Media Frenzy

After a hard day in the office yesterday, we all went to a little bar down the road for a drink after supper. Catherine and I just had an orange juice and then left for an early night.

But.. on the the way home we stumbled upon a big Chinese new year procession. There were loads of amazing outfits so we stopped to take photos. Before we knew it, we were completely surrounded by paparazzi who wanted to photograph and interview us - i don't think they'd really had any white people at the procession before.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, tomorrow we're going to be in the Sabah Post, the Borneo Post, the Malaysian Daily Express and the Star. We've also been interviewed for a local radio show and a TV programme. I've never laughed so much in my life. We were completely unprepared for a media photo call - no make up, still in bikini tops, Cat still had her hair in bunches from a sketch we'd done earlier...

This is one of the photos that's going to be published. We were made to kneel down with 'Salim' (the one in the yellow) who is a bit of a local celeb apparently.

I managed to get all the journalists to agree to mention Raleigh and the good projects that we're doing. I'm sure it's not really the tried and tested way to do PR but I've managed to get loads of coverage and have now met lots of the key journalists!

Luckily I double-checked that they'd got my name right, they originally had me down as 'Rebecca Woolly from London, UK'.

Chinese new year is here. Last night at midnight there was absolutely loads of fireworks going off around the town.

This afternoon we were visited by a chinese 'dragon' - it's a bit like 'trick or treating' at halloween in England - the dragon comes round to all houses, with a band, and people donate money.

Kate: this year is the year of the dog, I was born in the year of the horse!

Not for the faint-hearted!

When we went whitewater rafting the other day a few of us decided that it was a bit wimpy to use a raft and so we went down some rapids on our backs instead (a bit silly i know). My friend Lou had a bit of an incident with a rock and this is what has happened to her leg! I've never seen a bruise like it, she can hardly walk!

Bed

Last night we went out for a 'few quiet drinks' in a nearby bar. Raleigh is meant to be completely dry so it was quite a treat to be allowed out. However, the Long Island Iced teas were a bit stronger than we'd reckoned for and before we knew it we were booking taxis into town to go dancing.

Ended up in a place called 'Bed' on the Waterfront in Kota Kinabalu until about 2. Lots of dancing, lots of group hugging to 'You're Beautiful' and lots of scantily-clad dancing girls for boys (I've put a photo of one up here for you Johnny). The other photo is of Catherine (really lovely, my best buddy here), Matt (the guy we met on the tube Mark), Rosie (very bubbly and sunburnt), and Dave (just got back from Raleigh in Namibia, Kate you'd quite fancy him). The guy just off the side of the photo has a t-shirt on saying 'sex instructor - first lesson for free'. Yes, it was a classy place.

Had great pleasure in saying 'we were in bed by 11' when our boss Rory asked us what we did last night.

Having a hangover in the tropical heat isn't so fun though. Have just managed to blag a 2 hour lunchbreak lying in the sun but am now having to focus on a meeting with Nestle, and drafting a press release.

Water shortage

We've completely run out of water in fieldbase, and we've noticed that the neighbours are away, so this morning we've decided to take the matter into our own hands and have scaled the next door walls to look in their water tank.

They've got water so we've just rigged up a hose system and are busy siphoning water from their tank into ours.

I don't think that theft quite fits with the Raleigh ethos, but we need to wash.

Here's a few other photos from the jungle training....

It's a jungle out there

Have just got back from 4 days in the jungle and it was certainly an experience. I really thought that I was a bit tougher than i am. It was really really hot and humid, it rained alot and there were masses of bugs, noises and mud.

We had to make our own hammocks out of bamboo (we were issued with a machete each) and tarpaulins and we had a good sing song round the campfire in the evening with our guides. I'm completely bitten to pieces by mosquitoes and jungle ants.

We swam in gorgeous rivers, saw beautiful scenery, and laughed a lot about ridiculous things.

But I'm not sure that the jungle's really for me. Within 5 mins of arriving back at Fieldbase me and three other girls booked a cab and went to a five star hotel down the road to use their pool, shower and have afternoon tea! A bit lame really.

This morning we went whitewater rafting which was absolutely brilliant - had lots of water fights and pushing each other in, definitely brought out my competitive side.

All of the rest of the staff have now arrived and it's nice to have some new faces (there's now 25 of us altogether). It's a small world - there's a girl who's a member at Itchenor sailing club (she knows you Mr P, she's called Ginny, don't know her surname yet), and a guy who's a sailing instructor in Plymouth and knows dad's boats really well (Dad: I did the Rolls Royce speech, you'd have been proud).

There's some really great people, but there's also a lot of very hardcore people who clearly spend a bit too much time in outdoor equipment shops. There was shock around the camp when i said that i'd bought my boots in Millets (apparently it's the 'Primark' of the outdoor shop world).

Chinese new year decorations

Chinese new year is just around the corner and there's a massive Chinese community here so they celebrate it with a 5 day holiday (nice). Like Christmas back home, every house is decked out with lavish decorations and there'll be huge street parties at the end of Jan.

We've tried to get into the spirit of things by buying some decorations and putting them up in our office. Apparently they eat chicken feet as well....

Ministry and KL

Have had a very busy couple of days. On Tues I went with my boss Rory to visit the Ministry of Youth and Sports. They're giving us some money for our opening ceremony for the expedition.

It was quite an experience. The building was like something out of a Bond movie. There were really dark long corridors, and to get into any of the offices you had to have your fingerprints scanned. No-one seemed to be doing any work and all the equipment was completely ancient.

