May..

May started off with Rory’s full Marathon in Kota Kinabalu. After months out with injury, and only a few runs under his belt I’m not going to lie I thought he was an absolute nutter for attempting it. Although I definitely didn’t tell him that! He set off very early at 3am to avoid the heat, and Max and I made sure to give the big lad an enormous cheer when he crossed the line in just over 5 hours. I think it’s the first time in my life that I actually enjoyed the fact that someone proved me wrong and Just quietly I’m extremely jealous of him for having finished…

Tribal dancers

drained..

Last week brought about the graduation of the Batch 14 Montfort Students (Max and Liam’s students) As our project is effectively the sister hostel and that there was going to be good food on offer, we took the trip down. The day consisted of speeches and awards and was attended by many parents and relatives. The boy’s there were understandably sad at the prospect of leaving and it was really good to catch up with some of the students, who’d noticeable improved over the course of the year. As always, much like the MYTC Open House earlier in the year, Montfort put on an amazing spectacle and the food and tribal dancing were impressive!

Some graduating boys

 As of now the boys are sitting some important exams, which has resulted in many late nights helping the boys with homework. It has also funnily enough been a time of revision for myself because some of the maths questions they’re being set I haven’t even studied before. In and amongst this busy time for the boys, it’s been good fun to let off some steam and play many of the sports I’ve taken such a fondness to. After 9 months I’ve finally managed for the boys to now consider me good enough to be on their takraw team and I plan to take home a net and a ball to play back home.

Takraw

Studying hard

compulsory selfie!

back to the day job 

It feels odd to think that I’m fast approaching the two month mark before I’m home and with a three week holiday next week, it means I ONLY have 5 weeks remaining at the project!! I can’t believe how fast this year is going and it’s only just starting to hit home at the extent to which I’ll miss this place.

favourite photo - Jaxter!

Footsal with form 1&2 boys

April..

April began with a visit to the hostel from my brother, Sam. It was great to be able to show him some of the things I do out here and more importantly introduce him to the boys that have made my time here so enjoyable. The boys loved seeing another ‘orang putih’ and even more so the fact that he managed to upstage me by scoring a hatrick in a football match. He was also able to bring out some of the posters I’d bought to decorate the classroom and I have to say it’s looking very decent!

classroom in all its glory

Sam's visit

rolling game

Not long after Sam’s visit, we welcomed our Desk Officer/boss Chris Hitch from the charity I work for, Project Trust. It was good to catch up with him and share some of the funny stories Rory and I have had over the year and even better to crack into the Haribos and mini eggs he’d kindly brought us out. I’d missed them so much! After a day at our place he set off to MYTC, where Max and Liam work, for meetings about the future volunteers. Thankfully, Chris was pleased to announce that San Damiano definitely want Project Trust volunteers to continue to teach here which means that Rory and I haven’t been too bad!

football at the field

Shortly after Chris’s visit we had another outdoor cooking activity, which is a monthly event where all the pupils go down to the river to camp out and prepare food on a wood fire. The boys love it and there is always a great atmosphere down by the water whenever the cooking commences. This was our second time in the year doing outdoor cooking, so it meant that this time we knew what was going on and therefore we could help out gathering materials to make shelters.  As expected the boys made some very impressive bamboo shelters and after the camp was set up, Rory and I were tasked with keeping the boys entertained for the morning. We got stuck into a number of games and introduced the boys to a game of ultimate Frisbee. The boy’s thoroughly enjoyed it and with Rory on one team and me on team it all rather got a bit competitive!

Rory and I throwing the boys

With Visas soon expiring, we set off the following weekend to go about getting our visas extended for another 3 months. We weren’t quite sure exactly how to go about it and with week remaining we all joked that the three of us could be home sooner then we’d first thought. It seemed fairly simple and the plan was as follows: get a ferry from KK to Labuan, followed by a boat to Brunei, spend the night with friends in Brunei and then return to Labuan the following day; at which point we’d hopefully have another 3 months on our visa.

This was 60 pence!!

