Sunday Morning in Ranau

Not such a catchy title however this is where I have spent the long weekend. I had plans to go with Sister Caroline into the deep jungle to visit some of her Sisters who run a mission centre and preschool but unfortunately they decided to come back to civilisation for the long weekend so that has been  postponed for now. The celebration of Eid- al - Adha seems much more low key here than in other countries but on Friday there were certainly lots of men in their satin pyjamas and the building site next door to my house has been very quiet as most have returned to their villages for the weekend. Yesterday I did my usual Saturday tour of the market, bought my vegetables,had a rummage through the  "bundles" part, finishing with a roti cennai and mango juice. I bought a bright green skirt for 20 cents and made a Very Hungry Caterpillar for the wall of a newly painted and revamped school library that will be opened on the 7th November in another mentor's area. The British Council launched the pilot scheme of the Power of Reading a couple of months ago. There were about 30 schools chosen in Sabah and they have been given between 350 - 1000 books depending on their size. It is hoped that by testing the pupils' reading levels before and after the book flood that there will be an improvement and that the government may be persuaded to invest and introduce more books nationally in the future. Even though none of my schools were chosen I am determined that next year I will introduce lots more interesting and fun picture books into each of my schools and make reading a pleasure for the younger pupils. Thank you to those already who have contributed -  Ian and Clare arrived with a suitcase of wonderful books - all from the charity shop. I will be in England in December and if anyone would like to contribute even 1 or 2 second hand books I would be SO grateful. Any other ideas for books?( I can give you an address to send to)

Parents clearing some land in school to plant vegetables

No chairs left!

 This week was actually Reading Week or day? throughout Malaysia and on Wednesday we had a time where every school, child, teacher, staff had 30 minutes of silent reading. I'm not quite sure how effective the national conformity approach is to encourage reading but then again why not? So enough of my ramblings and on with some studying which I keep putting off.

For Jane with Love

Jane in October 2011

 My friend and colleague Jane died in May and some of us wanted to celebrate her life in Sabah in some small way . A weekend was organised and her husband Alan, who lives in Peninsula Malaysia , was invited, along with those people who knew her in Sabah. The venue was chosen at  The Seaside Lodge in Kuala Penyu,a place I had never heard of before, but recommended by some other mentors. I was very unsure as to how it would go. I felt that it might be just too sad for us all and we would be overcome with emotion. Fortunately I went to the resort in the same car as Alan and he is being so wonderful about coping with his grief it gave me the resolve to enjoy the time together as Jane would have wanted us to.

Our private beach

"Dostoevsky" 

We arrived at The Seaside Lodge in time for lunch despite the lack of signposts and the most terrible road leading to it. The lodge is set up on a hill overlooking a very long deserted beach and apparently  used to be someone's home and has a sort of colonial feel to it. The eleven of us, plus two babies, had lunch together and then we spent the afternoon together looking at the wonderful photographs of Jane's life and then of her photographs of Sabah. She was a very keen photographer and had a wonderful talent of capturing the people and the scenes of Sabah. Alan was able to tell us more about her life and how they first met and their 30 years of marriage was a shining example of how a inter cultural marriage can work. By 5.30 we were ready to have a drink which we did in Jane style drinking her favourite drink Absolut Vodka and ice with her "Dostoevsky" cheers.

Looking down to the restaurant

The evening continued with more stories of Jane, a few tears but lots of laughs and after dinner the guitar was brought out and despite not knowing many of the lyrics we all managed to enjoy ourselves. The star of the night was Duncan who created the now famous song of the Keningau Blues, an improvisation that was memorable and will hopefully be repeated! This morning we all enjoyed the beautiful beach and sea and finally after a game of snooker we said our goodbyes and promised to keep in contact with Alan.I think Jane would have enjoyed the weekend and we have decided to compile a calendar in her memory with some of her photographs in order to fund raise for the schools she worked in.  We miss you Jane.

The Keningau Blues!

The other direction

The Go Green Day!

Two of my teachers unloading the vegetables
. Religious harmony!!!

The idea of getting all the schools that I work with together, to spend a fun family day began in July and finally with a few setbacks it actually happened yesterday. The maJor setback was that the Prime Minister of Malaysia suddenly decided to visit Ranau on the 13th October and chose the Sports Complex as his venue for speaking to the crowds. I had booked the complex in August but despite my protests a lowly mentor has no influence when it comes to Prime Ministers!  So a new venue was found which was in Ranau and was actually better for transport etc. The next crisis was that all of the possible VIP's that might have come to the Go Green Day were involved in the Prime minister's visit and then the final disaster was that all the Head teachers and Education personnel were ordered to attend a meeting on a Saturday. There was no VIP!! In some cultures that wouldn't be important but in Malaysia believe me it is. Anyway my friend Dr Lungkiam and the Language Officer managed to fill the gap and we all had a much more relaxed time and the one speech wasn't too long!

