Becs in Borneo

Back from Borneo

2006-05-03T04:55:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now back in the UK and have just worn heels for the first time in 4 months - my feet are in pieces. Got back to the flat to find that Ali had decorated it all in balloons and welcome home banners - I burst into tears (in a good way) when I saw it!

Had the most brilliant couple of weeks with Mark - we climbed Mount Kinabalu, hired a 4x4 and drove across the Crocker Range, camped on the beach at the tip of Borneo, dived with turtles, sharks and barracudas. It was all brilliant.

2006-04-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!

2006-04-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

Opening Ceremony 3

2006-04-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

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.....

2006-04-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-04-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

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

Opening Ceremony 1

2006-04-01T23:42:00.000-08:00

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!).

Shetland pony and hallucination

2006-03-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

Got the great news yesterday that I've got my job back at the BBC. Really really chuffed. It coincided nicely with me having a day off with another Bex, the admin girl in fieldbase for this phase (40, just divorced after 17 years of marriage, very successful interior designer from London, has a yacht on the Solent, and a campervan, wants to meet a good looking sailor so is thinking of moving to the Isle of Wight.. brilliant girl, a great laugh). We're known on the expedition as 'double bex'.

The photo is of Bex doing her 'admin girl typing' impression.

We decided that celebrations needed to be had so we went to a hotel down the road and lay by the pool. Had a long lunch, a jug of sangria, and had a general gossip about life. The heavens then opened and so we headed into town for some retail therapy and dinner on the Waterfront. Had a bit of shopping frenzy, and managed to lose my Raleigh mobile phone in the process.

Then we had 'Radio Raleigh' again in the evening. This photo is of me doing the 'gong' at the start of the show (sort of Big Ben style) which always causes high hilarity. I then had to read the international headlines and I managed to find a brilliant article on the BBC site about a mini metro that had a car accident in Norfolk and when police turned up they found that there was a Shetland pony on the back seat. As soon as I started to read it out everyone else in fieldbase started uncontrollably laughing and so I got complete giggles. I think we'd all been cooped up for a bit too long in fieldbase and had got delirious. I don't think I've had the giggles so much since Mr Bibby threatened to jump out of the window in a latin lesson at Beeston and I was sent out for giggling. I could hardly breathe.

Other things that have happened over the last few days.... Lolita our Filipino cook has managed to blag another month of living here illegally and so is back to cook for us, sun-bears have broken into one of our project sites and stolen all the food so we're having to send in emergency supplies, we've booked to have our staff party on an island down the road called 'Pulau Tiga' which is where the TV series 'Survivor' was filmed, and I had a Larium hallucination that there was an intruder in my bedroom in the middle of the night (Mark it reminded me of our Inworth St episode).

Sunrise on top of South East Asia

2006-03-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

At the very last minute one of the venturers on our adventure phase dropped out of climbing Mount Kinabalu (highest mountain in south east asia - 4095m) so I ignored everyone who said I was crazy and volunteered myself to do it instead.

The climb up to base camp 'Laban Rata' took about 5 hours of gruelling climbing up steps through rainforest, then jungle, then very barren land. We reached the hut at about 6.30 pm and had a massive dinner before heading early to bed in tiny little bunk beds. It was freezing cold as we were already at about 3000 metres. Very strange to feel the sensation of being cold having lived in the tropics for the last 3 months! It was actually lovely to get into bed and get into my sleeping bag and wrap myself in a blanket to keep warm rather than getting into bed and being far too hot to sleep.

Anyway, sleep was shortlived as we were woken at 2am and we set off walking at 2.30am. We all had our headtorches on and walked for about 3 hours to reach the summit for sunrise. The first hour or so was steps and the next 2 hours was really steep granite slopes which we had to pull ourselves up with a rope. Several people got really bad altitude sickness so didn't make it to the top. I had a bad headache but I think that was more to do with tiredness rather than altitude.

Reaching the top was the most amazing experience. We sat on the top of south east asia and watched the most perfect sunrise and the views were breathtaking. Emms - I kept thinking of you and Mark getting engaged up there, what a beautiful place, and how great to have so many exciting things to talk about on the long hike down!

