Monkeys and other stuff

Crossing the nullabor and castrating a cow

2008-07-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

I'm now in Sydney, the final stop on this whole trip...wowzers. Travelling across from Perth was great: the Indian Pacific takes a couple of days, but with a half empty train we had space to spread out and it was enjoyable. I met some Germans and a Kiwi and spent most of the journey playing cards. We took full advantage of the 2 stops en route; my favourite was Cook, which is basically a ghost town with only 2 residents left...numerous photo opportunities abounded (although the train may have been sending us stir crazy). I even managed a few hours sleep each night which was an achievement given the seating....to say the recline is minimal would be putting it mildly. Also had the bizarre experience of taking a shower on a train.

Anyway, we then had a day in Adelaide to kill and went down to the beach...in a freezing gale. Some lunatics were even out there surfing! From there I flew to Sydney and headed out to a farm in the Hunter Valley where I'd been 10 years previous. By conincidence, an Irish chap I went out there originially with was also visiting. I spent the week there doing various random jobs around the farm...the most exciting of which was helping castrate a calf. I had to hold its leg as Darcy (the farmer, quite a character) did the deed - obviously, the calf wasn't too happy about this and I struggled to keep hold of it. Releasing it from our grip was a matter of timing: basically we had to let go and then all hop out of the yard simultaneously whilst the calf charges around. Adrenalin pumping stuff, and apparently - in case the you're concerned - the kindest way to do it. All in all a great week, and I'm now back in Sydney!!

Chilly down under

2008-06-27T02:43:00.001-07:00

Currently in Perth, Australia...and you can forget the TV adverts of perfect blue skies, beaches and cold beers etc, it's pretty chilly here!! It is quite refreshing however, after months of humidity, and I've had a nice couple of days exploring the city and Freemantle. It's a pleasant place, fairly quiet and does feel a bit remote: I think it's closer to some Asian cities than it is to Sydney or Canberra. Prices seem a bit nuts after Asia as you might expect: we're talking 4 pounds a beer in a lot of places, 15 pounds for a hostel bed. I saw some great views of the city from Kings Park; classic postcard shots. I also took a tour around a submarine - bit random - but interesting.

Tomorrow I'm catching a flight north to Exmouth for 3 days of diving on the Ningaloo reef. One of the dives, apparently pretty famous, is from the Navy Pier - by the sounds of it you just walk to the end of the pier and jump off (very James Bondesque). After that, I'll head south again to catch the Indian Pacific train across to Adelaide: two nights on the train and I've chosen the cheaper option of a reclining seat, so could prove a challenging trip....

Mekong and monk chat

2008-06-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week, but I'm now in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand looking at temples and, possibly, some elephants tomorrow. One of the temples today featured an area designated "Monk Chat" which, as you've guessed, is somewhere to talk the resident monks. It's a good idea: no charge, you get to find out about being a monk and they get to practice their english (which forms a part of their monk training apparently). He even offered me a cup of tea.

Following my last post: Vang Vieng had some stunning scenery, limestone cliffs amongst the paddy fields and it was great hiring a bike and cycling around the surounding coutryside. However, the town itself was full of bog-standard backpacker bars serving western food and showing videos all day. I couldn't see the point of it, frankly, so left the next day with some Irish people I'd met. Travelling to Luang Prabang involved one of the most scenic bus journeys I've ever taken: swathes of steep sided green hills capped by mist at the top (I was even chilly at times). A really beautiful part of the region, much recommended. Luang Prabang was also attractive with its crumbling colonial architecture and views of the river. There's a market that runs every night, blatantly for the tourists (of which there are many), but tastefully done. As a town it reminded me of Hoi An in Vietnam, although not as hot.

