Borneo Expedition 2005 Mmm... Leggings! tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-15:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick 2006-04-19T21:50:38Z SabThoSti img/travel-blog-feed.png And So To Bed... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=32&entryid=9610 2006-04-19T21:50:38Z 2006-04-19T21:50:38Z Day 32. "Homeward Bound". We were up and unspritely at 4:30am... bags all packed, ready to go. A predictable no-show from drunk Adi meant that new taxis had to be found! However, this wasn't much of a problem around these parts, not even at this hour! We got to Kuching airport not long after we set off. Nearly all falling asleep, we boarded a plane to Kuala Lumpur, mainland Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur airport was shrowded in smoke from Sumatran forest fires, ... Day 32. "Homeward Bound". We were up and unspritely at 4:30am... bags all packed, ready to go. A predictable no-show from drunk Adi meant that new taxis had to be found! However, this wasn't much of a problem around these parts, not even at this hour!
We got to Kuching airport not long after we set off. Nearly all falling asleep, we boarded a plane to Kuala Lumpur, mainland Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur airport was shrowded in smoke from Sumatran forest fires, and had been closed the day before, so we'd been lucky that we'd been able to make it here! Slightly more awake now, we had a few hours to waste at the swanky aiport, giving us all the chance to do some last minute duty free! Much needed! Oh, why had I spent all my money on booze?!
It was then the time. Time to leave Malaysia for good, boarding a big old plane... back to London... Can this really be it? The end of the expedition that I'd looked forward to for so many months, enjoyed so much?! It can't end yet, can it?!

I settled into Gwen... it's all over... and so to bed...

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SoMe ViTaL bOrNeO vOcAb:

don't toss - sign upon a box in a supermarket!

damp - a simple word that summed up our jungle experience!

dank - another fine word to sum up the jungle experiences!

moist - the final word in the trilogy to describe the jungle experiences!

max lube - a sticker on the front of a van!

sheer chaos - words that summed everything up ...when it wasn't going too good!

woop! - a word that summed things up when it was going good!

Mirinda - Zoe's drink of choice, in Red can or Orange can!

-tastic - when the situation required a suffix!

Kickapoo - my tasty drink of choice, despite only having it once!

circlise - the instruction word to form a circle!

radishified - a description of anyone after spending more than 3 minutes out in the sun!

uber- when something or everything got to much!

ex-ter-min-ate! - someone sounds like a Dalek!

stick no bill - a regularly seen sign around Kota Kinabalu, meant to ward off flyposters, but sounding kore like a Techno music group!

waja - (i have no idea!)

happy bug - Su!

Leechy McLeech - THAT song!

Aha! Shake, Taper Jean Girl! - The other song, sung in random bursts!

reeeally - Emma's description of most things came with this word before it, in high pitch tones!

Madame Food - Soos, 'nough said!

sympathy chicken - what we were presented with, after we flopped so bad at the Bario get-together evening!

brassiere - these popped up all over the place!

fugly - simple, effective!

"die!" - Calvey's word of choice, said sharply and in a certain odd accent, when he disliked someone or something!

Sara loves... - followed by just about anything imaginable!

tantalon - Malay for bollox!

tandas - Malay for toilet!

flying spiders - everyone's worst fear!

throbbing twickenham - no-one, I repeat NO-ONE, knew exactly what one was, but we could all be sure that whatever it may be, it's VERY dirty!

May Beauty Soap - little hotel and hostel soaps that kept being hidden in the least likely places!

and of course...

MMM... LEGGINGS!

And So To Bed... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> KKK Cafe, What Were You Thinking...?! tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=31&entryid=9608 2006-04-19T21:48:09Z 2006-04-19T21:48:09Z Day 31. The last proper day! And it was a day of extreme heat, right from the offset of morning. Today was mostly spent shopping in Kuching for last-minute gifts for the family! And myself! It was also a day dedicated to eating (e.g. gorging 'til we were dead upon cheesecake!) By the end of the day I'd bought a new t-shirt, a big perang machete knife, odd cans of drink (bird nest included!), monkey keyrings and various strange foodstuffs... to ... Day 31. The last proper day! And it was a day of extreme heat, right from the offset of morning. Today was mostly spent shopping in Kuching for last-minute gifts for the family! And myself! It was also a day dedicated to eating (e.g. gorging 'til we were dead upon cheesecake!)
By the end of the day I'd bought a new t-shirt, a big perang machete knife, odd cans of drink (bird nest included!), monkey keyrings and various strange foodstuffs... to name just a few purchases! As a group, we bought Adam some wine and Su a cutelry set thing as thankyou gifts... just what we thought they'd want!
Back to th'ostel in the afternoon, for packing all our Borneo lives away into our rucksacks. The end is nigh! We'd decided to spend our last evening together having a nice meal at a local restaurant. It seemed the dress code for us was sarongs all round - but not me, non, nicht moi! It was a nice meal, although everyone felt subdued that our Borneo expedition was almost over...
Adam left the table early to head back to the hostel as he wasn't feeling too good. A while later, we all left and had many photos taken in the street as a group. Calvey decided we needed to book a taxi to the airport for the very early morning departure to the airport. He rang Adi, a taxi guy we'd had before, using a public telephone. Adi was very drunk! But he did promise to pick us up...
Back at the hostel, a group of us went up to the roof for an hour or so. Mucho malarky was had, and the pictures should give you some ideas!
It was bed at 2am ...ready, or not, for a 4:30am wake-up!

Please sir, can I stay another month?!

KKK Cafe, What Were You Thinking...?! remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Hamster Eyes... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=30&entryid=9606 2006-04-19T21:46:41Z 2006-04-19T21:46:41Z Day 30. Morning, and we bussed to another resort for a new beach experience! And a lovely massage! Yum yum! I can tell that I'm gonna love today! After laying on the beach for a while, not really doing much but burning our skins to the limit, it was mine, Calv's and Kyle's turn for the relaxing aromatherapy massage that we'd promised ourselves! All excited, we caught a free bus up the hill and were dropped off at the doorstep of ... Day 30. Morning, and we bussed to another resort for a new beach experience! And a lovely massage! Yum yum! I can tell that I'm gonna love today!
After laying on the beach for a while, not really doing much but burning our skins to the limit, it was mine, Calv's and Kyle's turn for the relaxing aromatherapy massage that we'd promised ourselves! All excited, we caught a free bus up the hill and were dropped off at the doorstep of the massage centre. After some technicalities, we were ushered into our massage room... Me and Calv got the same room, with Kyle going next door!
Two female massagists ran us a warm jacuzzi, and me and Calv promptly stripped in a sexay fashion and got in together! This is all sounding far too romantic! Mmm... bubbles, nudity and Abraham Lincolns all round! And with such an amazing view over the bay, we didn't want to get out!
Oh, but the massage! After 20 or so minutes in the jacuzzi, drinking stony honey tea, we got out and donned our very masculin sarongs! After we were "decent", two women came in and we were told to lay down on the massage beds, face first. The women began pounding our bodies, starting with the toes, then working up, dousing us in various oils and using their hands so hard that our eyes popped out ...like when you squeeze a hamster! Calvey had something else pop out! Ha! After all, it was practically a full body massage... every sunburnt bit was rubbed, every weary limb was pounded... not much escaped the painful pleasure! It tickled alot of time, leading me to periodically burst out laughing... although this laughter could have been blamed equally on the oddness of the situation, or how they lifted up our sarongs to reveal our arses!
I felt positively weak coming out of the massagers, 140RM poorer (although that's only about £15... for MORE THAN AN HOUR!) And for that money, they'd rubbed the life out of me!
We got the free bus back to main area of the resort, and met back up with everyone else... some of whom had already had massages, others not yet!
Adam and Su went back to Kuching in the afternoon, leaving us to run havoc in the resort! We swam for ages, before watching the sunset on the resort's promenade. It seemed like the perfect end to a perfect day!
Our last half hour in the resort was spent having a meal (rice/noodles no doubt!). We'd booked a taxibus in the afternoon and given ourselves such little time to eat that we had to run out of the restaurant, still clutching pieces of fruit from desert! We HAD paid, just!
The bus ride back to Kuching from the resort was to the tune of Kasabian, and it worked perfectly for the dangerous speeds we were going!
Then it all turned rather pear-shaped! Driving back into our hostel carpark, we saw Adam sitting in a chair, outside... we could tell from his pose that he was pissed off to say the least! Guided by Adam, we silently checked in, before he led us back outside again. What followed was a darn good telling off from Adam for not informing him or Su when we'd be back. What they'd understood was that we'd be back at around 5:00. It was now 9:00, and they were on the verge of calling the police when we turned up! Eak! We had worried the leader's sick, and all felt quite guilty... mostly! Apart from none of us thought we'd said anything about being back at 5... but nevermind!
Because of our naughtiness, we were told that we weren't allowed out tonight as previously planned. Sob sob...
All in one hostel room, discussing the incident, we decided to make our own fun! Milkshake party! We ordered room service and a dozen milkshakes, whilst watching some monkey/pig Chinese programme that Kyle could roughly translate!
Then Adam came in to our room ...what now?! His words were along the lines of, "The night's back on." Everyone seemed unsure of what to do, but soon we all became overjoyed and began dolling ourselves up!
The plan was to do a "Lad's" and a "Ladie's" evening then all meet up later! With the Lad's group only consisting of me, Calv, Kyle and Adam, it seemed a bit of a small group, but we hit the town in style! Bar to bar, drinking competitions, being eyed by odd locals, then promptly leaving when it was clear that we weren't welcome! None of us really cared how much money we'd blown on beer so far this holiday, as those kind of cares went out the window in a haze of laddishness! At the final lad's bar, Adam kindly indulged us a bit, let's just say with, mmm, how to put it... "Ladies!" With not-the-prettiest and possibly far too young girls by our sides on a couch, Calv, Kyle and I just sat there, embarrassed, thinking what to do or say. We tried to talk to these girls but after a while, it became apparent that they didn't understand us at all! Nor did they look interested in us! It was so awkard... and that was before the lad's karaoke (500 miles Christian version!) and dancing with the girls! Mine ran off!
Escaping that sleazy bar, us lads met the girls at an equally sleazy pub, meeting possibly the drunkest Irishman ever! He was aged 50-60, white straggly hair, dishevelled, unshaved look, speech heavily slurred! He'd apparently been at the same bar all week, although you can never trust what a drunken Irishman says!
It was either at that bar, or another close-by, that the real evening started! Alot of us were quite drunk by now, and dancing for about half an hour on the bar was not the best idea! It was so goddam fun! Locals cheering and jeering, us falling off periodically, trying to exchange soft drinks for alcoholic ones! And no-one cared that the drinking age in Malaysia is 21! Right until the bar closed, we continued dancing, hanging onto the ceiling or random railings, dodging the big spherical light shades!
It was piggy-backs all the way back to the hostel!

