Malaysia photos at last!

Here we go, follow the links below or click on the photos:

Kuala Lumpur and Taman Negara http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561316134/




Melaka http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561325122/




Kuching http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561334656/




Lalang longhouse http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561365603/




Brunei http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561369656/





Sandakan and Sepilok http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561385640/





Kinabatangan (1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561397833/





Mt Kinabalu http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561433580/




Kinabatangan (2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157594561691120/





ENJOY!

The SE Asia Quiz

Right, having come to the end of my stint in SE Asia (for now), it's time to see what you've learned from my missives during the past 5 and a bit months.

1. Where did I celebrate my 25th birthday (town and country)?
2. Where are the Easy Riders based (town and country)?
3. What animal's name literally translates as 'man of the forest'? And which primate's Malay name means 'Dutch monkey'?
4. What two anniversaries was the Thai king celebrating when I was in Thailand?
5. How high is Mt Kinabalu?
6. Where did I do a cookery course once also attended by Jamie Oliver (town and country)?
7. How many different guesthouses/homestays have I stayed in in total during my travels in South East Asia?

Send answers to me by email (joannaodds@hotmail.com) by 18 March.

Along the way I've picked up some little trinkets which will go to the person who answers most questions right.

Heading out

Here I am, Singapore Airport. In 10 minutes I'll board the flight that takes me to a new time zone, further away from home and back to my 'real world', whatever that now means. SE Asia has been my real world for the past half year and it has thrown my perspective on what my 'reality' is all over the place.

All I know is that I don't know what happens next. I'm excited and petrified.

Bring it on.

End of an era

I'm finally leaving SE Asia. And it's hard, very hard. I've have grown to love the pace and quality of life in this part of the world and I will miss it very much.

All I can really say at the moment, my brain being complete mush after longhaul travel from Borneo to Singapore, is: I'll be back. Sooner rather than later.

I'm back (group email)

Having hidden myself away in the depths of the River Kinabatangan for the past few weeks, I'm back in the land of the living and in 12 hours I finally leave for Australia. I've had an absolutely incredible time in SE Asia and am very very sad to be leaving. The pace and quality of life here really appeals to me and I'm not quite ready to go back to a westernised country. Won't be saying that when I finally get a bottle of red wine, fresh green salad and a hot bath eh...

In one of my most spontaneous moments so far, I completely changed all my plans and went to live and work as a volunteer at a river lodge in the jungle on River Kinabatangan for three weeks. I had a brilliant time, became part of their big 'family' there and found it very very difficult to leave. I will certainly be going back there. I was first up at 5.30am to make tea and coffee for everyone before the dawn river tour, I was the first point of contact for the tourists and I briefed them on all the activities, and I helped out with any oddjobs I could. I informally helped improve the staff's English and they slowly taught me Malay, as well as teaching me loads about the incredible wildlife. I could go along on any of the boat cruises and treks that I wanted and the rest of the time I just got to enjoy being in one beautiful place with a room of my own and a bunch of great people. I have grown very fond of them all, despite them driving me crazy with their laziness at times.

A new home

My last evening here at the river lodge and my heart is already wrenching. These guys drive me nuts with their laziness and I have grown so extremely fond of them all. They have accepted me as one of them from the start, they have shown extreme patience with my lack of Malay and all seem to be sad to see me go.

I've fallen in love with this place, even though it's a very small world and lightyears away from my 'normal reality'. But then my future's never been more of a blank sheet than at this current moment in time. I'm still going to New Zealand, but jobs have been offered here on the river and I'm going to have to spend some serious pondering time on whether or not to relocate here for a while.

It's nice to have it as an option.

Life in a river lodge

In one of my most spontaneous moments so far, I've completely changed all my plans and come to live and work as a volunteer at a river lodge in the jungle on River Kinabatangan. Now 'stuck' here for an extra two weeks, I'm really settling in and it's going to be so hard to leave.