One of my reasons for going to Luang Prabang was to enable me to catch a boat through to the Thai border. I'd always fancied doing this after hearing about it from my mate Gaz: cruising down the Mekong for a couple of days on a slow boat (there are speedboats that do it in half the time, but they require crash helmets.....which gives you some idea of the risk involved). I, along with 4 other backpackers, caught the boat at 8:30 in the morning. It departed on time and, thankfully after hearing several horror stories of overcrowding, wasn't full. Some nice old ladies on board kept offering us food; one of them was - for reasons unknown - carrying a bucket of live frogs. It was a really good journey, probably one of my highlights of Asia. Staggering how sparesly populated Laos is when you consider that the Mekong is one of the main arteries of the country: all we saw for most of the way was tiny litle villages. Stopped off for a night along the way, which was welcome after 9 hours on the boat, and went out for a cury with a couple of Brits I met in my ludicrously cheap guesthouse (power is turned off at 10 in the town!). Next day was more of the same and we finally reached the border at 6:30....half an hour after it closed, so spent the night on the Laos side of the border. Crossing over to Thailand the next day was by means of a little longtail boat with just the 4 of us in it; I thought it was pretty cool, how all border crossings should be!

On the Thai side we caught a taxi (well, open-top truck) to Chiang Rai. It's not a great town: little to see and the tour agencies feature "Marriage Services" in their list of options (gives you an idea of who this place attracts). However, we had a good laugh in the evening: after a trawl around the night market we headed to a bar and ended up having a jam session with the Thai owner. He was really keen and had about six guitars and a drum kit etc all set up and ready, so after a few beers I picked up a guitar and the chaps I was with picked up microphones. It must have sounded dreadful, but was an entertaing if somewhat bizarre night. We were joined by an old Dutch lady who thought she could sing and a guy from Hawaii who thought he could rap.

I fly to Perth, Australia, on Monday: I've been in Asia for five months and it's flown by. Before I know it, I'll be back in the UK and the real world!

Another couple of borders

2008-06-12T01:32:00.000-07:00

It's fair to say I'm moving through SE Asia at quite a pace, but seeing some great things along the way. Following my last post I spent a day at the temples around Angkor Wat: now, sometimes places are talked up to be something they're not, but this place didn't dissapoint and was worthy of its World Heritage status. My tuk-tuk driver earned his $10USD and took me to some great temples (with little attempt at commentary which was a blessed relief). It was great clambering over these old ruins for a day, despite the punishing humidity. Following that, I caught a bus the next day to Bangkok, mainly because it would have taken too long to get the visa for Laos in Cambodia (so this diversion into Thailand was a bit of a time saver). I'd been warned the bus journey into Thailand could be a bit of a breaker, so wasn't expecting a great journey. However, aside from one puncture and a rough road on the Cambodian side, it was quite a smooth trip all in all. The bus was rammed with backpackers, luggage filled up the aisle and dust flooded in through the open windows, but I had a good chat with some Aussies and Japanese, so an interesting day.

Bangkok was pretty full-on: millions of westerners and, in contrast to when I was last there, a lot more wealth. One of the shopping malls even had a Lamborghini showroom! I got around via the river and skytrain, and had a relaxing couple of days before catching a night train up north. Again, met some decent people on the train and am now in Laos after another smooth border crossing. Beer Lao is, as many people have said, one of the nicest beers in Asia and averages about 50p a glass here in Vientiane....which is the capital, but has the feel of a small town. I've wandered around some temples today, trying to shake off a bit of a cold I've acquired (eating copious amounts of fresh fruit to try and help). Tomorrow promises to be good: I'm going on a kayaking trip and getting a ride north to Viang Vieng thrown in. Time is flying by pretty rapdly at the moment.

Hot boat ride across the border

2008-06-06T06:37:00.000-07:00

I'm now in Cambodia, Siem Reap to be precise.

My last stop in Vietnam: Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City was quite a pleasant city, not as manic as Hanoi but still millions of mopeds. Crossing some of the junctions on foot was just nuts: traffic was coming from all directions, but you were OK as long you avoided all eye contact with other road users. Contrary to the British Green Cross Code. It's much hotter down south and now we're entering the wet season it really does rain...surprisingly. I got drenched on the way to the war museum, which was a pretty powerful collection of photographs from the American war: photos of agent orange victims and even a couple of deformed foetuses in glass jars. Hard hitting but informative. I also visited the Cu Chi tunnels which are a distance north of Saigon and a recreation (I think) of the tunnel networks the VC used during the war. Impressive and ingenius, but crazily claustrophobic as you'd expect. Also had a good last night in Saigon meeting up with Bec and Betty from Raleigh, sampling Saigon beer.