The evening then took another unsuspected turn with our boys room being turned into a massage parlour for all and everyone! No complaints...

Hamster Eyes... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> It'sNotMyFault, IDon'tCare, IDon'tRegretASingleThing... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=29&entryid=9604 2006-04-19T21:44:57Z 2006-04-19T21:44:57Z Day 29. I'm surprised the wobbly fan spinning over my head didn't kill me in the night! It was toast for breakfast in the crowded hostel kitchen in Kuching. There were other tourists here, taking all the bread and coffee for themselves, leaving us with mere morcels! This morning, Samira went with Adam and Lyndz to the local doctors, to see if they could find out what "the rash" was. Samira had had it all holiday, all over her legs - ... Day 29. I'm surprised the wobbly fan spinning over my head didn't kill me in the night! It was toast for breakfast in the crowded hostel kitchen in Kuching. There were other tourists here, taking all the bread and coffee for themselves, leaving us with mere morcels!
This morning, Samira went with Adam and Lyndz to the local doctors, to see if they could find out what "the rash" was. Samira had had it all holiday, all over her legs - it was only now that she'd decided it was time for a trip to the doctors! It can't be TOO life threatening!
Time for luxury! Leaving most of our kit that we wouldn't need in the hostel, the rest of us walked across town to the bus station. Using our hard saved money that we hadn't completely blown on booze (and there was a fair bit of it!) we had decided to go to a luxury resort called Santabong. At the bus station, we were forced to get speedy taxi-busses after we found no coaches were heading Santubong way... despite our bargaining and trying for ages! And the fact that the timetable had said "yes, busses go to Santubong." Not literally.
Speeding along surprisingly decent roads to the tune of the Kaiser Chiefs (Soos had bought a dodgy copy somewhere!), it was quite a fun journey! The Santabong "luxury" resort was mostly deserted, and we were apparently too early to check in... although I'm sure they could've squeezed us in their tight schedule! Thus, we went to the private resort beach! "Jellyfish beach" (so said the warning signs!) The beach was almost perfect sand, with a shallow, warm, tropical sea. MMM, sheer heaven! A quick dip was had by all... until we realised we were SURROUNDED by jellfyfish! Hundreds of the bastards! Straight back out of the water we came! It was a good decision, as making fallic sand-creations was such a hoot!
Now, no matter what anyone says, sunbathing on the equator at midday is NOT, repeat NOT a good idea! I think I'm melting...
After dusting down the sand from our sweaty, suncream-coated bodies, we checked in after lunchtime! Our rooms were all in this one block, opposite and next to each other. Fun, fun, fun! Me, Calv and Kyle had one room together. Only problem was the fact that the room only had one double bed! Ah well... ;)
Samira, Adam and Lyndz rejoined us at the Santubong resort, still not knowing what "the rash" was! A pretty pointless doctors trip!
After dumping and sorting our kit in our rooms, we all decided to spend the afternoon by and in the deserted swimming pool! Time for a spot of swimming and sunbathing, methinks! We also played some water ball, which meant my shoulders were exposed once again to the full glare of the sun! Oh so red raw...
It was a good afternoon, with yummy cocktails, sunset watching and feeling horribly sunburnt again! Equally, this was relaxing time; no deadlines, no rushing, no panicking - and it felt good!

Cosy, cosy sleep now ;) !

It'sNotMyFault, IDon'tCare, IDon'tRegretASingleThing... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Buh-Buh Bario... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=28&entryid=9602 2006-04-19T21:42:39Z 2006-04-19T21:42:39Z Day 28. We woke-up, all comfortable and snug, with freshly washed clothes by the bedside, drying. We were in beds, real BEDS! with covers and matresses and all! This homestay was the business! Sweet bejesus, it's nice here! In the morning, we didn't really do much, and after some time passed with a noodle-tastic breakfast, we had a few meetings! Whilst throwing about a large dead spider, we talked about all our expereinces and the fun we'd had... although I was ... Day 28. We woke-up, all comfortable and snug, with freshly washed clothes by the bedside, drying. We were in beds, real BEDS! with covers and matresses and all! This homestay was the business! Sweet bejesus, it's nice here!
In the morning, we didn't really do much, and after some time passed with a noodle-tastic breakfast, we had a few meetings!
Whilst throwing about a large dead spider, we talked about all our expereinces and the fun we'd had... although I was more focused on the occasional kamikaze motorcyclist outside the window.
We also decided what everyone's nick-names for the trip would be... So here they are...

- Soos: Madame Food
- Emma: Squeaky Tortoise
- Calvey: "No, you're wrong!" (taxi incident!)
- Kyle: Hoarding Godfather
- Hannah: Milk Lady
- Samira: Essex
- Zoe: Verbal Diarrhoea
- Sarah: ... loves
- Lucy: "Guys, Wait!"
- Lyndz: Japanese Tourist
- Annie: Rooney, My Love!
- Me: Wet Washing!

The sheer cheek...
We were also given small, mysterious, wrapped parcels and the challenge of "who will crack first"! The aim was to NOT open yours first, and if you did, you'd lose... although I'm not sure what you'd lose! Everyone just wants to open them to see what's inside! We later decided to open them all at the airport...
Calvey had his projectile shit and poo moment in the toilet... shit EVERYWHERE! God bless Jardia, deeply nestled in Mr Caley's stomach! That'll teach him for scimping on iodine!
Begrudgingly leaving the homestay and Bario, we walked to the airport as it started to rain, one half of us first, followed an hour or so later by the other half of the group. I was in the first group - down a dirt track, heavy bags on back we went, wishing we could stay just one day longer in this amazing, isolated village. At the airport, Rooney (Annie's local love!) had turned up to say goodbye to her. Aw, what a legend! And what a Rooney lookalike! In the end, it turned out they didn't see each other! Annie was in the second group to fly off, not mine... and I think they must've just missed each other!
The Twin Otter 19-seater plane journey back was just as thrilling as it was on the way to Bario. Damn, they were good pilots.
Once back at Miri airport, we got more delicious ice-creams! Much the the woman stallholders delight! She actually remembered us! But who wouldn't after we abused her free chocolate sauces system so much?!
We were all now back in bustling Miri, and went to check our emails, do some shopping and generally have a look around! Even if the look around mainly consisted of going to the "mall"!
But not for long! We were soon back at the airport, flying from Miri to Kuching, our last stop of the holiday! The plane was muchly larger than the Twin Otter, with the journey taking around 1h30 if I remember right! We all sat together, and started passing our journals around for each other to write in... The end is coming! Noooo!
Kuching is one of Borneo's larger cities, meaning "cat" in the local dialect! Didn't see too many of them around though!
Our hostel had lots of steps, and was near a prison. At night, feisty and lively, we all went to a really cool fish bar, with a gazillion options of fish and sea creatures to try. I chose half a stingray to eat, which was damn tasty, if not a little spicy with all the sauce crap! The man tried to flog me a whole stingray but goddam, it would've killed my stomach!
Night - time to hit "the town"! So to speak.
Past nice hotels, brothels, into pubs and bars, hearing Pixies on some radio, dodging cars. It was an incredible night. One of the last we'd all spend together.
Although none of us saw it, Kyle was sick all over the floor of one bar. By that stage, the rest of us had gone back to the hostel and sat on the roof, looking over the mean Kuching streets, talking into the night. Adam & Su (leaders) were talking to Kyle for ages back at the bar, and we had to wait up for them because we didn't think they had a key!
The night whiled away, way beyond witching hour...

I don't ever want to go home...