Singing!

The pledge to use less plastic

   The morning started with an Opening Ceremony of dances and songs, then more songs about the environment. The older pupils led a few flash mob dances and then some games involving rubbish and recycling were played with all the family involved. There was an exhibition of the posters and recycling items that the pupils had made, a lucky draw that consisted of prizes from the vegetable market and then finally the picnic lunch! Anyway we were lucky with the weather and I know that everyone enjoyed themselves and another event is planned for next year.
    Tanya is now safely back in Lille and started work again today. As far as I'm aware I will have no more visitors until the 2013 - but who knows!
P.S. Internet is very slow tonight and I'm having problems uploading the photos so they will be coming.

Olga the orang-utan

So off I went again for my fourth visit to the Kinabatangan River basin and I am certainly not complaining! Each time is different and the unknown and unpredictable appearances of the animals can make it sometimes quite boring and then other times really exciting and exhilarating.Tanya and I  were the only people with our guide and we were walking through the jungle towards the oxbow lake when suddenly Rosdi (our guide) starting pointing frantically and there on the ground eating wild ginger was an adult female orang utan. She looked at us and then started to climb up the tree where we spent the next 30 minutes or so together - us staring and trying to take photographs and Olga (any other ideas for a name?) looking at us and trying to persuade us to go away by throwing leaves and branches at us. Then she tried the urinating and defecating on us and then finally she gave up and stared and we stared back admiring her beauty. It was the longest and most intimate experience I have had yet with a wild orang-utan and will certainly stay in my memory forever. Please forgive us Olga for our intrusion of your morning and I know that there are some humans that might do you harm but we were only being nosey!

 As Tanya said the lovely thing about the experience was how excited our guide was too. Rosdi is a Sungai {river} person who has lived in this area all his life and he told us about how he spent three years on  a research proect a few years ago to follow individual orang-utans through the forest and take notes on their behaviour and habits. They became his friends after they realised that he meant no harm and he continues to be in awe of their intelligence. He told us that the orang utans use plants and herbs for medicinal use and that the wild ginger that Olga was eating would have been to help an aching limb.

The very conspicuous photographers

Katha and Tanya at the top of Mount Kinabalu

  Tanya will be leaving Sabah on Thursday on her way to KL via Singapore. She and Katha climbed to the top of Mount Kinabalu but were surrounded by clouds and couldn't see anything. They suffered  the next day or two but Tanya says her memory is fading already about the pain they went through! I will miss her when she leaves but it won't be too long until we meet up again in France.

The Drive down the Mountain

"Three little maids from school are we.." Preschoolers

On Friday afternoon I was reunited with Tanya after her diving course in Mabul Island. She was with  Katha, her friend and ex house mate from university who is now a physio in Singapore. We headed straight to Manana where we spent the usual idyllic weekend. The weather was lovely and we swam, read, sunbathed and chatted and just enjoyed the peaceful, relaxing setting although I did hear someone mention that the waves crashing on the beach were too loud! I met the owner for the first time and he was telling me that Manana was going to be included in the Malaysia, Brunei,Borneo Lonely Planet edition next year and he was very unsure as to how things would change. On the one hand it is great for business but on the other hand if lots of people start coming to Manana it will loose the feel of discovering a little paradise away from everything. Travel writers are renowned for ruining places by writing about them and I suppose the same is true about the travel guides too.

The view from our chalet

Sunset

  Anyway on Sunday afternoon we set off up the mountain and were doing fine until we came upon a very bad accident, then another and not long after yet another. There are certainly very bad drivers on the mountain but I'd never seen that many before in one drive. The next car we came across was in the ditch and very soon after we realised what was causing the accidents. Some vehicle had been leaking oil the whole way down the mountain and combined with the rain it was making the road just like black ice. I started going very carefully but as we turned round a hairpin bend the car proceeded to slip and we just went off the road. Fortunately the grass eventually stopped us and there were no ditches or other large things in our way. We were very lucky and there are many corners that have huge drops into the valley below so all of us were a  little shaken. I gingerly backed the car and proceeded to crawl at 2 kph for 10 km to Ranau and much to everyone's relief we made it!
  The girls set off this morning to conquer the peak of Mount Kinabalu and it is a beautiful day so I am hoping that they will have good ascent.

Check the hiking boots!