I decided to cross into Cambodia via a boat up the Mekong river, because I was bored of buses basically. The river crossing involved initially getting a bus to a border town on the river: 6 hours in a minibus, and - for a pleasant change - there was not another backpacker in sight. The minibus was equipped with a DVD player that blared out Vietnemese comedy for 6 hours at full volume...which was relaxing. However, the next day was the real point of this diversion: an 8 hour boat ride across the border to Phnom Penh. Now, I'd been led to believe that the boats were huge things holding shedloads of passengers, but ours held about 12 (me and 11 Americans) seated on chairs that looked like they'd been removed from a restaurant. It was pretty much open to the elements aside from a shade over the top, and I'd say the temperature was close to 40 degrees; decidedly warm. It was pleasant, however, pottering down the river past villages, fishermen and water buffalo. At the border we swapped boats with people doing the journey in reverse. Quite a day, I felt broken by the end.

Phnom Penh was far better than expected; reports hadn't been favourable from people I'd spoken to. I enjoyed a day catching mopeds around the city, despite some pretty wild drivers. Although I saw some sobering sights again in the form of the Killing Fields and S21 prison (used for torture during the regime). The Cambodians seem a friendly nation....I appreciate this is a massively sweeping statement from someone who has only been in the country a couple of days....whose haggling technique is far more relaxed (its easier to arrive at an amicable price here compared to Vietnam). Looking forward to a multitude of temples tomorrow!

East coast Vietnam

2008-05-30T03:03:00.000-07:00

I'm now in Nah Trang, which is a town approximately half-way down Vietnam's coast. It's a little like something out of the Costa Del Sol....visually, not much to speak of. Far better was Hoi An, a town that's effectively preserved liked a museum about 10 hours further north. Dusty streets, old crumbling colonial architecture and a great harbourside where you can get a "fresh beer" for 4000 dong (100,000 dong is approximately 3 pound). Hoi An also had a great market which sold all sorts of unexpected stuff, but you had to watch out for locals driving mopeds through it at pace. I say 10 hours, but the sleeper bus actually took 12 to get down here from there. Accomodations on board were challenging: I could only move my head from side to side if I removed the pillow from beneath it. Spent some of the journey trying to recall sufficient GCSE french to have a decent conversation with my fellow western sleepers.

Personally, the highlights in both these places has been the diving I've done: 2 dives in each, Hoi An (Cham Islands) and here in Nah Trang (this morning!). They've both been great days, and I've met nice people, but the dives were far better today - visibility was about 15m and we saw shedloads of good fish. We also got to dive through some caves where there were shoals of fish lingering about: it's a pretty weird sensation having a few thousand fish surrounding and enclosing you. I'm getting a bit better at controlling my buoyancy and saving air now after all these dives, and its getting a bit addictive...however, I've no idea how expensive a sport this might be back in the uk!

Mum, you asked about food in an email...well, I've acquired a taste for squid, the fresh bread available everywhere in the mornings is great, and Vietnemese coffee with sweet milk is a welcome treat. I don't think any meal has cost more than 3 pound, so I can't complain!

Tomorrow I'm catching a Bus to Saigon, from where - after a couple of days - I'll head to Cambodia. The plan after that has a multitude of options...I've a vague idea of getting to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand in order to then get a flight to KL (where my flight to Oz leaves from)...but how I get there is the question. It'll involve Laos to some degree! Obviously, it's a nice question to have to ponder!

Mopeds and mausoleums

2008-05-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

I've been here in Vietnam for about a week now. Today, the temperature is pretty ridiculous - I'm estimating high 30s and 100% humidity. Consequently, I'm having a bit of a slow day walking around the Old Quarter and drinking coffee. To be honest, I've seen all I want to see in Hanoi and so am happy to do just that.