Buh-Buh Bario... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Sheet Metal Monsters... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=27&entryid=9599 2006-04-19T21:40:35Z 2006-04-19T21:40:35Z Day 27. And I'm so glad to see it! Well feck me, what a night! At around 5am i was woken by some rustling and gnawing sounds below me and to my right. Crap! I'd left my bag and all my kit on the floor! The first time I'd done such a thing! Being the jungle, it was pitch black all around... so the fear starts... and I was too scared to even MOVE an inch! So I lay there ... Day 27. And I'm so glad to see it! Well feck me, what a night! At around 5am i was woken by some rustling and gnawing sounds below me and to my right. Crap! I'd left my bag and all my kit on the floor! The first time I'd done such a thing! Being the jungle, it was pitch black all around... so the fear starts... and I was too scared to even MOVE an inch! So I lay there in my hammock, head torch in hand, not daring to turn it on, with the sounds of scuttling continuing below me. Literally just below my arse! I knew it must be some sort of animal, perhaps originating from the sheet metal. Therefore, I should of known that it would be small, but oh no! The only thoughts going through my mind were "bear... puma... monster". I lay hammock-bound with absolute fear for about an hour, wanting to cry for help, or turn on my torch, but not having the guts to do so. After the most terrifying hour of my life, I dozed off due to sheer tiredness. The noises had also subsided...
By morning I learned that the mysterious creatures (although likely to be rats, other rodents or civets) had paid visits to Calvey, Emma and a few others. I wasn't alone in my terrified state! The monsters had lived in the sheet metal, and had probably returned to their corregated castle by daylight. I kicked the metal a few times to annoy "them"...
I frantically tried to disinfect my kit in the river, using handwash soap... it didn't feel or look clean no matter how much scrubbing and rinsing I did! The monsters had also gnawed my bag strap, played with my bowl and crawled over my socks - i was far from pleased! I donated my bowl to the guides, as I was NEVER EVER going to eat from that rat-piss thing anymore! Other members of our team did the same, making us feel guilty for giving them diseased reject items, although they did ask for them! And guess where the guides put all their newly acquired kit? Yup. Under the sheet metal!
So it was the final walk & hurdle back to Bario this morning, and it was only going to be about an hour and a half! Thus not being too hard. And it was over familiar ground (the same damn trail that we'd used when we set off from Bario!)
Once in Bario, me and Calvey took Gabriel by surprise and hoisted him over the "finishing line"! We didn't go and stay in Nancy's house again, but instead we walked (a fair distance!) to a nicer homestay! It had free Milo, tea, coffee etc, a TV, loadsa seats and was bigger and more spacious with loads of rooms. It was also clean! What a nice end to all the walking! Even "The Bucket" shower was relieving, despite how cold it was!
We did return to Nancy's for a "take-away" lunch, then the rest of the afternoon was much-deserved lazy time, ready for the Bario BBQ in the evening. The excitement!
At this new hostel, there was a girl with really bad food poisoning - she looked terrible, AND was going to have to trek tomorrow. Oh dear. I'm so glad I haven't had anything worse than mild squits yet! YET!
That night, the BBQ was a gathering for all World Challenge, Trekforce etc teams in the area (more than you think!) and many locals, with lotsa food (donuts!), singing, random conga-lining and the cooliest blow-dart warrior man ever! Dang, he could aim! It was held inside Bario's main village hall, which was pretty damn spacious! "Ceiling trapdoors..."
Some bastard smashed up the hall's toilets, probably someone linked to that annoying twat guy from the other team, who HAD to be centre of attention. Their team was the worst ever!
Anyway, we were forced to re-do our rendition of Brown-Eyed girl in front of everyone (about 100+), and cacked it up, resulting with us being presented with "sympathy chicken!" Classic!
Another classic line came when we were watching a Scottish team perform something typically Scottish... Samira asks, "Are they Scottish then?!"
The night seemed to last forever, but we escaped early...

We walked home, singing...

Sheet Metal Monsters... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> I'd Rather... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=26&entryid=9597 2006-04-19T21:38:52Z 2006-04-19T21:38:52Z Day 26. It rained a fair shaboodle last night, waking me up and forcing me to tumble out my hammock to rescue my clean, drying clothes! They were now wet again! The rain also forced me to listen to scary jungle noises as I lay in my hammock, desperately trying to get back to sleep... In the morning it was more porridge for brekky-pooz! We left camp on time at 9am sharp, ready for 3 hours jungle walking. Each days trek ... Day 26. It rained a fair shaboodle last night, waking me up and forcing me to tumble out my hammock to rescue my clean, drying clothes! They were now wet again! The rain also forced me to listen to scary jungle noises as I lay in my hammock, desperately trying to get back to sleep...
In the morning it was more porridge for brekky-pooz! We left camp on time at 9am sharp, ready for 3 hours jungle walking. Each days trek was now getting shorter as we'd decided to drag it out, wanting to spend more days in the jungle than return to Bario (no offence to the place!) Walking was ok at first, then we all got knackered as usual. However, following breaks, you were revived enough to walk on until you were fookin' splattered again! The rate at which we walked was very quick towards the end, especially through an open, unrainforesty area... although that was maybe because the sun was so strong and we didn't want to be sunburnt again...
Once more, camp arrival was early, leaving us plenty of time for lunch (mmm... same old crackers, tuna, peanut butter and flying fish!) and also mucho time for putting up our hammox... mmm... snug!
This campsite had obvious signs of human life. It was a deliberately cleared area by a river (as most campsites were), with a big pile of corregated metal at the centre. My hammock, like many of ours, was put up on one side of it. The guides (Lisas and Gabriel - both male!) helped everyone sort out their hammocks, cuz they were lovely like that! Zoe set up camp near a branch covered with white-belly-button-magnet-small-fluff-creatures nearby! They were very odd indeed, and no-one, not even the guides, knew what they were. Perhaps they weren't letting on that they knew, and wanted to make these fluff creatures seem even more mysterious!
Apart from the "poo-in-the-path" fiasco, not much happened in the evening. We sat around the fire by the pathway, eating bony chicken gloop, wishing we had marshmallows!

My headtorch is failing me...

Today's Leech Count: 3 (Total: 12)

I'd Rather... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Jungle Poo-Gie... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=25&entryid=9595 2006-04-19T21:37:31Z 2006-04-19T21:37:31Z Day 25. The day started well with porridge and a jungle poo! I then had to dismantle my lovely hammock house that I'd made the night before. I'd put palm leaves up for walls, swept the floor of debris using my foot, created little walkways... The night's hammock sleep was quite pleasing and got me reasonably prepared for today's 6ish hour hike... although not much can prepare you for such a thing! So with a peeling, sunburnt neck, we left last night's ... Day 25. The day started well with porridge and a jungle poo! I then had to dismantle my lovely hammock house that I'd made the night before. I'd put palm leaves up for walls, swept the floor of debris using my foot, created little walkways...
The night's hammock sleep was quite pleasing and got me reasonably prepared for today's 6ish hour hike... although not much can prepare you for such a thing!
So with a peeling, sunburnt neck, we left last night's camp site (...me thinking about my lovely Stick Insect... might he say goodbye?). I won't moan again about sweat, pain and buggered feet...
We (s)tumbled unto the campsite at 2ish (i'unno) and proceeded to get hammox and bashers up as usual. And as usual, it was the least thing you felt like doing, especially when you needed another poo (...cough, shifty eyes).
Next, I did another, larger jungle poo - 2 in one day! How I love conceiling bushes...
Then came glorious river swimming and clothes washing. Basically it was bobbing around in a shallow stream in your clothes like an otter... or so I'm told! The water was NOT warm to say the least, but it did cleaning wonders! Soos and Adam (Leader) had an argument when Soos wondered if Adam could turn away whilst the girls were bathing, but I won't say much about that... eheheh.
This is the same campsite that we'd used when walking to the village of Long Dano. Although last time we were here, we arrived late (when it was darkish) and left early in the morning. This didn't give us much time to explore the local area and it's few facilities. We were also camped away from the clearing and river, as another group (rivals!) had taken our current location.
The main feature of the campsite was a large, green building/hut structure, which Kyle disappeared into for most of the afternoon... with our guides. It was odd, but kept Kyle busy... although I'm sure conversation was hardly rife with Kyle basically mute and the guides not speaking much English!
We had lots of time to waste in the afternoon, so I did some lazing, clothes drying and helping to prepare dinner (lotsa pasta, sauce and the remaining ant-free parmesan!) Yum yum.
The rest of the evening's festivities included Emma burning and smouldering her pink bra that was dangling precariously above the campfire! There was also mucho talking about music (like Jeff Buckley) around the very same bra-eating fire... looking at stars... smelling again...

I'm wearing thursday socks!