Several of the boys did the obligatory stripping off and posing on the summit and of course all the welsh and scottish people had brought their flags up to have photos at the top (why do they always do that?). It was actually quite emotional reaching the top - I'm not quite sure why but it felt like I'd achieved something really great reaching the top and yet it was quite humbling to be somewhere so naturally beautiful (Mums I just felt like you when I wrote that!).

I had been so focussed on reaching the top, that I hadn't really thought about what it would be like to come down. It was about 7 hours of coming down first granite slopes and then steps and it absolutely murdered my legs. I'd done a bit of a schoolboy thing and not cut my toenails and so they dug into the front of my walking boots - they're now looking black and I think they might fall off. I think the pain was comparable to about miles 15-20 in the marathon, but not half as bad as miles 20-26. But it was beautiful walking down through all the different landscapes and through the clouds.

So I've now done 2 of my 3 big things I wanted to do - climb a mountain, run a marathon and the last one is sail an ocean, which will definitely have to wait until another year and lots more money.

After reaching the bottom we headed off on the bus to 'changeover' when all the groups swap round again. It was great to catch up with everybody and to hear all the gossip (the latest count is that there are 3 staff couples now, and far too many venturer couples to keep count - Henry and Nicky I kept thinking of you as I was watching the couples saying their emotional goodbyes as they headed off on new phases!).

I'm now back at fieldbase for the last 3 weeks of the expedition. I'm going to be really busy as I've got to organise opening ceremonies with the press for several of our project sites, write design and publish the end of expedition magazine, get together a CD of all of the photos, get end of expedition t-shirts printed, send out numerous press releases about each of the projects we've done, and compile lots of case studies for head office. And also tackle the dreaded CV and think about getting a job when I get home.

Turtle!

2006-03-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

I went snorkelling yesterday at a beautiful island called 'Sapi'. Was just thinking how amazing it was as I was swimming in turquoise seas surrounded by loads of brightly coloured tropical fish, when all of a sudden I looked down and there was a big turtle swimming below me! Really amazing...

Diving

2006-03-16T04:12:00.000-08:00

I'm now part of the gang and am a Padi Open water diver. Just spent 4 days on a really beautiful tiny island just near KK doing my training. The first day was in the classroom and I very nearly didn't make it to the rest of the course as I got stuck in a lift! Was coming down from the 9th floor and the lift suddently jolted and stopped in between the 7th and 8th floor. There were a few other people in there, including (typically) a girl who suffers really badly from claustrophobia. We were stuck for about half an hour and then a little Malaysian man wrenched the door open and we were led down a ladder. I felt like I was part of some weird experiment on TV.

Anyway, finally got to the island and I really loved the diving. It was pretty scary, and I did think that I was going to drown when I had to take my mask off underwater and swim along. My instructor laughed so much at the distressed face that I pulled that he had to surface to calm himself down. I also had a bit of a problem as I couldn't stop myself from smiling and every time I did my mask filled up and I nearly choked. Oh and my hair kept washing in front of me so I couldn't see properly.

Saw loads of fish - devil scorpion fish, lots of different types of Nemos, cuttlefish, parrot fish, and loads of others that I can't remember the names of.

I slept in a hammock strung between the trees next to the beach and it was lovely just being able to watch the sunrise from my hammock then go for an early morning swim in the sea. Also had a view of Mount Kinabalu from my hammock which was pretty cool.

Today the island was taken over by Hewlett Packard for a big corporate do. Quite interesting as HP used to be one of my main clients at Hill and Knowlton and so some of the people knew people I knew.

Back in the office now and have already had to have a bit of a row with my designer. Whilst I was away he took it upon himself to sign off some banners and bunting that I'm having designed. He just sent me an email saying 'Rebecca I will not wait for you, trust me, they are going to print'. I most definitely don't trust him as his english is terrible and they've now been printed saying 'Raleigh Intrntional' which is pretty unacceptable! So I'm making him reprint for free. It's quite frustrating trying to get anything done properly out here. They seem to have a very different way of going about things, and absolutely no sense of urgency. Nothing is really done by email - it's all still on very bad quality faxes and there's always powercuts so you never quite know if the faxes have got through.