I caught a night train yesterday back from Sa Pa, an old French mountain retreat, where I'd been for a couple of days. It was a little cooler up there and I took a good walk through some of the villages amongst the hills of terraced rice fields. Took a load of photos, really impressive scenery. Unfortunately, the guide I was with spoke virtually no English and consequently I wasn't able to learn a great deal about the area...however, the scenery made for a nice day. The other big sites I've seen around Hanoi have been Halong Bay and Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. To be frank, Halong Bay (talked up as something amazing) was just "ok" in my book: quite relaxing cruising around the islands that make it up, and a chance to do some more kayaking was great, but I couldn't say I was blown away. It could have been the weather, or the copious amounts of other people there, but it didn't live up to the hype. Anyway...

Visits to mausoleums are always a bit weird and Ho Chi Minh's was no exception. It's a very solemn place, as you would expect, and well controlled by the military, but seeing a preserved dead body is an odd way to spend a morning. As with anything in Hanoi, the walk to any site is almost as entertaining as what you're going to see: crossing the road here requires nerves of steel oweing to the zillions of mopeds. You're fine as long as you keep a constant speed, because everyone then judges where you are and swerves accordingly...but stop, and you come close to death.

I quite like the hustle and bustle of this place, the beer is dirt cheap, but the relentless attempts by the Vietnemese to sell you stuff...anything...is a bit grating. I'm heading south on a sleeper bus to Hue this evening and intend to make my way quite quickly through the rest of Vietnam to allow more time in Cambodia dn Laos (both of which sound a bit more relaxed and less frantic).

For those interested, I'll be back in the UK on July 28th...unless I land a job in Sydney, which is a longshot by all accounts. I'm slowly posting photos up at www.pbase.com/jonrowe, but will post the majority up on my return to the uk, it takes a bit too long to do so from here.

Shops and tailors

2008-05-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Spent the last 5 days here in Hong Kong and have to say, it's been a bit of a shock to the system. There's a zillion people and the place makes Kota Kinabalu in Borneo look like a small town...which it is by comparison. I've been staying in a place called Chunking Mansions...by all accounts it's a bit of a notorious place for cheap accomodation. It's very multi-cultural and full of dodgy looking people. I've little idea how many hostels actually exist in the building and have a sneaking suspicion they're all owned by the same person. For the first few days my dorm room was windowless, which was a bit odd when waking up and seeing no daylight; it felt like sleeping in the bowels of a ship. For no explicable reason I was asked to move today to a dorm which has no key to the door (needless to say, my valuables remain with me). Outside this palace, you're straight onto Nathan Road and get offered the services of a tailor or cheap watches on a relentless basis...how many times can you say "no" whilst still remaining polite?! Fortunately, things are a bit more sedate on Hong Kong island which is reached via the ferry, and a pretty impressive trip it is - basically gives you the postcard view of Hong Kong's skyline.

Antonia, from Raleigh, has also been here the last couple of days, and we've done some of the good tourist stuff: a trip up the peak (via a tram which travels at a crazed angle); went to the horse racing at Happy Valley last night (I only came out 12 dollars down - 80p - so was pleased!); and trawled around the shops....of which there are shedloads, I kid you not, in this city. Even as someone who detests shopping at the best of times, I was staggered.

Tomorrow I'm heading across on the ferry to Macau from where I'll catch a cheap flight to Hanoi (via Bangkok) on Saturday. I had planned on catching a train there - after hearing about it fromGaz and James - but the visa for China would have taken another 5 days to get and, frankly, I didn't want to spend another 5 days here - it's too easy to spend money and I've seen what I want to see....despite the luxury of my accomodation.

Sharks, turtles and leaving Borneo

2008-05-10T03:18:00.000-07:00

Since I last posted anything here, I've been busy diving and making my way out of Borneo.