We had a quick meeting then they invited us to a ministerial dinner in a posh hotel that night. Rory tried desperately to say no but before we knew it we were going along. Apparently these dinners are 8 courses long, a couple of hours of speeches.... and no alcohol.

When we got back to the office, we got a call from Air Asia to say that my flight to KL had been cancelled for the next morning so I had to pack my bags and go on tuesday night instead.

So i was off the hook for the dinner, but it meant that everyone else here had to go instead. Apparently it was a nightmare. The photo is of Rory with a Korean Scout who was the guest of honour at the dinner. Not sure which shirt i prefer.

I was met at Kuala Lumpur airport by 'Lash' who runs her own PR company and does lots of pro bono work for us. She picked me up in her big BMW and drove me to a '0 star' hotel that Raleigh had booked me into.

She told me that the hotel had a 'very bad reputation' and said that i should immediately lock the door to my room and stay inside. All a bit alarming.

Spent yesterday morning in meetings with Lash's team - learnt all about how the Malaysian / Chinese / Bornean press works, who the key people are etc..etc..

After being taken out for a very long smart lunch (this is PR after all), I met up with some local Malaysians who'd previously been on a Raleigh expedition. I'm going to work closely with them to try to target some of the mainland Malaysian press.

Flew back last night and it was a relief to land safely. Rory took the same flight back last week and when they landed the pilot slammed the brakes on too hard, two tyres burst and the undercarriage caught fire....

Fish and rat

I take back my words about the fish restaurant - it was the most amazing place. The whole restaurant was on stilts in the water, and we chose our fish out of tanks next to the table.

I ate tiger prawns the size of english lobsters!

The rat is still on the lose in the bathroom, and apparently we now have fleas in the office - i'm having to become very open-minded.

We've tried to catch the rat in several ways. First we put a cornflake on the trap (don't ask, it wasn't my idea) but the rat just crept round the edge and managed to grab the cornflake without being trapped by the trap.

Next we attached a cornflake on with an elastic band so the rat would have to give it a good old yank to get it off and would therefore set the trap off. But no, he managed to undo the elastic band and get the cornflake without being caught.

So... last night we wedged a piece of cucumber into the trap thinking that he definitely wouldn't be able to get it out without setting the trap off. In the middle of night we woke to the sound of the trap going off and we nervously headed into the bathroom to get the rat corpse.

But unbelievably he'd managed a pretty cool move - he had knocked the trap off a ledge and dodged out of the way so that it was set off but didn't get him. He then managed to knick the cucumber out of it. But obviously didn't like it as he had a quick nibble then left it.

We're trying peanut butter next.....

Ok, things are taking a turn for the worse - a rat has just run across our bathroom floor, our water supply has gone wrong, and i've sunburnt the tops of my feet! And we're going to a fish restaurant tonight and I hate fish.

Had confirmation this morning that Coca Cola are going to sponsor one of our projects which is great news, and Shell are interested in another.

Day off

Have had the most brilliant day today - we got up early and caught a boat to an island just off Kota Kinabalu... it was gorgeous, turquoise seas, white sand beaches etc..etc..

Did lots of snorkelling and saw so many fish, including parrot fish which are beautiful.

Lots of sunbathing and reading on the beach. The most stressful part of the day was trying to not get tan lines from my i-pod headphones!

Did some shopping with the girls this evening and found a fab outlet store with loads of Abercrombie and Fitch stuff. So we've now all got matching outfits.

Last night we went to an amazing Phillipino market on the sea front. Most of them are illegal immigrants and they live in a floating village just off the seafront. The market was full of food stalls and exotic weird things. We ate there (probably the hottest meal i've ever had - as in temperature rather than spicyness) and then headed into some bars in town.

The town is a really weird mixture of places like the market alongside massive luxury five-star hotels. But in both the people are some of the friendliest i've met. No-one gives you any hassle or tries to sell stuff to you like in Turkey or Thailand. It feels really safe to wander round on your own. Ginger haired people are quite a novelty though!

Well after my first day of work I've got a 'to do' list longer than I've ever had in the UK.

Had a sponsorhip meeting with Nestle yesterday - they're providing lots of Milo for the expedition. Have also got a Reuters feature in the pipeline, and some sponsorship from HSBC and Shell.

Went for my first tropical jog this morning which was pretty sweaty, and I got chased by a dog (Kate you would have loved it, I'm sure it had Rabies).

Still scorchio and we haven't had any rain yet. Am loving sleeping under my mossy net.

I'm here!

Well, after 3 planes, 24 hours of travelling, and no sleep, I'm finally in Borneo. Flying with Royal Brunei, each plane had to be 'blessed' before take off with a round of Muslim prayers over the intercom which was all a bit unexpected.

It's seriously hot here. But lovely. I'm sharing a room with 3 other girls and we've got a sunny roof terrace overlooking the town.

I think I'm going to be really happy here.

Only 2 days to go... the goodbyes have already begun. Started off with work which went fine until I left the building and found myself sobbing down Wood Lane into my BBC pass, panicking that I'd made all the wrong decisions.

Said bye to mum and dad and siddy which was pretty traumatic. Bumped into Matt (also going on my Borneo trip as a Project Manager) on the tube randomly today which made me pretty excited but also nervous about the trip.

Just a few more bits of kit to buy, and then i'll be ready to head off.