As I mentioned we stayed the night in Brunei with family friends of mine, who are teachers out there. We spent the afternoon exploring the luxurious palace and polo fields of the Sultan and even though we only spent half a day here, it felt like we’d actually properly ticked off Brunei. If the day spent exploring Brunei wasn’t enough, we were beyond belief when an enormous roast chicken was produced in front of us, for dinner. It’d been 9 months since we’d all last set eyes on such fine food and It genuinely hurt to think it’d be another 3 months until I’d next have it!

We returned to Labuan in high spirits, with a new stamp in our passports and most importantly our visas successfully renewed. Next ensued the quest to find a hostel and hopes were not high considering it was Easter weekend. Annoyingly, our efforts were fruitless and after playing with the idea of doing an all nighter, we decided the best bet was to call a staff member from Montfort, who used to live there, to see if she could sort something out. Luckily she reported back to say she’d found us a place. We were of course very grateful for her helping us out but she’d missed out the point that our accommodation for the night would be the Labuan fire station!! So you can imagine our reaction as we pulled up in the taxi… This of course set us out in a top mood to go and enjoy the cheap tax free alcohol later and the novelty of being able to have legit dairy milk chocolate for the first time in a while confirmed that we’d soon be back!

cake for feast day

Freiyster - one of the boys we chose to speak in English..

Karaoke 

The final week in April was Montfort week! St Louis Marie de Montfort was the founder of the Brothers of St Gabriel, who run the hostel that I work for. Therefore it’s fair to say it’s a pretty big deal out here. For the two weeks leading up to the day, I’d been giving it a go to teach the boys about the story of Montfort in tuition. Whilst at the same time we had to prepare 3 students for a sharing exercise about their time at the hostel. The evening was a huge success and like most occasions here for reasons I can’t explain they always seem to sign off with some form of a karaok performance.

Travelling with Sam

So the last blog I mentioned that I’d be going off for the March Holiday with Sam, to explore more of Borneo. I was very keen to impress him but the dilemma was I only had about 10 days to fit in what could have easily been 3 weeks off travelling. I must have spent a good month putting together a full on schedule and whilst I had the logistical side of travelling sorted I’d forgotten the jetlag Sam would be suffering (8 hours ahead out here). It didn’t help him either that I’d planned to do White water Rafting less than 15 hours after he arrived; considering that he’d just spent 23 hours straight on the plane to get out here, I’d definitely not done him any favours!

The white water rafting was as a full on as you probably could have asked for and the 5.30 am wake up was a struggle for both us. This is because to get to the rafting base it’s is only accessible by the only steam train to run through Sabah, which took a few hours. Sam and I sat on the roof and this amongst dodging trailing branches, the spectacular views and the uncertainty that the train would de rail any minute; was an experience in itself.  We were not sure what to expect of the rapids as it hadn’t rained for a month, so I was praying I wouldn’t be let down at the first hurdle for impressing Sam. We sat at the front at the boat, because this is where the guide said you get splashed the most and being siblings you could imagine there was a ridiculous amount of brotherly competitiveness! The rapids were thankfully ferocious and lived up to their grade IV reputation and apparently we did well to be the only boat not to capsize at all throughout this unforgiving route. Interestingly enough according to the guide it’s the people who stop paddling in the rapids who are the ones who capsize and everyone other group provided us with the entertainment of doing exactly that. After a well-deserved BBQ, we set about the long journey back to Kota Kinabalu and we arrived back at the hostel at about 7pm. By which stage, much to my amusement, I think that the 23 hours of flying from the day before and 8 hours of jetlag had almost killed Sam. Nevertheless, I’m sure he didn’t mind too much and I wouldn’t be alone in saying it was an exceptional start to the holiday!

