I'm about to leave to go and meet Mark at the airport - can't decide if I'm feeling sick with nerves or excitement (or from the pina coladas last night).

So I guess this is the end of this part of my adventure - it's been amazing, I'm not sure if it's changed me or if it'll change my life, but it's certainly been an incredible experience and I've learnt loads. I've seen the most beautiful things ever, and have met some lovely people. Though I've loved every minute of it, it really hasn't given me the travel bug it's just made me love home and everything I've got there even more. It's opened my eyes and I hope I'll appreciate how amazing my life is and how lucky I am a bit more now.

I really love Borneo and can't wait to come back. It's got so much - fantastic people of lots of different cultures, amazing beaches, gorgeous mountains, hot.... it's going to change loads over the next few years though. They've got really ambitious tourism plans, and Australian tourism has boomed here since the Bali bombings.

Can't believe how quickly time has flown. The last time I was home we were taking the Christmas tree down!

I don't feel I've rested since I got here so I'm now looking forward to a 2-week holiday and relaxing a bit. I'm also massively looking forward to coming home, to seeing everybody, to being in my flat, to the english summer (hopefully), to laughing with my pretty sisters, to not being boiling hot all the time, to telling George about my adventures, to walking by the river in Battersea Park, to going to a shopping mall without there being karaoke, to getting my feet muddy at Morston, to not eating rice, to seeing Mum cry when I see her, to hearing Dad's latest Norfolk stories, to not being used to practice english on....

Better dash to the airport.... ahhhh!!!!!

The last few days have been completely manic. We had our closing ceremony for the expedition on Monday night. At the very last minute Rory told me that I would be MC'ing the event. We had loads of press there, lots of government ministers, and all the staff and venturers so it was pretty daunting.

It's Malaysian etiquette that before you make a speech you have to read out all the names of the important people who are there. So, I had to read out loads of names including ones like: Tuan Haju Yanus Haji Suntim; Datuk Awang Haji Zainie Haji Matsin; Yang Berhormat Encik Mohammad Dahali Haji Pesuruhaya. It was a nightmare!

The next night we had the venturer party which was amazing. It was on the most beautiful beach, and we stayed in some really rustic wooden accomodation. Had a big bonfire and music on the beach.

Weds night was the first night after expedition, and the first night that the venturers have been allowed to drink for 10 weeks. Our night out in KK coincided with a US naval ship docking in town so it was absolute carnage. Quite a few people got drunken tattoos (thankfully I resisted).

Mark is about to take off from the UK and so will be here this time tomorrow - very exciting!

Happy birthday Mark!

Opening Ceremony 3

On Friday we had our final opening ceremony - of a library that we've built in a tiny community in the North of Sabah. It was sponsored by HSBC so we took a car full of banking types up there to cut the ribbon. HSBC are the main sponsors of the next expedition here so we need to keep them sweet.

It was pretty amazing to see all the kids in the village pulling the books off the shelves and starting to read them (most of them are illiterate).

Today is the last day of expedition, and all 96 venturers are due back in about an hour!! Can't believe it's over... we've now got 3 days of parties and tearful goodbyes.....

Had a day off yesterday so had a very lazy day in the sun, then went out for Italian with a couple of the girls and watched the sunset in this photo.

Have had lots of press coverage over the last few days. They literally just publish the exact wording of the press releases that I send through so it's pretty easy to get coverage. There's not much news out here. Some sample headlines from today are: 'Paint peeling off new concrete bridge'; 'Six vehicles damaged in separate mishaps'; 'Three held for breaking into bakery'; 'Woman's house broken into'; 'Man falls over'.

They're also allowed to show dead bodies so when there's a murder or fatality they show close ups of the injuries etc. which is really horrendous.

Have now signed off the expedition magazine, CD and t-shirt so things are a bit less hectic and I'm getting very excited about having a holiday in a week's time...

One of our venturers was sent back to the UK today as he was caught drinking - quite an achievement as he was in a Muslim community which is completely dry. He's an ex-heroin addict who apparently has a drink problem but it's a real shame that he didn't make it to the end of the expedition.

Had to write a speech today for the Minister of Youth and Sport in Sabah (he's one of our big sponsors) and was given 20 mins to turn it round.

Was running this evening and all of a sudden 2 massive dogs jumped over a gate and ran up to me and started barking and generally looking fairly angry. It was terrifying - I had thoughts of rabies and dog maulings flashing through my brain. I'm not the biggest dog fan at the best of times. I just stood still, turned my i-pod up and hoped that they'd go away. Which they finally did. It's put me off running around here though. Any excuse to be a bit lazy.

