Borneo; the mountains and the monkeys

Our diving days were cut short when I got ill (I never knew sun stroke and a little beer could be so unpleasant!), so we headed north through Sabah to visit the ginger monkeys of the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. Now I've never been much of a fan of apes/monkeys of any kind, but since sponsoring an orang utan for Nick we've been saying that we must visit one of the sanctuaries in Borneo. Nothing could have prepared me for how cute the orang utans are. You hike along walkways through the forest to sit and wait for the feeding time. We went in the afternoon in the hope of avoiding the coach parties that visit in the morning. It was quite quiet when we got there and there wasn't an orang utan in site. Feeding time came and the food was put out and still no action, everybody was just hanging around watching the long cables that snake off in both directions through the trees. After what felt like an age, the cable on our left started bouncing and along came a rather small and skinny orange bag of bones and muscle. Terry Pratchet once likened the orang utan to a collection of rubber bands; strong, stretchy, and very very bendy. They are so flexible and strong, that the little ones cartwheel from hands to feet as a means of travelling along the cables. They can hang by their feet, fold over and stick their heads though their legs and keep their hands free for eating. They eat, fight, play just like kids, all very very cute. We watched the orang utans for about an hour before they were scared off by the macaques. These are small aggressive monkeys that have to be shooed away from the people as they have been known to bite and scratch.

After visiting the sanctuary we moved on the stay at the base of Mount Kinabalu. Now we didn't have enough time or inclination to climb to the top, but we did wanted to do some of the walks in the surrounding park. When we arrived at the hotel in the afternoon it was cloudy but the views south across the hilly peaks of Borneo were amazing. Just mile upon mile of uninterrupted forest. It wasn't until the morning however, that we got a brief glimpse of the top of Mount Kinabalu before it disappeared in the clouds again. Although it's not that high and supposed to be an easy climb, it's quite dramatic to look at. It's bare, grey rocky peak is a 95% incline so it just seems to rocket up out of the surrounding forest. Seeing the peak has made us both determined to go back there and take the time to climb it.

We left Mount Kinabalu and travelled by bus to Sabah's capital of Kota Kinabalu. This must have been the most hair-raising bus ride I have ever taken. For 70% of the time we driving up and down along the narrow ridges of the peaks, and our bus had definitely seen better days. The engine alternated between coughing its way up the hills, and squealing its way down. We could hear the brakes struggling as we leaned out of precipitous drops round bends. As the journey went on the smell of burning clutch got stronger and stronger. It was quite a relief to make it down to flat ground. Saying that, as stressful as the journey was, it took us through some spectacular countryside. We were on the only road across Sabah and the views are spectacular. It was a refreshing change to see unspoilt rain forest unlike the miles and miles of palm plantation that run along the east coast. It is sad to see that so much natural habitat has been destroyed.

All in all, Borneo was a really amazing place to visit. Apart from the beauty of the forests and wildlife, and the picture postcard perfect island beaches, all the people that we met there were really cool. It's not often that you go to a place and you can speak highly of the tourists but it seems like it's a certain type of person that makes their way to Borneo. Everybody was very like minded and more interested in appreciating the natural stuff rather than just looking for a good party. It's a very easy place to make friends.

For the last bit of our holiday, we had decided to head up to the Cameron Highlands on peninsular Malaysia. I've been wanting to go there for a while but always get distracted with the diving. The Cameron Highlands are a band of hills that run up through northern Malaysia. They have been popular with the Brits for a long time and in places can even have an 'old English village' feel to them and there's even an old red phone box. The highlands have cooler temperatures than everywhere else in Malaysia and are the agricultural centre of the country. There are vegetable and strawberry farms everywhere and cactus gardens and flower markets line the roads. Cameron Highlands most famous export however, is tea. When you head off down quiet side roads you find yourself travelling through the most beautiful manicured tea plantations. This would definitely be my first choice of places to live in Asia, it's a shame they don't really need teachers like in Thailand.
We spent our days either hiking or exploring on a moped. We stopped for tea and scones each day and filled up on some of the best Indian food I've ever had for nearly every meal. I can't wait to go back. Next time I'll just have to remember to take more clothes, I got so cold at night I had to sleep in a jumper!

