After three pretty hectic, pretty days, wedding fever is mellowing (although I'm feeling a bit fever-ish now - self-induced). The wedding itself was last night and wonderful! An evening of merriment under palm trees at the edge of the South China Sea. The ceremony was very informal (the whole Sarawakian formal-informal thing is something I've still not quite got to grips with), with the Best Man doing a forward roll into his position and everyone else dancing in - a nice change from the norm! - and there was beer on-tap for about 2 hours beforehand. There doesn't seem to be an inappropriate time for beer consumption out here. I was mostly on the tuak (local rice wine), which is maybe the reason for the dodgy head I seem to have today! And, to name but a few happenings, there was some karaoke, Khoon's adopted cousin from the Kelabit Highlands doing a traditional dance, finishing with a blow-pipe and balloons party-trick (someone kindly pulled me out of his line of fire), noodles, white roses, jack fruit, some very emotional moments initiated by the beautiful Japanese Bride (Yukari), and much bare-foot dancing. A merry time seemed to be had by all. A great mix of cultures and people on one warm beach.
The last few days has been pretty hectically fun too. I was bathing in a waterfall in Lambir Hills National Park by 10am on Thursday with a bunch of the international buddies of Khoon and Yukari. After an hour's climb to get to it, and literally pouring sweat for most of the way (I'm finding it difficult to only 'glow' here), it was so amazingly refreshing. A magical oasis in the jungle. And I avoided the leeches yet again - they really have something against me, as I've never got one despite my different times in the sweaty tropics. I guess I shouldn't feel unwanted and just be grateful. Khoon pulled a couple from between his toes, but then he was only wearing flip-flops (show-off), and I had my beautiful polker-dot leech socks on. Sorry not to have a photo.
Post de-sweating, I had another attempt at cookies with Mrs Khoon. Less sugar and a more thorough cooking this time. They got the thumbs up....but prolonged baking meant I arrived late for an interview with another plantation company. The two ladies (first time I've had an interview with women, especially in their high-up positions) were so welcoming, despite me keeping them on late, and had a lot of interesting things to say about planting oil palm on peat. Contrary to previous interviews, they were preaching about its merits. Very interesting indeed. There goes that conclusion.
That was my last interview of the week, as Friday was a write-off, with an 8am wake-up call for me to go and make sandwiches (after going to bed at 3:30ish). I don't think they would have passed Minstead Cricket Match quality control, but I managed to over-cater, massively, so there's no change there. They were for the tennis tournament on Friday afternoon: an informal many-aside match. I hit the ball atleast 5 times in an hour and a half, which I was pretty proud about, and somehow won a trophy for it. I think it was a sympathy award though, since there were so many of my sandwiches and cookies left. I ate as many as I could to reduce the numbers and demonstrate that they were edible. Atleast I can be proud returning to the UK having won a trophy for my great nation in an international competition. Then, completely exhausted/almost hallucinatory (a word?), I was planning on an early night....so foolishly called up my buddy Kelvin, to see if he had plans for a mellow drink....and ended up staying out until 4am. I should've known better - he's not a light drinker, and since he has the car, one is encouraged to also not be a light drinker. And for some reason it was my birthday, so I was obligued to enjoy the flaming Sambuca they got me. Atleast it wasn't more beer, I guess.
I did manage to get up and run in the morning, in the hope I might sweat out some of the night's over-enjoyment. And, since it's so much cheaper here and I'm sort-of on 'holiday' (this weekend anyway), I treated myself to a massage. It was incredible. Communication with the lady doing it was a challenge (she was a beautiful Thai), but she managed to convey her enthusiasm for my running, having seen me out in the mornings. One of three pieces of evidence to make me think I might be the only person who runs in this town. The second piece of evidence is that I've seen the other runner running around a lot, almost once a day it feels like, and one morning, at ridiculous o'clock (the hour preceeding melting o'clock), we bumped into each other out....err....running, and stopped for a bit of runners' chit chat. We both admitted to seeing each other running about. It's funny how runners seem to be always running - there's a guy in Oxford who seems to always be running when I see him at various different times of the day, but then I'm always running too, and I don't run all the time....so perhaps the only logical conclusion is that running is magic. The third piece of evidence is that I've not seen anyone else running.
