GOING TO CHURCH
In Bario
Hi all- Megan blogging again
We flew into Bario yesterday. Everyone was really tired, as we had to wake up at 5.30 to have breakfast and catch our flight. We flew in this really tiny plane, which was a new experience for most of us. The view was pretty incredible, though we slept through a lot of it.
One we landed, we walked to Nancy’s place- where we are to stay throughout the project phase. She is extremely friendly and very welcoming. We had lunch there- rice, vegetables and prawns- although four of us had chicken instead of the prawns. Nancy got us to sample some durian ( a foul smelling, though supposedly tasty fruit). It wasn’t received too well- you see, she mixed it with fish. Becky ran out of the room at the taste, and I wasn’t too keen on trying it after that.
There wasn’t much to do that day, so a few of us took a nap. Apparently we were sleeping too deeply for us to be waken for some pancakes- they were very good I’m told. We later walked down the muddy paths to check out Bario Primary School. We saw the work done by a previous English school- so we got a good idea of what was expected of us. Everyone was very determined to beat the ‘Poms.’
We had a debrief at the end of the day, everything went well and new roles for the next day were assigned. I am leader for the day- and I don’t think I’m too good at it. We finished the night off with dinner, then some cards.
Today- we woke up at 7.30 and had breakfast. Noodles and friend egg, and some milo. After we had packed our daypacks we headed down to the primary school. There were different sections for each of us to work in. Ripping up old planks, sawing new ones, getting nails out etc. Everyones working really well, and we’re getting a lot done.
Currently Georgia, Alex and I are using the Bario computers, we have to find a hymm for Sunday at Church. Thanks for all of your comments, and suggestions for songs to perform. I think we’re doing silent night.
KK, gotta go, blog whenever we can.
Miri
Hi all- Megan blogging again
Since the last blog we’ve flown to Miri for the day. Miri is about half the size of Kuching, and doesn’t smell bad at all. We’re staying at another backpackers hostel, but this one is the best yet. We have 24hour internet, free breakfast, good facilities, and best of all WE HAVE HOT SHOWERS. I was convinced that the people of Borneo didn’t shower in hot water, and was pleasantly surprised to be proved wrong.
Tommorow we’re flying out to Bario for our project phase at Bario Primary School. We’re completing a walkway, it’s a big project and will be finished by another World Challenge team. After that we will be going on our four day jungle trek. And for that, we needed provisions. We spent a few hours at a supermarket here in Miri, shopping for groceries etc. We’ll be living on a diet of such things as: two minute noodles, porridge, crackers, biscuits, milo, coffee, and perhaps a wild boar, which I am quite sure I will not be eating.
For dinner, half of us went out to Ming cafe, and the other half ate at the restaurant below our rooms, (we’re on the third floor). Ming cafe was really good, I ate lemon chicken with rice. Most people had Indian food. We ate with our in-country agent Sampson. He was very entertaining, and informed everyon of what was expected of us in Bario. You won’t believe this- we have to perform a christian song infront of seven hundred people. We’re all quite nervous about that, and aren’t quite sure what to sing. Any suggestions are welcome, although I’m not sure if we’ll have internet access for a while.
Miri seems like a beautiful city, and we look forward to returning here to the hostel. Miri, like Kuching seems to be a city of cats- they’re everywhere. We have several cats running around in the hostel but they’re very clean. There’s even a litter of kittens- they’re so tiny! Not everyone was as impressed as me though.
Ok, so we’ll blog whenever we can, hopefully someone different. Although don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear any thing for about two weeks, we’re not sure where internet will be available.
Everyone is well, and excited about tommorow. Talk to you all soon.
hey
hey guys,
its ash the other part of the tag team between megan and i,hmmm again megan has beaten me to the computer. Well as u know we went to bako national park, that place was awesome, what you dont know is never mess with a monkey!!! those guys look sweet and all but they have some serious attitude problems, other then that all was fantastic. Hey guys thanx for the replys they were sweet, i miss you too i cant believe its only been 5 days, it feels like i have been away forever!!!!!!!!!!! talk tomorrow some time
keep reading talk soon
part 2 of the tag team!!!
We’re back
Hey everyone- Megan blogging again
It’s been great to receive all of your comments. We’ve just come back from Bako National park, which was amazing. We took a bus to get to the boats. There were no seat belts, and the bus went really fast, it was lots of fun. We had the windows open, and got to see a lot more of Borneo. Once we arrived we waited about half an hour for our boats. There was a sign out front saying ‘ beware of the crocodiles’. I for one was quite scared about that. The speed boats we were in were so tiny, and rocked from side to side as we got in. The boats went really fast, and after a while I realised we were pretty safe. The local driving the boat seemed to find it quite amusing how we were all reacting. I swear a few times he deliberately went at the wave straight on to scare us. He stopped us part way to point out a crocodile sunning itself, we all took photos of it, and we didn’t see anymore of them. The accomodation at Bako was horrible. The rooms stank quite bad, and there were only fans. It was the toilets though that were the most disgusting. The water was always yellow, even after flushing, they stank and the ground was dirty. But we didn’t go there for the accomodation. The walks there were incredible, but tiring. We trekked to a really nice beach. We played a little in the water, which was really warm, and climbed some rocks. I don’t think there were any crocodile in the water there, but we weren’t allowed to swim just in case. Another walk led us up to a good view. However yesterdays walk was the best. We carried our full packs instead of our day packs, practice for the jungle trek. The walk was very long and tiring. You wouldn’t belive hows sweaty you get in the jungle, we had to make sure we drank heaps of water. Part of the way there, it started to rain, very lightly though. I’ve now come to realise that when it starts raining in Borneo, take cover, or put on a raincoat, because it’s about to bucket down. We trekked to a waterfall, it took us around two and a half hours. We were all wet and tired, and decided to go for a swim. I wasn’t going to go in at first, because the water was yellow and there may have been leeches. But how often are we going to get the chance to do this again? So I went in and it was really good. We went to trek to another beach, it was very steep and tricky, and when we got down there it was just a few rocks and no sand, the tide was too high so we had to go all the way back, which was very annoying. We all had our cold showers when we got back (I don’t know if the people of Borneo even have hot showers). We decided not to go for a night trek, and went out to Bako’s only restaurant, for another meal of rice and noodles- great.
The monkeys here are very tame, and cheeky. We have to keep our doors closed, to protect our stuff. Yesterday morning we were up pretty early, eating breakfast at the restaurant. One of the monkey’s stole Dylan’s food and he had to get some more. The local boy hissed at them, and through a chair. It sound cruel, but wasn’t. We got heaps of photos of them, and they followed us back to our cabins. We had to be careful not to stand under a tree with them above us, as they would probably jump on us.
Today we took the boat again, and bus, back to Kuching. It was great to be back at the hostel. We’ve just been out to KFC for lunch, and have come to an internet cafe, then are going to buy some food at the supermarket.
We’ll keep you posted about what going on. Before I go, hi Mum, missing you all heaps, we’re just about to send you a postcard.
From Megan.
