I can remember where I've been over the last few days, but I don't remember what day anything was, and I have no idea what day it is today, er, OK, just been told it's now Thursday, but anyway....
Left Kota Kinabalu on 'a day', heading for Sarawak - best bus I ever went on. We re-named it 'The Venga bus' (a bit sad but there you go) due to the fact that it had a large karaoke screen at the front, and everyone sat there singing (except me of course, got my street cred to think about) You even got your lunch at a roadside shack thrown in with the bus ticket, we like a bit of that. Got to our destination 6 hours later, only to find that the recommended accomodation was full, but that was OK because we only had to walk for over 2 hours in the blistering heat with huge back packs before we found somewhere to stay. Felt fresh as a daisy on arrival. I guess it was worth it though as the place we stayed was set in fantastic grounds - tres tropicale, with big lakes and boarded walkways. The rooms were slightly on the boke side, but we had everything we needed.
So yeah, had a nice evening there, ate food, and watched a massive thunder storm from under the canopy (a word I now hate - more on that later) of the restaurant, the lightening was lighting up the tops of the trees in the rainforest, which was nice. One of the teachers in our group took his shampoo out into the rain and had a shower, as it was far more powerful than the showers in our room. After that we had some fun chucking everything we could lay our hands on into the ceiling fan in our dorm, then tired and gay we drifted off to sleep..... which was all very well until I woke up, to feel 'a presence' on the back of my head. Quick as a flash I swept my hand across my head and heard a distinct splat. I looked around the floor to see what it had been, then noticed 'a form' on the pillow by the head of one of my room mates, it was a large black frog, totally gross. I managed to wake the others up, who all screamed like girls (they were all boys) as the frog lept around the room, and was then picked up and thrown at people. One indidual was tempted to throw it into the ceiling fan. Anyway, there's a video, it's very funny.
I hate frogs.
Anyway, once I had washed frog juice out of my hair we went to the orange yootang sanctuary to watch the little blighters being fed, then we went back later in the day.... to watch the little blighters being fed - woo! They were pretty cool actually, but I didn't exactly wet myself with excitement.
The day after that we headed to Mount Kinabalu HQ to get ready to climb the mountain the following day.
We set off at 7am in the heat, and within 20 mins it began to tip down and we got soaked. It was all really good though. It was a difficult climb due to the increase in altitude, so you had to go slow, but I came alive for it.
You start off by climbing 2500 joyous steps through rainforest, then you go through about 5 different changes of terrain on the way up - there are exposed rocky parts, bits with funny twisted trees, and orange sludgey bits
- all very steep and slippy, but fun.
It took us quite a long time to get up to the lodge where we were staying before the final ascent as we have a couple of fat knackers in the group, but we made it.
That evening myself and the frog throwing/storm showering teacher had some ultra-hot Tom Yam soup; a soup that we were both to see again within the hour, twice. It was a cleansing experience.
Anyway, went to bed, and woke up at 1:30 am to begin our ascent to the summit.
It was great - all of us in single file climbing up through the mountain with our head torches, we looked like a bunch of gnomes. Then.... disaster.
One of the girls from my school started to get signs of altitude sickness, and I had to take her back down.
Gutted.
Can't believe I came all that way, and had no symptoms of altitude related illness, only to have to go back down 1km from the summit. I guess that I'm here for the kids, this ain't supposed to be my holiday, but still.....
ahhhhhh! I think that will be a regret that will stay with me for a long time.
Well, later on we stomped back down the mountain, which was actually much harder on the legs than going up, and once we had stuffed our hungry faces at the bottom we headed of to the arse end of nowhere - a place called Poring.
The main road goes into Poring, then it just stops at a dead end. Anyway, let me tell you about the accomodation that one of the girls booked for all of us...
When we arrived she went off to get the keys and to check the place out.
When she came back she handed us our key (myself and the other 2 teachers) instructing us to 'go up the stairs, and turn right at the large beetle'. So we did, and it was indeed large. The rooms were absolutely hanging, and ours came complete with a cat and a lizard ( free roaming). I wouldn't bath a dog in the washing facilities, and I didn't dare look in the toilets for fear of my skin disolving. We had it good though, as some of the boys went into their room and found a chicken, oh, and later, our group leader had a bat in her shower, splendid.
I went to sleep that night wondering what evils I was going to find nesting in my hair the following morning.
So, the next morning arrived, and a quick scalp check came out all clear, then we headed to the hot springs for the day, where I would finally find out what it is to feel clean. After wallowing around for a few hours & grabbing something to eat, we decided to do the nearby canopy walk.
This bad boy was right up among the tree tops, and them's some mean tall trees. The walkway was constructed from ladders, lashed together with rope and a plank laid on top. There were ropes to hang onto and a thin net thing, but none of it inspired any confidence whatsoever. I utterly cacked it and was shaking like an ox. I've never been so scared in all my puff, just typing this is giving me the squits. Oh well, I'm alive to tell the tale I suppose, but never, ever again. I thought the bridges on the jungle trek were bad, but this, urghhhh...
Now I'm back in Kota Kinabalu for our flight to Miri tomorrow. We're staying there until the next day, when we're getting a flight to Bario (speed
waggon) to do our 5 day/4 night jungle trek.
It's certainly been an adventure so far, loads of the kids have been sick, so that's kept me on my toes. I'm sure there's still plently to come.....
wahey!
I'd best be off, hope you're all well. Special shout goin' out to 'Granny Cheese'.
Love Kirsten xxxx
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