We flew down to Tawau, via KK, and then moved on to an island called Mabul. Staying on a dive resort for 4 days was great, way above usual backpacking standards, but a welcome treat after having no toilet during the 3 months of Raleigh. We managed to do 11 dives in total, including 6 at Sipidan...which is, by all accounts, an amazing place to dive. It was incredible, and lived up to its reputation: there were countless turtles (one swam inches from my mask); white tip and grey reef sharks; zillions of species of brightly coloured tropical fish; swam under a massive school of barracuda; dived down to 35m; got attacked by trigger fish (they bite your fins!)....loved it, basically. Even the dives at Mabul were great and included diving beneath an oil rig (no longer used - it's actually used as a hotel now). Diving gave us quite a hunger, so the buffet meals at the resort where ideal! All in all, a fantastic few days and - as a result - I'm as keen as mustard to do some more diving around the rest of SE Asia.

Following the diving, we headed up to Mengaris, Batu Puteh (where I was for the first 2 Raleigh phases). Staying in homestay accomodation for a couple of nights, I was greeted really warmly by all the people I'd gotten to know previously. It was good to return as a tourist and we got to see some orang-utan in the wild on a cruise down the Kinabatangan River. I now feel satisfied I've had my fill of monkeys and other primates on this trip. Sad to say farewell to everyone there, but hope to return at some point in the future....maybe even stay in the eco lodge we've been helping construct.

Anyway, last night was my last in KK: I spent it having a few beers with the few of us staff remaining and sorting out photos with Bec, who has been a great travelling companion these past few weeks. Today, however, I caught a flight to Hong Kong and am now staying just off Nathan Road in the smallest hotel room ever - it's windowless and the width of the bed....literally. I'm only there because a hostel reservation screwed up, but will move tomorrow. So far, HK seems pretty hectic - massively more crowded obviously - and I've been offered the services of several hundred tailors by just walking a couple of hundred meters. I need sleep before attempting to sort out visas for Vietnam and China.

Big caves and 3 million bats

2008-05-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

Just flew back to Miri this morning from Mulu National Park. Shortest flight I've ever been on at just 20 minutes, and it was in a propellor driven plane (always adds an element of excitement in my book). Mulu was fantastic, a World Heritage site with shedloads of caves to explore. The whole area is limestone and a classic lesson in GCSE geography. I took a ridiculous number of photos of cave interiors with stalecmites and stalagmites; the scale of the caves was amazing, most were only discovered as recently as 1978 when the British and Malaysians first began to map the area.

Boarding the flight to Mulu

I don't think tourism is very developed here in Sarawak yet because this was just the sort of location (remote, everyone there for the same reason i.e. caves) where they could fleece you for every penny - or indeed ringit - if they chose to, but here they didn't. One of the highlights was seeing the bat exodus - basically, circa 3 million bats fly out of the caves between 5 and 6pm every night. They fly off to feed: 2/3 their own body weight every night, which is a lot if there are 3 million of you. Even from the ground you can hear their wings beating and it's the sort of natural phenomenon that you can imagine in a BBC wildlife documentary. Great stuff.

A single-leaf plant in Mulu's rainforest

The kayaking - mentioned in last post - was fantastic. It's a great way to drift down a river and take it all in; a really relaxing way to spend a day. Definitely an activity I hope to repeat on this trip - Halong Bay in Vietnam is supposed to be a good place to do it. http://www.kuchingkayak.com/ were the people we used and they were really good; skilled, friendly, but not in-your-face.

The lunch stop on the kayaking trip

An orang-utan at a sanctuary south of Kuching (better than Sepilok!)

Sarawak has been great - we extended our stay here by a couple of days, but still couldn't fit everything in. Well worth a visit if you get the opportunity!

Some people have mentioned the lack of photos on this blog - I'll try and get some more uploaded asap, although I didn't take a huge number during the Raleigh phase because my mind was on other things. Needless to say the 400D has swung into action since then. Brace yourselves.

update: have now uploaded a few photos! the caves are still to come when I can get them off the 400D somewhere

Sarawak - caves and kayaks

2008-04-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

After several "last nights" in KK with the Raleigh crowd, I've flown down to Kuching in Sarawak. I'm travelling with Bec, a friend from Raleigh; both of us were keen to see a bit more of Borneo than just Sabah. I've got to say it's good to break out of the confines of Raleigh (awesome experience though it was).

