Not The Royal Visit

Brother Ian and his wife Clare

     So much to my surprise I learnt on Thursday that Sabah were being honoured with the presence of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge just as I was too expecting the perhaps not quite so royal visit from Ian and Clare. I hear from someone the the Sun newspaper were going on about the dangers and risks of "headhunting" Borneo but I'm pleased to say that Ian and Clare have been impressed by the kindness and lovely nature of all the people they have met so far on their trip and I hope Kate and Will are too. My landlady, who is also one of the head teachers of the schools and also married to one of the government ministers, was invited to the VVIP reception at the airport to meet Will and Kate and Kate greeted her with "hello" which seemed to make Nurliah's day. So despite the celebration of Malaysian Day yesterday (apparently 2 weeks ago it was Independence Day) the Malaysians are still very keen on the British Royals.

  Ian and Clare arrived on the bus from Sandakan to Ranau and we spent a nice weekend visiting Poring Hot Springs, a rafflesia, Sabah Tea Garden, the National Park and Ranau market..I think the highlight for them though was on Saturday night when we gatecrashed a wedding opposite my house. There were fireworks going off and music playing and we decided (encouraged by Emily!) to see what was happening. As soon as we approached the hall we were called in and became the guests of honour! It was a Christian wedding which meant alcohol was flowing and before long we were dancing, eating and drinking the rice wine and having our photograph taken by everyone. Everyone was charming and so welcoming about these strange people that walked in off the street. Unfortunately we didn't bring our cameras. Anyway, I can't imagine we would treat gatecrashers in the same way do you?
   Tanya arrived on Sunday evening looking her beautiful self and we drove up to Simpang Mengayau yesterday where it was very wet and windy. I returned to work leaving Ian, Clare and Tanya there for a couple of days before we meet brother Chris tomorrow.