...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
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