some commotion around the back of the beach (we weren't allowed on the beach itself at this point) and we were like- ahh, is it a turtle?! But seriously, it seemed to be only me, Georgie and Catherine that cared- we were asking the ranger and he was saying nothing- I was soo frustrated cos we could hear it dragging itself up the beach, then into a clearance next to us, which had quite a lot of leaves and twigs. Then we clearly heard the noise of her flapping her fins (or arms?) to dig a hole to lay in. But no one else seemed to care- it was too dark to see properly if it was a turtle or not- was soo tempted to run over and check. Eventually more and more people started questioning the ranger and eventually he claimed that it was a monitor lizard. At first we believed him, but then the moon became brighter and higher in the sky, casting a slight light over the beach and an outline of the turtle became vaguely clear. I couldn't tell if it was my eyes playing tricks but then more and more people starting pointing her out. She kept moving from space to space in the clearance and digging at different points. Then finally she came so close that we could at last see her- she was huuuuge! Only a selection of the group were as excited as us- none of our pics really came out cos we couldn't use a flash but she was beautiful- especially in the moonlight! And it was all so surreal cos it was like the middle of the night, some people were asleep on heir benches, the moon was soo eerily bright (and full) and it was just pretty cool- especially when she finally pulled herself away over a mound of sand, and when she reached the top, she was so clear in the moonlight, then she slid down the other side and made her final hole.
I presume we were told she was a monitor lizard to prevent us from disturbing her.
Again, the waiting commenced- I KO'd on a bench beside the ranger to make sure that he'd wake me up if anything exciting happened. Finally after loads of squirming about and trying to get comfortable, I was woken by Georgie and it was a sleepy eyed and excited trot to another part of the beach to find an absolutely humongous female laying her eggs. Was just crazy! I slyly edged my way in, to by far the best position you could possibly imagine (I'm sure you can suss out where) and I even had a tree to perch my tired little head on. The ranger shone his torch into the hole to let us see but just as we arrived she had taken rest from laying. He delved into the hole and collected the eggs she had lain so far and put them gently on the sand. We continued waiting for her to lay but then an absolute (so many names just came into my head) "arse wipe" will do, walked in front of her- which is a NONO and we were warned about it a million times. So he obviously freaked the poor girl out and she stopped laying. We waited for about 15 mins and I could clearly see her trying but nothing was coming of it. I thought it a bit harsh that the ranger was shining his bright torch on her bits- you'd think she'd get sore from the head of the light. Aanyway- she laid 64 eggs in total. We've been told they lay from 60- 180 eggs on average.
The eggs were then placed in a bucket and we left her alone to cover the refill the hole with sand.
We proceeded to the hatcheries, which have been man-made to prevent any of the eggs being disturbed. For instance, in the wild, many nests are dug up by lizards or rats etc and the eggs are eaten so the rangers have created an enclosed "pen" kind of thing where holes are dug, the eggs placed inside, sand filled over them and a mesh placed around the surface of the holes to prevent invasion.
Was fascinating to find out that nests kept mostly in the sun, result in male turtles, where as if the eggs in their nests are kept in the shade, females hatch. So there is a variation of light distribution throughout the hatchery.
We were distinctly told in our briefing that after we had witnessed the mummy lay her eggs, we could put our torches on- so I did so so that we could take a nice wee pic of us holding the brand new eggs- but as I was shining my torch on one- a women absolutely fruit-caked at me- I was like "whooah- we're aloud our torches on dude" but then Georgie pointed out that I prob just caused the sex of the hatchling to be male.
After we watched the ranger bury the new eggs, he brought out a basket of little animated creatures moving at a million/m/h. They were little Squirts!! Hatchlings! Soo cute! We all got to hold them and their little fins were kinda spiky at the end- they were determined to escape. We were taught 3 ways to hold them safely but no matter which technique I used, my little Squirt was having none of it!! So after much "coochie cooing" we put them all back in the basket and headed down the beach with them.
