Wow, its been months since my last post - and if anyone actually still visits I do apologise, but I am going to try and keep this updated often from now on. So please check back.
I will post again in a short while about the most important thing to ever happen in my life.
So I’m back in Adelaide, my trip was cut short due to a severe allergic reaction to the Malaria tablets I was on. Quite disappointed, but hey life goes on. I had an amazing time and met some amazing people.
What is Borneo like you ask? I must admit the jungle wasn’t as I expected it, I’m not exactly sure what I expected but the jungle I thought was a lot like your everyday rainforest, but beautiful none-the-less.
The weather was FREAKING hot! Not only hot but humid, the weather was around the 35 degrees Celsius and about 98% humidity. Basically you walk outside and you sweat it was ridiculous.
The village we went to in the mountains wasn’t as I pictured it, it was quite advanced, the school had computers etc and EVERY house had cable TV. I mean come on, they can’t get clean drinking water but they can get cable TV? The people were fantastic, so friendly and helpful. Their English was quite poor, but their hearts were in the right place.
Anyway I’m back home now and getting back into the swing of things. I’ll be posting again everyday to every other day if I can. I will also be putting up some photos so keep an eye out for them.
Unitl then…….
So since my arrival in Miri on the 4th of January where we were met by the guy we would be staying with for the past 3 nights Sampson, I have got up to quite a few interesting expeditions, so here goes.
After our arrival in Miri, we were taken to a seedy and when I say seedy think of the seediest hotel you can and times that seediness by 100 and that is what our hotel for the first night was like. But guess what I LOVED IT!! So we checked in and then wandered around the town of Miri which is the second largest city in Sarawak and then met up with Sampson again for dinner with his family. We had a huge feast of meat, vegetables and rice. It was DELICIOUS! After dinner Sampson took us back into Miri and took us to his local pub, which is actually a karaoke lounge where we just hung out and sang for a few hours then headed back to the motel ready for our 9:00am pick up.
So 9:00am come’s and we duck over the road for some breakfast with Sampson before we took our bags back to his house where we have spent last night and we will spend tonight. After we dropped of our bags, we jumped back into the Ute - I was in the tray of the ute for the 30km journey, in which I saw the most amazing scenery - and headed to the Lambir Hills, where we went on a 5km trek through a rainforest (I was a true local in my Rip Curl All Terrain longs - also known as simple flip flop rubber thongs). At the end of this trek we were greeted with a beautiful waterfall which we spent the next 3 hours swimming under. After the swim we trekked back up to the ute - I was in the back again - and we took a 3 hour scenic route trip along the coast back to Sampson’s house for dinner. For about 2 of the 3 hours it was pouring with rain and myself, Mel and Fiona becoming drenched from head to toe. It was just the best feeling. We had a good ol’ Aussie meal of Burgers and Fries for dinner and headed to bed.
So today, we went to an Oil Museum in Miri which we spent an hour or two looking through and then made our way back down to Miri which was about a 30 minute walk - which again I did in my self proclaimed Rip Curl All Terrain thongs - and met up with Sampson for lunch. After lunch we came back to Sampson’s and Alex (one of the people in our group) and I went for about a 3 hour walk around the neighbourhood and it was hot and sweaty. We walked about 10 to 15km and saw some great scenes and took some photo’s, we are now just getting ready for dinner which is a bbq and then will have to head to bed early as we have to be at the Airport about 6am ready for our flight to Bak LeLan.
I’m not sure on how much internet will be available in the village, but I will try and keep you all up to date as much as possible.
So until next time, this is Bizzy signing off from Borneo.
So it’s my 3rd day in Malaysia and second in Borneo (Malaysia). So I arrived in KL about 7:30pm Malaysian time, headed straight up to our hotel (Pan Pacific).
The Pan Pacific, where do I start, this hotel was the most amazing place I’ve ever stayed in. We got to the top of the lifts and a little golf buggy was waiting for us to take us to the entrance, and from there we were treated to a live pianist (he was amazing) and a drink while they organised the key for the room. Headed up to the room and pretty much headed straight back down to the train station (on board the complimentry golf buggy including driver) and headed into KL. This is where the craziness began.
