Turning a bit choc!

Gosh - just noticed that after rafting in the sun today I am slightly sunburnt, but mostly very black! Forearms are like a couple of chocolate rolls! Legs are like jam roly polys! erm.. yes I have eaten...

Thinking about it, I have been abusing my body so much lately (no, not like that!).

First I get my leg waxed,
I fall off a motorbike,
I get burnt them the sun,
I dive to depths of 20 metres,
I climb up 4,000 metre high mountains (and suffer for the following 4 days!),
I get attacked by stupid biting fish,
I get bitten by mosquitos and today while rafting these massive marsh flies (think a fat bluebottle but brown and likes to suck your blood and distract you whilst paddling ("argh bloody fly.... argh rapid water.... argh gglug glug (fallen in)"))

I think I might go skydiving next!

But with my track record maybe not...

Rafting

Back from some rafting exploits today, really good fun and it was a superb day, sunny and warm at 32 C.

There were 7 of us plus one guide on a tiny plastic dingy getting thrown downriver by some awesome rapids. Our previous dragon boat paddling techniques proved useful, but the other guys (americans) weren't so experienced... e.g. getting forwards and backwards mixed up all the time wasn't so impressive!

Rafting itself was fun but we also did other stuff. They let us jump out quite often and get carried downwater floating on our bums. We also climbed up some rocks and dived/jumped from about 10 metres into the river. Our guide seemed obsessed with getting us wet, regularly getting us to capsize the boat or chuck one poor girl into the river all the time!

Lunch was great, not because of the food (though it was fair dinkum) but because we could feed our food to the freshwater turtles that live in the river! These were really cute, not that big, but they were happy to come up to you and grab food out of your fingers.

The scenary was amazing as well with waterfalls and rain forest lining the river, this time I did take the camera, so will be able to show some snaps when i get home.

We have checked into a different hostel/hotel tonight. We have left the Asylum, which was a bit too Club 18-30 for a quieter place, much more central and has the essential air con and a private en suite rather than shared bathrooms.

Tomorrow we're gonna hire a car and drive around North Queensland for a few days to see more rainforest, crocodiles and whatever else we come upon!

Great barrier reef

Ellen's written loads already in her Blog about our diving exploits in the Great Barrier Reef, so I'll sum it up really quickly:

- sea very flat
- jumped in backwards
- saw a shark
- saw a turtle
- saw a massive maori wrasse (about double the size of me)

to be honest, parts of the reef were really disappointing, some parts we dived over were really dead, destroyed by cyclones or something. other parts were amazing though, so many schools of huge fish swimming in colourful channels of coral.

forgot to take any piccies though... doh! still, we were about 20 metres underwater so not sure if the camera would have survived (only supposed to go to 10 metres). we got a new disposable one that goes to 15 metres so will try that one next time... perhaps we will go to Sydney for some Great White hunting!

I love the ossie language!

haha, these Ossies, they are so funny!

they are like really understated. saw two prime examples - one a gift shop called OK Gifts. Not great, not fantastic, just OK.... here you go, have an OK gift. the other one was "Adept constructions", so not solid nor creative nor designer, just about adept will do.

Cutest thing ever!

Wow!

Better than climbing that mountain I think, I held a baby turtle for the first time!

We went to a place called Turtle Island yesterday where mother turtles arrive every night to lay their eggs in the sand. The wildlife rangers here collect these eggs and help to protect them until they hatch and then release them.

We got to see close up a mother turtle on the beach laying her eggs, then we got to hold the eggs and then we were each given our own baby turtle to hold for a few minutes before they were released! These little fellas are pretty strong and so cute, exactly like the ones in Finding Nemo. They flap their arms and legs like crazy so you have to hold them pretty tight.

Was tempted to take one home.... but Mum would only make soup with it.... :)

Stupid biting fish

If you ever go out snorkelling, watch out for these black fish with a white spot on their back. They are bloody agressive and if you venture into their territory they will rush you and bite your legs!