No running tomorrow though - I'm in a new location, Bintulu (a cowboy town south along the coast from Miri), and have a couple of interviews tomorrow, so bed time for bozoes. A few more days to gather peat-related anecdotes and enjoy this bewildering wonderland and its fine people.
Fantastic wedding adventure - tick. I'm a very fortunate (if a little knackered) peat swamp conservator.
The last few days has been pretty hectically fun too. I was bathing in a waterfall in Lambir Hills National Park by 10am on Thursday with a bunch of the international buddies of Khoon and Yukari. After an hour's climb to get to it, and literally pouring sweat for most of the way (I'm finding it difficult to only 'glow' here), it was so amazingly refreshing. A magical oasis in the jungle. And I avoided the leeches yet again - they really have something against me, as I've never got one despite my different times in the sweaty tropics. I guess I shouldn't feel unwanted and just be grateful. Khoon pulled a couple from between his toes, but then he was only wearing flip-flops (show-off), and I had my beautiful polker-dot leech socks on. Sorry not to have a photo.
Post de-sweating, I had another attempt at cookies with Mrs Khoon. Less sugar and a more thorough cooking this time. They got the thumbs up....but prolonged baking meant I arrived late for an interview with another plantation company. The two ladies (first time I've had an interview with women, especially in their high-up positions) were so welcoming, despite me keeping them on late, and had a lot of interesting things to say about planting oil palm on peat. Contrary to previous interviews, they were preaching about its merits. Very interesting indeed. There goes that conclusion.
That was my last interview of the week, as Friday was a write-off, with an 8am wake-up call for me to go and make sandwiches (after going to bed at 3:30ish). I don't think they would have passed Minstead Cricket Match quality control, but I managed to over-cater, massively, so there's no change there. They were for the tennis tournament on Friday afternoon: an informal many-aside match. I hit the ball atleast 5 times in an hour and a half, which I was pretty proud about, and somehow won a trophy for it. I think it was a sympathy award though, since there were so many of my sandwiches and cookies left. I ate as many as I could to reduce the numbers and demonstrate that they were edible. Atleast I can be proud returning to the UK having won a trophy for my great nation in an international competition. Then, completely exhausted/almost hallucinatory (a word?), I was planning on an early night....so foolishly called up my buddy Kelvin, to see if he had plans for a mellow drink....and ended up staying out until 4am. I should've known better - he's not a light drinker, and since he has the car, one is encouraged to also not be a light drinker. And for some reason it was my birthday, so I was obligued to enjoy the flaming Sambuca they got me. Atleast it wasn't more beer, I guess.
I did manage to get up and run in the morning, in the hope I might sweat out some of the night's over-enjoyment. And, since it's so much cheaper here and I'm sort-of on 'holiday' (this weekend anyway), I treated myself to a massage. It was incredible. Communication with the lady doing it was a challenge (she was a beautiful Thai), but she managed to convey her enthusiasm for my running, having seen me out in the mornings. One of three pieces of evidence to make me think I might be the only person who runs in this town. The second piece of evidence is that I've seen the other runner running around a lot, almost once a day it feels like, and one morning, at ridiculous o'clock (the hour preceeding melting o'clock), we bumped into each other out....err....running, and stopped for a bit of runners' chit chat. We both admitted to seeing each other running about. It's funny how runners seem to be always running - there's a guy in Oxford who seems to always be running when I see him at various different times of the day, but then I'm always running too, and I don't run all the time....so perhaps the only logical conclusion is that running is magic. The third piece of evidence is that I've not seen anyone else running.
No running tomorrow though - I'm in a new location, Bintulu (a cowboy town south along the coast from Miri), and have a couple of interviews tomorrow, so bed time for bozoes. A few more days to gather peat-related anecdotes and enjoy this bewildering wonderland and its fine people.
Fantastic wedding adventure - tick. I'm a very fortunate (if a little knackered) peat swamp conservator.
posted by Lydia Cole at
10:52
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