Had an early morning text from Dads saying that Vix and Dids have got engaged!!! So exciting!!!!

And well done Kate and Dom for giving up smoking!!

2006-03-10T03:27:00.000-08:00

I've had loads of work to do so I cancelled my day off on Tuesday, only to find that by Wednesday I had completely overdone it and got raging flu. Have spent the last few days in bed feeling really grotty. I miss my lovely flat, lovely bed, Countdown and freshly squeezed orange juice from Waitrose.

Having said that, my PR contact from KL flew into KK this afternoon for meetings and as soon as she heard I was sick she arranged for a taxi to pick me up and take me down the road to a five star hotel where she put me on a deckchair by the pool, and gave me lots of magazines and fresh pineapple. So no complaints.

Rita

2006-03-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

On Sunday and Monday, Andy, Cat and me went on a visit to one of our project sites in the North of Sabah in a tiny community called Rita. We are building a little library there. The community is amazing - all the village live in the same house which is a rickety old 'longhouse' made of wood and bamboo. About 50 people of all ages live in it. And also dogs, chickens, cats, mosquitoes.

We were able to stay in the longhouse and were the first 'orang puti', or 'white people' to do so. It was very hard to communicate with them as they don't even speak Malay, they speak a tribal dialect called 'Rungus'.

They taught us how to 'beat' rice (which is what i'm trying to do in the photo), how to play a strange guitar-like instrument (that's not me in the photo), and how to strip coconut leaves to make baskets. Got very little sleep as it's such a communal living arrangement that there's always people up and about and they all get up at about 4.30 to go and do the rice harvest.

The community is really near the beach and is surrounded by coconut and banana trees.

Yesterday morning we trekked for 45 minutes to visit the local primary school and sit in on a few lessons.

2006-03-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

This a sweet little girl who befriended me in the village where i was staying...

By chance I've found out that the BBC are making a series called 'Expedition Borneo' and are focussing on an area called 'Imbak Canyon' which is where one of our projects is. So I've been speaking to the series producer in Bristol and hopefully we're going to work together which will be great for Raleigh.

2006-03-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

A quick photo that my friend has just sent me of me and Cat out on the Waterfront in KK, back in the days before expedition had properly started and we were allowed to drink....

Village life

2006-03-02T01:43:00.000-08:00

I had an absolutely brilliant week in Saguan. It's really remote and basic - no electricity, water, or any kind of communications. Just a tiny shop that doesn't really sell anything apart from notepads and flip flops.

Spent the week helping to build a kindergarten that Raleigh is sponsoring. I'm definitely not cut out for hard manual labour in tropical temperatures - it was exhausting.

But the community was amazing, we were constantly surrounded by loads of kids, we gave them english lessons, organised a big sports day for them - tug of war, egg and spoon (well, stone and spoon), sack race etc.. and had volleyball matches with them every evening after work. We lived on the floor of their tin community hall, and washed in the river.

On Sunday we went to church with them and they made us get up onto stage and sing. We did a hearty rendition of 'Jerusalem' and as I let slip that I'm in a choir I was made to take centrestage with the microphone.

I managed to discover the 'Curtises of Borneo' in the village who completely took us under their wing. The family were hugely competitive at volleyball, the house was the scene of many parties during the week, they played the music in the church and every girl who entered the village seemed to be vetted by the two sons.

The other project manager there was Ginny who's in the photo with me and used to work in Raleigh head office (TP her family live in The Old Rectory in Itchenor) and we got on brilliantly. Her real name is Virginia Fox - awesome!

After the week we went back to Kota Kinabalu for 'changeover' when all the groups come together and swap round. We stayed in a hotel called 'Borneo Paradise Resort'. It is in Borneo, and it is a resort.

Each group had to give a performance of what had happened during the phase. We did 'Borneo Rhapsody' (Is this the real life, or a larium fantasty, caught in a landslide, no escape from Raleigh.... etc..).

It all kicked off a bit at changeover and a couple of the members of staff had a big falling out with our boss. One has subsequently packed her bags and quit and I think another one won't be far behind which is a bit of a nightmare. I'm trying to stay well out of it.

