well hello there, the adventurer has retunred from the jungle! well..what experiences I have had, best decision I ever made coming to Borneo - it's been so good, really enjoyed myself.

sunday 25th oct - got picked up from hostel in KK very early, to get to airport and catch my 7.05 flight to sandakan. Flight was literally 20mins - if that! only read half a chapter of my book, and it was over! I got picked up with my little amy foster name card by a jolly looking chubby man. This was Robert my tour guide. Him and his driver took me half an hour into the area of Sepilok, and eventually we arrived at sepilok jungle resort, room was nice, like a very sweet granny style shak lol Within half an hour, we (me, Roland and Suzy who are cousins, Suzy has a malaysian husband, and roland moved to aus and lives and works in perth) were driven one minute to the top of the road to the orangutan sanctuary entrance for the morning feeding session. After a Uk video about the sanctuary We waited around in the blazing heat on a wooden platform, opposite to the high feeding platform, which had ropes from it, attaching to the tall trees in the jungle. It was very tropical, what with the heat, the trees the loud animal noises. Eventually ropes started moving, everyone got excited, it was like waiting for father christmas! we saw around 2-3 orangutans and lots of cheeky little grey monkeys trying to steal all the food! to be honest it was a little dissapointing, althought it was great to see them. We left after an hour or so and headed back for lunch. I walked the 5 mins walk to the restaurant, which was pretty cool, its a big resort, you walk over water into the jungle, theres animals all around, saw a kingfisher! it was so tiny. The staff in the restaurant were not helpful, and I sat for half an hour, until walking up and finding a menu for myself. eventually a woman came over, I said my meals are included, what am i allowed - to which - she shrugged her shoulders! so i ordered whatever I wanted basically! the food was really nice. I had to pay for drinks separately, but couldnt complain. They then tried to charge me and I explained no.... its an internet package, its all included. I had a little nap in my granny flat! lol the afternoon feeding was due at 2pm. 2 came around quickly and off we went for the afternoon feeding. It was very busy, lots of people, and a few annoying Polish people who were very rude barging everyone out of the way. WELL.... the afternoon feeding was absolutely brilliant, they bought all the monkeys out, (partly due to 2 famous people being there, along with a tv crew. these being the woman who runs the indonesian borneo orangutan sanctuary, and an american zoo owner who is the usa david attenborough equivalent - I'm sure nanny pearl knows them! they are on discovery all the time aparently!! lol) They were having so much fun, it was so enjoyable to watch them, and I nearly found myself in tears, it was quite emotional, one because i wished ricky was there to enjoy it with me, and 2 because how could anybody hurt these animals, they were gorgeous. Babies, old males, females..... the main star was called ronnie!! but spelt rony. he was very cute and naughty. They looked so happy swinging around and playing. It was a joy to watch, and me, Roland and Suzy stayed until the very end at 4pm. Roland and Suzy were really nice, we had agreat time. We eventually headed back to the resort. Robert informed me my 2 hour night walk was booked for tonight, he told me to .....get ready folks, here comes the foster curse once again!! lol "amy, walk to the gate for 6pm and the ranger will meet you there" So I said, sorry Robert, which gate, I have not had the chance to walk round the resort yet. I said the gate to the entrance of the resort?? he said yes. SO.... there I stood at 6pm waiting for the ranger. 6.15 came and went, then I thought surely he cannot mean for me to walk up the dark alley street to the entrance to the orangutan sanctuary?? a girl...on my own. So I thought I'll go have a look. I walked back and forth 3 times. Then I decided to give up around 6.30 and walked to the restaurant for the late reception desk to find out what was up. The guy behind the desk said "no no, why did you walk, you dont walk anywhere, the ranger comes here to the restaurant to pick you up" I said well, I am doing as my tour guide told me! I don't know where to go do I? I thought it was strange that I had to walk somewhere. Eventually after 3 calls, it turned out that the ranger forgot. I thought this was hysterical and typical of me!! so I had dinner with Suzy and roland, and then there was a huge storm for the rest of the night, lightening, thunder, heavy heavy rain the lot! so it was a blessing in discuise I didnt go into the jungle that night!!! LOL. I ran back to my room in the rain and watched sex and the city movie and the national lampoons!! had a great film channel in the room.

mon 26th oct - Today was my second tour day. I was with roland and suzy again, and we had a family join us too. The dad was John, the mum was kate, and 2 kids, beatrice and william. They were quite posh! have lived in Singapore for 6 years, but were still very English. They were really nice though. SO... I had breakfast with Roland and Suzy, then at 9.15 we drove 2 hours to the Gomatong cave, we were told this was to explore sabah's biggest bird nest, which sounded quite cool. hahaha, how we were so wrong!!! Everyone had trainers on.... I had my flip flops on. This tour was all to do with chinese "bird's nest soup" its very expensive and dangerous to get the ingredients to make. Men are hired to live in the cave for days at a time to protect it, as people try to get in and steal the bird's nests. The birds are tiny swifts, like teeny swallows. The men during november and december climb up the caves and risk their lives to get the empty nests, and spend hours seperating the bird's saliva from the leaves and feathers. Yes.... the soup is made from the swift's saliva - gross. It is beleived it has "botox" like effects on human's skin, and is extremely popular and expensive to buy. I cannot imagine it tastes all that nice! So anyway, we enter the caves. There is a wooden walkway all the way around it, but some parts are steep uphill and downhill. The biggest problem was.... the place was absolutely covered in huge wet piles of bird poo, and rain mixed with it pouring from the caves.... it was safe to say I was in danger of breaking my neck! it was so slippery and stinky, and then!!! the best part of all, hundreds of cockroaches EVERYWHERE! munching on the bird poo!! they were running all over my feet, I was squeeling with every step! preying they wouldnt go up my shorts!! LOL. It felt great to get out of there, we didnt enjoy that very much at all!! and I am very glad I didnt bother paying bloody 30 ringgets to use my camera!! most of these trips you have to pay extra camera fees at the entrance! on the way back to the bus, we were lucky enough to see some marron leaf monkeys, they were adorable, and very rare to see aparently. we also saw a wild orangutan, but he was pretty far away. next we drove an hour to Bilit, and got a little boat across the Kinabatangan river. We had a nice lunch and had 2 hours to chill out before our river cruise. Eventually we got our life jackets on and all got into the boat. By this time, a guy called sandro - short for allesandro from perth had joined the group too. He was really nice. So off we went on our river cruise.....

