New Year's Eve

So apparently someone forgot to tell us that getting hammered the night before New Year's is perhaps not the best idea in the world... That being said, we headed over to Jason and Paule's to ring in the New Year with a few wobbley-pops.

Fireworks outside our apartment at midnight

Anton (in the back), Aimmie, Nathan, me, Jason, Vanessa and Di.

Clubbin in KL

On Dec. 30, we decided we had to take Di and Vanessa out on the town. So we got all dolled up (well, at least the girls did), met up with a bunch of the of teachers and let the good times roll!

We had the pre-party at our place. From the left, Nathan, Aimmie, Vanessa, Elsa, Jenn, Steve, Brandyn and Me (I am modelling the new t-shirt that Di and Vanessa brought back from Bangkok for me... look closely)

We wear our sunglasses at night

Find your buddie!!! My buddie's ok!

I spent a long time looking for a good picture of these three, and this was the best I could come up with.

Here, Nathan, Aimmie and I are demonstrating the new dance craze: "Kneading the dough"

Who the hell invited THIS guy?!?!?!

Christmas in KL

When we got back from Borneo, we decided it was time to celebrate Christmas. Jenn's folks sent down some stockings and Santa was able to find us! Wrong country, wrong date, and yet still he knew... Impressive!

My new boxers... and the moon glows in the dark!!

Borneo - Semporna

To end our trip in Borneo, we went to Semporna to get our Scuba certification. Instead of learning in the bottom of a pool like you would in Canada, we got to learn in the tropical South China Sea. We took our first real diving trip on Christmas Day. We went to Sipadan Island - one of the best dive sites in the world. It was amazing... diving along a 600m deep wall of coral. We were surrounded by brightly coloured tropcial fish the entire time, highlighted by at least 10 green turtles, a school of barracuda and 3-4 white-tipped sharks.

A view of our accomodations in Semporna: The Dragon Inn. The best part of this hotel was that you knew whenever anyone was using the shower or the toilet, as you could see the water trickling out under the room.

I'm not quite sure what S.O.T.C. stands for... but at least we can say we've been there!

Before we could go diving, we had to get sized for our equipment.

Vanessa getting geared up. You know what they say about someone who has big feet....

Yes yes... you are going diving... we get it...

This is Our Island... also known as Sibuan Island. While learning to dive here we were able to see a ton of different things - sea snakes, puffer fish, clown fish, angelfish, a moorish idol and even a green turtle!

Atta girl Di. Work that outfit!

Don't worry Di, I look ALMOST as retarded.

The view from Sibuan Island.

A small house off the coast of Sibuan Island.

Di and Vanessa displaying the correct signal for "find your buddie".

Jeffrey - one of our Dive Masters.

Clearly those scuba suits do wonders for your tan lines - or perhaps I should say burn lines.

Christmas Day Night - Time to get some gifts!

Later that night, Jeffrey took us out to a local karaoke bar, where at least half the songs were sung in English!

Borneo - Sandakan

After spending the next two days on various boats, buses and planes, we made it to the northern province of Sabah. The second half of our trip was to be spent here. After sneaking everyone into one room at a hotel by the airport, we took off early the next morning and flew to Sandakan to see orangutans at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

The monkeys come through the forest on their own or in small groups on these vine-like ropes.

Twice a day the workers put bananas out at two feeding posts like these for the monkeys to come and eat.

This picture was taken immediately before the monkey decided to let out a nice long stream of pee.

Vanessa the Orangutan.

Easily the best sign I've seen in a while.

Borneo - Iban Longhouse

So the next day, we hooked up with our guide and headed off into the interior to meet the Iban family that we were going to stay with. It was a very cool experience, the only unfortunate part was that none of us could speak Malay (I have a vocabulary of about 30 words) and none of them could speak English. Our guide could speak both, but unfortunately instead of acting as a translator, he preferred to tell us stories himself. We stayed for two days, with the girls sleeping in one of the houses and the boys all camping out in the main common area. Sleeping was a bit tough with roosters going all night, the 3 dogs next to me constantly trying to get rid of their fleas and the little boys all trying to snuggle up to me.

This is the longhouse we stayed in. This particular house was home to around 23 families. They each have their own living space, but there is also a long common area under the roof which sort of acts as a "street".

This is the view outside the longhouse. The white squares are actually mats made from the bark of rubber trees, which are drying out so that they can be taken into town and sold.

At the end of the house, they had a path down to the river where they do all their washing, bathing and fishing.

This was the family that we stayed with (and several of the neighbour's children)

The house we stayed in had this group of human skulls hanging outside the door. The grandfather of the family we stayed with was a great warrior and had killed these men, hanging their skulls as a sign of his prowess.

Since conversations were difficult, there were very few ways to communicate. A good one was bringing out the cards. I taught them a few games (and they caught on very quickly) and showed them a few card tricks. Unfortunately for me, the one word they DO know very well is "Again." I heard that one a few too many times... If only I knew more than 2 tricks.

The other way to talk was through pictures, naming the things you were pointing at.

Basket-weaving

The girls brought some magazines with them (Vogue, Elle, etc.)... I think they were a hit. So much for the basket-weaving...

We took a trip up the river so they could show us how they get their fruit and the method they use for fishing. I'm assuming they were all laughing when I threw this because I impressed them so much with my natural skills.

Look!! I caught an eel!!! (or maybe the 8 year old caught it... you'll never know)

Very cute.

Borneo - Kapit

One thing I really wanted to do while in Sarawak was experience the native culture. Although we got to see an amazingly realistic version of it at the Cultural Village, I also knew that it was possible to spend a night with an Iban family in their longhouse. They have many tours which you can take from Kuching, but I was told that over the years they have become extremely commericalized. In order to see an untouched longhouse, you have to travel into the bush. So we decided to take a longboat trip up the Rajang to the small town of Kapit, where there was supposed to be a local man who acts as a tour guide to a traditional longhouse.

The longboat trip ended up taking a little longer than we expected... about 5 hours longer to be more precise.

After finding a room for the night, we headed downstairs for a couple of wobbley-pops. It wasn't long before my harem attracted the attention of some of the local men. This resulted in free beer for the night... that's my girls!!! It wasn't until later the next day that we heard that these guys were a touch on the sketchy side - oh well, the beer was good. ;)

While we were knocking back our drinks, a random Christmas parade started up.

These people were all members of a local church and were marching through the streets singing Christmas carols. It was very cool.

Di, Vanessa and Santa Claus.

Here, Di and Vanessa are playing the Malaysian version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors". It's called "Rock, Water, Bird." Di won this round, since the rock crushes the bird. Lovely.

**A side note to our trip to Kapit: I have now eaten chicken testicles. Very chewy...