Borneo Day 8

Day 8

Blogger: Sam D

Another great day in Borneo jungle. It all started off waking up in our hammocks, swinging in the jungle. The night had been full of jungle sounds, including birds and insects, which after a while became rather annoying. Some of us had to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, which meant falling out of hammocks finding our shoes and head torches to get to the block – but as they say “Nature Called”! Once dawn broke we were up for breakfast, which was boiled eggs, rice with anchovies or plain rice. After this we had to break the camp down tidy up and start our trek for home. It was very hot and by the time we got back to the lodge we were tired and thirsty. There was a lot of encouragement along the way for those that were struggling.

At the lodge we had a shower, in turn, then played some cards. We had another excellent lunch, full of vegetables, meat and fish, they have cooked for the range of eating requirements our group has. We were then told we were actually only a small amount away from a shop so we went out to see what they had. We came back with ice cream, some drinks and in some cases chocolate (which was already melting as we left the shop). Once back we continued with rummy, or Exploding Kittens and enjoying a drink other than water!

We were then  taken on a tour of the Eco-Farm we are staying on. Everything is planned to support the next part. They have cocoa planted, pineapples and various other fruit trees. They also have a fish farm with breeding and nursery ponds for development. They are currently building a worm farm to be able to self feed their fish. We stopped part way through our walk for a snack and drink at a beautiful spot with a small seating are over the middle of a fish pond. There were lots of fish in the pond and the lodge helpers fed them, which made them go mad!

After another delicious dinner we made our way up to a Long House in the community where we had an evening with the community that we have been helping. An amazing display of community treated us to speeches, traditional dances and singing. Virgil was a fabulous host and treated us to “rice wine” – which most of us had a sip of through the Murut straw. The evening culminated in Auld-Lang-Syne Which was sang in a mixture of Malaysian and English. We did our best to reciprocate the entertainment but were far less  prepared than our hosts !

Tomorrow a final visit to the community project and then back to town to get ready for our dive phase!