This was just aaaawesome! As Georgie says. So we all got in a semi-circle on the gorgeous white sand, which looked distinctly silver in the bright moonlight, and the ranger upturned the basket on the sand- allowing the little Squirts to battle down the remaining 3 meters to the water's edge. Was crazy to think that only 1 in 100 little dudes will survive the big bad world so we were all calling good luck to our little hatchling and he fought the tiny little waves to paddle out to sea. Those waves must have seemed soo huge top such little dumplings! There were a couple stragglers that took their time- I'm hoping they made it OK once they reached the water.
The Squirts have to swim for 3 days non stop to find a safe place to rest and fend for them selves. Only 1/100 will reach sexual maturity, which is at around 15 years old. They will breed from 15yrs- 30yrs old and although they may find a home and a mate 100s of miles away, they will all return to exactly the same spot in which they were born, to lay their own eggs (how mental is that?!)
They have some kind of inner magnetic radar, which helps them to return to precisely the same beach. Females only breed once every 3 years since it is such an ordeal and they need to rest. We watched a grueling video on the life cycle of the turtle- including the mating process, which is down right vicious! Basically, the male mounts the female and she has to use her energy to take them both to the surface to breathe. Sometimes, she is dogged by 3 or 4 males, who try to bite and attack the male on her back so they can have a go- this can result in the female being held down- even until she drowns- nasty.
Then we saw some horribly graphic footage of the dangers turtles face and the reason for the severe decrease in their population. Boat propellers and fishing nets are some of the worst threats- and obviously they are hunted for their shells as well.
Anyways- was such a nice moment to see them set off on such a huge adventure and is weird to think something so teeny and go through all that and return 15 years later as a ginormous, gorgeous, beautiful sea turtle. The turtles we saw were Green Sea Turtles- there are a couple of different species that breed on the island.
After releasing the babies- we headed for bed at last- although Georgie and I were adamant we wanted to stay up as we knew there were loads of mother's laying along the stretch of beach (we saw 2 females digging their nests as we walked back from egg laying). The noise they make was so peaceful- there's the lapping of water against the sand, then the gentle swishing of their arms as they make the hole- was just too cool.
We headed back to the chalet with the ranger and 2 couples that were the people decent enough to have some banter with us. One of the guys went to the Ranger- "I think we should clarify to these girls which shower room is which" then "Who found themselves in the wrong shower today?" I was like- haha- poor dude was in the shower next to me and obviously realized I was in the wrong place when I was singing full blast! I was like- "Oops- sorry", he was just messin about though.
When we reached our room, we realized that the 2 Aussie Blondies had gone to bed at like 11pm and missed the whole shebang- ha! What losers!
Georgie and I, being wide awake had some banter- related to my new and improved tan lines ofcourse! Tis an absolute joke! I tried to even them um after the diving shibockle but I managed to gain lobster thighs and muddy looking knees, with a fine white line dividing them- no joke! Georgie has the evidence on her camera- need to get copies! Then she was taking the mick about my sheet antics-but that's another story.
Anyway, early next morning, we headed to the other island for a slap up breakfast, which was ab fab. Miss eggs so much- love it when I get a chance to have scrambled egg on toast- mmm!
Finally, we took the return trip past the fishing village, up the river and back on the bumpy minibus to be dropped off at Sepilok again. I dumped my bag at the Sepilok B+B, where Sarah and Kirsty had been staying the previous night and met a randomer girl who is training to be a forrester ranger person in the U.K and we trudged down to the Orang-utan centre together- took aaaages to get there.
I was so excited about adopting Sogo-sogo that I decided to go back into the centre to see the feeding time and try to blag my way into the Rehabilitation centre to see her. I asked one of the volunteers that I knew from NBC if she could let me see her but she said that even most of the volunteer's aren't allowed into the baby's quarters, which is pants. Was nice to go and watch them all playing at the feeding platforms though. Bumped into the one of the couples we met on Turtle Island- they were gutted that they had come to the orang-utans with the same tour group and been majorly over-charged.
