Wandering Scotsman

The last couple of days have been very hectic as we are all preparing to leave field base at ridiculous o’clock to fly to Tawau, then get the boat to Sipadan for three days of diving. I never even found time to sort out my luggage so when I come back to KK next week for the dive course, I’ll be doing that in the evenings!

One of the in-country staff, Mia, left to travel today so it was a last night out with her yesterday (there’s some of my pics and a mention in her blog). All the staff that are left in KK made a return visit to Cafe Tutu at the Shangri La for a slap up buffet on seafood night. We then move to town to a salsa club, then Bed nightclub in KK watching a Malaysian trio of Spice Girl wannabees inbetween the music. We tried to stay on after they had put the chairs up and were brushing the floor but it didn’t work….

This morning some of us were up at 545 to help with a fundraiser for a local stroke group, but I didn’t make it until later on. In a few moments I’m off for the final ‘do’ which is for independence day celebrations at Likas Stadium in town, with VIP invites from the Ministry of Youth and Sport. Although everyone is extremely tired, it could be in interesting event with fireworks etc…unfortunately for the last few hours we’ve been subjected to some of the worst rainstorms there’s been since our arrival……

I think everyone is ready for the end of the trip now and it’ll be superb to get a few days on the island outside the Raleigh ‘bubble’.

It’s been a complete blast, and if any of you on the expedition read this, thanks for all the fantastic times and memories, and hopefully we’ll be able to keep in touch afterwards.

It’s that time already and it seems to be flying by. We had our staff party at Gayana Island Resort last night. It was a pretty well behaved affair on the whole, but was a good laugh with late night swims etc in a lovely pool that was fenced off from the sea, and staying in a nice stilted set of cabins. When we arrived we were greet with around 20 long tailed makak monkeys playing around the water, including one with two babies being carried around. Underneath us was a monitor lizard swimming in the sea.

Staff have started to leave now with our last big night out tomorrow before we head off to Sipadan which I’m really looking forward to. I’ve completed my post expedition report and have a long list of stuff to wrap up before heading home. I’ve booked flights back to KK from there to do my dive course before heading up to KL to start the second leg of the travels, or over to Brunei for a night or so. I could do with getting out of KK for a change, but the price I got for diving was irresistable.

It’s pretty much that time already!

The last few days were spent at the final expedition wash up, and a closing ceremony with the Minister if Youth and Sport, and his Permanent Secretary (and others) in attendance. My slideshow of the three months went down a storm, and it had a (if I may say so) cracking soundtrack from Greenday to Hieroglyphics.

We all went to a small basic resort by the beach and had a good party, with a cracking sunset, then were in the sea in the dark watching a distant thunderstorm, stuffed full of BBQ food and non alcoholic cocktails.

All the participants went home today, or we dumped them in KK to go on their merry ways. Quite a sad day, but the end of a good time, and there’s definitely folk out of the group I’ll miss (but hey, not a lot of you ;-> ). A few tears were shed at the airport (not mine, thank god!), a few bits of gear were left behind.

We then returned to fieldbase, then a slab of beer was cracked open and we went out for a meal.

I’m sure there are loads more I could write about the last few days but I need my bed. It’s the staff party tomorrow and I’m determined to make it snorkelling before the madness kicks in. If you are checking this out after having got back to the UK, I hope you settle back in ok, and don’t get too down. Just think of all the good times, and the things you’ve done that none of your mates will ever do.

I’ve confirmed my Emergency First Response and Rescue Diver courses before I leave Sabah, I only need to book return flights from the Sipadan trip. I think I’m binning the idea of heading up to Sandakan for the orangutans and turtle island due to the cost, but hey ho, plenty more adventures to come…

This morning I watched the sunrise at the top of Mount Kinabalu again. This second time seemed a lot harder than the first – probably because I hadn’t warmed up trekking the Crocker Range for a week like I did the last time. I had sore knees, and my head was spinning a bit. It was quite an ‘interesting’ trip with two of the leaders turning back as one was ill, then we had to arrange someone to be stretchered down 6km from 11000 feet along a really rocky and ‘steppy’ path, with a suspected ankle injury. All in all it was a hard, but enjoyable end to the expedition. Almost everyone made it to the summit and I was almost in tears looking down to the mountain’s shadow cast by the rising sun (I missed this the last time as I had my camera pointed towards the sun and never looked over the back). I summitted a bit later than the last time as I waited at the checkpoint for the tail end of the group, but this just meant I saw the sun rise from a different angle.