Jungle Poo-Gie... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Best Creature Ever... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=24&entryid=9593 2006-04-19T21:36:00Z 2006-04-19T21:36:00Z Day 24. Sweet bejesus! 10 hours of new scenery! We started walking at 7a.m. sharp. Leaving Long Dano was hard, and we took ages saying our goodbyes to their kind faces. With the longhouses in the distance, we were soon past the green pastures surrounding the village, back into the jungle... One early notable event was the viewing of a dead and gutted Sun bear, freshly hunted and killed by poachers, or maybe locals. But I think the bear was ... Day 24. Sweet bejesus! 10 hours of new scenery! We started walking at 7a.m. sharp. Leaving Long Dano was hard, and we took ages saying our goodbyes to their kind faces. With the longhouses in the distance, we were soon past the green pastures surrounding the village, back into the jungle...
One early notable event was the viewing of a dead and gutted Sun bear, freshly hunted and killed by poachers, or maybe locals. But I think the bear was endangered. After acting like paparrazi, we continued our march, with leeches waving at us to pick them up! Saturated and drowning in my own sweat, there was lots of hill-slip-falling as we went up hill, reached a peak, went down hill, reached a river, crossed it and began going up hill again... This cycle continued all day! We got good views of Pa Dalih and Pa Ramadu villages before crossing a waist-height and refreshing river in sandals... Our lovely guides took our bags for most of us, as they feared that if we carried our own kit, we'd trip, be dragged down by their weight and never be seen again!
As we'd prepared ourselves for 10 hours walking, mentally, and to a lesser degree, physically, we preserved our energies and minds better. We even walked for an extra one and a half hours, cuz we're good! And got ahead of our 10 hour schedule. I can't remember exactly what happened as exhaustion had long set in, but overall, the day's walking was around 10 hours in length... but the extra 90 minutes walk wasn't scheduled... so perhaps we'd only planned to walk eight and a half hours... oh i don't know! Basically we walked for ages, got really tired, pissed-off and sweaty with only short breaks every so often! "I'm too sweaty for my shirt... so sweaty it hurts!"
Samira even got a bum leech!
At 5p.m. as darkness began creeping in, we stopped walking. Thank feck. Setting up hammox and tents was knackering as you can imagine, and everyone wanted to just sit around and die. But we couldn't, or we'd simply be fucked! No hammock = no bed = no rest = no fun! Now time for a feast... we ate a nice rice & tomato & tuna & sweetcorn dinner. One of the nicest jungle meals I've had!
The day was GREATLY improved by playing with a dinosaur... kinda... i meant a stick insect - The Sabah Thorny Stick!!! Woop! It was the best creature EVER, built like a tank, with clawy claws! I want 1 or 2 or 3! It crawled from one of my hands, over my shoulders to the other hand, whence it tried to escape! But no... I made it do the journey all over again! After playing with it (forcing it to walk on me) for about half an hour, I realised that I should maybe let it return into the depths of the jungle. I was like a mother leaving their child on the first day of school! I followed it (slowly) for a while... until I had to intervene when I saw it heading towards danger - moving deliberately towards the campfire! Maybe to tot itself?... it was the only way of getting away from me... Much to it's dismay, I picked it up and saved it's life. It's legs a-flailing, I placed it on one of the trees my hammock was tied to, hoping it'd visit me during the night. It never did...

"Jungle Boogie, get down on it!"

Today's Leech Count: a whopping 4! including at least one Tiger leech (the vicious, jumping kind!)
Total: 9

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]]> Burpees Schmurpees tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=23&entryid=9591 2006-04-19T21:34:22Z 2006-04-19T21:34:22Z Day 23. It's going too fast. Today's project was possibly the easiest yet! We walked (with wicker baskets on back) for 15 minutes or so, to a place where the locals did some deforesting! I mostly stood around inspecting the odd caterpillars and other bugs that had been showered upon us. After dragging logs down a hill to repair a bridge (again!), we loaded up our wickers with one big log each, then walked back to the village. I carried ... Day 23. It's going too fast. Today's project was possibly the easiest yet! We walked (with wicker baskets on back) for 15 minutes or so, to a place where the locals did some deforesting! I mostly stood around inspecting the odd caterpillars and other bugs that had been showered upon us. After dragging logs down a hill to repair a bridge (again!), we loaded up our wickers with one big log each, then walked back to the village. I carried my log under my arm - i'd had enough of the basket from yesterday's sand experience! I even made it back without breaking into a sweat... which was hard seeing as this is getting on towards the equator at noon!
Then lurked a killer workout session, randomly organised by Adam to prepare us for all the walking during the next week. Can I now say... I HATE BURPEES! Granted however, i did feel better for it... after a long sit down though! Pretty much the rest of the day was one of those lazy tuesdays. We are leaving the village tomorrow (sad sad)...
Me & Calvey continued our "naming the 27 Beatles number ones" game... to no avail (it's harder than you think!)
I ended up getting about 23ish, Calvey slightly less. Cuz I'm better than him.
Packing our bags was quite a hassle as everything was everywhere and shared about. We even tried a last-ditch practice attempt at "Brown-Eyed Girl", despite the guitar string snapping! (I just wonder how easy it is for the locals to get such items as C major guitar strings around these parts?!) Oh the guilt!
So we gave up the practicing, deciding we were as good as could be... which wasn't very. Shower shifts continued all afternoon to rinse away the stink...
What a great evening followed...

  • Food auctions - we BOUGHT food off the locals for our walk tomorrow, despite them piling food upon us all week!
  • Lotsa nice food - a TRUE feast, for the eyes and tummy yummy yum
  • Speeches - ... from both us and the locals including Soos speaking in Kelabit!
  • Performing - Our rendition of Brown-Eyed Girl went down a treat, and we loved the old ladies of the village showing us their hypnotic local dance... well I did anyway!
  • We even argued about sharing the food we'd bough! ... No wait, that's a bad thing...

The best part of the evening came with dancing! Following the lead
of a very agile NINETY-TWO year old, we all danced to the rythms of the local sound (think Sitar, but accelerated and more crazy!). How the old man could move! There was the "hat of dance", where the wearer performed a solo dance and everyone followed lead. We all had a go and twas non-stop fun - mu ha ha... my lanky jig! There was also conga-lining where everyone joined in, but that finished us off, and so our matresses beckoned us!
As we prepared to settle for the night, a kind woman appeared in our house and gave us two more (free) pineapples! How random!

We're leaving Long Dano tomoz, with a 10 hours walking day ahead of us... dear god!

Burpees Schmurpees remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> It's Scooby-Doo Mania... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=22&entryid=9589 2006-04-19T21:32:59Z 2006-04-19T21:32:59Z Day 22. "And then i woke up!" ... at an unknown time due to lack of watch-age. Then had a prawn crackerific breakfast before leaving for work earlier than normal! Whatever normal is around here. A quikk walk later (with empty wicker basket on our backs), we were standing at a riverside. Todays chore was to collect sand and transport it somewhere miles away for building a "dam" - once again, overexaggeration like the "road" was used! The locals shoved ... Day 22. "And then i woke up!" ... at an unknown time due to lack of watch-age. Then had a prawn crackerific breakfast before leaving for work earlier than normal! Whatever normal is around here. A quikk walk later (with empty wicker basket on our backs), we were standing at a riverside. Todays chore was to collect sand and transport it somewhere miles away for building a "dam" - once again, overexaggeration like the "road" was used! The locals shoved sand into sacks with a spade, then places it into our wicker baskets. As we put them on our backs, we couldn't believe that these were the same light and comfortable baskets that we'd just carried. Now they were goddam heavy, painful and very uncomfortable. And we hadn't even started walking yet!
Originally, we were told that the walk would last one and a half hours... which would have clearly killed us! We found out it was much less. The straps dug deep into our weedy shoulders, digging into the sunburn we'd picked up like a venereal rash since coming to Borneo. An "odd-fruit" (like tangerines, but more green!) rest stop did alleviate the pain, but it was still just a big bugger! An arse x lots. Big and sweaty.
At the "dam" site, we didn't have to do any building... instead, we just dumped the sand, had a brief rest, got attacked by bugs then walked back to the village!
The afternoon was once again spent sunbathing (had we learnt nothing by now?!) My neck-eck-cet-er-a got more radishified. As the sun disappered, it was time to return from the grass plains, back to the longhouses.
In the evening, we had more nice food (they have THE sweetest, juiciest pineapples here ever!), then watched the old dears practice their dances. I inspected my sunburn in the sh'wer - not pretty! I'm peeling like a maniac! Alot of time was dedicated to writing journals and listening to music (Libertines!) that Lucy had brought - well done you! Generally, a good evening, well spent!
There's been no rain since we've been in Sarawak, which gives you ample opportunities for drying your clothes after yet another wash! Cuz they smell. Non-stop. Like me.
It's also scooby-doo mAnIa in the village tonight!!! The oddest sight i think i've ever seen! Stumbling into the dull light of the main longhouse from my room, i come across a very unexpected view.
The room is full of young and old, male and female, all playing with lengths of coloured plastic! All transfixed and really into it. Samira etc were teaching them how to make the scooby-doos, and even the Rooney look-alike "Rooney" was twisting them well! The language difference didn't matter, nor did the culture difference - scooby-doos conquer everything! Let the scooby-doo influx of Borneo commence!

Mmm... soy sauce makes nice rice! That dead mouse is still there and still being gnawed by ants...

Today's Leech Count: 2 (Total: 5)

It's Scooby-Doo Mania... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> He's Got The Whole World... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=21&entryid=9587 2006-04-19T21:31:33Z 2006-04-19T21:31:33Z Day 21. Tis the day of the sabbath, and the lord was lurking... We got up at 7ish, with brekky at 8. Breakfast was only crackers and sugary tea this morning, due to it being a sunday. Yes, they ARE christian here, just in case you couldn't tell! Then it was off to the very local church to sing (in Kelabit! local language!) some happy, happy songs. Part of the bargain was for us to do our delightful rendition of "He's ... Day 21. Tis the day of the sabbath, and the lord was lurking... We got up at 7ish, with brekky at 8. Breakfast was only crackers and sugary tea this morning, due to it being a sunday. Yes, they ARE christian here, just in case you couldn't tell!
Then it was off to the very local church to sing (in Kelabit! local language!) some happy, happy songs. Part of the bargain was for us to do our delightful rendition of "He's got the whole world in his hands" (with hand movements!) in front of the church congregation... which was just about everyone important in the village! They sure did look at us oddly when we changed the lyrics, not that they could really understand our english waffle. This led us to make leech and monkey movements with our hands! Oh dear...
For the main part of lunch, the hunters brought in a freshly caught monitor lizard! I missed seeing the whole start product - all i saw was the end product - lizard stew! The longhouse had an "endangered species/don't eat these" list on the wall... apparently it's fine to eat non-eared monitor lizards, but not eared ones... or is that the other way round?! We didn't know, neither did the villagers i'm sure! Nor did they care! The eared/non-eared thing wasn't particularly well explained or shown as the poor thing was cut up and broiled! I think the plan was to use us to eat the evidence! Anyway, the monitor lizard was 90% bone, with no parts spared for the cooking pot!
Full of reptile, we bumbled off to a nearby river, across lotsa grassy plain and down a steep slope that disliked my sandals. The river was cool and refreshing, and paddling was quite enough for me thankyou! I'd heard rumours of willy fish around these parts, so like hell I'm swimming! The sunbathing on the rocky/pebbly riverside clearly didn't work again! My tan is still inadequate to say the least - damn my pasty Englishness! And now my spine is horribly mis-shapen from lying on the rocks!
All the girls in our expedition group seem to have taken a shine little Shirley, the 4-or-so daughter of someone's in the village! She now follows us everywhere, in a cutesy way - the other children are normally ignored by us! So basically we'd adopted Shirley by this stage of staying in the village...
To be honest, I find Shirley quite annoying... and she's got a silly name... and I'm not sure that's her real name, maybe just the name we gave her!
It was more bony monitor lizard for tea too, and the night was whiled away catching up on journals and looking at a decomposing mouse being mobbed by l'il ants in the doorway of one of the rooms.

