Friday, July 18, 2008
Day exploring Singapore.
Amazed how clean the place is, lots of greenery too – Palms and plants everywhere. Wandered around Little India –so colourful with fruit and vegetable stalls – amazing stuff for sale. Lots of bazaars and street sellers. Found a fabric shop and rene bought me a sari…. Will have to wait til we’re home to try that on – there’s barely room to swing a cat in the cabin let alone wrap a sari!! Found China town and a catholic church. The metro is clean and fast here, although we did lots of walking between stops! Even found a car boot sale – same old junk as back home plus fake rolex watches! We were really tired by nightfall but were determined to find Raffles Hotel! Eventually, after walking around it several times without realising it, we found the front entrance! Took the mandatory photos and had a wander around inside. It’s all been renovated. Like most of the Singapore it’s a little too perfect, a little sterile even. Anyway we can tick that destination off our list. We're glad we saw a few of the sights but not sure we'd want to return!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I bet you all think we're just lazing on a beach, but....
...no chance! Plus my tan is fading!! I'm wearing more clothes here than I would on a hot day in Europe. Dress code is stricter here. You can spot the tourists by their dress - shorts and strppy tops - the locals get a little offended.
ok, quick round up of recent activities:
Tues 8th July
Went with Fe to meet her fiend Mary (they were both at same teacher training college), and Marys sister Margaret..
Stopped off at roadside chinese restaurant where Rene and Fe had large bowls of Fried Tom yam and Prawn Mee Sup. Mmm yummy - if you can manage that for brekkers?! Me, I stuck to a mug of Kopi (Thick black Chinese coffee floating on half an inch of condensed milk!) The two of them took pity on me and called in to a chinese coffee shop so I could grab 'Pau' (steamed bread with black bean gooey stuff inside)
Arriving at Mary's we were offered the dreaded Durian fruit. We've seen (and smelt) this weird fruit many times and managed til now to avoid actaully putting it in our mouths. Rene says it smells like drains and I'd agree, adding 'putrid' to the description. It's a very spiny fruit anything from 8" to 2 feet long and it exudes a very dodgy odour. A Seasonal fruit, people say you either love it or hate it (bit like Marmite I suppose!) Fe's daughter wont allow it in the house, so Fe and her granddaughter eat it at the market! One of the lads at the backpackers lodge told us how he used to jelp his grandfather collect his durian. they had to wear hard hats as it's dangerous if they fall on your head! Much ought after, they would stay in the forest to protect the ripened fruits from local robbers!
This is one strange fruit, and now we're backed into a corner.... we have to try it! Ignoring the smell I picked up a slimy piece of fruit and bit off a piece. OMG it was re volting - handd the rest to Rene who downed it and managed a second one!
Durian experience over amid peals of laughter from Fe and Mary (the latter said she was relieved we didn't like it - there was more left for her) we were then invited to feed the deer....
Mary joined us on our onward journey to Margarets... over the Tamperuli bridge built in colonial times.... upwards to a house on a hill with 360 degree views across to the sea, the mountain of Mt Kinabalu (hidden in the clouds) and the forests of Sabah - beautiful, breathtaking.... I was tld I'd need to be up early next morning to catch the mountain before the clouds hid it again...
ok, quick round up of recent activities:
Tues 8th July
Went with Fe to meet her fiend Mary (they were both at same teacher training college), and Marys sister Margaret..
Stopped off at roadside chinese restaurant where Rene and Fe had large bowls of Fried Tom yam and Prawn Mee Sup. Mmm yummy - if you can manage that for brekkers?! Me, I stuck to a mug of Kopi (Thick black Chinese coffee floating on half an inch of condensed milk!) The two of them took pity on me and called in to a chinese coffee shop so I could grab 'Pau' (steamed bread with black bean gooey stuff inside)
Arriving at Mary's we were offered the dreaded Durian fruit. We've seen (and smelt) this weird fruit many times and managed til now to avoid actaully putting it in our mouths. Rene says it smells like drains and I'd agree, adding 'putrid' to the description. It's a very spiny fruit anything from 8" to 2 feet long and it exudes a very dodgy odour. A Seasonal fruit, people say you either love it or hate it (bit like Marmite I suppose!) Fe's daughter wont allow it in the house, so Fe and her granddaughter eat it at the market! One of the lads at the backpackers lodge told us how he used to jelp his grandfather collect his durian. they had to wear hard hats as it's dangerous if they fall on your head! Much ought after, they would stay in the forest to protect the ripened fruits from local robbers!
