Had a bright and early start on Saturday, as I was being picked up from the hotel by the big boss Guiding Commissioner to be taken to a "Thinking Day Ceremony". Unfortunately I had left my Guiding uniform at home, so I just dressed formally as requested, and wore my guider badge. We arrived at a beautiful modern building, which belongs to the Sabah State Government and is rarely used- therefore absolutely everyone we had met had managed to get lost inside. This wasn't helped by the confusing design of the place- there were rooms with mirrors disguised as doorways, so you found yourself trying to walk through them, and one way systems of escalators and it was all a bit confuggling. I was greeted by some elderly-ish members of the Guiding committee, and it soon became apparent that this was going to be an oober posh doo. They were all dressed extremely smartly- in the Malaysian Guiding uniform- which I must say, is a damn sight smarter than the UK version (although I'm not quite sure how the guides will participate in activates in their long skirts etc). One woman especially took me under her wing. She didn't really care for what I had to say, but took great pleasure in talking 'at' me and hitting my arm quite sharply every time she wanted my attention for one of her stories. Got to the stage where deep breaths were needed to overcome the urge to whack her back. At first I just sat with a few of the committee members and they introduced me to any guests that arrived. Meanwhile, the oober posh theatre-ish hall or auditorium was filled with Brownies and Guides practicing performances for the ceremony. The Guides had a turquoise coloured shirt, with the guiding emblem printed all over it, with black trousers, whereas the brownies had white shirts and brown skirts. Eventually I was taken into the hall and shown to my seat near the front, next to another woman who seemed to be on her own. We started talking and it turned out that she was the Vice Principal of a disabled school near KK, which used to take on Gappers. Her name was Joan. She described the school, the pupils, their events and it all sounded fab- would've made an amazing placement. They have about 150 students, 40 teachers and take people from the age of babies to 35 years old. All of the students are mentally disabled and 2 of the teachers are ex pupils. I said to her that I'd love to visit and even come and help out if I can so I got her contact and will hopefully get a chance to visit when mum and Gran leave. She also asked me to mention to Penelope and Colin (UK Gap representative) that she would love to have another set of gappers there to help out. The ceremony could only start once this oober important lady had entered. She was escorted my about 4 personal servants (or 'assistants') and as she entered the room, there was absolute silence and every one stood and bowed their heads as she walked part. Was seriously a more formal greeting than our Queeny would get! Joan told me that she thought this woman probably had the equivalent rank as a Duke in the UK. I'm not entirely sure who this woman actually was though. Once seated, the ceremony began, with some Guiding songs from a choir, a few traditional dances, the presentation of various awards and a couple of speeches. They were very well rehearsed and professional performances. A group of girls from Joan's school also put on a dance and were very impressive. Once the ceremony had been closed, I was invited to "dine" with the rest of the committee and sat with Joan and another man from her school. I chatted away with them about how I'd like to visit and they hinted at the possibility of me raising some money for them in the UK- I didn't promise anything, but in my mind I thought- if the brownies still have some money left from a fundraiser we did previously this year, we could donate some to the girl guide group in the school. They have no government funding for the school at all, therefore rely on donations etc to get by. The students are taught basic living skills- ie, how to cook, buy things at the supermarket, make crafts, etc. During lunch, I had to withstand more vigorous hitting from the woman on the committee and she really was doing my nut in. Was very relieved when Joan offered me a lift back to the hotel, which I gratefully took. She was really nice and gave some info on accomm in Malaysia and things she recommended I do here. Once back at the hotel, Mum, Gran and I headed to Centrepoint to do a bit of shopping. Didn't end up getting much, just browsed and headed back to the hotel to chill next to the pool. Gran got a coconut to drink and I hada yummy cocktail. Headed up for cocktail hour, which again was fab- then set out to meet the others at Little Italy for dinner. There were 15 of us as- the Sabah gapers, as well as the 4 girls from Sarawak and Sarah (who had just returned form the Phipinnes) had all come out to meet mammy and gran. The staff were very happy to meet them both and we got some pics. We took Georgie and Aman back to the hotel to share some fudge and to give Georgie a Spiderman Magazine, then took the oldies to Q Bar to meet the gay boys. They were very hospitable and enjoyed chatting to granny. Mum and gran then headed for bed and I went on to NBC to drink up on some more rice wine while watching Chez and the Belgians roll some smokes. We eventually headed for BED again and twas friggin hilarious. We were on stage dancing and as usual, were being harassed by various men. Chez's tactic of saying one of the Belgians was the father to be of her child didn't quite work- so she resorted to "Swatting". She clapped in the men's faces like she was trying to swat a fly and it was soo soo funny. At first the guys were really confused and disorientated cause she kind of put them off balance when she clapped at them. But then they thought it was some kind of British dance move, so started doing it as well. My tummy muscles got a work out that night cause I couldn't stop peeing myself. Chez then did the "hip bang move" thingy- but took it OTT so ended up thrusting her hips so hard that she projectiled a local off the stage- was just too funny. We really did take out most of them-surprised we didn't get kikd out. On the way back, one of the Belgians got attacked by a meaty rat. Chez informed us that is you meow like a cat, the rats scatter. So we all started meowing and these rats bolted out of every nook and crannie and were scampering everywhere- scared the Belgians s***less and one bit heafer just ran up to one of the guys and jumped on his leg. Was hilarious, the Belgian went mental and was hopping all over the place. Snuck into bed around 4am, although I'm sure Mum and Gran had secretly waited up for me! We managed to sleep in the next day to Gran's disgust. We missed breakfast, so headed down to the Sunday market to find some nibbles. I purchased a pair of classy white Gucci's since my last genuine pair broke. We then went to "The Snack" for coffee and eventually (after much frittering about) went to Manukan Island on the boat. It was a bit overcast at first but the sun soon came out and we enjoyed lazing on the beach- mum even had a dip in the South China Sea. Had a nice lunch of various BBQ'd meats. We decided that the 'lamb' on the menu, was obviously goat. That night we decided to hit Little Italy again cause its just too good! The boss took time to come and chat to us, then we headed for an early night.