Photos from Day 3

Photos - The kids showing us how to bamboo dance, playing on the swings, on an easier section of our cycle ride, some respite at the river clearing and the morning cloud around the tea plantations (view from the door of our longhouse).

Wilds of Borneo - Day 3

We woke up (with Evan, our guide banging on the doors in the longhouse!) at 6am. The day light showed us a completely amazing view of the tea plantations. The cloud was low and hovering around some hills, making the scene feel rather eery!

We had breakfast at the base before getting fitted for our bikes. I made sure that I put my borrowed gel saddle cover to good use, and with drinks bottles filled, sun tan lotion applied and safety briefing done (left brake is front wheel.....don't apply this one as much as the right!!), we were ready for the off.

Well, I don't think any of us quite understood the challenge we had let ourselves in for! Within less than 5 minutes of leaving camp, I was in first gear and peddling my heart out to get up a hill. I was thinking to myself that I must look rather silly, and then Raoul cycles slowly past me at about 1mph with his legs spinning so fast that he looked like a hamster on a wheel!! Well, that, combined with the adrenaline was the end of me, I got the hysterical giggles and had to get off my bike to get my breath back! I think I dissolved into giggles about 3 times that day!

The bike ride took us up and down steep dirt tracks through the plantations. It was tougher than I ever imagined it would be, going up hill on stoney, rocky roads is not the same as going up hill on a tarmac road! Every time I was nearly getting there going up a hill, I'd hit a large stone, loose my balance and couldn't get started again. I wasn't the only one pushing my bike up hills on this day!!

We finally has some respite when we stopped in a clearing by a river. We had some water melon and pineapple and took on water. We also played on the assault course by the river, swinging on ropes and dangling upside down on metal poles.....was nice to be a kid again for 20 minutes! Then back on the bikes for our return trip to camp. After some lunch, we were all feeling a bit despondent. Evan told us that there was an optional cycle ride in the afternoon. A few of us were horrified at the thought of getting back on those roads......Ross told us that it was not optional and to, excuse the pun, get on our bikes!!

We were all glad that we did. The afternoon cycle was much more productive, I think we were happier having warmed up and also knowing what to expect. Fawaz was the only person who I think wished he'd stayed at home. After having had a small fall off his bike in the morning, gaining a couple of scratches, he had a much more dramatic fall in the afternoon and did the one thing we were told not to do.....he panicked going down a hill too fast and hit the left brake before the right.....needless to say our support ambulance was put to good use in cleaning his skinless arm and upper back and then taking him to hospital for a tetanus booster!

The rest of us continued back to camp where we met the kids from Borneo Child Aid. It was explained to us that while these kids lived at home with their families, they came from poorer backgrounds, where their parents work in the plantations and cannot get their children to the schools in the area as they are so far away. Some children live 2 hours drive from the nearest school and there isn't access to cars or transport. We will provide a cross terrain vehicle to help children and teachers get to these schools with some of the money we raised. On thing I noticed about these kids was the poor dental hygiene. I'm not quite sure why this tugged at my heart strings so much, but I found it really sad.

After playing with the kids in the garden, having piggy back races and playing on swings, they put on a show for us, of traditional dancing, singing and poetry. At the end of the show, they asked us to take part in their bamboo dancing. Rather scary having 2 pieces of bamboo trying to squish your ankles as you dance around, but it was good fun!

After the children had left for their trip home, we had dinner and then our briefing for the next few days. We were informed that the following morning we would be cycling around 30km on roads, before getting changed and starting our hiking. Most worryingly, we were told that we had to pack everything that we needed for the next 3 days and this we would carry in our packs. Everything else would be reunited with us after we descended from the summit! Struggling to get our heads around this, we all spent about 45 minutes repacking our bags and trying to streamline our packs before sitting and chatting with our guides. They explained to us that when they saw our itinary, they expected us to be triathletes!! We explained that we were jack of all trades and masters of none!! Strange to see how differently the expectations were seen.

Finally, it was my night to award the hat. It was a really tough choice of who to give it to. Manfred had been a trooper, offering advice throughout the day to those of us who were less experienced mountain bikers, Fawaz had picked himself up, dusted himself off and was still smiling. I finally decided to hand the hat to Raoul, although I didn't want to as he had been pestering for it since the moment I got it the night before. He was awarded the hat for something he did when he wasn't playing up for it! Without a second thought, and without realising anyone was paying attention, he helped push his wife's bike up a hill when her knee was hurting and when she was left behind to get her knee seen to, he stopped at the roadside at a small bush and recognised her favourite flowers, picking her one to make her feel better. The romantic in me melted and he won the hat!!

Pictures - Day 2

Under water off an island, the fishes I saw while snorkelling, the Sabah Dragons, the kayaking challenge ahead, and the view from our breakfast room in the morning!

Wilds of Borneo - Day 2

Up at 6.30am ready for breakfast at 7am. The hotel over looked some amazing scenery and we enjoyed a light breakfast before being taken to the start point of our first challenge. I had woken up feeling just as terrible as the day before and it suddenly dawned on me, and some other challengers, that it might just be a reaction to the malaria drugs I had taken so I stopped taking them, however as I had the ones that you take once a week, the drugs would take sometime to leave my system.

Nevertheless, I got stuck in with challenge one.

