This time I'll openly admit it. Ive been slack. Sorry it's taken so long...
Much has happened since I last wrote. Mostly good news but without the odd taint of bad to benchmark against, the good would be uninspiringly neutral. Incidentally while I think of it, one of the greatest quantifications of the jungle is it's neutrality. Freddy Spencer Chapman, one of the forebearers of jungle warfare, once said "the jungle is neutral" it will give you back what you put in. I have pondered this. I initially took a dislike to it's faux Buddhist simplicity, however, having tested it (gently - because the jungle is bigger than me) I agree. Why this tangent? I write this in the pitch black. In my hammock. In the jungle. On my own. I meet a friend here tomorrow morning but I wanted to see how I'd handle the solitary coexistence with nature/ jungle/ leeches... Mud. I've enjoyed myself. I bought MORE than enough food and kit and LOVED the peace and testing my skills BUT I am looking forward to seeing my friend again. It's the start of rainy season which is wet and remarkably cold actually! I'm in a fleece and trousers in my sleeping bag.
As usual I digress. I liked the tangent I built out of the neutrality though. Commendable no? Glad you liked it too!
So we circumnavigated Mount Kinabalu. It was fun, beautiful, tiring with a whole bunch of other superlatives thrown in too.
We end up back in KK (Kota Kinabalu) and readied ourselves for desert island, beachfront living. A 20minute boat ride later and we were on the island of Mamutik. Gorgeous warm blue seas. Pure white sand. Heavenly. Hold on. 13RM for a beer. Oh god WHY! We found a secluded cove on the Western side of the island where I watched the sun set from my hammock - a definite highlight of the trip for me. Wake up and head to the beach. Stayed there all day frolicking every-which way you could imagine. Strangely this was not satiating my and two of the other fellas desires so we headed back to the mainland (after what can only be described as the worst camp cooked meal of the trip) after 2days. I guess the lure of cheap(er) beer, proper bed with air-con and real food with vegetables and actual ingredients was too much. It resulted in one of the greatest 'lad' weeks I've had in YEARS. Plus the benefit of reinforcing two wonderful friendships. Tom. Mike. The Wolfpack. We repeatedly destroyed The Loft - a shitty bar and then 'skanked' all over Bed (the nightclub not the sleeping apparatus). I've repeatedly pondered whether Bed is a good name for a club or not. "we're going to Bed, do you want to come..." you decide. On one of these forays Mike and I ended up in a random suburb at a random club. With Tidak Ada Wang (Malay for no money). We had to barter a lift off some lovely guys on the back of their scooters. It. Was. Awesome. Lovely and airy in the groin region.
KK treated us well. It's apparently the culinary capital of Borneo. It truly is. Roast salmon with truffle linguini. Don't mind if I do. Sushi? What? 8 different fish, caught that morning? Yeah go on. Chicken satay in abundance. Alright but you're spoiling me. Whole crab in right tangy barbecue sauce? Fuck YEAH. I almost choked when they put that in front of me. I'll stop. That world is far away now.
Sadly KK spelled the end of the course. Tommy was first to go after he'd got his tattoo that he'd been thinking about for a few years. I was very sad to see him go. We shared some brilliant chats, banted some of the world's finest banter and talked about music a lot. A truly great man. Jimmy and I left next and did so under the cloak of darkness. I'm not one for good byes. I love most of the people I spent this time with but I do not want to put a cap on it. I'll see some of them again so I'm not too fussed about saying good bye.
Jim and I Went to Miri. Drink happened. Oz was in attendance. Hilarity was served with gay abandon. Miri was both relaxing and frantic. Jim confidently cocked a leg to fart and fully shat himself in a restaurant. I stayed up for 48hours for no reason but I did get to watch the sun rise from the roof of our building. Now I'm back in Bario in the Kelabit Highlands. I am happiest here. This, by no coincidence brings me 'back to the start' of this mail. 10RM to the first person who gets the musical reference.
I THINK I just shit myself OR it was a very wet fart. I've got to go and investigate. Think of me with your 3ply quilted loo roll and hot showers... I'm going in
Love you longtime
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PS. Turns out I didn't!! WOOOO
Monday, 19 September 2011
Thursday, 15 September 2011
My Bungai Terung
Then a long and winding series of events happened and I got my first on my back. (Not many people know I have it to be honest.) it's deeply personal and means a lot to me.
So. While here in Borneo, I wasn't searching to get another but the Bungai Terung seemed to fit the criteria. Personally, I did not know there were a set of criteria to be filled.
The Bunga Terung, which translates to the eggplant flower, is the first tattoo a Borneo male would receive. The Bunga Terung is a coming of age tattoo which marks the passage of a boy into manhood. The Bunga Terung has a spiral at the center of the eggplant flower the Tali Nyawa, which means the rope of life and is identical to the underside of a tadpole which symbolizes the beginning of a new life.