After a very sleepy trip back to KK in the land rover I was straight back into the office and doing final prep for the end of expedition. I can’t beleive that 3 months have passed, and tomorrow all the project teams arrive back in KK for the final expedition wash up and the end of expedition parties.

On Sunday I’ll be showing my slideshow at the closing ceremony in front of all the participants and some guests from the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and everyone will get a copy of the expedition CD. I’m looking forward to seeing the reactions when it’s shown on the big screen with the ‘funky?’ soundtrack I’ve put onto it. It’s taken me far too long to put it together but also very enjoyable realising everything that’s happened across the project sites. As ever I’ve got last minute additions from two projects to put in.

Anyway, gotta go and pack for the next few days…..

Popped out last night and got my hands on a copy of the new Sabah Tourism’s Sabah Magazine last night. On the back page was a Raleigh article written by our resident PR Officer, and 6 of my pictures were accompanying the article on the back and contents pages! Unfortunately my name wasn’t credited but it was great to see them in print.

This Sabah map on Sabah Tourism’s website it pretty reasonable and by the end of this month I’ll have travelled to most corners of it.

Well some stresses and strains are coming out as everyone is starting to get ready in the head for the end of expedition. Just as I was about to pack my bag for Mount Kinabalu, I returned to field base with the end of expedition magazine (looks good) and the CD’s. The magazine is great and it’s brilliant seeing even more of my images (and some others) in full colour print. Unfortunately I proudly popped the CD into the tray of the deputy expedition leader’s PC, only to find out the wrong CD contents had been burned!! Arrrggg. Luckily it was through no fault of our own, but there was definitely some smoothing over as to not upset the supplier too much.

Oh well, got some more stuff to do, and as usual, a later than normal bedtime before Mt K, as I know I’ll be up at 2am tomorrow night to summit in the dark to see the sunrise up there again.

My blogging will be quiet as we then roll into the end of expedition parties. Oh yeh, I also slid down some of that slippery slope I mentioned a few blogs ago, and walked out a dive shop today with a mask and snorkel…it’s maybe only a matter of temptation before I buy the fins, but I’m fighting it hard as they’d be a pain in the arse to carry around the world! The hire ones are pretty abysmal though, and it looks like I’ll be doing the rescue diver course before leaving Sabah.

Had a fantastic day off yesterday and did two dives as mentioned earlier. Sulu Reef by Sulu Island, and Mid Reef by Manukan Island. Although not spectacular dives in the grand scheme of things they were by far the best I’ve done here so far, and the second one had a small wreck of a trawler type boat. There were loads of fish around here and we saw a sea snake of some kind, a cuttle fish (or whatever it’s called), large stonefish and quite a bit more that I don’t know the names of.

Anyway, today and tomorrow is finishing off the slideshow and prepping some images for the final wash-up as I’ve been asked to go up Mount Kinabalu again as they are a mountain leader short. It’s no big deal to do it again, but I do hate paths like the one at the start up until the overnight rest point. It will also mean I’m a bit more hurried as I’ll come back from there and straight to the wash up, venturers party and staff party. Looking forward to the staff party as we’ve found out it’s at the Gayana Resort – check it out – very nice water villa style accommodation. Better buy that snorkelling gear….

In a month’s time or less I’ll be wandering around SE Asia so please send on any tips from previous travels…..

I’ve arranged a diving day on Monday just off the coast from KK. As I was looking into it I found this great site wannadive.net which integrates with google maps and shows KK and the surrounding Tunku Abdul Rahman park.

Manukan Reef was the area I was snorkelling around last week. The island shown above South Reef is Mamutik where the group stays for a week of their adventure phase. Raleigh obviously wasn’t there when the photograph was taken as you can’t see the waterproof tarp up when you zoom in! KK is pretty detailed as well but I can’t work out how to mark field base yet.

It still makes me more excited when I read the wannadive sections on Sipadan.

I’d love to fit in some diving on Labuan as there are great wrecks there, but time is making it look unlikely.