So I’ve headed down to the train station and just missed the KLIA Express which runs from the Airport to KL Sentral (in 28 minutes). So anyway I missed the train by about 3 seconds and so I decided to head up and change some currency and met a Scottish guy from Perth and he said he’d show me how to get into the KLCC (KL City Centre). Anyway we grabbed the next KLIA Express into KL Sentral and changed trains to get into KLCC. From there he asked wanna go out too dinner, I’m like yeah cool and we ducked back to his hotel so he could get changed and then went down to a really ritzy restaurant/bar thing in KLCC (expensive in about $30AUD for a main. And we had dinner, he then not only picked up the tab, but paid for a taxi to drive us around KL showing me what was happening. Then dropped me off at the KLIA Express station and I headed back to the hotel and slept.
So that was Day 1, I will try and post with the last 2 days info tomorrow.
Until then, this is Bizzy signing off from Borneo.
So it’s here, the big day. I’ve just finised the last of my preperation and my bags are packed and I’m ready to go. I’ve got about 15kg worth of stuff, over half is things for the teaching side of my trip.
My flight leaves at 3:30pm ACDT (Australian Central Daylight Savings Time) and I arrive in Kuala Lumpur about 8:15pm. Should be a pretty good flight, I’ve got my iPod, I’m pretty sure they have some sort of console game’s on the Malaysia Airline’s flights.
Anyway just thought I’d let everyone know what was happening, and I’ll try and post upon my arrival in Kuala Lumpur where I will be staying at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
Well wish me luck and until next time, this is bizzy signing off….
So it’s been a while since my last post, but things have been a bit hectic with trying to get ready for my trip and Christmas etc etc.
What did I get for Christmas you ask? Nothing too much, just some clothes to go away to Borneo with and I got an 80gb Ipod Classic. Speaking of Ipod can you believe you aren’t provided with a wall charger with your Ipod? No you have to go and spend an extra $48 to buy one. Such a rip off.
So the countdown is on…..not to New Years but too my trip. It’s only 6 days away now. I’m still not really feeling anything about it at the moment, it just feels really surreal. I’m thinking I’m going to organise a BBQ with some friends as a going away party after New Years, but we’ll see how we go.
Anyway I must be off,
Until next time.
So, it’s just under a month and I’m off on a HUGE adventure. As I said in the previous post I’m off to a tiny little village in the Kelabit Highlands of Malaysian Borneo called Bak le Lan to teach the kids there English for just over a month.
This is going to be a massive adventure for me, having never left Australia and never travelled alone before it is definitely going to be an experience. As excited as I am, it’s also going to be extremely tough, I have to leave Kirsty (wife) home by herself, and this will be the longest we’ve spent apart since being married in Jan 06.
How’s the packing going you ask? Fantastic, not. It’s a slow and arduous process of not only trying to find a way to pack everything I’m going to need clothes, medical and such things, but trying to pack all the teaching resources I am going to need too. With a 20kg limit on the main flight to Kuala Lumpur and then onto Miri but it’s more likely going to be a limit of about 15kg when we have to get on the tiny little Cesna type plane to fly into the highlands.
Anyway enough of the bad parts, what’s going to be so awesome about this trip? Can you imagine spending just over a month in a place where the last time they saw a Westerner in the village was this time last year when another group of volunteers went to do a similar task? Can you imagine having the oppurtunity to be taken into the highlands by some native children to see their families who are one of the last nomadic tribes in Asia? I sure can’t and I don’t think it will really sink in until I’m over there involved in it.
I will be travelling over there with 3 other volunteers, another from Adelaide Fiona, Melanie from Townsville and Alex from Sydney. Having never met any of these people before that is going to be an experience in itself. I’m not the most outgoing off people straight off the bat.
What else is there to say? I’m nervous as hell but also extremely excited at the same time. Is that actually possible?
Anyway I must be off a game of basketball is calling me.
Until next time……this is Bizzy signing off.
Welcome everyone to my brand new blog. What am I going to be writing about you ask? Well I ask myself the same thing……I think I will just put down random thoughts, what’s going on in the life of Biz (Ben) and my lovely wife Kirsty, music and DVD/Movie reviews and anything else I can come up with.
The initial posts will of course be quite random, but through the month of January I will be posting about my happenings on an adventure I am embarking on. I’m off to Borneo to teach English in a place called Bak Le Lan (more on this in a later post).
Anyway just wanted to introduce my new blog, and let you know what I have in store.
Hope you all check back frequently and see where this blog goes.
Until next time…..this is Bizzy signing off!
