The Chronicles of Borneo 07F

Prologue
10 weeks have gone and past, yet it still feels like yesterday when I missed my plane to Sabah, the Land Below the Wind; Negeri di bawah Bayu, what they say in the local Malay language. What a "blast" that was! I was excited on what awaits me in Borneo as I have heard many interesting stories from past expedition Venturers who have "been there, and done that" many years down the road.

Jungle camp:
was a basic course of HCB101: How-To-Cope-In-The-BorneoJungle and ACC102: Avoid-Casevac-At-Any-Cause. From that day onwards, the three-bowl system was introduced in my life and HS Ping Pong Crackers became my faithful lunches.We were then introduced to the interesting variety of Raleigh Ration that can be creatively cooked into a concoction of canned food dinner, complement by a fulfiling dessert of never-perfect custard and fruitcake. Yummy.

Phase 1: Adventure- (~ahh.. ahh..ahh... Alpha 5 staying alive, ahh.. ahh.. ahh... stayingggg aliveeee~)--->in the Bee Gees tune... It truly has been a great adventure phase for me, Long Pasia the far away land (almost close to the border of Kalimantan, Indonesia) is a haven for trekkers, cool weather, excellent local guides and breath-taking views. What more can I ask for? Looking back on trekking phase, it makes me realise that -nothing is impossible- not in a big scale, actually. For all who have trekked unsupported in the deep remote jungle of Long Pasia, well done, you conquered the heavy rucksack and you managed to smell like each other!


Occasionally when we get bored, we do find certain different ways to entertain ourselves...

Does anybody see that as A5?

First comes trekking, then comes Trus Madi, then comes Diving in Mamutik Island, that's not all, that's not all, then comes Changeover1 and Phase 2! Being able to learn how to dive is a great experience, as perfectly described by PADI: to escape to a different world, explore new places, and experience a connection with nature; a feeling of freedom, and a transformation.That is as near what I can get out of my diving experience. Being able to climb Mount Trus Madi was truly amazing as the sunset view was just magnificent! Pictures speak a thousand words?

Phase 2: Community (Alpha 2-Togudon aka The Torturous Slope)


After a short recuperation period, I was posted to the meaningful project of building a school hostel for the children in Kampung Togudon. For more details on the details of the project, feel free to get more details from here.

Before:(After Phase 1, obviously!):



Say bye to this kids, Sleeping area no more....
And hello to..... *drum roll please.....*

Ta-da!
In the process:

The happy and dysfunctional family of Togudon-key

Which naturally leads me to...

Spot Donna's hair...
That is a photo blog about the whole of Phase 2, oh wait... I just missed out the most important and amazing experience in Togudon- the K-I-D-S!