Do lizards hAvE eArS?!

He's Got The Whole World... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Spiders, Spiders Everywhere... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=20&entryid=9585 2006-04-19T21:29:33Z 2006-04-19T21:29:33Z Day 20 ("Emma's leadership" as she so kindly wrote in my journal!) Brassieres! After another night's wonderful sleep on our matresses in rooms with not much else in them, we were off into the jungle again! This time armed with spades and other digging implements! Our task (no choice whether we choose to accept it or not) was to build a "road". Yup, that's the word that was used. As it turned it, we had to build a path... out ... Day 20 ("Emma's leadership" as she so kindly wrote in my journal!)
Brassieres! After another night's wonderful sleep on our matresses in rooms with not much else in them, we were off into the jungle again! This time armed with spades and other digging implements! Our task (no choice whether we choose to accept it or not) was to build a "road". Yup, that's the word that was used. As it turned it, we had to build a path... out of dirt! With hoes! It wasn't really hard work with all of us taking turns - it was harder walking there and back!
So we moved earth on a steep slope, digging up cicadas and other weird bugs, and rejoining the two parts of the already-existing path again. After our slogs came lunch, courtesy of the rainforest! Bamboo and fern was the order of the day, lovelily cooked by the women of the village who had just appeared! Sitting on big leaves by the river, this was a tasty and quite watery lunch. Longboats revved along the muddy-brown river, cicadas chirrped loudly and we were surrounded by green. I now felt as if the rainforest was home!
Today's work finished early, and after the walk back to the village, we had the afternoon off. What better way to spend it than sunbathing in the tropix?! It's not as if we could go retail shopping or to the cinema! The sunbathing was futile, as I'm not really going brown... probably more lobster-esque!
Back in the longhouses, we had some cold water showers in a spiderweb infested, dogs and chikkens peering in, fusty "cellar"-like area. It was downstairs, out of the way... by one of many toilets, which coincidentally were also fusty holes in the ground! But I'm not really complaining - it was a great experience! As shower shifts continued, we practised "The whole world" for our involuntary performance at church tomorrow!
Then came dinner! It was now customary for the village head (or other significant other community member) to start meal time with a prayer. The second he finished, he did a simple hand gesture and us lot charged up to the dinner table and tucked in! It must've looked so funny, and I only hope that the villagers thought we loved their food THAT much... and we did! It was more tasty, tender wild boar tonight, and mmm... sugary tea/coffee... and PLAN water. All this came with piles of rice and other various odd foods. It was now also customary for us to douse our rice in soy sauce. Every night, the bottle was tipped upside down and squeezed as we coated our rice in the stuff, using up all their hard-to-come-by supply!
Everyone was very much a happy bunny and night settled in as the lights went out. Cereal was thrown and chaos insued!

Squat-pooing is fun!

Spiders, Spiders Everywhere... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> On The Hunt... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=19&entryid=9583 2006-04-19T21:28:09Z 2006-04-19T21:28:09Z Day 19. We'd just spent the first night with the tribe! They're so very cool, much cooler than you. The only SLIGHTLY bad thing was that our lovely group was split up overnight. Different small groups stayed in different houses that were linked to the main longhouse. I was in one room with Calvey and Kyle, with Soos and Annie next door! Beds were matresses on the floor (...soon infested by ants that had decided to attack the "parmesan" cheese ... Day 19. We'd just spent the first night with the tribe! They're so very cool, much cooler than you. The only SLIGHTLY bad thing was that our lovely group was split up overnight. Different small groups stayed in different houses that were linked to the main longhouse. I was in one room with Calvey and Kyle, with Soos and Annie next door! Beds were matresses on the floor (...soon infested by ants that had decided to attack the "parmesan" cheese that Calvey was carrying!) The walls were paper thin, almost literally. You could see and hear a slither of the happenings next door and you also had a good insight into Soos' & Annie's room! Mmm... brassiere! <----- sneaky little sex frustrated boys looking into naked Annie & Soos! HA!
After a highly scrumptious breakfast (they feed us like kings here!), it was the first day of the project phase! And what work we did! After walking a fair distance to the outer reaches of the village, we basically WATCHED the locals repair/build a bridge. The only thing we significantly did was to briefly carry the bat-inhabited, oversized grass (bamboo) that was cut for us. The locals were a menace with the chainsaw. It looked so dangerous, flailing this machine wearing no safety gear, whilst standing in the middle of a semi-destructed very wobbly bridge!
The new bridge was soon built, although the old one looked perfectly adequate and far chunkier! Ah well, there's still a few more days of "work" to go!
Afternoon: on the hunt! With the locals armed with machetes and blow-pipes... and guns we set off into the depths of the jungle to kill us some meat! We walked, dared to cross some swirling rivers, we sat, we waited, we sat, we waited, we sat, we waited... i carved my name on a log!... oh but we caught nowt! Instead, we played good waiting games... "In the land of odd..." Silly Annie.
But i did see a monkey!
Dejected, we walked back to the village and after more scrumptious food (dear god, wild boar is nice!), it was night. Me, Calv, Soos & Annie talked the night away, whilst tucking into a secret bag of flying fish that no-one knew about! Mu ha ha. How cheeky...

On The Hunt... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> I Could Get Used To This... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=18&entryid=9581 2006-04-19T21:26:28Z 2006-04-19T21:26:28Z Day 18. We woke up, as MOST humans do. Not including Cinderella or one of them... Sleeping Beauty?! Apologies Cinderella... The walk-trek-hike started with looking at and poking a hunted dead boar that had been killed the night before... possibly by our guides. They were too modest/great/odd to admit it! It was all nicely cut up, and Calvey promptly decided to hold the poor beast's head up! The guides went one step better and stuffed their bags full of leg and ... Day 18. We woke up, as MOST humans do. Not including Cinderella or one of them... Sleeping Beauty?! Apologies Cinderella...
The walk-trek-hike started with looking at and poking a hunted dead boar that had been killed the night before... possibly by our guides. They were too modest/great/odd to admit it! It was all nicely cut up, and Calvey promptly decided to hold the poor beast's head up! The guides went one step better and stuffed their bags full of leg and spleen... Anyway, we got some speed up, had a well-organised lunch (most likely consisting of crackers or similar crushed-up food) and even overtook another team! Ha! We're much better than them, oh yes, oh yarse! Bastads!
"Leechy McLeech" was the tune of the day! We sung it for hours. Oh thankyou dear Soos for creating that oh so enjoyful song, to the tune of Eleanor Rigby. Time flew... for the first few minutes... then after about ten minutes, when everyone realised it was actually scientifically impossible to get the song out their heads, it got a tad annoying! Argh! "Leechy McLeech..." ... a song we'd get used to, hour after hour! Day after day...
We HAD had to try and have a different band day every day, but the Kinks etc had now been replaced by this mish-mash hapzard Beatles tune of Leechy McLeech!
Aaaaanywya, we were at Long Dano in no time at all (in heinsight only), where we'd spend the next few days in longhouses, living with the tribe! We emerged out the jungle into never-ending pastures new and green, past buffa-ma-los, over slightly newer, less wobbly bridges, until the oasis of Long Dano appeared...
The houses were longhouses, all on stilts, with dirt and scabby dogs under them. They were quite a building feat and all interconnected by walkways... quite stable too!
Leaving our boots to the scabby dogs, and up the stairs, we were warmly welcomed by some un-tribe-looking people, and hastily fed with bananas (littluns) and hot, sugary tea. Whilst sitting on the floor... as this place seems to be lacking a fair bit of furniture! Twas yum yum. Just what the doctor ordered! The main longhouse was huge and dark, with uneven wooden floors. The occasional mat or rug was dotted around the place - normally where we were meant to sit, or where the food was. It was surprisely dark and murky, even in the daylight, seeing as how many doors and windows there were. But the main thing was how authentic it felt. These people really lived like this. Before us, they had only had a couple of other expedition groups to stay with them. So it was culture shock all round!
The rest of the day, today, was spent settling in, relaxing, sweet chilling lazy boy...

Ok, they don't look like tribes-people should, but they act and live like it! All cool beans!

Today's Leech Count: 2 (Total: 3) I got a big fukk-off leech today, which was quikk-er-ly squished by my big pointy walking stikk, covering nearby persons in my blood... apologies all!

