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.