Not quite Vietnam....

By the time we got back from Canada we were both absolutely exhausted and quite relieved that we had left a break of 4 days for planning before we were due to fly out to Vietnam. After making some tentative decisions about which places we were going to stop off in and where we wanted to stay, we enjoyed having a few days to stay in and chill out by the pool. It wasn't until we went to catch our flight to Vietnam that we realized we obviously hadn't done enough planning. Until we were turned away at check in, we were both unaware that you are unable to get a visa on arrival in Vietnam, unlike every other Asian country we've been to. After an embarrassing few minutes of exclamation and claims that this obviously couldn't be the case for a British passport as us Brits must be exempt from that rule (poor argument I know, but worth a try), we gave up and headed to the Vietnam embassy. As it was 3.00 on a Friday afternoon before the 5 day Thai holiday of Songkran, we didn't hold out much hope of being able to get the visas in any kind of a hurry. We were told that we would have to wait 6 days before leaving and we weren't quite prepared to waste that much of our holiday hanging around in Bangkok. So, with a rather abrupt change of plan and very little organisation we headed off to Borneo the next day.

In truth, Borneo wasn't simply picked out of a hat as a replacement destination. We have been looking into it for some time and were hoping to go in October. Both myself and Nick have been hearing about that holy grail of dive locations; Pulau Sipidan for a very long time. Sipidan is a small atoll island about an hour's boat ride from Semporna on the coast of Malaysian Borneo. Once arriving in Semporna however, we found it wasn't as simple as we had hoped to get out to Sipidan. All accommodation on Sipidan itself was closed down in 2004 as there was fear that all the development was causing too much of a strain on the surrounding underwater ecosystem. What a nice treat to see, buildings being pulled down to protect the wildlife. Now all the diving is done on boat trips from Semporna or one of the surrounding islands and visitors numbers have been limited. We were faced with trying to find a dive shop that had space on the boat or were able to get permits. Some places get them every day, some every other. We had to trek around them all.

Our first day's diving was at Mabul as we were unable to get permits for Sipidan. We weren't that bothered as according to the guide book claims, Mabul is the 'home of muck diving'. Maybe it was once, but having been to Lembah, we were both quite disappointed. We didn't really see anything new, all very average apart from a pretty cool dive under an old oil rig. Apparently the rig was positioned where it was (right in front of probably the most expensive resort in all of Borneo) just to annoy the wealthy resort owners. Think you'd be a bit pissed if you'd spent a fortune to stay there and when you opened your shutters you saw the picturesque huts, flowers and deck, all surrounded by reef edged crystal blue water, right up to the great big ugly rig 150 metres of shore. As I said though, makes a pretty unusual dive site!

With all the hype about Sipidan I really was expecting the diving experience of my life. When we dropped in for our first dive and found ourselves faced with a school of bat fish and 3 huge green turtles all within the first five metres, it really did live up to it's reputation. However, I thought if I made it there, then I would be nearly guaranteed to see a hammerhead. Not so and it's still on the wish list. While the diving was unquestionably dramatic, with a vertical 600 metre drop off 20 metres from the beach to dive along, it never really produced that 'oh my god' wow factor I'm still waiting for. But, as I've said before, I think that we're maybe a bit spoilt. I am sure that the majority of divers would be content with countless turtles on every dive, sharks on every dive, schools of banner fish, a school of 20 white-tip on the prowl, and the meanest 1.5 metre tuna I've ever seen. There was one element of the diving in Sipidan that was quite simply unforgettable however, and that was being underwater while dynamite fishing goes on nearby. With Sipidan's proximity to both the Philippines and Indonesia, apparently this happens all the time. The first time we heard it underwater we couldn't work out what it was. A huge great bang that seems to come from all around you. The only thing I thought it could be was a high pressure hose exploding and ended up frantically looking round for someone in distress. The second time it happened the effect was even more dramatic, that bang seemed quieter, but you could feel the shock wave travel right through the water and your body You reverberate inside like you've been caught in a sonic boom. It's quite distressing to know that you're in one of most revered marine parks in the world, while the most indiscriminately destructive fishing technique is used right next door.

