A holiday from the jungle!

After two weeks deep in the jungle on Lake Tungog, we had a holiday. Janet, Martin, TJ and Bobbie were having a night away in Sandakan to have a break and to stock up on supplies, so they offered to take us with them. So after an early morning start, a boat ride and a 2 hour journey with four of us squished in the back of the van like sardines, we reached Sandakan. We had an absolutely fab couple of days being shown the main hotspots and taken from one lovely eatery to the next by the wonderful Vogel family.

Highlights

·        - Having English Afternoon Tea on the hillside (hot fresh scones!! Oh my wow!!...Sabah’s version of jam and cream were not quite up to Somerset standards though!)

·         -Visiting the famous Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre and seeing the baby orang-utans….soooo cute

·         -Having an ice cold beer overlooking the waterfront

·         -Exploring the canopy walkway amongst the immensely tall and beautiful trees of the Sepilok Forest Reserve at sunset

·         -Eating fresh salad!!

·         -Lots of good company J

Lowlights

·         -My first hot shower in two weeks was actually a cold shower and came out in a dribble. At least it didn’t involve a bucket…every cloud…

·         -Asking in a pharmacy for fibre gel to combat the lack of fresh vegetables in my life, and having the entire staff of 5 get involved. The conversation went something like this…

E: Hi, do you sell fibre gel?

Pharmacy lady 1: Fiby-what?

E:  Um…fibre gel! It’s good for your digestive system? It can help with constipation

Pharmacy lady 1: OOOOHHHHHH you have constipation?!

E: Well no, I….

Pharmacy lady 1 (calling across the shop): Oi! Pharmacy Lady 2! What do we give for constipation?!

Pharmacy lady 2: Hahahahaha! (Yes, she actually laughed out loud)

**Pharmacy lady 2 calls across the room in Malay to Pharmacy man 1. Pharmacy man 1 also laughs out loud and comes over. I now have 4 members of laughing staff in front of me**

Pharmacy man 1 (in unnecessarily loud voice): You want something to make you go toilet in 2 minutes?!!

Me: NO no nonononono! I just want some fibre gel…..

So this is how I ended up with a packet of anti-constipation tablets and no fibre gel.

So in summary….Awesome weekend, nice break from the jungle, lots of yummy food, cold shower, cute orange primates, never again need to worry about getting constipation…

Some cute piccies of some cuddly fellows from the rehabilitation centre