Opening Ceremony 2

Had another opening ceremony on Monday - this time it was for a gravity water feed system that we've installed in a tiny community. The project was sponsored by Coca-Cola as they're trying to boost their image as a water-provider as well as a coke-seller.

It was amazing to see the village turning the tap on and having water for the first time. It's really going to change their lives.

As a result of the success of the project, Coca-Cola have agreed to fund us to install 4 more gravity water feed systems over the next year which is great news.

It's been quite exhausting all the travelling and general hobnobbing. Everyone thinks I look like Zara Philips in the photo.

Rory has just mentioned that he hasn't yet managed to recruit someone to do my role on the next expedition. Tempted though I am to stay out here, I'm definitely coming home so if anyone knows anyone who would be interested in doing the role then let me know. The job title is 'communications officer' and I would really really recommend it to anyone who is over 25 and has a bit of communications experience - the main things are PR, lots of writing, internal communications, a bit of design work, and events. You also need a lot of energy and be able to cope with living in pretty basic conditions and having very few days off.

Sun bear

This is a sun bear stealing food from one of our camps! You wouldn't want to mess with it....

Opening Ceremony 1

As we're nearing the end of the expedition, we've had a bit of a run of press events. Started off on Thursday with a press dinner at the brand new Meridien hotel courtesy of Nestle, who are our main expedition sponsors. A few of us at Fieldbase were invited along and so we got dressed up (very strange to put smart clothes on after 3 months of boardshorts and bikinis) and headed out.

It was really interesting to go to a corporate event outside of the UK. We were outside by the pool, overlooking Kota Kinabalu harbour. Had the most amazing buffet dinner and wine (my first glass of wine since first week of January!).

It all felt a little bit like we were being brainwashed by Nestle, especially when they came round at the end of dinner and said 'Nescafe?' rather than 'Coffee?'

The next day I ran a stand at a recruitment fair trying to get some more Malaysians to sign up to Raleigh expeditions. Had quite a lot of press attending and Rory and I were whisked off to do an interview in the Hyatt hotel. They seemed to be more interested in internal communications at the BBC than in anything to do with Raleigh. Anyway, there's a half page interview with me printed in today's Daily Express (Borneo's biggest-selling English daily) with the most dreadful photo. The headline is 'Communicate to motivate action, says Rebecca'.

The next day we set off for the official opening of a kindergarten that we've built and that's sponsored by, you've guessed it, Nestle. The kindergarten is about an 8 hour drive (the last three are off-road) from KK. We went in a convoy of 4x4s - the Nestle representatives were at the front in very plush vehicles, then the press in slightly less plush vehicles and then me and Rory in the Raleigh landrover covered in mud.

Nestle's head of corporate affairs cut the ribbon. She is incredibly glamourous and is a Malaysian princess. At dinner we got onto the conversation of driving lessons and she said 'I learnt to drive in the Palace grounds so there wasn't much traffic'. She thought it was highly amusing when I told her how my 2 sisters failed their tests so many times. She does internal comms as well so we had a really interesting chat about BBC / Nestle.

Another representative from Nestle was a guy called Jason. Jason is to Nestle what Tom P is to Procter and Gamble - always wearing a company-branded t-shirt, always being a brand ambassador, and normally eating the products.

The opening ceremony went really well and it was really moving to see all the village kids so excited as they stepped into their new kindergarten for the first time. It was amazing for me to see the finished product as I was helping to dig the foundations only 5 weeks ago. All the kids sang 'if you're happy and you know it....' in their best english, followed by lots of Malays songs and dances. There was a rather alarming moment when one of the floorboards broke and a little nipper almost fell through.

There were a couple of TV cameras there, and lots of other press. Rory was introduced by the MC as 'Mr Rory Hell' instead of 'Hall' which caused much amusement amongst the English speakers and much confusion amongst the Malays.

The village head said that it was the 'most historical and memorable day that the village had ever had.'

Everyone in the village was given a goody bag laden with Nestle chocolate, coffee and fizzy drinks, and were treated to lunch. Nestle is so massive in Borneo it's almost obscene - everywhere you look there's a Nestle banner, a Nestle van, or somebody wearing a Nestle t-shirt. And apparently the expansion of Nestle here has tied in closely with the rise in diabetes so it raises a few ethical questions.

Have had one day back in the office today and I'm off to another opening ceremony tomorrow - of a gravity water feed that we've built that's been sponsored by Coca-Cola (another interesting ethical one....).

I was of course on high alert for April fools yesterday, but was disappointed... everyone here has been marvelling at the stories I've been telling about April fools tricks that my family have played over the last few years... last year being the most notable (Dom!).