The daily routine is straightforward and I've fit into it very easily. I'm first up at 5.30am to make tea and coffee for everyone before the dawn river tour, I'm the first point of contact for the tourists once they're here, I brief them on all the activities, and I help out with any oddjobs I can. I informally improve the staff's English and they slowly teach me Malay, as well as teaching me loads about the incredible wildlife. I can go along on any of the boat cruises and treks that I want and the rest of the time I just get to enjoy being in one beautiful place with a room of my own and a bunch of great people.

It's like a big family here really. A male-dominated one at that. The testosterone shows most in the kitchen. I can only compare it to the kitchen in the flat I shared with 2 lads at uni, except here there are 5 times as many men and 10 times as much kitchen space. The handyman's wife shows up once every day or so to do the dishes and her sigh as she first enters the kitchen scares of any wildlife in a 3-mile radius. I'm scoring minor victories getting staff to sometimes dump their leftovers in the bin and pile their dishes up neatly. They're all lazy buggers really.

Here are the key players in my surrogate family (in no particular order):

Muz: guide and entertainer, pint-sized sensitive wee joker born and bred 2 doors down from the river lodge, always first to pick up the guitar or show off his card tricks, he wants to get an English girlfriend and go travelling.



Jun/Nonoi: chef and barman, still won't give me the key to the fridge so I don't have to wake him up for milk every morning, his favourite (and only) English sayings are 'very nice in the jungle, you know' and 'everything under control'




Aloi: guide, another wee-man with accompanying complex, a lover of money and house music and will take any opportunity to line his pockets and chat up pretty western girls, drinks copious amounts of strong coffee





Aco: builder, little legend, despite lifting cement/wood/bricks all day, he will still come and help out with the evening tourist jobs





Nelson: guide, lodge 'boss' and 'dad', not a strict boss but somehow keeps the whole thing ticking over smoothly whilst looking out for each of his staff as if they were a sibling, incredible at spotting animals from any distance, speaks English with a cockney accent




Boi and Mawi: the two handymen and general staff, do all the oddjobs including mending broken sewage pipes (while Nelson 'supervises'), and routinely bring coconuts and fruit from their gardens for general consumption



Ujy: housekeeping, one and only girl, Mawi's girlfriend (although that's a secret, of course), loves chocolate and a gossip, despite her small amount of English and my patchy Malay






Rai: driver, sings like an angel, drives like a (controlled) maniac, my main Malay teacher and an absolute sweetheart





Sam: driver, joker, loves a good back massage and laughs like a machine gun




And then there are all the external guides, other drivers and builders, and random family members and hangers-on who turn up throughout the day, drink like fish, smoke like chimneys and leave the kitchen and restaurant in a goddam mess for me to clear up at 5am every morning.

I tell you, I'm absolutely loving it and I cannot wait to come back again.

Borneo fun (group email)

I've just had the most brilliant week.

I spent 3 days at a river lodge on Kinabatangan River earlier this week and it was absolutely brilliant! Saw wild orang utans, proboscis monkeys (the pot-bellied big-nosed ones), macaques, silvered langurs, all sorts of hornbills, snakes, crocodiles, lots of insects, and went for an impromptu swim in the river. With all my clothes, camera and binoculars. Oops. Incredibly, both the binoculars and camera have survived it intact!
Then I've just returned from going up Mt Kinabalu which was excellent. We actually got views, which is really lucky in the current monsoon season. It was a long, rainy trudge up 6 km of 'steps', climbing 1800m on the first day, and then a more exciting dry very early morning trudge up 2.7km of rock, climbing the final 800 odd m today. (we started at 1800m ish which totals the 4095m).

I've then gone and done the most random thing and taken up a really really good opportunity: volunteering as an assistant guide type person for a couple of weeks at the river lodge in the jungle I stayed at earlier this week. The people who work there are great, it's an amazing place, incredible wildlife, completely away from everything and should be a lot of fun. I know it's a bit last minute and random, but I figure I won't get the chance again. I'm pretty excited about it! As long as Emirates will let me shift my flights...