Adidas Kampung?

My first trip with work was to evaluate a potential eco campsite in the jungle. The area is about an hour away from Kota Kinabalu the drive was beautiful as it wound through the countryside of Sabah with occasional views of Mt. Kinabalu.
The homestay had  beautiful views of the jungle and the gorgeous houses nestled in the mountains. There were local children, who were playing some wired game that only involved three sticks and lots of running around. The children were having the best time playing this simple game and it made me think how sad the ipad, x box ect generation that I see growing up back home, kids should be outside!  
Around two in the afternoon the rain started and didn't stop for about 10 hours (it's the wet season!) so there wasn't much to do besides hang around, nap and read. Dinner that night was again local food and I  tried local Sabah deer, so yummy!
 The next morning the group left for the hike and we were joined by two mountain guides/porters. A porter's job is to carry your stuff, a totally foreign concept to me and I felt lazy but you have to remember it's their job and your helping out the village. I would have been lost without their guiding help thank goodness they were there!
The hike started in the jungle and it was beautiful and crazy the trail was pretty much non-existent . The guides walked ahead of the group and cleared the way with machetes (Jamie, Matt and Trina your dream job?). On top of all this the group had to ford the every 10 minutes  the water was pretty rough, so you have to cross as a group and everyone ended up soaked each time.
Overall I thought the trip was a great experience for me and highlights included perfect views of Mt. Kinabalu, the jungle trek and the tasty Sabah deer. The trek was fairly easy but in some parts I found quite technical such as the continuous fording of rivers, muddy up and downhill, slippery rocks and moving boulders.  Everyone slipped and feel down at least once!
Luckily I had the locally made shoes Adidas Kampung shoes they are made out of rubber and have grips on the bottom especially designed for clinging to rocks. These shoes are perfect for hiking in the muddy jungle, fording rivers and blouder, the best bit? They cost less than three dollars!
I got my first leach ! It wasn't scary and I couldn't even feel anything I just looked down and my leg was bleeding. Next time I will defiantly wear leach socks but I still prefer them to ticks and I like to think that it's helping to clean my blood.
Sorry I can't about the lack of detail but a lot is still confidential!

Orang Putih

Sorry about the lack of updates I have been having horrendous issues with my laptop's internet connection and working long days, I have been busy! I joined the gym attempting to get in shape I don't want to die when I climb that mountain!
I'm beginning to settle in and feel like a local and learning a little bit of Malay. I can even order a coffee now and I can hear when people talk about the orang putih (white person) I know that's me! Slowly getting used to the eastern mentality things run a little slower, less organized and more relaxed  in general. For example, I know I mentioned catching the bus in my last blog well the buses don't have a schedule ie the bus leaves at 7, 7:15 ect they leave when the buses are full. So I get to the bus station early and get to the office any time between 730 to 8ish. Or joining the gym they wanted me to wait a week to process my paperwork and then I could pay and use the gym then. The ex-pats here call these examples Sabahisms and all you can do is laugh, slow life down and relax.
 
You all know how much I love my food and so far the food here has been amazing and so cheap! Kota Kinabalu is a melting pot of food, cultures and religions. Malaysians are a mixture of Chinese, Indian and many local indigenous cultures such as Dusun and Kadazan are the main ethnic groups. There are 60 different ethnic groups throughout the Malaysian side of Borneo.  Unlike the rest of the Muslim dominated Malaysia, only about 50% of the island is Muslim and the rest is a mixture of religion but mainly Christianity. The Muslim presence is still felt most of the restaurants are halal free and pork products are hard to find but most of the Chinese restaurants serve pork. This doesn't bother me I'm not a big pork eater to begin with but it would be hard for all you bacon lovers!
 

Because Perth is fairly multi cultural  and trips to Bali some of the dishes are  familiar such as Laksa, Nasi/Mee goreng and satay. But unlike Bali there is more variety and the dishes have more of an Indian or Chinese twist. The food is cheap the "western" restaurants are really good and have quite a high standard too I have tried some amazing pizza, pasta, burgers and the seafood! Usually I go out for lunch at various at local restaurants around the office and either eat what the girls have or what looks good on the menu. I went out for Indian and ate off a banana leaf and with my hands, above is the picture!
Well I'm off to get a facial but I will try and update more soon!