Headed back up the long road to the B+B in the sweltering heat, to find that Aman had arrived and we all chilled out on some gorgeous mahogonay style chairs outside to wait to be picked up for "Uncle Tan's Wildlife camp".
Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp
A little minibus pulled up and we took the 1+1/2 hr drive to Uncle Tan's Camp Office, which was in the middle of nowhere and pretty derelict but the photos on the walls showed how intensely amazing the jungle was gona be- pics of elephants, insects, frogs, lizards- we all got a bit excited. We joined the 15 or so people already crammed in the small room- including a family of 4- 2 hippy-ish parents with mental kids. A boy aged 5, and a girl aged 8- at first they were oober hyper- zooming about the crammed space playing tig and knocking everything over- we were all thinking the same thing at that point- please don't turn out to be little brats. But I can sincerely say we were greatly mistaken.
We were all briefed on what essentials we needed and what to expect. The camp had only recently been re-opened after a major flood so some of the jungle trails had been closed and all of the remaining ones were rivers of mud. So we were advised to go to the nearby supermarket and buy rubber shoes for RM5. I had my hiking boots with me but the guy said they'd end up getting completely trashed.
There were posters on the wall of the room saying "This is not a holiday camp or hotel resort. It is Hardcore Borneo Style- the accommodation is basic.. etc" so we were sure we were up for an awesome time!
I had already stocked up on a huge tub of Cadburys choc éclairs so handed the first round out, which was greatly appreciated. After a couple of hrs of hanging about, making sure we had everything, we loaded into separate minibuses and set off for the jungle. We were in a small minibus with the family and straight away Cathrine kicked up a fuss about the kids being with us. I was like- harsh- they turned out to be absolute LEGENDS- best behaved kids I've ever met.
Took a couple of hours to reach the oober rural village situated on the Kinabatangan river (largest river in Sabah), where the boats were ready to take us off.
As we lugged our hyuooge rucksacks off the bus, Lan (our rockin guide) was like- You're never gona be able to carry that into the camp- and I was just like "We're hardcore dude" and that stuck as the moto throughout the camp- "Hardcore".
Once in the boats, we headed down the river for our first boat safari on our way to the camp. Straight away each guide (we had one per boat) were pointing out exotic rare birds, monkeys, lizards, even a croc. There were constant "Oos" and "Ahs" coming from the boat. Especially with a couple of bird watchers who were seriously OTT when they spotted the Hornbills- quite amusing. The safari was about 2 hours long and a bit painful on the derrière but worth it.
We drew in at a shaky looking jetty with steps leading up to the jungle. I put my sexy head torch on as it was starting to get dark, and we hauled ourselves and our bags out of the boat. This was officially one of the funniest times on my Gap year so far- the trail leading to the camp was pure slimy squelchy mud up to our shins. Was absolutely hilarious wading through the extremely slidey mud, trying to keep our rubber shoes on our feet and balance our huge bags. The suction of the mud proved too much for the shoes, which were all soon disposed of or sucked off our feet in the mud- so it was bare feet from now on. Was so much fun wading through the squelchy mud and letting it ooze through our toes and up our legs- especially when we fell down exceptionally deep bits of the path and were muddified up to our thighs- was too funny. As well as the additional sound effects just made it banteriffic. Cause of the conditions and lots of unbalanced toppling over, it took us around 20mins to walk the short distance to base camp.
We were designated a wooden frame hut with mattresses inside with big mozzie nets hung over- was so cool. We all shacked up in pairs- there were 6 of us at Uncle Tans- me, Aman, Kirsty, Sarah, Georgie and Catherine- as well as around 15 others.