We saw lots of the long nosed proboscis monekys, kakek monkeys, and we were even lucky enough to see some pygmy elephants, making their way to the river for a drink, they were so tiny, and they even blew their noses, the sound was so loud, it was excellent. There were about 18 of them heading down river. On the way back, the boat driver found it absolutely hilarious when I said a monkey had his lipstick out, and he kept saying "jungle lipstick" and laughing to himself, which was really funny. After that we had a long 3 hour journey back to the resort, sandro sat next to me and we had a chat about australia and england, and put the world to rights! he gave me his email and said anytime me and ricky are in perth to give him a call, really nice guy. I got back, had some dinner after a nice shower, I was knackered, it was a really nice, but long day. God knows what's going to happen about my night walk, I'll sort it out tomorrow!

Tues 27th oct - My last day today! I had breakfast, and then paid 5 ringgets to use the pool! I thought that was a bit off! After an hour it got cloudy so I went for some lunch after I had my 40 minute back neck massage - which was so nice I nearly fell asleep! I went to reception to ask about my night walk, they said they will try to arrange it tonight for 6pm. Robert said the ranger will pick me up from the restaurant. So I went back to my room and watched some films. At 6pm the ranger turned up yay!!! I was slightly wary about going into the jungle on my own in pitch black with a bloke! but he was lovely, chatting about his family. The night walk was so so so very funny, but brilliant and scary at the same time, I wish my mum was there, she would have wet herself big time! Before we started I had to tuck my trousers into my socks - due to leeches!!! I thought jeeeeez what the hell am I getting myself into. He said not to touch the handrails due to poisonus spiders, snakes etc. I thought..... SH*TTTT!!!! LOL. It was an easier trekk than i thought, although some bits were quite deep muddy and wet! The minute I stepped into the thick jungle something gripped my arm, it was the largest grasshopper type thing I have ever seen, it had hugs wings, and I crapped my pants, screamed, the guide was laughing his head off. The next half an hour he put his torch on me, and I had a large bat hanging from the bottom of my t shirt!!! coming along for the ride LOL. I started to feel more at ease as my eyes got used to the light of the moon. The guide showed me some pretty impressive large pythons just hanging in the trees! After an hour or so, we ended up by the feeding platforms, where I saw the orangutans 2 days ago. The he scared me even more and showed me some water buffalo footprints, He said don't worry they smell you and run away, I said cheers very much!!! LOL. It was then I felt something wet on my stomach...I hah about 5 leeches sucking on my t shirt, so I started flinging my arsm round making an "aaeeeuuurrrggh" noise, and the guide yanked them off - their teeth are damn strong!!! Then he took me off the pathway and said this is for VIP only, I don't take people down here, and on a platform, only a metre off the ground was 5 orangutans all sleepy. They were so close I could not beleive my eyes, lucky he had a torch so we could keep an eye on the male one!! the two young ones were so cute all cuddled up together, and they put their arms out and touched my arms, they were so warm, but had firm grips!! It was the best feeling ever being that close to them, i wanted to cry again!! lol. The guide was telling me to stay and volunteer for 2 months, he said I would enjoy it, I said I would love to but I want to meet my boyfriend, and then I have to go back to work in the UK next month! what a great job!! He then took me to the quaranteen area where new monkeys are cleaned up, babies are trained, showed me the volunteer accomodation, and then the tour ended! it was a brillint thing to do, I am very glad. I had dinner with Roland and Suzy, and told them all about my adventure! I said goodbye and went to pack my bag!

I left the resort at 6am on a huge coach all to myself, after running around trying to pay my damn restaurant bill, as nowhere was open at that time. I flew back to KK around 8.15am

weds 28th - and so, here I am back in KK. I spent today with Hannah a girl I met in Phuket, we got the boat over to mandakan island, we had glorious sun and got a teeny bit burnt and then the heavens opened. If the weather is bleak tomorrow, I am thinking of getting my hair dyed and getting a wax! I am back in the hostel again, in the same little bed! it's like I never left. I have enjoyed my time here in KK, it's been good. I have all my flights booked now, so on 30th Oct I fly to Kuala Lumpur, to catch a connecting flight to Bangkok to finally be reunited with my man ricky. I am really looking forward to seeing him again, and going by the txts I have been receiving so is he!!

So that's your lot for now, having probs uploading photos in borneo, so I am going to try again in Bangkok.

Love to you all

Amy xxxxxxxxxxxx