I Could Get Used To This... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> That's A Whole New Smell Of Sweat... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=17&entryid=9579 2006-04-19T21:24:54Z 2006-04-19T21:24:54Z Day 17. What a number, what a day! We slowly arose from our Nancy-house induced sleep and before we knew it we were out of the door! The trekking began early, and so did the tiredness. We were heading towards Long Dano (the stilt village in the jungle!) where we would do some project work for the locals there. Heave! Puff! It started out by going through lots of leg-swallowing marshes, culminating in balancing acts on logs... and failing to ... Day 17. What a number, what a day! We slowly arose from our Nancy-house induced sleep and before we knew it we were out of the door! The trekking began early, and so did the tiredness. We were heading towards Long Dano (the stilt village in the jungle!) where we would do some project work for the locals there.
Heave! Puff! It started out by going through lots of leg-swallowing marshes, culminating in balancing acts on logs... and failing to balance, and lots more leg-swallowing. And laughing at certain people when someone, cough, refused to help them up! Well, I was well-and-truly buried and well-and-truly stukk too!
There's not much you can say about the hiking really. Knackering yes. As much as you try and look up at the amazing scenery, you have to look at the floor all the time to make sure that you're not tripping over anything, or slipping up, or about to be bitten by anything!
HA! Then came a highlight of the trip so far. We were walking along a particularly slippery and steep part of the "path". There was a sheer drop to the right. We were in a long line, surely one of us had to fall down?! Yup, step up Kyle... fall down Kyle! So he summersaulted down the mini-cliff (about 7 metres)... and survived with no major injuries. His backpack fruit was even still intact! Despite how spectactular it looked, Kyle didn't even loose a limb!
Today was a momentous day for one specific reason! I lost my leech virginity! However, it DID take me 15 days of being in Borneo! If you find one, the trick is to grab your DEET (insect repellant) and coat the thing in it, until it quickly rolls off, leaving you bleeding. They're really cool little things, fascinating to poke and prod. And they don't hurt at all when they bite, nor do they spread any diseases. You only discover them when you're itching your leg for example, and you feel a bump! Or you may not realise you've been bitten until you see the blood down your leg, with the leech long gone!
And so we were soon (ha! like hell!) at camp (nothing there but trees, we had to set it up ourselves). We chopped a few trees down just for fun, cleared some shrubs and set up hammox, slowly but surely. Bugs kept attacking me as I put my hammock up, but the fear of the mozzies (and the use of DEET) rapidly subsided. Evening entertainment was ourselves and brilliant. Sleep that night was strangely uncomfortable for once... maybe i was simply too moist?!

Today's Leech Count: 1 (Total: 1)

That's A Whole New Smell Of Sweat... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Damn Scooby-Doos, Damn... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=16&entryid=9577 2006-04-19T21:22:28Z 2006-04-19T21:22:28Z Day 16 starts with lies, damned lies about wake up and taxi times! Apparently we're all far too lazy to be trusted to wake up in time, so we're woken an extra hour early to make sure we do today on time! Damned lies! Damned Annie! Aye, but we have a plane to catch you see. We're leaving Miri already (no offence to it)... on our way inland to Bario! So off we toodled to the airport by our lovely ... Day 16 starts with lies, damned lies about wake up and taxi times! Apparently we're all far too lazy to be trusted to wake up in time, so we're woken an extra hour early to make sure we do today on time! Damned lies! Damned Annie! Aye, but we have a plane to catch you see. We're leaving Miri already (no offence to it)... on our way inland to Bario! So off we toodled to the airport by our lovely mini-busses/cars/taxis/whatever, had more odd ice-cream at the airport then went to get on the plane... if you can call it that. It was a wee little thing, no more than 18 seats, all squished together - "Twin Otter" they call it around these parts! We rattled off into the sky, not being too sure if we'd make it, but not caring as we were all so goddam tired. The flight (what a flight! we could talk to the pilots!) lasted about 40 minutes, and we landed PERFECTLY in Bario on a grass strip. Airport facilities were few and far between, as were any airport buildings really, so we just hopped off the plane, got our bags from the plane's nose section and hopped onto the back of a waiting pick-up truck. Not randomly... at least we think it was there to pick us up! Bario is a reasonable sized village near Kalimantan (Indonesian part of Borneo), and seemed very charming as we were bundled in, bags and all in the back of this jeep down a deliberately bumpy route it seemed!
We were taken through the village, to a house (like a homestay) owned by a lady called Nancy (she had some link to Sampson...) There, we dropped all our kit, perhaps ate a bit, maybe had a poo. Who knows?! It seemed clean and friendly, so top job! We also saw the devastation that leeches can cause - we thought a boy who had returned from the jungle with his team had gashed his leg open!
Anyway, as evening lurked we went to play volleyball with that other team... lads they were! Ish. It got quite competitive, but all good fun... I'm just glad I didn't have to retrieve the ball from the buffalo-infested waters!
Bario was a lively little place, with a local shop or two, a church, a town hall and really nice locals. Everything had to be flown in by plane though, which is quite an incredible thought. It didn't seem we were THAT remote, but looks can be decieving. Ah wait, thinking about it, there are no roads into the place!
That evening, back at Nancy's, me and Soos played a great game! It was pin the tail (what did we use?!) on the "donkey" (what did we use again?!!!). It just ended in chaos, with "things" belonging to girls in our group being thrown everywhere! Ah, good times, good times!

"Bariiio, Bariiio, Do for me Bario. Bariiio, Bariiio!"

Headline: Soos cannot poo...

Damn Scooby-Doos, Damn... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Yam & Sweetcorn Ice-Cream... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=15&entryid=9575 2006-04-19T21:19:51Z 2006-04-19T21:19:51Z Day 15. Goodbye Sabah, Hello Sarawak! We took a short flight on a hilariously named Fokker plane from Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) to Miri (Sarawak) to explore new parts of Borneo! Fresh in Miri airport, we swooped upon the ice-ream stand, and feasted upon the odd flavours (Yam, Sweetcorn and some name that sounded like Mackerel!). We even took great advantage of the help-yourself chocolate and strawberry sauces, dousing and re-dousing our ice creams in it's gooeyness! All this for RM3.50, ... Day 15. Goodbye Sabah, Hello Sarawak! We took a short flight on a hilariously named Fokker plane from Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) to Miri (Sarawak) to explore new parts of Borneo! Fresh in Miri airport, we swooped upon the ice-ream stand, and feasted upon the odd flavours (Yam, Sweetcorn and some name that sounded like Mackerel!). We even took great advantage of the help-yourself chocolate and strawberry sauces, dousing and re-dousing our ice creams in it's gooeyness! All this for RM3.50, or around 48p!
A bus was meant to take us from the airport to our hostel, but after re-fuelling and struggling, it promptly died on us. Thus, and on a busy road, we bundled onto a schoolbus (ha!), much to the dismay of the kids - it was worse than sardines, and sheer chaos when the kids needed to get off before us! After some of the school children had somehow managed exit the bus, we were driven to what I presume was the main bus station in Miri. We then had to walk (Walk! The Cheek!) the rest of the way to our cushy hostel called De Centre. It was now that the real pain in the legs from the mountain climb started. We were walking to the hostel, in the midday heat, heavy bags on back. My legs were clinically unable to walk up or downhill... or on the flat. God it was painful! I was QUITE a pissed off young man!
At the hostel (which had damn stairs!), we met our dear Sampson again (THE Borneo man!). He talked to us about our next few days, and slight itinerary change... not that i was listening... i was too busy trying to alleviate the pain!
Then came a tasty lunch across the road, supermarket sweep (shopping i mean), lazyness and a KFC/McD food trip in the evening - NOT ME, urgh! How could they?! I got noodles instead in a restaurant with tank-fulls of live bullfrogs... Soos got chikken-duped! It later turned out that evening that Kyle had been hoarding the Kissu all along. This is the same piece of safety gear that we couldn't find whilst at the base of Mt. Kinabalu! The same stretch of domed fabric that we had so desperately needed up freezing Mt. Kinabalu! The same tent-like structure that could've warmed us up nicely on the 4,100m high peak! The bastard!
The night ended with watching of stunt shows on tv in the hostel. I tried to sort my stuff... and failed!

It turned out that

De Centre is a nice ho(s)tel...

Yam & Sweetcorn Ice-Cream... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Good Times, Good Times... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=14&entryid=9573 2006-04-19T21:17:48Z 2006-04-19T21:17:48Z Day 14. A night at Poring Hot Springs meant time to try and recover, although I feel the true pain from the mountain climb may take time to settle in! We washed clothes, got SOME of the stink out. Just a bit, mind. Last night i slept in a room with 7 of us and one bemused-looking Malay man! Poring is nothing amazing... as we were promised. Just a bunch of pools and baths. Good fun swimming and bathing in ... Day 14. A night at Poring Hot Springs meant time to try and recover, although I feel the true pain from the mountain climb may take time to settle in! We washed clothes, got SOME of the stink out. Just a bit, mind. Last night i slept in a room with 7 of us and one bemused-looking Malay man! Poring is nothing amazing... as we were promised. Just a bunch of pools and baths. Good fun swimming and bathing in them though.
In the morning we travelled back to lovely KK by some sort of mini-bus as per usual... which was late! Calvey soon told him off, and got us a nice discount! "No, YOU'RE wrong!"
We went back to "Planet Kinabalu" hostel in order to get ready for a much-deserved R&R day - woop! The hostel stairs were now sheer hell. Every painful step pulled muscles that couldn't be pulled anymore and twisted joints that were already internally bleeding!
Anyway, after some vital faffing, we went to the dockside and boarded an ickle tiny speedboat to go and visit one of KK's nearby islands. The journey was fast and bumpy and got us there in no time! The island (i forget the name) was crowded, but i got in some fiiiiiiine sunbathing and snorkelling - saw a few non-exciting fish real close-up. It was my first time snorkelling so half the time was spent adjusting my goggles and mouthpiece, sticking my head below water, choking, then re-adjusting!
The day was going so well until a tropical storm turned up to join in the fun. It swirled in, creating a rain and sand smorgasbord that attacked us... and our sunburn! Proceedingly, the boat was late picking us up, but we had fun just beering it and looking at the billions of fish that were coming up to the surface as they thought the rain splashes were food being dropped in the water! Despite a boat engine cut, and me stubbing and cutting my toe at the atrociously slippery dockside, we returned to dry land, all having had a great day... although Adam (leader) didn't think so... he complained to the man that sold us the trip saying we were just abandoned on the island... kinda true, but it was more fun that way! Anyway, he got Su (assistant leader) and husband a free snorkelling adventure by his complaining, so it worked out ok!
Tonight was the last night we'd spend in KK, so we went to town! Can you guess? Yup, "Cock & Bull" again! Beer drinking was slow due to all-day drinking, but ah well!