We washed our legs and various parts using water pumped from the river then headed to the main hut which was in complete darkness cos Lan was having trouble getting the generator started. We all had our torches on and I decided to start a sing song. We were thankfully provided with 2 guitars (although a bit bashed and missing strings) they were better than nothing! We started with some singing kettle songs for the kids. There was Kiera and Liam- both up for singing and strumming along quite happily.
We had a look at some of the countless books on wildlife sprawled out and came across a gruesome Man-eating Croc book. There were mingin detailed pics of the locals living next to Kinabatangan river, catching a huge croc, cutting it open and finding a young boy, dead, but intact except for his leg being munched off- was nasty.
There were pics all around the walls of precious groups and loadsa pics of animals seen around the surrounding jungle. There was a hilarious pic of a Proboscis Monkey with it's bits clearly on show- male monkeys love to pose!
We were then provided with typical Malay food but I delved in anyway cause I was ravenous. Discovered the yummiest thing ever ever- Nestle condensed milk on a spoon-mmm.
The staff were amazing- we were told to make ourselves feel at home and invade the kitchen and take what we want, whenever we want- legendary- think I was the only person that actually followed thwem up on that offer though!
We were then briefed on the itinerary- 1 night boat safari, morning boat safari, morning trek, afternoon boat safari, night trek, morning boat safari- so we were gona be knacked by the end of it!
That evening we waded back through the banterous mud to reach the jetty and head off on our night boat safari. Was soo hard to stay awake- kept finding myself being dug in the ribs when anything exciting came up. Even Liam and Kiera was lasting longer than me! We saw some owls, monkeys, birds- will list them all after.
Highly amusing- Kirsty and Georgie were so excited to be so close to the long Tailed Makak monkeys but as they were looking up at them, they got peed and pood on- mwahaha!
Once back at camp we were all scuppered, so listened to Lan on guitar for a bit, then headed straight for bed. Was so cool in our wee shack- especially by torch light.
Next morning was a nastily early rise to make the morning safari before breakfast. Georgie managed to drag us all out of bed as well as having some monkeys hammering on our iron roof early in the morning. Again found it hard to stay awake- went prepared this time with a hoody to protect my bahookie from the hard seat. It started to rain a bit though so being the lovely person that I am, I sacrificed my cushion to Sarah, who had nothing to wear to hide from the rain. This boat safari was soo cool- we had Lan as our guide and he excitedly pointed out a couple of crocs and after zooming down the main river, he took us off into the mangroves- down narrow stream like inlets. Was like going on a little love cruise- had vines and trees and plants arched over us and monkeys hoping round and about. Lan nick named the proboscis monkeys as "Red Rocket" cause they were kinda ginger and they flew from tree to tree (these are the ugly geezers with long noses- look really cool though).
We headed on through the mangroves, to an opening of water- like a little lake. Lan told us that in June last year, they witnessed 100 elephants coming to drink here and they celebrated with a huge party in camp. We were all obviously dying to get the chance to see the elephants and Lan told us that 3 had been spotted 6km upstream, but it was prob unlikely we would see them cause they were in an oil plantation and might not come down to the river to drink. The best season to see them in around July- gutted.
Was so peaceful going through the mangroves and round the small lake with all the birds tweeting away and the leaves rustling. The monkeys often had little scraps on the waterfront though- was sooo funny!! We witnessed a little Makak being forced to walk the plank!! He was on a branch- and a nasty brute kept edging towards him with his big teeth bared and forced the other monkey to back up until it fell right of the branch, into the river- it looked like a drowned rat poor thing!! Was soo funny though! And when he dried off his coat was all cute and fuzzy.
Each time Lan pulled in to look at something, we stayed there for a few mins to get some pics and watch them- especially the monkeys- which were highly amusing at times.
After morning safari, we headed back for breakfast and I can't explain our delight to discover French toast, pancakes, noodles and fried bananas waiting for us. Was intense heaven- mmmm! Eggy bread and nestles condensed milk, after living off rice- was just too much to handle!
