Day 28: A refreshing breeze coming in through the gaps in the window, we arose to freshly washed clothes by our bedsides. We were in beds, real beds. Covers and matresses and all. It felt like an English spring morning, and such a stark difference from waking up in a hammock in the rainforest. With little else to do but continually drink the free hot drinks, we decided that we ought to have a group meeting. The occasional motorcyclist chugging along the dirt track outside, we sat round a large and unsandpapered table. We talked all about our experiences and the [View Full Entry]

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Day 27: And I'm so glad to see it! What a night! At around five in the morning, I was woken by some rustling and gnawing sounds below my body, to my right. Crap! I'd left my bag and all my kit on the floor - the first time I'd done such a thing! Being the jungle, it was pitch black all around, and panic crept over me. This was deep panic, that froze my whole body, unable to move even an inch. I lay there in my hammock, head torch in hand, not daring to turn it on, with the [View Full Entry]

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Day 26: It rained a fair bit last night, waking me up, forcing me to scramble out my hammock to rescue all my clean, drying clothes. They were now wet again! Not being able to get back to sleep after getting up, I was subjected to listen to the scary jungle noises. In our now well-trodden routine, we ate porridge for breakfast and dismantled the camp. We left sharply at nine, ready for around three hours of jungle walking. Each days trek was now getting shorter, having decided to drag it out, wanting to spend more time in the jungle than [View Full Entry]

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Day 25: The day started well with porridge, followed by a jungle poo. That is to say, going in a hole in the ground, then covering it up. I dismantled my hammock, and the homely area around it that I'd made the night before. I'd put palm leaves up for walls, swept the floor clean of debris using my foot and created little walkways. The night's sleep was quite pleasing, and I was now reasonably prepared for today's hike, likely to be around six hours in length. With a peeling, sunburnt neck, I left last night's camp site, part of the [View Full Entry]

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Day 24: My, my, my! We started the walk at seven. Leaving Long Dano was hard, and we took ages saying our goodbyes to their kind faces. With the longhouses in the distance, we were soon past the green pastures surrounding the village, back into the jungle. We came upon our second hunted animal of the trip, a dead and gutted Sun bear. it looked as if it had been freshly killed by poachers, or maybe even the villagers. The bear was possibly endangered. After taking a few pictures, we continued our march, with leeches wavering all around. Saturated and drowning [View Full Entry]

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Day 23: The whole trip is going too fast. Today's village project was possibly the easiest yet. We walked for fifteen minutes or so, again with wicker baskets on our backs, to the far reaches of the village. Up a hill, the local men started cutting down some trees, whilst we stood around, infatuated with the odd caterpillars and other bugs that had been showered upon us every time a tree fell. When sufficient trees had been cut, we dragged the trunks down the hill to carry out a quick repair of a bridge. We loaded up our wickers with one [View Full Entry]

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Day 22: With stomachs full of prawn crackers, we had a short walk to the riverside, empty wicker baskets on our backs. Today's task was to collect sand, then transport it to a certain location, several kilometres away. The locals shoved sand into sacks with a spade, then placed it into our wicker baskets. As we put them on our backs, we couldn't believe that these were the same light and comfortable baskets that we'd just carried. Now they were so heavy, painful on the shoulders and very uncomfortable. And we hadn't even started walking yet! The straps dug deep into [View Full Entry]

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Day 21: Sunday. In this Christian community, it was the day of rest. We got up at around seven, with breakfast at eight. Being a Sunday, we were given just crackers and sugary tea for sustenance, before walking to the village church, a mere thirty seconds walk from breakfast. In the local Kelabit language, we mumbled along to some of their religious songs, possibly just translated versions of our well-known songs, but I wasn't sure. Now it was our turn to perform in front of everyone. Having only started the practice last night, we struggled through a delightfully bad rendition of [View Full Entry]

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Day 20: Emma has assumed the role of leader. Armed with spades and other digging implements, we left Long Dano for the day. Our task was to build a 'road' (the word used), allowing better access to wherever the path led. Passing the tools between us, taking it in turns, it wasn't really hard work at all. The walk to the site was probably a lot harder. Digging up cicadas and other weird bugs, we dug out a crude pathway, rejoining the two parts of the path either side. Sat on a platter of leaves and twigs by the side of [View Full Entry]

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Day 19: We'd just spent the first night with the tribe! Not having a room big enough to accomodate all of us, we were split up for the night. Different small groups stayed in different houses that were linked to the main longhouse. I was in one room with Calvey and Kyle, with Soos and Annie next door! Beds were matresses on the floor that soon became infested by ants. They were attracted by the parmesan cheese that Calvey was, for some reason, carrying. The walls were made of almost paper thin planks of wood, that allowed you to hear, and [View Full Entry]

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