This is one strange fruit, and now we're backed into a corner.... we have to try it! Ignoring the smell I picked up a slimy piece of fruit and bit off a piece. OMG it was re volting - handd the rest to Rene who downed it and managed a second one!
Durian experience over amid peals of laughter from Fe and Mary (the latter said she was relieved we didn't like it - there was more left for her) we were then invited to feed the deer....
Mary joined us on our onward journey to Margarets... over the Tamperuli bridge built in colonial times.... upwards to a house on a hill with 360 degree views across to the sea, the mountain of Mt Kinabalu (hidden in the clouds) and the forests of Sabah - beautiful, breathtaking.... I was tld I'd need to be up early next morning to catch the mountain before the clouds hid it again...
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Here, there and everywhere...
Mmm, so much for the plans we had, to quietly pore over the world map and decide on our route.... Our feet have hardly touched the ground in the past week.
Visited Father Deposte. The last of the 'Mill Hill Fathers' who brought catholicism to this area. he said it was the first time that someone (Rene) from Mill Hill, London had visited him. 88 years old and as sharp as they come, his memory was faultless.
Visited the first church built by the Mill Hill Fathers in Sabah - St Micheal's
A trip to an orchid grower... we thought it was just a nursery, not so - the sales of the dendrobium hybrids funds their work in conserving Borneo's orchids and we had a guided tour around the site to see the native species. Judith our guide patiently sat with me and the camera afterwards and told me the names of each of the flowers I had photographed...
Crossed the Tamparuli River, where two soldiers saved the life of a local woman in a flood - and drowned themselves...
Up at 5am for mass at St Micheals, then met up with Anthony Yan whos brother builds boats.... had breakfast - noodles with fried egg (???) Anthony took us out for the day, not only to his brother's boatyard but also to look at tourism development in the local area. We walked through two developments. It was weird - we could have been anywhere in the world.... the architecture doesn't reflect local traditions - in fact we have since heard that everything was shipped in from Bali! we named them 'Touristville A and B' I guess Sabah is just the latest in a long line of Dominican Republic/Maldives/Seychelles Touristvilles Wonder if the guests actually see anything of local life or even want to?! Ironically, the local people tell us that the two 'paradise' beach resorts we saw both have very dangerous rip currents. One of the beaches we saw was a popular public beach, before the developers moved in!
check em out here: http://www.nexusresort.com/new/index.html
http://www.malaysia-hotels.net/hotels/rasariakk/
The boatyard makes catamarans... and dragon boats. On reflection, we think we'll stick with the Amel Sharki
http://www.amel.fr/en/pages-amel/sharki-photos-plans.htm
http://www.amel.fr/en/pages-amel/sharki.htm
Ate Tuaran Mee - in Tuaran, walked across a footbridge - a modern version of a ropebridge. very bouncy and very very iffy - it's the only way to get to the village on foot....
Finished our day with a visit to Kinsom waterfall, truly beautiful... Fe's last visit was 40 years ago when she took a group of schoolkids. She said that in those days, there was no road so it took them about four hours to get there and there was lots of wildlife. It took us 2 minutes to get there from the carpark and we saw one frog, one butterfly, and we collected a bag of rubbish, which we put into the rubbish bin - 6 paces away.
Have taken 1600 photographs so far, but the connections are slow and unreliable, so uploading is a real pain.
What else have we been up to? Traipsing around farmers markets.... wow, Weird Veg Inc. and namethatodour.com. Take a look at the ladies who graciously allowed me to photograph them....
Watching the caterpillers in Fe's garden - in 10 days they have doubled from 2"x 1/2" to 4"long and 1" wide -bright green with white spikes...
Got some great shots of the tree frogs and chamaeleons - just love those little critters... have NOT bothered to record the cockroaches.