My first impression of this place is that it's damn hot (hotter than Sabah, and that was sauna like), and indeed today I got fried whilst walking in Bako National Park. I thought my tan would be ample protection against the sun, but blatantly not. We did, however, see monkeys, a wild pig and a deadly green snake. Anyway, I should cool down tomorrow with a kayaking trip south of Kuching - I realise this must make depressing reading for those working in an office right not...my apologies.

After that it's an "express boat" journey up to Sibu, followed by a 7 hour bus to Miri: a journey that should break us in this heat...but needless to say I'm looking forward to travelling around. The express boats are apparently shaped like planes and do the journey at considerable pace (as the name would imply). From Miri we'll fly across to the Mulu caves: expectations are high here because one of the caves is reputed to be capable of holding 8 747s!

I'll end this post now.

Leeches in Long Pa Sia and a cold beer

2008-04-17T01:08:00.000-07:00

It's nearly all over, although the fat lady hasn't sung yet: the participants left yesterday, we deposited some at the airport and others in town. Sad farewells to many, I've had some good laughs with them and have been with some for 6 weeks.

My last phase was a bit of surprise because I was asked to change projects! I said farewell to Batu Puteh and went down to a place called Long Pa Sia. It's in the far south of Sabah and pretty remote - the last 4 hours of the journey were off-road on a logging track. The driver was pretty skilled, but still managed plenty of slides. The reason for going was to take the participants on a 12 day unsupported trek through the jungle. They carry in everything they need to live and, for most, its the most challenging phase of the expedition. The weight of their packs and the terrain meant there were plenty of falls and spills. We were accompanied by a local guide and a couple of porters (none of whom spoke any english) but aside from them it was just Karen (a medic) and myself. Its the riskiest of the projects because its in such a remote location, so we had quite a responsibility to ensure everyone stayed safe.......quite exciting all the same!

Some of the river crossings were a bit nuts, and I had to risk assess them all with the guide, Noor (a bit of an ego-maniac who likes his booze post-trek), but fortunately he really knew his stuff. We'd trek for 4-5 hours a day and then build a camp; it was classic Ray Mears stuff, I loved it. The participants were a good a group, but some found it really tough. Leeches were everywhere: you'd brush past a leaf and they'd latch onto you and try and get inside your clothing. They go for areas that are warm, so the fear is they'll attach themselves to your legs and head north.

One of the nicest things was washing in a river at the end of the day, although most of the participants chose not to wash for some reason and consquently stank. The jungle scenery was amazing, just how I imagined Borneo to be, and so I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to trek (our other trek leader had left the expedition early, hence my move). It wasn't easy, but mainly because of the stress of worrying about safety etc, I didn't find the actual trekking too hard. Getting to the end was great for the particpants, many said it was one of their greatest achievements - it's just the sort of development that Raleigh is all about, so this was a good phase to end on.

At the end of the trek in Long Pa Sia

Finally, last night after we had confirmation that their flight had taken off, we could crack open the beers. It was the first drop of alcohol in 3 months, and - despite many intentions of taking it easy - we went out and got pretty wrecked in Kota Kinabalu. Hung over today, and we're spending a couple of days sorting out kit. I changed a couple of wheels on the land rover which was a bit of a killer in the heat.

I'll no doubt post again the next few days when less tired, but overall this Raleigh thing has been great. Hard work throughout, but just the sort of challenge I was after. Yeeha.

Floods and a dead cow

2008-03-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

An interesting few weeks, which kicked off with a new group. They're a nice crowd who seem pretty well organised, so there's slightly less for us to do. However, with all the rain that we've had here, we did have the excitement of telling them that we needed to move camp - ours was at risk of flooding (and is now under 3ft of water) and there was no safe path back to the village. So, with the aid of a few boats, we relocated to a goat shed on the outskirts of the village. It's a drier location, but reeks of goat crap and general decay (I dread to think what micro-organisms lurk under my sleeping mat). All good character building stuff though, and the group like the fact we're closer to the village. I will post some photos up here at some point (I've not got the right cable with me) because I'm aware that just words describing this is probably a bit dull...