Canada part two (the quiet bit)

After saying goodbye to Nick's family and driving back to Calgary we took a remarkably scenic flight to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Most of the short flight is spent flying over mountain ranges. It's only from the air that you can really appreciate how vast a landscape British Columbia has. Just mile upon mile of rugged white mountain ranges with only a smattering of remote communities. Descending into Victoria is no less spectacular, with the surrounding ocean dotted with thousands of small green tree covered islands. We stopped briefly with friends in Victoria before hiring a car and driving across to the west coast of the island to a small town called Tofino. Driving across Vancouver Island is pretty much like everything else we saw in Canada, huge forests, huge mountains, lots of open space. Makes you feel healthy just driving through at it! On route we stopped at a place called Cathedral Grove. A collection of paths and walkways that wind through immense 800 year old cedar trees. Apparently this is one of the many sites where people have been protesting the massive amount of logging that's destruction is evident all over the island.

Tofino is a small community that is set at the end of a long peninsular that shelters the Clayoquot Sound. This sleepy little town has now become a haven for surfers and wildlife lovers in the summer and storm watchers in the winter. If and when I set up a home, I'd kinda like it to be somewhere like here. With quite a large 'First nation' community there are local style art galleries everywhere and it has some really nice restaurants and bars. We stayed in a beautiful mezzanine studio with a deck overlooking the water and islands. For my birthday we went out whale watching and were lucky enough to catch up with 6-8 migrating grey whales. They were a reasonable distance away most of the time but we did get a couple of close encounters. We even got covered in whale snot at one point when one surfaced after going under the boat. We then went to explore one of the many immense white sand beaches before heading out for dinner at a really cool surf bar/restaurant. I'll make it back to Tofino one day just so I can eat there again. It was quite an unforgettable birthday.

We really didn't want to leave Tofino and I wish that we could have stayed longer. It wasn't just that it's such an amazingly peaceful place to explore and you have nature right on your doorstep, but also as we had arranged to go diving with our friend in Victoria. The weather was great while we were in Tofino, but not great enough to make me think I was ready to jump in 7 degree water. Our plan for Victoria was to get back there in the afternoon and meet up with a friend at the local dive shop and after having a brief on land induction, hike our way along the breakwater in front of the shop and drop right in. Now anyone who's been in a drysuit is probably thinking that it sounds pretty foolish to drop straight in the ocean without getting used to it in the shallows first. But hey, come on, as an instructor and divemaster we were both kind of thinking 'how hard can it be...?'. Getting ready for a warm water dive takes around 5-10 minutes going slow. It took us 3 hours to get our stuff together, talk about the gear, get into the gear and get ready to hike. We set off rather hot and harassed in our 3 layers of fleece and thermal under our restrictive spaceman like drysuits, carrying 35 lbs of weight plus the extra weight of the tanks, all the way a long the concrete blocks that make the breakwater. It took us about 15 minutes to walk about 500 metres to the drop in point. By this point our thermals were damp with sweat and our knees were shaking from the weight.

It is quite a strange feeling to prepare yourself to jump into really cold water fully clothed. It is even stranger to hit the water and have the majority of your body stay dry. The only part of you that is exposed to the water is your hands and your head. When the water works its way through the hood the sensation is not really one of cold, more like someone slapping you repeatedly round the ears. Although as the water in your hood warms up this feeling eases. Diving normally in thin wetsuits, you get used to complete freedom of movement. In a drysuit every time you move your head or neck the chances are you'll let water in, also the huge hood you wear will move your mask and you get a face full of icy water. Turning around is obviously a skill that takes a bit of practice. When I took my drysuit off at the end of the dive I had to pour water out of my boots. Getting water in the suit means that all the insulation is lost and you just get cold. As well as being cold, I don't think I've felt that uncomfortable in the water since the start of my Open Water course. I felt like a student all over again. You have so much weight and air around you that you haven't a hope in hell of controlling your buoyancy. I must have looked like an overweight cruise shipper in the water, constantly going up and down and crashing into things I couldn't see (remember, no turning around).