We were taken first to a small market, where we tried on fins for our snorkaling later in the day, then were taken to a beach-side park. From the park we could see the islands which we would be kayaking to. My initial thoughts were "Ok, that doesn't look too bad" until I was told that the island I was looking at was the final island we would visit and is the one closest to shore! I was a little less confident when I realised that the first island we would kayak to, I couldn't actually see yet as it was hidden behind other islands!!

Anyway, we paired up, pulled our kayaks down the beach and started our challenge.

My poor partner Girish had to put up with me feeling terribly sick all the way and about 4km into the challenge,

I proceeded to vomit over the side of the kayak! Lovely! But, I didn't train this hard, and come this far to be beaten by some stupid tablets, so we carried on, kayaking our hearts out, stopping intermittently for me to throw up! The support boat came to get me and I swapped places with Evan, our trusty guide for the journey, so I could have some shade and take on some water.

I then swapped back into someone elses Kayak when Vijay had to take a break due to his back hurting him. So then it was me and Ross. Ross was our G4G leader for the trip, as well as a personal trainer by trade. His "Come on, let's do 10 strong strokes then rest" comments got me motivated and we picked up some good speed (inbetween sick breaks!).

we landed on our first island (approx 2 and a half hours later), with people looking at us like we were crazy, with some looking rather confused as to where these kayakers had actually come from! There were people learning to dive and chilling out on the beach.

I wanted to join in, however after a short rest stop and some fresh watermelon, we were on our way to Island 2!

after another hour and a half we reached the island. We were shown some enornmous lizards. They call them dragons!

They don't go after people apparently, but we were warned not to get too close as they can whip you with their tails and can hurt you pretty badly. I certainly wasn't going to get close enough to try to find out!!

Especially after watching one particularly bullyish dragon who tried his hardest to mate with every other dragon he saw!!

Back on the kayak and we made excellent time! Just over 1 hour to the third and final island. We had some much needed lunch and did some snorkalling! It was amazing, I've never had so many tropical fish swimming around my body, so close they were coming past my goggles, we fed them little bits of fruit and got some amazing under water photos.

It was a beautiful moment and one I'll always remember.

Arpana, one of the G4G challengers, suggested that maybe I should try taking travel sickness pills to help with the sickness. Well, she's a genius! Within 10 minutes of taking dizzynil I was right as rain and paddling for Britain!

I took one of those tablets every morning when I woke up and felt fine then for the rest of the day!

The kayak back was great, we sped along quite happily back to the coast and with very few issues (some random patchy sunburn was had by all where bits got missed with the sunscreen and my poor kayaking partner hurt his hand, but overall a very successful day!).

We got changed, (us girls scared some local ladies in the wash rooms by standing there in just our pants while we dried off, but I'm sure the mental scars aren't too bad!) and then boarded the bus to head to the Sabah Tea Plantation where we would be spending the next 2 nights.

We went straight to the base and had a local dinner of rice and chicken and were told about the Death Marches which took place in Borneo a few decades ago.

Ross then announced that there was a Hat! The Hat was to be awarded each night to someone who did something good, was inspirational or overcame personal barriers.

On the first night the hat was awarded to me!! For carrying on, trooping through and not complaining whilst kayaking and vomitting at the same time. I actually think that he found it kind of comical!!

The accommodation was a bamboo longhouse. It is exactly that. A wooden hut, made from bamboo, on stilts. The floors walls and ceilings were all bamboo and there were giant gaps in the floors. Mosquito nets were over every bed, but over all, it was a lovely place to stay. Then there was the lizard...

As soon as we all switched out the lights, there was this noise. I thought it was a bird at first, but it sounded very strange. It was kind of like trying to sleep when there is an alarm clock going off. There were a few comments about finding the "bloody thing" and "has anyone got a shot gun" before we all fell asleep. Lets just say that lizard mating season must be in full swing! I found out the next day that the couple in the next dorm actually had "the damn thing" poo on them in the night!!! I must admit I found that funny!!!

Wilds of Borneo - Day 1

Photos - Mosque in Brunei, Floating Restaurant we went to in KK for dinner, the cultural show with dancers and Girish and myself with our fresh coconut drinks.

Day 1 - After making extensive plans about my night of return with Clare and Gabrielli in Dubai

(including leaving keys in cars, spare keys in glove boxes etc etc) we drove to the airport and

met with 8 of my fellow challengers. A great variety of people ranging from 26-51 in age and from several different nationalities, inc Indian, German, Emirati/Scottish and Irish. We checked in and boarded our 7 something hour flight to Brunei.

I didn't sleep much on the flight. Possibly 1 hour or so, and arrived in Brunei at about 8am feeling, well, rough!

We were transported to a hotel courtesy of Royal Brunei, where we could freshen up and leave our things during our 8 hour lay over.

I didn't start to feel any better and was light headed and felt sick. Blaming it on tiredness, I ate a

small amount of lunch with the rest of the group before leaving them to do a river cruise of the floating markets while I returned to the hotel for a bit of shut eye.

We left Brunai at around 6pm and got on the 20 minute flight to Kota Kinabalu, in Malaysian Borneo.

After being sick on the plane, I felt much better and managed to really enjoy our dinner, an evening of local food, fresh coconut water and traditional bamboo dancing. We spent the night at a city hotel where we slept as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Excited and anxious about our challenge ahead.