The interior of the "goat shed"

Anyhow, you might be able to picture the following: last night, sitting near the roadside outside our shed, a herd of cows walked across the road.....only for one of them to be hit by a passing truck which must have been doing 60mph+. It struck it cleanly dead, but was a pretty gruesome scene. We decided it needed to be cleared from the road lest it cause a pile up, so myself and a couple of others dragged it to the side of the road. A bizarre end to the day, but I was surprised how easy a dead cow was to move.

Work has been good, with a bit more variety than the first phase - now we've moved all this wood up to the eco-lodge, we're constructing pathways and helping build stuff. Spent yesterday smacking in nails and sawing wood which was deeply satisfying. However, there are loads of leeches lurking in the undergrowth, so you have to be on your guard. The little blighters stick on to you as you walk past leaves and try to burrow into your skin...which is nice. Was worried they may blitz me when I had to repair a (future) sewage pit which has been trampled by elephants, and I was half-submerged in water. There are regions where you hope leeches never reach.

Well over half-way through this Raleigh part of the trip now: it's flying by and I'm starting to get excited about the prospect of travelling on afterwards, so any tips for HK, Vietnam etc appreciated!

Do we urinate on the mouse or not?

2008-02-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

Didn't think I'd get the chance to update this before April, but an unexpected stop in a town just south of Sandakand has given me the chance.

The participants (15 in our group) have been with us for a few weeks now, and we're only a week away from the end of the first phase (of a total of 3), after which they'll change all the groups around again. It's been hard work, I kid you not, having responsibility for all these young people and time initally dragged a bit. They've thrown many random questions at me, my favourite being "should we kill the mouse that's fallen in the toilet pit, or would that attract more vermin?"... This was at 7:30 in the morning, so was a tough one to answer with any conviction; I said leave it, but one of them later cheerfully killed it after several of us had done our morning business over it. Conditions at our camp are - as I expected - pretty basic, and were even harsher the first 4 or 5 days when it rained constantly and the place was a grim, muddy marsh. On day 3 we repaired an old pontoon which gives us access to the river to wash in. There are saltwater crocodiles upriver, so this does add an element of risk when you're cleaning yourself, but is allegedly safe if there are enough of us making noise. The whole place is teaming with wildlife (including a crazy amount of mozzies), and I've seen countless monkeys swinging about in the trees.

We have, you'll all be glad to know, started work: so far, we've been tree planting on a plantation they're trying to regenerate after years of neglect following over-enthusiastic logging etc. In the heat, the work is pretty breaking - one chap was going down with heatstroke on the second day and threw up. My extensive first aid training proved handy. Raleigh are basically providing labour for these sort of initiatives and this, in turn, encourages the locals to get involved: we work alongside a local gang of 10 or so (whose names I consistently confuse) who are a good laugh. I've had some interesting discussions with their boss who is an Aussie and quite a strong character (always keen to push people a bit) but we're getting along well as a result...there's a bit of mutual respect there! The other job we've been doing is collecting planks of iron wood from a managed plantation further inland. It's ridiculously hilly and the work is therefore hard again but great for fitness, especially because we have to carry in enough water for the day in 25 litre jerry cans. The participants have found it quite a shock doing this much manual labour, so we spend a lot of time trying to motivate them. I quite enjoy all this because it means I get to talk a lot of rubbish at them about character building and suchlike (reminds me of the spud farm back in Boreham). At the end of the day I throw myself in the river to wash both myself and my clothes which is a real treat.

Time seems to be going far quicker now we've a work routine and I think this will continue over the coming weeks so things bode well.