So, back in fieldbase now, looking brown as a berry (well, within the ginger boundaries), with builders muscles in my arms, and with a slightly slimmer waistline having lived off porridge and corned beef for 2 weeks.

Only 6 weeks now until Mark comes out to see me! Time is flying....

Road trip continued

2006-03-02T01:19:00.000-08:00

Back in the office now after nearly 2 weeks out and about. Had the most amazing time.

The girl with the back injury is now fine, she was airlifted out of the jungle and within 36 minutes the helicopter had landed on the roof of the main hospital in KK. She was in hospital for quite a few days but is now fine.

Our landrover trip restarted but within an hour we had another drama. The roads in Sabah are pretty treacherous and we were driving along a nasty bit with a sheer drop down one side (mum you would have loved it). All of a sudden a 4x4 came really fast round the corner in the middle of the road. We swerved to avoid it and it then fishtailed across the road and into the crash barrier near the sheer edge. We were all fine but it was pretty scary.

After a night in a very seedy hotel, we then carried on to one of our project sites in the Danum Valley which is a virtually untouched area of rainforest. We'd been told that the main track in was unusable as several bridges had been washed away so we had no option but to take a slightly illegal off-road route through some oil-palm plantations. After 5 hours of offroad driving (the stuff of dreams for landrover enthusiasts), and having to blag our way through 6 sentry gates, we were then faced with a swollen river to cross. We waited for about an hour to see if it went down but then we just had to go for it. We could feel the front of the landy lifting as we crossed, and water was coming over the bonnet.

After another 2 hours, getting stuck in the mud, and having to cross another even deeper river, we finally arrived in Danum Valley national park. It's a really amazing place - we saw monkeys as we drove in, and elephant poo (but no elephants!). Got a great reception from the project group when we finally arrived and they managed to craft us up chicken curry and banoffee pie from their rations. Had a night in hammocks and I woke in the morning to find that my walking boots had disappeared. After much searching we found them about 20 metres away from the camp - they had been taken in the night by a bearded pig!

The next day we went to another project site in a tiny Muslim village which used to be next to a big river but is now in the big river. The flood waters are at the level of the top of the village volleyball net.

Our next stop was a little village called 'Saguan' where I was being dropped off to help out for a week. We'd heard that the village was completely cut off due to bridges being washed away, but in true landrover extreme style we decided to give it a go anyway. We drove for 4 hours down a really muddy track before the road completely stopped due to a massive landslide. So we had to get our stuff and trek in for the last few miles.

We met the project group and I was left there for the week, whilst Rory and Mia headed back out. On the way out they got stuck in the mud for 6 hours and had to dig themselves out...

Road Trip

2006-02-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Headed off this morning in a landy with Rory and a local girl called Mia to go and visit all of the project sites, deliver post and rations, take photos etc. We packed the landies up with a couple of weeks' of supplies, charged ipods, hammocks etc. and headed off.

However, 2 hours into our trip we got an emergency call on the radio saying that one of the venturers had fallen 15ft in the middle of the jungle and had probably fractured her lower back. So we've had to rush back to the office and there's currently a helicopter on it's way to the jungle to have to airlift her out. The group are having to carry her by make-shift stretcher for 3 hours in order to get her to somewhere with enough open space for a helicopter to land.

So... back in the office again, and as long as the girl is ok then we're going to try to head off again tomorrow.

Stampede

2006-02-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

Had a day off yesterday so went to a gorgeous beach down the road, and went to see some orangutans. I'm not really an animally person but they were quite cool and seem to have a pretty chilled time just jousting around in the trees.

At about 5 Catherine and I went for a walk along the beach. She suddenly screamed and I turned round to see about 10 horned bulls stampeding towards us. There was a scrawny little local man trying to control them with a piece of wood but he wasn't being very successful. And we were just in bikinis so obviously didn't have much padding against bull horns. We stayed dead still and they ran round us at the last minute, but it was pretty scary. They had escaped from a nearby paddock and were heading off along the beach.