The whole reason for getting cold and wet in the first place was to see one of natures more unusual creatures, the wolf-eel. This eel like fish has to be one of the ugliest animals on the planet, but it is also one of the friendliest. They often swim out and wrap themselves round divers, they just want to be loved. From the picture you can see why, not the most attractive of faces! Luckily we got our wolf-eel encounter before we gave up and called it quits. 3 hours to get ready for a 22 minute dive. Not only that but we ended up with a longer walk back with the added weight of the water. This dive was meant to be the warm up for 2 more challenging dives the next day. Needless to say I for one was definitely not up to that challenge and so we opted to stay dry and warm for our last day on the island.

The boat trip from Vancouver Island to the mainland has to be one of the most scenic routes taken by a huge car ferry. You wind yourself in and out of the small surrounding island and get to check out all the beautiful houses dotted a long the shores. We were lucky to pass a pod of killer whales feeding in the ripping currents that run between the channels of the islands. They were the last on the long list of stuff we had hoped to see so it was really cool. All in all while in Canada we saw wolves (sadly only in a sanctuary), grey whales, killer whales, eagles, seals, sea lions, a sea otter and Nick even saw a grizzly bear.










When we got to Vancouver city we decided to check into a hotel for a few hours before our late night flight home. After a very brief Internet check we opted for what appeared to be a nice reasonably priced hotel in a place called East Hastings. No doubt all our Canadian friends will be chuckling right now. We got to the hotel and spoke to the guy at check in about walking to the trendy Gastown area that was nearby. He recommended walking the back way to avoid the main street which apparently had 'a lot of poverty'. Following his advice we set off along a rather dodgy route past lots of prostitutes, homeless, and quite a few people who just stood on their own in one spot rocking. Vancouver is one of the wealthiest cities in Canada and this area seemed more third world. Getting to Gastown it's strange to see such obvious wealth right next to such poverty. However, we still got hassled by some rather aggressive beggars. Having explored a little bit and wanting to head back before dark made the area a whole lot worse, we decided that regardless of what the guy at the hotel said, that the main road must be busier and seem less threatening. Not sure if it was a result of the recent mugging attempt but I was feeling decidedly edgy. Walking along the main road in East Hastings is like being dropped into the middle of a movie set in the Bronx. There must have been a few hundred homeless people hanging around on the street. We were without a doubt the only people (other than a photographer) who had somewhere warm and clean to go to. Canadians call this area 'ground zero' or 'needle park'. Because Vancouver is slightly warmer than most other areas of Canada, and because East Hasting has Canada's first safe injection program, the area is a mecca for every drug user in the country. Two Canadian friends of mine said that when they visited the city and were driven through East Hastings they were told 'lock the doors' and they drove straight through. Feeling like we so obviously stuck out on the street was quite scary for me, but more than that it was quite depressing to see such a concentration of poverty in an otherwise wealthy city.

Considering that we were only in Canada for around 2 weeks, and that it is such an immense place, I feel very privileged to have done and seen so much (at times possibly more than we bargained for!). By the time we got on the flight to come home we were absolutely exhausted. Luckily we had 4 seats each to ourselves. A big thumbs up for China Air!