...................."i'm too sexy..."

Good Times, Good Times... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> My Low's Peak... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=13&entryid=9571 2006-04-19T21:15:11Z 2006-04-19T21:15:11Z Day 13... started at 1am with a bowl of unfulfilling cereal and crap-milk! Oh the hell of it! At 2am, it was time to venture out into the dark (headtorches ready!). The plan, very basic one, was to climb to the 4,100m summit of Kinabalu - woop! Despite the uphill-ness, 'twas easy at first, until it got windy and colder the further we went (Zoe pulled out somewhere around here, and was led back down by Leader Su and a ... Day 13... started at 1am with a bowl of unfulfilling cereal and crap-milk! Oh the hell of it! At 2am, it was time to venture out into the dark (headtorches ready!). The plan, very basic one, was to climb to the 4,100m summit of Kinabalu - woop! Despite the uphill-ness, 'twas easy at first, until it got windy and colder the further we went (Zoe pulled out somewhere around here, and was led back down by Leader Su and a guide... i think). With 1km walking distance left to the top, i was f.r.o.z.e.n (esp. hands!) It was sheer hell for the last few steps... The rope that was there for an extra guide and safety only chafed my hands further, causing them to swell to double their size!
Just as the situation seemed to go on and on, with no end in sight, pain excrutiating, and gradient increasing... Finally, Low's Peak! We scrambled, swering profusely up the last few jagged, cold rocks. My hands were so cold and hurting so much i had to hold onto the guide rope using my elbow...
At the top all we could do was huddle - not even see any planned views / sunrise as the conditions were awful. Apparently it was the worst conditions the mountain had had for a long time, with temperatures as long as minus 15c with windchill. You certainly couldn't see clearly for more than a metre in front of you. I was so goddam cold i felt like i was going to go unconcious at any second as we huddled closely, sitting down, curled up... we stayed and froze at the summit only long enough for Soos to (somehow) have a pee... and for Lyndz to do some bra adjusting...
I had never been so cold in all my life, and paid the price for only wearing a shirt and thin coat, with no gloves... Oh dear. Quite a silly and collossel mistake!
We could've had the option of warmth if we'd brought the Kissu (giant orange fabric dome to sit under and trap heat). But before we'd left off to start the climb, no-one could find it! We knew SOMEONE had it as we'd been carrying it about all expedition, but no-one knew who! If we hadn't of had the Kissu and the guides, the climb would've been too dangerous, and would've been cancelled. Maybe if we'd've known the conditions would be this bad, we'd've cancelled it anyway, with guides and without Kissu.
In agony and rain, we descended from the peak as quikkly as we could allow ourselves to. My feet hurt and slopped about in the wet (having to abseil down a newly-created waterfall certainly didn't help!). I got warmer and better slowly, and we all began to recover... although there was still the prospect of having to get down the mountain which we'd have to do in one go! Today!
We briefly stopped at the 3,100m restaurant before death-marching to the point where we started the other day... back down the gazillion steps whilst constantly needing a piss... singing the final countdown, thinking we were near the end, when we weren't at all... thus, we sang that for about an hour! It felt a TINY bit easier going down, but hurt more.
I somehow (think: relief!) managed to run up the last few steps to the point where we started the mountain climb. It was such a great feeling knowing we'd done it, and everyone (or maybe just me) was greatly invigorated! Ready to do it again!
It was then onto crappy-ish Poring Hot Springs for a bath/swim by mini-bus, to rest our dreary, weary limbs, muscles and souls...

There's dogs all over the road...

My Low's Peak... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Start Feet / End Feet... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=12&entryid=9569 2006-04-19T21:13:22Z 2006-04-19T21:13:22Z Day 12: The pot noodle-esque breakfast was somewhat silly and unfulfilling! Day sacks on our backs, we feebly trundled out of our accomodation, to the site's reception area. Here, we handed over our large main rucksacks, having the cheek to put them all in 2 huge plastic survival sacks! This was to avoid the very small fee per bag, and we got away with it! A short bus journey later, up some twisty road, past where we'd slept last night, ... Day 12: The pot noodle-esque breakfast was somewhat silly and unfulfilling! Day sacks on our backs, we feebly trundled out of our accomodation, to the site's reception area. Here, we handed over our large main rucksacks, having the cheek to put them all in 2 huge plastic survival sacks! This was to avoid the very small fee per bag, and we got away with it!
A short bus journey later, up some twisty road, past where we'd slept last night, we had arrived at the "start!". At this point, we came upon a board with record times for scaling the mountain. The record for men was just over 2 hours or something silly! That can't be true... we'll be taking 2 damn DAYS! And someone said that was the time for going up AND down!!! Surely not?! Can the locals get any more super human?! They'd beat Spiderman anyday. The wuss.
Raring to go, to begin the climb we first had to go downhill! The slope was lengthy and straight, before the first steps UP the appeared! And these were BIG steps in places. Big, uneven steps that even my lanky legs had trouble with! 2,500 steps of leg-mangling uphill-ness... with nothing but flying fish and chocolate monkeys for company... to eat, i meant. Walk. Walk. Walk. ALL UPHILL!
... how knackering!
... how sweatful!
... how uber-painful!
No words can really explain what it was like... maybe like doing every cross country you've ever done in one day... possibly. Actually, that's a crap comparison. It was k.n.a.c.k.e.r.i.n.g anyway!
However the pain was somewhat compensated by some really amazing views - across valleys etc, through clouds, all sorts of wildlife and plants... and the most revolting leggings ever! Some disgusting bright luminous colour on a shrivelled middle-aged woman... "Mmm... Leggings!" Ha! The catchphrase of the whole expedition is born! Thankyou Calvey.
It was also bewildering to regularly pass or be passed by frail, old porters carrying objects lat east twice there size. These items and supplies were hoisted upon their heads and backs, held in wicker baskets. I'm sure I saw some kind of tumble dryer being transported up the mountain, as well as a dozen crates of Coke bottles! These people truly put us to shame with their strength... and knobbly knees... that were feckin' muscly!
Ahoy! The end for today is in sight! At last, the (higher up) restaurant! After some food in the 3,100m high restaurant (which was still a stupid walk from where we were sleeping!), it's bed time i think. We're all very much oh so tired, and with the prospect of a 1am wake-up...

Borneo's hostels are scummier / MUCH colder at this height!

Start Feet / End Feet... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Everyone Here Looks Like Pirates... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=11&entryid=9567 2006-04-19T21:11:45Z 2006-04-19T21:11:45Z Day 11. Another delightful bus journey! This time it was from Sepilok to Mt. Kinabalu - and yet more road cafe yuk food was had! This, and the bus journey, made Emma feel vey queasy! And sitting next to her on the bus, my poking and prodding did nothing to alleviate her problems! During the journey we had good views of the bastad hill that we'd soon have to climb! We also watched some pirated films (inc. Mr and Mrs Smith), ... Day 11. Another delightful bus journey! This time it was from Sepilok to Mt. Kinabalu - and yet more road cafe yuk food was had! This, and the bus journey, made Emma feel vey queasy! And sitting next to her on the bus, my poking and prodding did nothing to alleviate her problems!
During the journey we had good views of the bastad hill that we'd soon have to climb! We also watched some pirated films (inc. Mr and Mrs Smith), sitting near pirate people!
In what seemed like an eTeRnItY, we were dropped off at the side of the road (basically the foot of Mt. Kinabalu!). Up a hill into the "World Heritage Site", we waited around the entrance a bit, then proceeded to walk to our accomodation. Mountain mist was ominously everywhere as we trundled down some side-sloping steps. Rooms were somehow chosen and we all began to settle in.
Most of the day was spent walking around the main complex's site. Split off into groups, we were trying to find a suitable restaurant to eat in tonight. Instead, we all just got lost and after about an hour of going round in circles, we refound each other in a cafe near the main entrance. The food we'd found on our explorations was either too expensive or too far away - so not much luck there!
Back in our accomodation, the wonderfully bare and sterile place it was, we all listened to a man trying the (from what we could gather) VERY cold shower! He made some very silly noises! "Ah!!! Ooh!!! Eee!!!" Feeling in a lively mood ourselves, it was time for "Kyle-in-a-bag" and dropping (and leaving) Soos in the boys' toilets!
That night we decided to go to the cheapo, off-site restaurant, where we ordered BIG platefuls of rice and all things nice to share. It was so much cheaper and maybe nicer than anything we could've afforded or had at the onsite restaurant(s).
It was pitch black by the time we'd left the restaurant (by some spooky back door!) Walking out, we crossed the road, saw the "Max Lube" stickered van, walked up the hill to the entrance and back to our rooms, dreading tomorrow...