Footsal

After a very early night, we flew to Sandakan the following morning and set about for seeing more of what Sabah is famed for, the Orang-utans in the Rehabilitation centre, Sepilok! We walked in with high spirits and cameras at the ready as they lady on the gate said they’d seen 6 or 7 the day before. Although at the same time we were wary not to get our hopes because the main aim at the centre is for successful rehabilitation of the Orang-utans, which means there was a possibility that would wouldn’t see any at all! Sadly, my doubts were confirmed and the one that we did see only hung around for the free food that was offer; I don’t blame the lad! However, all hopes of seeing more were not lost as I knew there still was a chance we’d be able to see some on the river safari I’d planned in the coming days, on the famous Kinabatangan River. The boat journey provided exactly that experience that I sought and after a while of some not fruitful spotting, the boats suddenly slowed up and there in the nearby tree was a male orang-utan swinging effortlessly from branch to branch! Quite naturally, everyone and everything fell to a complete silence, as we sat there in awe of this beautiful sight. It was hard for the guides to convince us to move on to the camp as we were all so amazed but there was noticeable buzz for the rest of the journey and everyone was smiling. We arrived to the camp shortly after and as if seeing an Orang-utan on the journey wasn’t enough, there was even a jungle footsal court that we could play in! Our lodging was a basic hut with mattresses on the floor and mozzy nets, surrounded by swampy marshland, with a constant chatter of insects of birds around us… and I’m most certainly not complaining! The itinerary was full on and over the three days we lucky enough to see a whole number of different species including: crocodiles, kingfishers, flying foxes and my favourite: the constantly aroused ‘red rocketed’ proboscis monkey. Not to forget, in the times we weren’t out on the river we passed the time playing copious amount of footsal with the people who worked there. We had a decent team but I think the fact the majority of the opposition were knocking around the 5ft mark and the surprising outcome of Sam’s talent in goal, we had the edge! All in all, I couldn’t have asked for more from the camp and we had glorious 3 days on the river!

We arrived at Kuching with high spirits from the camp and had a lot we wanted to tick off. The owner of the hostel we stayed at was an absolute gem and he basically planned an itinerary of what he thought we should do in the two days we had here. After a very chilled out evening having sun downers by the river front, we set off early the next morning, in the hope of seeing some more proboscis monkeys at Bako National Park. The weather was perfect when we set off and just when we were starting to think the day couldn’t get any better all hells let loose. This as we joked, wouldn’t have been an issue if we’d thought like mother would have done and planned for all outcomes. Needless to say after a couple hours of heavy rain our jokes soon surpassed! However, all was not bad because the one good thing about this horrific weather meant that the wildlife came out in the numbers and I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said we saw at least 20 proboscis monkeys. Other notable highlights of the two days were: eating probably the best fish I’ve ever had, sunsets by the riverfront and late nights sitting by the river front listening to local music and eating local food. This all along with the fact that I managed to get a new stamp on the passport clarified to me that I’d definitely make sure to come back to Kuching!

Beaut

The penultimate part of Sam and I’s travelling was spent in the North of Sarawak, in a place famed for its Cave Network, Gunung Mulu National Park. I’m not one to usually like this sort of thing and if I’m going to be honest I only booked to go there as I thought that Sam would enjoy it, given the cultured bloke that he is. We saw some enormous caves and were very fortunate to see the ‘Changing of the guard’, where the 2/3 million of the bats come out of the cave at sunset and fly about in huge wave like black clouds. Annoyingly one of the tours, supposedly for advanced cavers, that involved 8km of caving and 1.5km of swimming had vacancies the day after we left. So I think I’ll make Sam very jealous, when I plan to go back and do it just before I leave! However, after exploring and getting to know more about the caves over the few days I’m glad to say that I’ve surprised myself.  There was even a volley ball court at the park for me to Lose to Sam on! 

Abraham Lincoln 

Shadow in one of the caves...

Mount Kinabalu

Compulsory selfie

Even Before I had even left home, it was the mountain climb that was one of the things I wanted to do. This was the sole reason I’d brought a woolly hat, thick socks and gloves and essentially will be the only time I use them this year! There’s no way I could have gone to Borneo for a year without having done this and I'm glad to say it didn't disappoint.

Content to have made the peak!

On the 2^nd of April Sam, Rory, Max and I woke up with a noticeable buzz because that day wasn't like any other day, it’d be a day where we’d be starting our climb up the mountain. You could tell that Sam was up for it because he’d actually packed his bag in advance! The journey up to the park passed by in no time and the few minutes we had waiting for our passes were well spent marvelling at the spectacular views on offer from the mountain. After successfully getting our passes and meeting our guide for the two days, we were ready to start. BUT not until we stretched off first (According to Sam). Looking back on it, given that we had to walk 6 km that day, I’d heard worse shouts before! The trail began surrounded by thick jungle, which must be passed through in order to scale the mountain. A combination of the dense, moist air and the fact that we’d set off at a blistering pace meant that it wasn't long before we were all dripping. However, in hindsight it was most probably because I didn't like the fact Sam was in the lead!