We then split into groups and headed for our morning trek in the jungle. Liam and his dad stayed in camp, cause no wonder Liam was a bit worn out. We had Kiera and her mum in our group and quite a young guide- but he def knew his stuff! He could answer any question thrown at him and his English was perfect even though he only looked about 18.
The trek was awesome!! We'd already met Mr Tractor Millipede since the day we arrived cause he liked to chill out in mud- which there was a lot off! Our instructor let us hold him and if you rubbed his back, he gave off an odor like Marzipan- yum. We continued to fin funky spiders (Wolf Spiders), which were intense and long legged spiders, which were a bit creepy cos there legs were about 50cm long, almost transparent but they had a big black body- Darren and Joe- wish you were there!
We also spotted some scorpions and bull frogs (poisonous). Our guide showed us 3 different kinds of vine- spiral, straight and water vine. The water vine was groovy- if you're ever lost in the jungle- you can cut open the water vine and get fresh water, safe to drink. He could have cut it open to let us see, but didn't want to destroy the vine.
Our guide carried a machete (Hamish would've love it) and cut down anything that got in our path (which was quite a lot, seeing as there had recently been a flood). We were still all in bare feet and we were warned about "Root Foot"- where the roots of trees can easily get caught under your toe nails and rip them off- nice.
We often reached parts of the path submerged in water, thus found ourselves wading waste deep in murky brown water, with floating spiders, and god knows what else below us. We were warned to tread slowly and I was constantly on the lookout for snakes. Kiera was pretty deep in the water and loving it!
The trek lasted around 2 hours and we headed back to camp via the thick mud trails to get some lunch. We had a long break where the guys (there were the guides, Liam, his dad, 2 Swedes, a guy from Denmark I think and a Japanese group) played some footy on the small dusty volleyball court they had in camp. A wild boar entertained us for a while as he came in for a little roll in the mud. Lan asked if we wanted to go for a swim in the inlet to the river, which was directly in front of camp- I said I was def up for it, but we had a bit of a downpour and it never happened .
We mostly chilled in the hammocks provided, played some cards and I went to the kitchen to make some eggy bread- mmm.
In our shacks,. We had wooden storage chests to put any food in to protect it from the rats or monkeys- but I soon discovered that my cereal bars that I put in there had been well and truly munched- by lizards I think.
We had been warned over and over again to lock the doors to our huts, cause the monkeys come into camp and steal anything and everything they can, but the Japanese group seemed to ignore this advice- so when a dominant male Makak came into camp- he headed directly for their hut, nicking, luckily, only food. Was highly amusing.
That afternoon we headed out on another boat safari- similar to the others- more in the mangroves. A new group arrived on camp and we welcomed them with a game of cards and a chat.
After the afternoon boat safari- we were all sat in the main hut (on stilts) waiting for dinner, when there was a loud creak and the hut shook and the part of the hut we were all sitting in distinctly fell about 2 feet. So we quickly made our way to the other side, as the guides fixed the stilts.
As the new group was briefed, we had our dinner, ate loadsa condensed milk and chilled out. Sarah mentioned going to India in August at the end of her Gap year and I thought- what a fab idea- so I'm looking in to going with her for a couple of weeks- would be amazing.
That night we had to physically drag Sarah on the night safari- she was having none of it and wanted to stay and play cards. She was thankful though cause we saw some awesome things.
Loadsa frogs, spiders, scorpions, but best off all- bearing in mind it was pitch dark- we saw a set of eyes in the bushes. Was a typical "Disney" moment- like in Snow White where there are scary eyes in the dark. We followed it, and turned out to be a wild Malay Civet Cat (like a little leopard/ beaver)- was soo cool! It walked straight past us- didn't seem to mind us being there.
I could see loadsa neon blue lights coming from the ground and on the trees and I though they must be frogs- but unfortunately I investigated one and it turned out to be one of those long legged spiders- they were absolutely everywhere. Noone else seemed to see the neon blue though.