Work-wise, have been busy writing a couple of newsletters and making plans for more press events that are coming up. Also, last night was the first 'Radio Raleigh' which is a sunday night 15-minute radio show that I have to write and we (fieldbase) broadcast it out to all our project groups. Included news from home, messages, sports results, song requests etc. All of us had a different section to read out and we had a 6 o'clock news style 'gong' at the start which was a wok and a wooden spoon. It was very funny and it was great to hear all the project groups cheering from the other end of the line.

Opening Ceremony

2006-02-09T04:54:00.000-08:00

After 'jungle camp' we had the official expedition opening ceremony last night. The Sabah Minister of Youth and Sports gave a speech, and then there was lots of cultural dancing and a buffet meal. Nestle were sponsoring it so we had free Nestle products for the venturers.

Managed to get about 8 different newspapers to come along and two different TV stations so we should get lots of coverage tomorrow. It was very handy that I'd already had a press encounter last week so the journalists all recognised me. Also very good throwing in that I used to work for the BBC - they love it.

Had to have dinner with several of the Ministers afterwards which was pretty painful - cold curry and rice, and lots of small chat in broken english.

Had a big press lunch today at a posh hotel in town to try to butter up a few of the mainland Malaysia press.

I'm completely exhausted so can't really think of anything funny to write....

More jungle, and a proposal

2006-02-09T04:43:00.000-08:00

Right, where do I start, loads has happened since I last wrote...

All 96 venturers have arrived, I've been ill with a throat infection, I've spent 5 days in 'jungle camp', I've been proposed to by one of the Malaysian venturers, and I've been befriended by a bloke with ADHD.

The venturers arrived on Saturday and we met them at the airport. Took them straight to 'jungle camp' which is a really beautiful place on the edge of the jungle on a gorgeous river. We stayed there for 5 days and ran various training sessions for the venturers. I ran a few PR sessions and helped with taking them into the jungle and going trekking etc. Lots of games in the evenings, swimming in the river, frisbee etc..

We were staying outside in a sort of pagoda made out of bamboo down by the river, really lovely (Mark I've organised to go back when you're here).

Loads of funny things happened, probably the funniest being when a grasshoppery thing managed to get it's head stuck in Catherine's mosquito net, beheaded itself, and slowly bled to death on the net. We did try to rescue it but it was really stuck. I know we shouldn't have laughed but you laugh at the silliest of things when you're so hot, muddy and haven't had any decent food or a shower for ages. Oh and also a cat sprayed on my friend Claire's face while she was sleeping!

'John' a Malaysia venturer proposed to me on day 3 in front of everyone which was slightly un-nerving. I'll leave you guessing as to what my answer was. I don't think the surname 'Yong Jiang Hoe' is very me.

'Mike' the ADHD chap from Stoke Newington then befriended me and told me his life story. He's 19 and has got a 3.5 month old son who he's left back home with his girlfriend. He's been in and out of prison and is now training to be a plumber. He's on the Raleigh 'motivate' programme which gives disadvantaged people the opportunity to do adventures abroad.

2006-02-02T03:16:00.000-08:00

Had a day off today which was brilliant after two weeks of being in the office without a day off.

A few of us managed to blag our way into the Shangri-La hotel down the road. It was absolutely gorgeous, very honeymoony, lots of rich Americans and Aussies, and lots of Japanese men wearing speedos pulled up above their belly buttons. Spent the day lounging in the sun and swimming.

The update on my media stardom is that yesterday I was featured in 5 local newspapers. I was on the front page of 2 of them with a colour photo. The headline was 'Lion dance thrills tourists at Indian-Muslim eatery - Ward and Barrett get briefed on Chinese Lion Dance Culture.' A bit gutted to be described as a tourist. Raleigh was mentioned in nearly all of the articles so at least I did a bit of accidental PR for them.

Last night we were invited to a Chinese family down the road for some new year celebrations (they really do milk it). They'd also invited a group of environmentalists from a university in Brisbane. I ended up sitting next to a professor of insectology who wasn't the greatest of company. I managed to excuse myself and went to sit near someone else but he turned out to be a collector of homo-erotic art so once again I was a bit stumped for conversation.