Tinggi-Tinggi Gunung Kinabalu, Tinggi lagi sayang sama kamu, Biru-biru hujung Kinabalu, Tengok dari jauh Hati saya rindu….. Or for the non-Malay readers….. Mount Kinabalu is high high, But not as high as my love for you, Blue blue Kinabalu, I look at it, And my heart goes out to you…. The above is a famous Sabah song by Kimin Mudin about the mountain and my favourite ditty at the minute. Why don't you youtube "Sayang Kinabalu"? T...

How would you like to be fed uncooked rice and then made to drink water so it expands in your stomach and creates excruciating and debilitating pain? Or forced to march in chains across a humid jungle knowing that if you stop once you will be shot in the crotch and left to rot and bleed and sweat in the rainforest for the snakes and spiders to feed on? Didn’t think so. These are the stories we heard at Sandankan Memorial Park during our week of quarantine ...

Miko forced Nonong’s legs open. She tried twisting her body so that he could not get inside her. He grabbed her by the throat and banged her head up against the side of the metal bars. It was going to be easy for Miko. Nonong lost the total use of her right arm and the partial use of her left leg through cerebral malaria when she was younger. But she is spirited. While Miko concentrated on penetrative tactics, she managed to struggle loose and escape her assa...

Airports. I have always had a soft spot for them. They mean you are travelling somewhere; getting out of the unroofed thatch that is Ireland; going on holiday; embarking on a backpacking adventure; opening your mind to the wonders of travel. They can, of course, also mean you are coming home, seeing friends and family again, ready for a comfy sofa, a flushable toilet and full fridge in Dallan Avenue. Airports are also one of my favourite places to people watch....

And so it is that I am back in Warrenpoint. I arrived home on Saturday past to a dark and dreary Dublin airport and to Irish potatoes. As I write, however, I pack, and this evening I leave again, this time for the jungles of Malaysian Borneo and Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre where I will be volunteering for the next two months. The last few days back in the Mournes have been busy. Busy with visits to my always accommodating GP, Dr. Mary Bonner for adv...