Elvis

2008-02-05T03:42:00.000-08:00

Just had a couple of days of training covering stuff like conflict resolution, learning styles etc etc.....useful, but all pretty standard corporate training stuff. More enjoyable was a staff karaoke night last night: I treated the crowd to some Dylan, a bit of Elvis, and got roped into a Sonny & Cher number. The power of my voice clearly shone through. That was the last time we'll booze for 10 weeks or so; which sounds like a long time (and a cold Tiger certainly is beautiful in this heat).

The participants finally arrive in the next few days which is a relief - 2 weeks of training and I'm looking forward to getting started. We take them off to jungle camp at first to teach them all the various skills we got taught. As a result, this will be the last time I can probably post to this blog for a while.

Before that however, I've blagged my way on to a trip tomorrow out to an island to build a basha for a project that's planned out there. It's only a 20 minute boat trip to get there, but it'll be a nice change of scenery before heading off to the jungle. We're going armed with parangs (machetes) to hack through the undergrowth. Looking forward to it, because flying into Kota Kinabalu you could see some of the islands offshore and they looked pretty stunning. Yeeha.

Dunno whether Google Earth or suchlike lets you find GPS refs, but if you're interested, here is the ref for my project site down near Kota Kinabatangan: N 05 25.252 E 117 56.48.

Site visit

2008-01-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

Didn't think I'd get another opportunity to update this so soon, but taking the opportunity while I can because there'll be little chance in next few weeks. 3 of us are down at our project site in Mengaris - it's a little village south of somewhere called Kota Kinabatangan. The village looks like something out of a Nam 'movie, set on a river, loving it. We're going to be working in partnership with a local group (MESCOT) building, or continuing with the building of, an eco-lodge and accomodation etc. The basic idea is to encourage tourists into the area and thereby provide an alternative income source to logging (much of which was being done illegally previously). Raleigh are of help not only because of the labour they provide, but also because they're committed to the project and so it spurs on everyone else involved to keep going etc. At least, that's the impression I'm getting so far, the scale of the build is impressive. The MESCOT people are all dead friendly, but there's a load of names to remember which I'm pretty bad at.

I'm probably going to be on this site for the next 3 months along with another Raleigh project manager, Bev; we get on well, so I think its going to be a good laugh. Also, she's been here before, so knows a few shortcuts etc in getting things done.

That's all the background anyway, now for the reality of the place - whilst we may be based near Mengaris, our "camp" is actually a km away down a ridiculously marshy track. In fact the whole place appears to be a mosquito-infested flood plain. We're going to have rebuild the camp (basically it's just a rotten frame for hammocks at the moment) in the first few days. Logistically its a tad nightmarish because we'll also need to rebuild a jetty next to the camp in order to get access to the river....only then can we get a boat close enough to enable us to collect fresh water from a source 10mins down the river. I quite like the wildness of the place, and it should be satisfying to make it habitable. Last night I slept well in my hammock, listening to the rainfall, frogs and who knows what else chirping away in the jungle. There was occasional cannon-fire: this is apparently initiated by people upstream to scare away the elephants. We've also seen crocodiles, monkeys galore and loads of stray cats. Awoke to see a spider on the outside of my mosquito net and promptly took out the 400D to get a shot. Should win some prizes.

Anyway, that's about all for now - we're supposed to be typing up some risk-assessment forms at the moment (which is pure BT-esque). Hoping to also get in a cheeky Tiger beer; it's pretty hot today.

Jungle skills

2008-01-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a couple of days in the jungle learning various jungle skills such as using radios, building camps etc - it was real Ray Mears territory! Stupidly humid, carrying our rucksacks and all sorts of other kit to the middle of nowhere. Jungle was really noisy at night, and everything there seems keen to take a piece of you. Someone got bit by a wild dog. We've got an afternoon off today, but the schedule is stupidly keen. Rest of the team all a good crowd, and I'm encouraged by what we've heard of the projects we'll be running.

Anyway, the meter is running low on this machine. Not sure when I'll next get internet access, but hope this is of some interest.

The beginning

2008-01-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

Just created this after a couple of glasses of wine and a beer at Uxbridge. A few people asked if I was going to "blog" - a bit dubious about who is actually interested, but we'll see how it goes!

Raring to go tomorrow.