All the tattoos, following the eggplant flower, are like a diary. A young male would go out on his own to find knowledge and from each place he went to he would get one tattoo to mark not only where he is from but also where he has been. From each place the tattoos have different styles so the regional differences in his tattoos would tell the story of his journeys in life.
Naturally as always I wasn't going to get something that anyone else would have so I took the basic shape and adapted it. This is what you see before you... I love them. I'm very happy.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
OK OK OK...
...I know I said I'd write or call you back. It not you it's me. I think you're great but I'm just not ready... Oh wait. This was supposed to be for someone else.
It truly has been a while and for that I'm sorry. Last time I wrote I wasn't feeling great BUT I powered through better and BADDER than ever before. We were staying in a place called Long Lellang. I'd been there before as you might have noticed from a previous missive and so returning there was not a chore in the least. I THINK it's the closest I've come to finding my personal paradise on earth so far. There is a wonderful warmth in the people there and an unbridled beauty in the surrounding jungles as well as the valley within which the settlement nestles. It was a while ago but I'll fill as much detail as possible.
We arrived to the warm(ish) greeting from the house keeper who I affectionately call ibou (Ibou is Malay for mother. I'm unsure of her real name) and her husband. He ended up giving me a crazy foot massage to help my chest. Not sure if it worked but that man has STRONG hands. Wowser. The new 'leader' fella proved a touch lack lustre but I'm not going to go into it. We wandered into the jungle for a few hours and found ourselves on a beautiful hillside camp. Unfortunately. It. Rained. HARD. Constantly. I hear you're having a touch of rain in blighty. God bless summer eh!
We went back to ibou and paradise because it was two other guys birthday - a 21st and a 27th. Amazing fun. Massive food. And these incrEDIBLE (you see what i did there) steamed (yeah steamed) pink cupcakes. I had arranged the food with 'bou and so we didn't go hungry. 2types of curry. A few types of greens, pineapple curry, twice fried eggs in barbecue sauce (surprisingly amazing) oh gosh and so much more.
Over the next 10/12 days we learned some advanced medical training ranging from understanding antibiotics and medicines to learning how to administer injections with syringes, suturing and intra-muscular treatment with canulas and a drip. We had to practice putting the canulas on eachother. It was AWESOME. Very exciting and proud moment. We have also used the time to finnish some more assessments which I'm still doing really well at so fingers crossed, I'll be back here next year.
It was with great sadness that i left Long Lellang but i intend to go back in September. We had a few stop over nights in Miri which resulted in the usual lunacy and culinary over indulgence (2 KFCs. 1 sitting.) as well as a little bit of shopping - mainly t-shirts, vests and shorts. My feet had taken a battering and so i chose to forgo footwear for a while... Turns out i was also to go commando for a few weeks as well.
The first evening was followed with beers... Etc. I was reasonably sober and then Mike came out at around midnight after a long Skype with his lady. We decided to move lication and met the burger vendor (naturally a good friend of mine by now) and he took us out to a club. Heavy heavy techno with Malaysians dancing on every surface available. PERFECT. Alas the lights went up and we were left venueless. Fear not, we befriended some nice Sikh boys who told us about another club which they then proceeded to drive us to. This place was a DIVE bar. Actually, it turns out it was a gay dive bar. I'd always assume that to be an oxymoron. The men seemed to like it when a statuesque Dutchman (mike) and a Bearish type (me) wondered in. So much so that they errr... Kept... Errr tweaking my penis (mum, dad it's ok, i promise this has only strengthened my heterosexual resolve""". You will still have grandchildren). I DID take a while for mike and I to realise that not only were these friendly men gay BUT the friendly women were actually friendly gay transexual men. I had to use the line: 'I have a penis, do you have a penis?' The answer was yes. I walked away quickly... Turns out we were in Borneo's ONLY transexual/gay club... I wish I'd worn underwear... And shoes. We got home at 5:30am and left the hostel at 7 to head to Mulu.
MULU is a national park famous for its pristine (apart from the tourist walkways) jungle, it's mountains and caves. We wandered round a show cave... It was cavenous. I may or may not have gotten completely naked in the world's largest 'passage'. Next day we did some adventure caving which involved climbing stuff but underground. The chambers were quite magical and inconceivably dark which wasn't a surprise to me but worth a mention. We headed back to Miri. Drank and made merry in Miri (hehe) in order to fly to Kota Kinabalu the next day. Until this point we had be gallivanting through Sarawak. Now we hit Sabah
KK is a developed, touristy, busy city. not a massive fan but it is the gateway to Sabah. The interesting part was that we had no idea of a plan so we were told a budget and we knew we had 8people and 12 days to fill so we each headed off or hit the phones or the Internet to get things together. After much dancing about, we are about to head off on a 5day cycle and trek around Mount Kinabalu. This trip has never been travelled without local guides or external support. SO we were lent bikes and a 4wd pickup was organised by a former TrekForcer but we needed spare parts and a whole lot else in the space of a day and a half. I managed to secure about 300RM of discounts for 1500RM of stuff. It felt like an episode of The Apprentice although there were fewer twats. Fewer. Not none. Just fewer. I will write again after the bike trip... Although we will be heading to a desert island for a week so I might not write until after then.