They can be spotted hovering above the corals and as you swim closer they don't swim away like other fish. Instead they hold their ground (or should I say water) and stare right at you. Then if you don't go away they swim right up to your mask and try to stare you out!

What happens next depends where you are. In the island of Sapi they will attack you, generally biting you in the leg. In Pulua Tiga (where they filmed Survivor) these fish will back off and hide under some coral.

I can't find mention of these fish online so for the time being I will call them Chicken fish, as they seem to enjoy playing chicken with any oncoming snorkellers.

You have been warned!!

Up and back down again

Man, I don't know what was more amazing..... the view from the top, the fact that we made it to the top, or the pain in my legs now!!

Climbing the mountain was excellent. Really proud of myself and feel like I have really accomplished something rather than just lie on a beach.

Going up was not too bad on the first day. It was 6 km of steep hill through the rainforest and lots of steps. It was made worse by the hot weather and the fact that I was lugging our luggage on my back as we climbed. The walking sticks the guide suggested we buy proved really useful for dragging me up the rocks.

We rested overnight close to the top of the mountain in some chalets there, having dinner and witnessing a beautiful sunset. We then got a couple of hours sleep in a cockroach infested dormitory before dragging ourselves outta bed at 1:30am (yes AM!) to continue our climb at 2:30am to the summit. This took a further 3 and a half hours and we got to the top just in time to see the sunrise..... which was a bit of a let down since there was much cloud and we couldn't see the sun, still the colours were awesome. I would've got more photos but my hands were going numb from the cold and Ellen was shivering really badly as she started to feel really cold. The lack of food didn't help either as neither of us had had breakfast yet. Not wanting to get hypothermia we started to head down.

Going down wasn't too bad for me, but Ellen hated it. It was amazing to see the cliff faces and mountain paths next to sharp falls that we had climbed up in the dark only a few hours before. We rested in the chalets again for an hour or so (having breakfast finally!) , Ellen was protesting that she didn't feel like any more walking and wanted to get either a taxi or a helicopter. Given that neither option was really on, we found our mountian guide and started the descent down to the base.

What we weren't prepared for was the distance we still had to go. After making it to the top, there was little incentive to get to the bottom and tiredness set in quickly. We had done 6km to the chalets in the first day, then 2.7 km to the top at 2am, another 2.7km back to the chalets on an empty stomach and now we still had 6km back to the bottom!

We set off pretty quickly and thinking that we were bombing it down, it slowly dawned that we weren't and this was really disheartening. Our legs got heavier and heavier (as did my rucksack!) the walking stick was by now essential to keep me from falling down!

Four hours later we made it to the bottom, just in time as the monsoon rain suddenly descended and visability fell to zero.

A few days later my legs are still aching. I have been hobbling around for the last 3 days like some kind of new born foal, unable to go up nor down steps with any kind of grace. I am proud to say that I have climbed a mountain though and the highest one in SE Asia at that... don't bet on me looking to do any others though, once is definately enough!

Going up in the world

Phew finally managed to sort out out tours in Borneo. Itinery for the coming week will be:

Tue - climbing up Mount Kinabula, the highest mountain in SE Asia!
Wed - start the final leg of the climbing from 3am so that we get to the summit in time to see the sunrise (supposed to be rather special)
Thu - going to Pulau Tiga, where they filmed Survivor, for some trekking and bathing in Volanic Mud pools
Fri - Visit Tutle Island to see turtles laying eggs on the beach and watch some eggs hatch
Sat - Visit the Orangutan Sanctuary, though having seen Vicki there won't be much new.
Sun - Fly back to Bangkok
Mon - Fly to Cairns

To get ready for climbing the mountain tomorrow, we went out and bought some balaclavas and gloves. I look like a right terrorist now, I doubt they'll let me anywhere near the mountain! Ellen bought some 1 quid heavy duty trainers for the mountain, yep, only 1 quid from Borneo's equivalent of TK Maxx!