Stunning views from the park headquarters

Once we began to ascend and the jungle began to become sparser, the colder it became.  This meant that we kept breaks to minimum because when you did stop it allowed the ample sweat to cool and you’d find yourself shivering. The trail for the first 2km was pretty straightforward and wooden rafters ensured our pace was still blistering. However, as we rose in altitude the quality of these rafters significantly decreased and there were countless opportunities when one of us nearly rolled an ankle! Whenever there was a break in the trees it gave us a snippet of what we’d already achieved and it motivated me as I imagined how amazing the feeling must be, having reached the peak.

The final 2 km of the trail leading up to our lodging proved to be considerably harder because there were no longer wooden rafters but instead big boulders, and every step had to be calculated carefully. Nevertheless, although our legs were aching, none of us complained because local Sherpas kept on passing us with ridiculously heavy loads on their backs. According to our guide they can go up and down three times a day with up to 80 Kg strapped to their backs! I think we all aspired to have thighs and calves as big as theirs..

Unit!

pretty moist after 4km

After a gruelling last half a kilometre, we reached our lodging in 2hr30 minutes, which was half the expected time of 5 hours. By the time we got there it was really starting to get nippy and the lodge warmly welcomed us. We were all very tired and hungry and the chance to be able to sit down at a table and reflect on what I’d achieved so far filled me with immense happiness.  Thankfully by which stage, it was now time for the all you can eat buffet and we definitely ate all that we could. After demolishing the buffet, we ventured out on to the balcony, to take in the in the beautiful views across Sabah. For all except Sam, it had been a while since we’d experienced such cold temperatures and so naturally we all took our tops to prove to the others on the balcony that we were hard as nails. Fittingly as we chilled out, the sun had begun to set and the feeling of being in and amongst the clouds, with the orange glimmer of the ever fading sun was like no other. As the sun had completely faded the temperature had plummeted and at this point we took some rest as we up at 2am to start the next day’s ascent.

Sunset from the balcony at Laban Rata

Hard as nails!

The reason for this early start was so that we could watch the sunrise from the summit. The majority of people set off at 2 am but we set off at 3.15 because we didn't want to be standing still, getting cold, waiting for the sun to rise. As we set off, there was biting chill and so we all sported pretty much all the clothes we had, along with our head torches to combat the darkness. Except for Max, who was being a nutter and wore shorts! The first half a kilometre was straightforward and was the time we made up our ground on the people who’d set off before us. Trying to weave and overtake the heavy traffic of people was nightmare and it wasn't helped by the fact my head torch could barely make out a metre in front of me. For the final 1.5 km, it was just bare rock faces and ropes to haul ourselves up the slopes. At the time I wasn't fazed because I couldn't see around me but later on in the descent, in the light of the day, I realised that the bit I’d casually strolling had been at the edge of a cliff face! For the last kilometre, it was evident that the air was getting thinner so naturally the 4 of us had broken up. Sam was miles up in the front, followed by myself and Max and the guide/Rory bringing up the rear. We arrived a hundred metres before the peak at about 4.30 am, which meant as I feared we had ages to kill before the sun would rise at 6.00 am. Therefore, to protect ourselves from the icy wind, the 4 of us huddled together for 45 minutes in a nearby shelter.  After some much needed fruit pastels, we reached the summit shortly after and as I stood at the peak, 4095m in the air, life was good!

The shelter we all huddled under

Scaling the mountain 

Before long, a faint orange glow started to from in the distance, until finally the sun peered above the mountain peak and the beautiful radiance warmed the air ever so slightly. The light spread over the landscape and lit up the nearby rocks and spikes and restored the mountain to its glory. There have been few moments in my life where I've been speechless and it definitely was the most awesome sight of my life!

Sam at Sunrise

The descent was by far harder than the way up and extra care had to be taken to avoid spraining an ankle. Needless to say, this philosophy went out the window when Max, Sam and I raced for the last kilometre. How one of us didn't snap a leg, I don’t know! Whilst at the time the race seemed like a good idea, let’s just say our bodies punished us for it for the whole of the next week.I think I can speak behalf of us all that this is a memory we will all treasure for the rest of our lives..

Unbelievable view