A difficult end to the expedition

As parents will already know, we are stuck here in Borneo for a few more days, but this has given me time to update this blog, a task that has proven difficult since we came down from the mountain.

Talking about difficult, I have never done anything so hard in my life. How I dragged myself up the final couple of kilometers I don't know, but it gave such a sense of achievement and the views were incredible. The clouds were so far below us it was as though the world had been turned upside down! Mixed with the elation though, was a sense of disappointment that the whole team were not able to make it, it was just too tough!

 However, everyone is fine and we all came together for a meal on our 'last' night

We hope to have a new departure time soon and will let you know asap.

The foot of the mountain

Unfortunately the page has not loaded properly and I cannot show you the full album of orang utan photos that the group accumulated - sorry!

It was a long journey to get to Sepalok and there were mixed reactions. At the first feeding session two young orang utans turned up and spent some time at the station. Some of the team got bored and wandered off, ultimately returning to the hostel and heard to complain that it was a disappointment, only seeing the two. For those that had the patience, stayed longer and returned for the second session, they had up to 12 sightings, including one ape that came down on to the boardwalk and posed for pictures, even giving Pete a pat on the back as he passed. We saw a great deal more besides, particularly those that ventured on the night walk, who were treated to an aerobatic display from the flying squirrels.

Today we visited some hot springs and a memorial to those killed on the death marches in the Second World War. It was very moving. The whole of the team were silenced and a number reduced to tears.

But now we are at base camp, as it were, and Mark is to give a talk on kit before tomorrow's climb, so I must go, otherwise even I will get a telling off.

It's a hard life!

 As requested, a team photo, just to prove that they are all here. These first 2 photos were taken at the beginning of the project, before the hard work began. It was an idyllic setting, but in the heat of the day the work was very hard. That they stuck at it and completed not one, but two projects, made me very proud

 They deserved the bit of down time that they got at the end of today. The Rainforest Lodge is in the heart of KK and is its own bar and entertainment area. No alcohol was consumed, of course, but they had a great time.




Peter was in his element chatting to the DJ and.......

yes, that is Matt on stage in his Billabongs. Strange things happen in Borneo!







Off to Sapalok in the morning and then to climb Mt Kilabalu, so probably another break in contact until next weekend.

Project week in Tampat Do Aman

The last five days have been very challenging but very rewarding and arguably has been the best week so far,  the highlight of our trip!
After the journey to Tampat Do Aman with Neil, Fen, Imogen and Dan spending three and a half hours in baby seats resulting in bad backs, we were all refreshed by the change of scenery with the white sand beach and the clear turquoise of the sea. We finally met Howard, the guy in charge of our project phase, who in fact was from stratford! 
Originally we were slightly disappointed by the project which was set for us of building a fence for a nature reserve.... we wanted kids! All thanks to Neil and Jess who spent time to talk to the local headteacher (Victor) and managed to sort us out with a couple of jobs at the local school based around the kindergarten. This involved Jon fixing swings and Jack fixing the see-saw and then the rest of the group repainting the outside of a building, this was completed alongside 180 feet of fence! Many of us learnt how heavy gravel can be, how hard girders are to carry up a hill, how clumsy Fen can be and how satisfying it was to see the local children enjoying our sports day!  See photos above.
To complete the week, the restaurant on the beach was perfectly located as we were able to enjoy our meals in view of the sunset and not just the stargazers amongst us were in heaven as we could see the milky-way as well as millions of stars.
We are now off to the Phillipino market for some dinner, continually nudging Matt to stay awake after he braved the half past five sunrise over the rice padis!

Everyone sends their love,
Fen, Beth, Jack and Matt

A picture of durian fruit, grey!

On our way to the night market last night we stopped at a roadside stall selling fresh durian fruit. Imagine their faces had it been left for a few hours!

The night market was incredible: hundreds of stalls selling every imaginable fish, most available for immediate cooking whether on a bbq or in the wok. There were also stalls doing chicken and beef. The group drew the line at 'ckicken arses' on a skewer, but after some persuading managed to try almost every type of food that they would never had imagined eating at home. Very proud moment! They were even astounded by the fact that they could fill Imogen's bag FULL with food, with only a 10 ringet note (equivalent to 2 pounds in the UK!)

After packing in all of the food they decided to go and have a midnight tasting session in the upstairs lobby; suffice to say they had a feast. Although I am sure the green ball of jellied goo that they ate was equally as interesting as the Durian! All are well and we are ready to start our project phase, which will last the next 5 days. Just to let you know that wifi may not be available during this time, but I am sure the little darlings will contact you on here with more accounts of their antics when we find a good hotspot.

Over and out,

Jess and Neil

Scary things from Borneo

Please Terry and Nick, if you are squeamish do not watch this. And do not believe a word that he says, I did not persuade him to get this done. In fact, we are all doing what we can to get him not to have a tattoo to go with it! Ten minutes after the video was taken he then says that he has a hair appointment when he gets back! I think it needs cancelling.