Sloppy man-love
Ads x
It truly has been a while and for that I'm sorry. Last time I wrote I wasn't feeling great BUT I powered through better and BADDER than ever before. We were staying in a place called Long Lellang. I'd been there before as you might have noticed from a previous missive and so returning there was not a chore in the least. I THINK it's the closest I've come to finding my personal paradise on earth so far. There is a wonderful warmth in the people there and an unbridled beauty in the surrounding jungles as well as the valley within which the settlement nestles. It was a while ago but I'll fill as much detail as possible.
We arrived to the warm(ish) greeting from the house keeper who I affectionately call ibou (Ibou is Malay for mother. I'm unsure of her real name) and her husband. He ended up giving me a crazy foot massage to help my chest. Not sure if it worked but that man has STRONG hands. Wowser. The new 'leader' fella proved a touch lack lustre but I'm not going to go into it. We wandered into the jungle for a few hours and found ourselves on a beautiful hillside camp. Unfortunately. It. Rained. HARD. Constantly. I hear you're having a touch of rain in blighty. God bless summer eh!
We went back to ibou and paradise because it was two other guys birthday - a 21st and a 27th. Amazing fun. Massive food. And these incrEDIBLE (you see what i did there) steamed (yeah steamed) pink cupcakes. I had arranged the food with 'bou and so we didn't go hungry. 2types of curry. A few types of greens, pineapple curry, twice fried eggs in barbecue sauce (surprisingly amazing) oh gosh and so much more.
Over the next 10/12 days we learned some advanced medical training ranging from understanding antibiotics and medicines to learning how to administer injections with syringes, suturing and intra-muscular treatment with canulas and a drip. We had to practice putting the canulas on eachother. It was AWESOME. Very exciting and proud moment. We have also used the time to finnish some more assessments which I'm still doing really well at so fingers crossed, I'll be back here next year.
It was with great sadness that i left Long Lellang but i intend to go back in September. We had a few stop over nights in Miri which resulted in the usual lunacy and culinary over indulgence (2 KFCs. 1 sitting.) as well as a little bit of shopping - mainly t-shirts, vests and shorts. My feet had taken a battering and so i chose to forgo footwear for a while... Turns out i was also to go commando for a few weeks as well.
The first evening was followed with beers... Etc. I was reasonably sober and then Mike came out at around midnight after a long Skype with his lady. We decided to move lication and met the burger vendor (naturally a good friend of mine by now) and he took us out to a club. Heavy heavy techno with Malaysians dancing on every surface available. PERFECT. Alas the lights went up and we were left venueless. Fear not, we befriended some nice Sikh boys who told us about another club which they then proceeded to drive us to. This place was a DIVE bar. Actually, it turns out it was a gay dive bar. I'd always assume that to be an oxymoron. The men seemed to like it when a statuesque Dutchman (mike) and a Bearish type (me) wondered in. So much so that they errr... Kept... Errr tweaking my penis (mum, dad it's ok, i promise this has only strengthened my heterosexual resolve""". You will still have grandchildren). I DID take a while for mike and I to realise that not only were these friendly men gay BUT the friendly women were actually friendly gay transexual men. I had to use the line: 'I have a penis, do you have a penis?' The answer was yes. I walked away quickly... Turns out we were in Borneo's ONLY transexual/gay club... I wish I'd worn underwear... And shoes. We got home at 5:30am and left the hostel at 7 to head to Mulu.
MULU is a national park famous for its pristine (apart from the tourist walkways) jungle, it's mountains and caves. We wandered round a show cave... It was cavenous. I may or may not have gotten completely naked in the world's largest 'passage'. Next day we did some adventure caving which involved climbing stuff but underground. The chambers were quite magical and inconceivably dark which wasn't a surprise to me but worth a mention. We headed back to Miri. Drank and made merry in Miri (hehe) in order to fly to Kota Kinabalu the next day. Until this point we had be gallivanting through Sarawak. Now we hit Sabah
KK is a developed, touristy, busy city. not a massive fan but it is the gateway to Sabah. The interesting part was that we had no idea of a plan so we were told a budget and we knew we had 8people and 12 days to fill so we each headed off or hit the phones or the Internet to get things together. After much dancing about, we are about to head off on a 5day cycle and trek around Mount Kinabalu. This trip has never been travelled without local guides or external support. SO we were lent bikes and a 4wd pickup was organised by a former TrekForcer but we needed spare parts and a whole lot else in the space of a day and a half. I managed to secure about 300RM of discounts for 1500RM of stuff. It felt like an episode of The Apprentice although there were fewer twats. Fewer. Not none. Just fewer. I will write again after the bike trip... Although we will be heading to a desert island for a week so I might not write until after then.
Sloppy man-love
Ads x
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