Last night, walked up the lane to Edwin and Clementine's house for dinner. Edwin showed us his collection of plants to cure all ailments from high blood pressure to cancer.... and he keeps sheep! The flying ants were out in force on ou return to Fe's. Very dark and lots of barking dogs, croaking frogs, weird insect noises.....
This morning, up at 6am to catch the minibus (the driver rents a house down Fe's drive) into Kota Kinabalu. Walked through the Sunday market which sells everything from Tourist tut to herbal remedies, live fish and animals, weird veg, reflexology, music cd's, dried fish (wto.com) then caught the bus for 9am mass in english at the cathedral (full to bursting) brunch at the golf club with Jane and Peter, chinese 'pau' (scrumptious baked bread filled with coconut stuff) washed down with chinese coffee, thick, black and sweet floating on top of half an inch of condensed milk..... mmmm
This afternoon, we met up with Anthony at the Kinabalu Yacht Club. it's a small club, full of local people. In the 50's it was a hang out for ex-pats - Anthony can remember being chased away as a child! Met a guy from Hull - been here since the 70's!
It's been very interesting hearing our new friends talk of their culture and childhood experiences:
Working in the paddy fields... sent out each morning to catch frogs in the paddy fields ("I had to carefully part the rice and catch the frogs or we didn't have anything to eat", searching the forest for food... sole responsibilty for her baby brother - she was busy and he fell out of the house (on stilts) so after that she carried him everywhere she went. She was 6 years old.
Another friend was sponsored by the Peace Corps to go to America at age 14. Imagine the cultural shock - from Kadazan village life to wealthy American Wisconsin family. She came back to Sabah when she was 18.
Both these women have promised me they'll write about their early lives. They have seen such changes in the past 50-60years.
Anthony is explaining to Rene about the ethnic mix of Borneo, so here goes....
In Sabah, Chinese brought in by British to work on Estates. Before independance, the Chinese began to set up businesses, there were tensions between the chinese and the 'locals' because the chinese were more economically motivated than the locals. Many chinese who started as coolies, worked hard to then open their own businesses. This is evident in the Town, most of the businesses are chinese owned. Happily, now, there is full integration - although some do say there are still those who are resentful.
Indigenous Sabahans: Kadazan - west coast and interior, Suluk - east coast, Bajau - Northern
Sarawakans Iban and Dayaks.
Kalimantan (Indonesia) the indigenous people were pushed out of their territory by another, more 'economically motivated' group so the 'natives' chopped their heads off.
the head hunters? Well we haven't met any (we don't think we have anyway) it was the tradition for a man wishing to marry, to prove his 'manhood' and his ability to support a family by going out into the forest and bringing back a head.
On that note, with a battery low warning, I close....
Visited Father Deposte. The last of the 'Mill Hill Fathers' who brought catholicism to this area. he said it was the first time that someone (Rene) from Mill Hill, London had visited him. 88 years old and as sharp as they come, his memory was faultless.
Visited the first church built by the Mill Hill Fathers in Sabah - St Micheal's
A trip to an orchid grower... we thought it was just a nursery, not so - the sales of the dendrobium hybrids funds their work in conserving Borneo's orchids and we had a guided tour around the site to see the native species. Judith our guide patiently sat with me and the camera afterwards and told me the names of each of the flowers I had photographed...
Crossed the Tamparuli River, where two soldiers saved the life of a local woman in a flood - and drowned themselves...
Up at 5am for mass at St Micheals, then met up with Anthony Yan whos brother builds boats.... had breakfast - noodles with fried egg (???) Anthony took us out for the day, not only to his brother's boatyard but also to look at tourism development in the local area. We walked through two developments. It was weird - we could have been anywhere in the world.... the architecture doesn't reflect local traditions - in fact we have since heard that everything was shipped in from Bali! we named them 'Touristville A and B' I guess Sabah is just the latest in a long line of Dominican Republic/Maldives/Seychelles Touristvilles Wonder if the guests actually see anything of local life or even want to?! Ironically, the local people tell us that the two 'paradise' beach resorts we saw both have very dangerous rip currents. One of the beaches we saw was a popular public beach, before the developers moved in!
check em out here: http://www.nexusresort.com/new/index.html
http://www.malaysia-hotels.net/hotels/rasariakk/
The boatyard makes catamarans... and dragon boats. On reflection, we think we'll stick with the Amel Sharki
http://www.amel.fr/en/pages-amel/sharki-photos-plans.htm
http://www.amel.fr/en/pages-amel/sharki.htm
Ate Tuaran Mee - in Tuaran, walked across a footbridge - a modern version of a ropebridge. very bouncy and very very iffy - it's the only way to get to the village on foot....