Oh what a day. Sigh...

Everyone Here Looks Like Pirates... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Gloat Monkeys... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=10&entryid=9565 2006-04-19T21:09:43Z 2006-04-19T21:09:43Z Day 10. My leadership... is over today. About time! The day started well with our room lockout (NOT my fault I tell ya!), before going on to see the monkeys at the Sepilok sanctuary. They were good to see, but there were too many tourists around, making everything seem a bit fake. Meh, I suppose their money (and ours) helps protect them! We saw about 7 or 8 or 9 wild orang-utans, including a baby, and several macaques - some ... Day 10. My leadership... is over today. About time! The day started well with our room lockout (NOT my fault I tell ya!), before going on to see the monkeys at the Sepilok sanctuary. They were good to see, but there were too many tourists around, making everything seem a bit fake. Meh, I suppose their money (and ours) helps protect them! We saw about 7 or 8 or 9 wild orang-utans, including a baby, and several macaques - some just dangling overhead, ready to shit on us! It felt like the hottest day the earth had EVER had whilst we were there! The sweat came like a flood merely standing and looking, let alone doing any sort of moving! Seeing a gazillion ants in a huge conga line heading somewhere along a railing, we went back to the main sanctuary centre, watched some video on rainforest protection in a pleasantly cool building, and walked around an orang-utan information centre. Who knew they had such big hands?!
We left monkeyville, waited at a bus-stop for ages then took the groovy (got musik!) bus to Sandakan, a city in the very North of Borneo. At the vibrant city of Sandakan, we walked around a few markets including the live fish and all-sorts-of-other-odd-sea-creatures market! From there, we headed towards a huge modern mosque overshadowing a sprawling water village. The buildings in this village were on stilts and went off into the sea, over mud-flats which the local children ran over in low tide. It was an odd experience just wandering over their walkways, through the place where the inhabitants live largely in poverty. Despite the far-from-ideal conditions, everyone seemed very welcoming - especially the children! The coastal stilt village seemed very fragile and precarious, with many parts of the buildings and walkways rotting away. I couldn't help thinking about if a similar tsunami to the Boxing Day 2004 one hit here, it would all be instantly wiped out.
So we wandered back out of water village, past the lurvely dead dog in the bin. We had a failed fish BBQ idea (thanx anyway Kyle!), and headed back to the centre of Sandakan. After some shopping for provisions, we re-boarded the groovy bus, with butter sweetcorn this time, and headed back to Sepilok.
After the extensive journey, which included some seemingly pointless diversions and a thunderstorm, we were back at Sepilok. We were in time for some grub too! We had more restaurant food and Mirinda... Zoe's fave! It's this very flavoursome soft drink in two flavours... either orange and some kind or berry i believe. It rivals Milo (local hot chocolate) as the drink of choice!
After the meal i was de-briefed (no pants!) from my wonderful leadership. That basically meant having a talk from Adam and Su the "true" leaders about how i thought I'd done whilst i was in charge of everyone. We concluded that i was too laid back, but had put some effort in.... something like that anyway!
Back in our cabins, we somehow ended up playing chirades, imitating each other (more like piss-taking!), whilst eating stupid amounts of tasteless coconut flesh...
I also decided that, instead of venturing out and about into the dark and spider-infested toilet, I would take a shower more closely to our cabins. So, using the nice cold rain that happened to be falling and leaky guttering, I had a lovely drain shower! It did the job...

Sleepy-pooz, no home-sick-ness yet...

(The big spider was squished tonight... R.I.P.)

Gloat Monkeys... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> A Shrubbery... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=9&entryid=9563 2006-04-19T21:08:05Z 2006-04-19T21:08:05Z Day 9. Still my leadership! Today we were off to Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary! We travelled for several hours by coach, only stopping once for a toilet break and some dodgy food at a roadside cafe. The food was slop, full of bits of animal tubes and nostrils! Not only was it unappealing to look at, my lack of hunger coupled with an ill-feeling stomach meant that the disgusting food didn't go down very well at all! Approaching Sepilok territory, we were ... Day 9. Still my leadership! Today we were off to Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary! We travelled for several hours by coach, only stopping once for a toilet break and some dodgy food at a roadside cafe. The food was slop, full of bits of animal tubes and nostrils! Not only was it unappealing to look at, my lack of hunger coupled with an ill-feeling stomach meant that the disgusting food didn't go down very well at all!
Approaching Sepilok territory, we were unkindly dropped 2.5km away from the sanctuary, and almost had to WALK! ...shock! horror! Where we were dropped off, there were some suspicious looking locals standing by their cars. They kept talking quietly at each other, occasionally looking up at us. We slowly edged away and began walking! Ten minutes into the walk (already knackered!), we were picked up by Sepilok workers that were driving past. One of the pick-ups that collected us had a big hole in the vehicle floor, giving good air conditioning! I somehow think MOTs mean nothing here! However, the pick-up i was in was very nice and far more stable!
The Sepilok hostels were very nice in all fairness, well built and clean. Outside the chalets were large benches and carved things (mushrooms?!) Although I suspect that these were rather plastic or concrete instead of wood! The only problem with the whole complex was that the toilets were far from ensuite, and they had a big spider in! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat! mUsT rEmEmBeR tO cHeCk UnDeR tHe ToIleT sEat!
The restaurant at the site, basically next to our rooms, was nice, but expensive by Borneo standards. The food wasn't even anything special.
We're off to see the orang-utans tomorrow, woop! woop! And they'd better be worth it, as they were a clinching factor in me choosing Borneo over Central America or other places that I could have gone with World Challenge...
Despite the flood the other night, there has been far less rain than I expected there to be. I don't think it's wet season, which might explain a bit, but still!
Trying to go to the toilet in the evening was hell, especially after you'd just had that big spider run under your feet and out of view. Pisses were now reserved for the bushes, and I'm sure I can hold a number two in...
Tonight, I'm staying in a room with Calvey, Kyle and Lucy. It was time for us to go to bed, and everyone was tired after today's long bus journey. However, we wouldn't be sleeping for a while yet, as shadowing into the night came the pointless laughter! Us four were all laying in bed... not together, and began to say goodnight to each other:

Calvey: "Goodnight!"
Me: "Goodnight!"
Lucy: "Goodnight!"
Kyle: " "

Kyle's non-response tickled something in Calvey and me, and we were off! Mu ha ha ha! HA! It wouldn't stop! Literally for more than 30 minutes, pure laughter! And when it did briefly stop and we'd try to hold it in, we'd just burst and trigger each other off again! Dear lordy! It HURT! It was painful to keep laughing - but it was unstoppable! That was until we got tired, so so sleepy... and fell asleep!

A Shrubbery... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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]]> Rice Is Nice... tag:travellerspoint.com,2006-04-19:/blog/?domain=SabahThornyStick&thisblog_entryid=8&entryid=9561 2006-04-19T21:06:26Z 2006-04-19T21:06:26Z Day 8. My "leadership" pointlessly continues! The river waters had subsided slightly by morning, leaving river debris perilously close to where we slept last night. Adam told us this morning that the waters had come EVEN higher during the night whilst we were asleep. That is higher than when we were awake and on the brink of abandoning our outpost! After checking that all our kit hadn't been washed away, we left the relatively luxurious centre, climbed a never-ending hill and ... Day 8. My "leadership" pointlessly continues! The river waters had subsided slightly by morning, leaving river debris perilously close to where we slept last night. Adam told us this morning that the waters had come EVEN higher during the night whilst we were asleep. That is higher than when we were awake and on the brink of abandoning our outpost!
After checking that all our kit hadn't been washed away, we left the relatively luxurious centre, climbed a never-ending hill and clambered aboard yet more mini-busses! We were on a return ride to Kota Kinabalu and the ride was very much humbling. We saw and heard of the destruction last night's 11-hour long heavy rain had caused - 3 dead, cars submerged, houses obliterated (literally), petrol pumps strewn about. Indeed, I'm sure it happens fairly often in Borneo, in the tropics, but it was something none of us had seen before. If such an event occured in the UK, there'd be chaos! The whole country'd stop! Think of how much everyone focused on Boscastle when it was flooded - and no-one even died!
Once back in KK, it was time do to some more organising! This was to ensure that we had transport and accomodation for the upcoming week, but our actions only resulted in chaos! With me in charge, things didn't go smoothly! I can NEVER decide anything! We also did some eating (yet more rice!) and drinking (lumpy cinsau!)
In the evening, we went to a restaurant in close proximity to our Planet Kinabalu hostel. When I say A restaurant, I mean several, as it was one large sprawling complex of them! It was then time for another night out - to the "Cock & Bull" pub again! It was great fun, as usual, of course! At the pub, we met Sampson, THE Borneo man, and promptly gave him a fair few cans of Boddingtons that we'd smuggled with us from the UK. I couldn't give him my can, as it got destroyed on the plane - damn baggage handlers! It equally covered by kit in a moist, yeasty smell!
Boddingtons was Sampson's favourite tipple, and he had great difficult buying the Manchester beer in Borneo! Sampson was a large, friendly, girthy man whom my older brother Robert had previously met when he came to Borneo on a simliar trip. However, my brother's trip was with his school and over 10 years before me! That didn't stop me using the same rucksack as he did though...!

This place is wonderful. And no squits yet! Added bonus.

Rice Is Nice... remains copyright of the author SabThoSti, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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