Jean and Andrew, I hope you don't mind, but Imogen got terrified when we were flying into Bario. You might find it upsetting, but she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Since then, however, it has been played back so many times and she has laughed every time. There is even a threat to send it to 'You've Been Framed'.

Made It

First off, this is Dan on Shiv's account as I've forgotten my password! There's little else left to say from Matt's amazing blog, as it pretty much sums up the trek perfectly. For me the views were amazing, like desktop background perfect. Even though i'm the arch enemy of rice, the padi fields were relaxing to walk past. I'd recommend that everyone try and experience the jungle if they're given the opportunity because despite its harsh environment, it's one of the visually nicest places on earth.
With that comes warning; the leaches are tame compared to the sweat bees! As a victim to their sting i can say it does hurt. The best singing goes to Abbie though who got one trapped inside her trousers by her thigh and so dropped them in front of everyone!
If there was any doubt, we are a good team and we helped each other through those 5 hard days.

We forward planned again and traveled from the jungle yesterday, stopping in Lawas for lunch and taking the coach to KK. Those who sat in the open back Jeeps for 4 hours on the way to Lawas got their own Borneo spray tan from the dust! I'm not such how accurate it was but around 12 the temperature hit around 41 degrees! We almost felt bad upon hearing that its been raining all the time at home...

Today has been an admin day and the team have pretty much organised the rest of the trip from here on. Accommodation has been booked for all locations apart from the last 2 days which is looking to be the Hyatt. We're going to fit right in there with out backpacks and "weathered" clothes! Jodie and Emily have been given the huge task of accountants for the final 2 weeks, although we all know our money is still in safe hands.

As I've been team leader today I've seen yet again that the team really does get things done! Really! Everyone has been so organised and we've found ourselves with free time to go out into KK to explore some more!

And finally, on a personal note, Happy Birthday Tom! Although this message is 8 days late I can only blame lack of wifi for not sending it sooner.

Dan

After the trek

After 5 long days of walking, moaning, crying and laughing we made it to the home stay where a table of tea, coffee and doughnuts awaited us. The euphoric feeling of achievement changed everyone's mood for the better (and 2 plates of doughnuts) I was very proud of myself and the team for completing the trek even though there were moments where we thought we wouldn't make it. I cannot believe one of the main parts of the expedition is over. BRING ON MT. K!

Just a quick message to my parents to say that i haven't died yet and i hope you're not missing me too much. Hope everyone's ok at home, despite the crappy weather! I'll try and bring back some sun, for the time its needed.
See you soon, miss and love you lots!

Shivani x

Photos from the jungle

First day in the jungle and things are not looking good!

I can assure you that Emma rarely looked this confident at any stage in the jungle, except when she was with her hero, Matt

A typical scene as we entered and left the jungle, a village's padi fields.

Amy took every opportunity to get the guides to teach her their weaving and bracelet making. They responded by making her numerous gifts, but still not as many as Rob.

Clive gets friendly with Marvin. There were a few of the girls that would have been jealous of Clive, but I think he had his eyes on Imogen, much to her embarresment.

Jungle treking

Hi everyone,
It feels so long since me and Dan did one of these all the way back in Kuching and just to quickly clear this up, it is Matt and not Neil posting today, but I'm guessing what you all really want to hear about is the trek that we've all been doing these past few days! First off I think I should say that all the challengers, and the teachers as well, deserve so much praise for what we've all just done, it was hard and strenuous but we all have made it!
I'm sure that you will all get the finer points of the trek from everyone at some point and I'm sure they can explain it all in much more vivid detail than I can, but as a team the amount of bonding we did was actually incredible, especially consiering we have bonded a considerable amount before. It was a real team effort and we really played to each others strengths, and it was a very nice trek, long, rather hard, but nice all the same.
Our guides were amazing as well, making us bracelets and necklaces from parts of trees as well as helping us when we need it, and they're hospitality was unparralled on the first night.
We all had our cravings along the trek, most namely and most spoken about was of course food (mothers watch out, you may have some long and very specific shopping lists before we come back). Personally a bacon, egg and sausage bap for breakfast, a ham and cheese toastie for lunch and a pizza for dinner would just about hit the spot after a day or so of airplane food.
But for me, the highlight of the trek was undoubtably the scenery, not so much in the jungle, that was literally just tree after tree with the odd bush, but out of the jungle you could see all of the hills with all the greenry, the sheer amount of greenry was mind blowing. For me though, the real treat was walking past and through the small Malay villages, with the rice padis and the wooden houses on stilts and so on, it was magical.
And to end, I simply have to say I can't believe how fast Borneo has gone, it feels odd to think that we've already been here for 2 weeks. It seems like only yesterday I was saying goodbye to family and friends! So far though it has been one amazing trip and I'm pretty sure that it is exceeding everyones expectations in some way or another and all I can say is bring on the next 2 weeks!

Matt