Wading through the water in the dark wasn't exactly a pleasant experience but quite exiting- was loving the night trek!
As you can imagine, we were knaked after all of our escapades- still had the energy for a spoon full of nestles milk, then off to bed.
After very little sleep and feeling quite mingin (no showers, shoes or proper toilet for ages) I tried to force everyone out of bed for the 6am morning safari. Most of them were having none of it. Only Georgie, Cathrine and I made it- and was well worth it. We saw some amazing crocs on the river side, sunbathing and some huge monitor lizards.
Had another immense breakfast then Georgie, Sarah and I caked our faces in mud and took some pics. We got a few group photos with the guides etc, then all piled into the boats to head back.
The boat ride back was amazing as well- saw loadsa crocs and our guide took the boat right up to him so we were like less that a meter away. Stayed for a few mins, then a crazy Swede behind me decided that the croc was boring just lying there in sun so he decided to put his hands in the croc infested water and splash him- the croc withstood this for a while but eventually got peed of and crashed into the water away from us.
We all said bye to the family, as they were heading off to stay in a local village house as part of their holiday, then we saw Sarah off in a diff minibus cause she was heading to Sipidan to do her diving course, then we hit the road.
Once at Uncle Tans office we walked to a nearby bus stop and hitched a ride on an oober snazzy express bus back to KK. We had a film to watch and everything. Not that that was a good thing since it showed a physco woman blow torching a man's head then scraping of his skin- wasn't exactly a great film.
We saw some gorgeous scenery on the way back since we drove through the mountains in Ranau and past Mt Kinabalu.
List of animals we saw at Uncle Tan's -
KK- St Patrick's Day
At last reached KK at around 8 pm and headed straight for NBC to get the first shower. We randomly bumped into loadsa gappers that weekend.
Aussie Ben and Britt Claire from West Malaysia arrived at NBC, having just climbed the mountain, then a few others and we ended up meeting with about 8 other gappers for drinks and took them to BED for a night out. Unfortunately they were all knackered from climbing the mountain and doing various things, but Georgie and I still had an awesome time seeing as it was St Patts Day- we couldn't believe that the Irish Pub- Shinanigan's wasn't even celebrating! Tragic!
Had a bit of a dramatic night that night after we returned from going out. Basically the gappers were in 2 dorms in NBC. We all got back at around 4am and I stayed up most of the night cos I was on the internet. So- turned out that at around 6am the girls in the other dorm got up to leave for their flight, to find that Claire's bag had been stolen and Ben's camera. Was very odd since I had been awake the whole night and not seen anyone go in their room.
So we checked all of the CCTV footage and discovered that it was impossible that anyone could have gone into their room using the door. To cut a long story short, the police came round, investigated- turned out that someone had climbed through the window (even though we are on the 3rd floor), climbed over one of the girl's beds while she was sleeping, and taken the bag and camera. Seemed a bit far fetched that someone could get in and out unnoticed but there was no other explanation.
Claire's passport, documents- everything were taken, but luckily, while she was at the Police station sorting it all out, the cleaner had spotted the bag out on the ledge outside their window. They had only taken her money, camera, phone and ipod so she still had her passport etc. But by this point she missed her flight.
Was just all nasty- Penelope came over and tried to sort the whole thing out- she was amazing cause she isn't even responsibly for the West Malaysia gappers.
Anyway- she managed to get the next flight out but it just made us all feel a bit uneasy that someone had managed to climb through the window while they were sleeping.
For the rest of that day we all just chilled out cause we were absolutely done in and we got a mega early night. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep though cause I was paranoid about someone coming through the window!
On Sunday Georgie and I went pearl earring shopping cause she's into her pearls and we each got a ring (same one) from a local shop- such delicate silver- I'm loving it.
At last, after a long week, we headed back to the school and went straight to bed!
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