Finished our day with a visit to Kinsom waterfall, truly beautiful... Fe's last visit was 40 years ago when she took a group of schoolkids. She said that in those days, there was no road so it took them about four hours to get there and there was lots of wildlife. It took us 2 minutes to get there from the carpark and we saw one frog, one butterfly, and we collected a bag of rubbish, which we put into the rubbish bin - 6 paces away.
Have taken 1600 photographs so far, but the connections are slow and unreliable, so uploading is a real pain.
What else have we been up to? Traipsing around farmers markets.... wow, Weird Veg Inc. and namethatodour.com. Take a look at the ladies who graciously allowed me to photograph them....
Watching the caterpillers in Fe's garden - in 10 days they have doubled from 2"x 1/2" to 4"long and 1" wide -bright green with white spikes...
Got some great shots of the tree frogs and chamaeleons - just love those little critters... have NOT bothered to record the cockroaches.
Last night, walked up the lane to Edwin and Clementine's house for dinner. Edwin showed us his collection of plants to cure all ailments from high blood pressure to cancer.... and he keeps sheep! The flying ants were out in force on ou return to Fe's. Very dark and lots of barking dogs, croaking frogs, weird insect noises.....
This morning, up at 6am to catch the minibus (the driver rents a house down Fe's drive) into Kota Kinabalu. Walked through the Sunday market which sells everything from Tourist tut to herbal remedies, live fish and animals, weird veg, reflexology, music cd's, dried fish (wto.com) then caught the bus for 9am mass in english at the cathedral (full to bursting) brunch at the golf club with Jane and Peter, chinese 'pau' (scrumptious baked bread filled with coconut stuff) washed down with chinese coffee, thick, black and sweet floating on top of half an inch of condensed milk..... mmmm
This afternoon, we met up with Anthony at the Kinabalu Yacht Club. it's a small club, full of local people. In the 50's it was a hang out for ex-pats - Anthony can remember being chased away as a child! Met a guy from Hull - been here since the 70's!
It's been very interesting hearing our new friends talk of their culture and childhood experiences:
Working in the paddy fields... sent out each morning to catch frogs in the paddy fields ("I had to carefully part the rice and catch the frogs or we didn't have anything to eat", searching the forest for food... sole responsibilty for her baby brother - she was busy and he fell out of the house (on stilts) so after that she carried him everywhere she went. She was 6 years old.
Another friend was sponsored by the Peace Corps to go to America at age 14. Imagine the cultural shock - from Kadazan village life to wealthy American Wisconsin family. She came back to Sabah when she was 18.
Both these women have promised me they'll write about their early lives. They have seen such changes in the past 50-60years.
Anthony is explaining to Rene about the ethnic mix of Borneo, so here goes....
In Sabah, Chinese brought in by British to work on Estates. Before independance, the Chinese began to set up businesses, there were tensions between the chinese and the 'locals' because the chinese were more economically motivated than the locals. Many chinese who started as coolies, worked hard to then open their own businesses. This is evident in the Town, most of the businesses are chinese owned. Happily, now, there is full integration - although some do say there are still those who are resentful.
Indigenous Sabahans: Kadazan - west coast and interior, Suluk - east coast, Bajau - Northern
Sarawakans Iban and Dayaks.
Kalimantan (Indonesia) the indigenous people were pushed out of their territory by another, more 'economically motivated' group so the 'natives' chopped their heads off.
the head hunters? Well we haven't met any (we don't think we have anyway) it was the tradition for a man wishing to marry, to prove his 'manhood' and his ability to support a family by going out into the forest and bringing back a head.
On that note, with a battery low warning, I close....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)