We seem to be spending money like crazy at the moment, even though we haven't even bought anything yet and we have only been away for 3 weeks! Might have to start cutting down on the pampering and luxury hotels, no way will I cut down on the good food!! :p

Lux-ur-lee!!

hehe - we been having a couple of chill nights in KL, living the life of luxury. well, we had to make up for the first night didn't we? getting here was a right pain, crazy bus driver, starved to death and stayed in some dodgy hotel that had not one, but TWO cockroaches in OUR ROOM!!

anyway, we had enough of that so we went to the Swiss Garden (heading there later with the guys in Dec) for a bit of luxury. well, it's only a 3 star hotel and it's about 20 quid a night, but it's absolutely palacial! there's a swimming pool, spa, gym, beauty treatments, and the rooms are lovely.

spent the whole day yesterday living it up in the hotel. couldn't be arsed to venture out into the humid town centre. there isn't really a great deal to see or do in KL that you can't do in any city, but we're flying to Borneo tomorrow for some jungle trekking and mountain climbing.... best rest a bit more today really....

What's this about me crying?

Ok ok ok... what's all this about me turning into a girl?!

Ok there might have been a tiny bit of extra moisture in my eye, but I wasn't blabbing into my popcorn!

It was a kinda emotional film and there was nothing better to do... come off it guys, I bet you have all felt a slight swell of emotion when watching a film? Even if it was at the end of Terminator 2 when Arnie sank into the Lava....!

Fully certified now!

Woo hoo! I am a professional qualified scuba diver now! I can dive up to about 18 metres underwater and will be looking to dive when we go travelling around SE Asia. On my hit list I would like to see a turtle, a shark and a whale.

Got a video of our final dives which was pretty cool. It had us doing stupid things like dancing underwater (although of course I can't dance) and also doing kung fu fights. That was really fun, recreating Matrix styles moves etc. The DVD was bloody expensive though at 40 quid, still i guess we're tourists and this is a once in a lifetime event.

In the evening it was one of guys (Anders) from the diving group's birthday so we went out to celebrate. As part of his birthday he wanted to learn how to play snooker, so we went to the local "club" which consisted of a room with two snooker tables. We played for a bit then these locals started coming in. They were nice enough, but then one of their girlfriends turned up and started to talk about money, which was fair enough I supposed but clearly she was the one with the business brains (i.e. con the tourists) whereas the guys would have happily let us play for nothing. Also I started playing reasonably well potting a few balls, the girl went crazy asking me where i was from and stuff. As she didn't really speak English she kept calling me "Hong Kong". Well she went and told a friend who told another friend who brought this other guy in to challenge me. "Me.. you.. play. 100 bhat a game?" Not wishing to get hustled or start a fight I politely declined, plus I wasn't potting any balls anymore!

After our diving exploits in Ko Toa, we fed up of the monsoon rain and have travelled on south of the country to Hat Yai. This is a fairly well developed large town which has lots of chinese and singaporean people. Had congee and dim sum for breakkie today, was almost like being in Hong Kong. Met a friendly internet cafe owner last night who recommended a decent hotel, also turns out that his family is Hakka! He speaks really good english as he worked in the states for 10 years... working for Dunkin Donuts!

Ok, better get on with deciding where to go next!

Modifying myself some more...

Ok not such great news now.

Have been on Ko Toa, one of Thailand's best dive spots for the last few days learning how to scuba dive and to get my PADI. Generally it's been great, have met some cool people also learning to dive, diving itself is really exciting and the island is really pretty.

On the downside monsoon appears to have come early, so every now and again it rains really hard.

The island is tiny and everyone gets about by scooter, not wishing to be left out and fed up of walking, I tried my hand at renting a scooter. Big mistake! It had just been raining so the road was slippery, I went to brake but my hand was also jammed on the accelerator, rear end came out the bike went on its side and I've got a lovely big grazed leg. It's even lovelier when I jump into the sea for my scuba training, I just love the salt water on the wound...

Err... Rachel/Yee don't tell Mum! I aint going near a scooter again!