Canada part one (the cold bit)

After much hanging around and waiting bored at school without the kids, we finally finished our school year and got to leave for Canada. The route from Bangkok to Calgary isn't one of the easiest or cheapest to do, but where there's a will there's a way and all that. Because of the fact that we were going through 5 different time zones and crossing the date line, and because our airline failed to state how long any of the flights took, we decided to set a stop-watch going when we left the apartment at 11.00am on Friday the 21st as we had no idea actually how long we'd be travelling for. Our first flight took us to Hong Kong with a brief stop of one hour. We then flew to Taipei for another short stop. From here we had the long flight on to Seattle before a very quick and harassed shuttle through the airport (stupid American immigration process...) to catch the final flight. By the time we reached our hostel in Calgary we had been travelling for nearly 27 hours and awake for 37, and it was still only Friday the 21st. It really was the never ending day.

Waking up early in Calgary and dressing again in our lightweight travelling clothes, we thought we'd be alright to walk the two blocks to the car hire place. Now the blowing below zero degree winds that whistle through Calgary must feel bad to just about every visitor, but having come from Bangkok's 36 degree humidity, it was rather a shock to our systems. This is just one of the many extremes of Canada. It is definitely a country of huge and dramatic proportions in every sense.

The drive from Calgary to Lake Louise is quite spectacular. Endless flat parched brown plains stretch as far as you can see before the mountains suddenly loom huge and white in contrast along the horizon. Once into the mountains the massive 18 wheeler 'muscle' trucks seem dwarfed by the 'awesome' scenery (sorry hate that word, but you find yourself using it a lot driving around Canada). Lake Louise, the first resort area we were staying in, is really just a small collection of hotels set back from the main road, 5 minutes drive away from the slopes in one direction, and 20 minutes away from the actual lake and the famous chateau that is perched at its edge and is surrounded by more mountains and a glacier. Once settled in we headed up to the slopes to meet up with Nick's dad and the rest of his family, and to be laughed at by them as we attempted to get the hang of snowboarding again. Now I had really hoped that as this was now my third holiday snowboarding that I would find it all really easy to get the hang of again and I would get on to tackling bigger and better things this time. Wrong. As always, we had to start with the humiliating experience of going up and down the nursery slopes with us sliding and falling as a battalion of 3 and 4 year olds cut us up and whizzed past. This was probably more humiliating for Nick than for me, he's a very able skier and it must be quite hard to cope with doing face plants in the snow again.










While Nick soon got the hang of it and although I started well, my Lake Louise snowboarding experience wasn't the best. I have huge issues with pointing myself downhill and picking up speed. Bit too much of a control freak I think. It's one of those things that if you don't fully commit yourself to the direction you're going then you're gonna wipe out and hurt yourself. As the days went on I had more falls and less confidence which of course equals more falls. It got to the stage where I thought I should just give up. I felt like I was spending most of the time feeling half terrified. I'd watch kids being towed up and down the slopes by their parents with the kids crying "I don't wanna/don't like it/can't do it" and that's exactly how I felt. Only it's alright to do that when you're under 10, it's not so acceptable for a 28 year old to do it. You just have to keep quiet and kick your own butt back up the mountain.


My experience improved quite dramatically when we move on from Lake Louise to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. This small scale resort with quiet slopes was absolutely amazing. Considering the fact that everyone I had met had told me it wasn't a place for beginners and was 'such a big mountain', I think it's a pretty fantastic place. The busiest slopes will only have a handful of people on and there is so much space. I was also fortunate to have an instructor who with one simple change of stance completely changed my way of boarding. Managed to do so much more as a result.










The main reason for our trip to Canada was so that Nick's dad could celebrate his birthday in style with his whole family. It was kind of cool for me to be away with such a large and close family group. There were 11 of us in total. This could be a bit overwhelming at times, and often an organizational or logistical nightmare. However, it meant that there was always someone new to chat to and everyone was really good fun. We had some great nights out and went to some amazing restaurants, the best being for Eric's birthday at 3777m in the stunning Eagle's Eye restaurant. Log fires and 360 degree mountain top views make for a pretty unique dining experience, and the pitch black gondola ride back down the mountain at the end of the night was not something I'll get to do too often.
All in all, what with the setting, the company, and all the fun and games, the whole experience was one I'll never forget.