Corinne and Tim's Adventures

What an exhausting holiday we have had! Jungle trekking, Mountain climbing, Snorkeling, Adventure racing, and Island camping! Sabah (a Malaysian state on the Large Island of Borneo) is a treasure trove of natural wonders and places to explore. If ever I have felt like I was 'out there' then this was it. Most people who come to Sabah use tour outfits in order to make it across the state that is not yet fully geared towards tourism. Tim and I however (being the thrifty people we are) decided to use what little Malay I can remember and a few ringgit to traverse our way from Sandakan (east) to Kota Kinabalu (west - capital city). During the three weeks we spent in Sabah we had an amazing time...

.... Exploring local markets of the vegetable and seafood variety and having dozens of people asking us to take their photo. The magic of digital is in full force when an 80 year old fisherman holding a 2 foot Tuna smiling a toothless smile can see the dazzling product on the back of Tim's Camera. These kids wanted in on the action too.

We had some great times while staying in Kampung (Village) Bilit on the Lower Kinabatangan River. Rosman was one of the local guys that took us jungle trekking (and took Tim swimming in the Ox Bow lakes). Rosman had an amazing voice and on the last night we spent there he sang up quite a storm. In return Tim and I taught them some party tricks.

Summiting Mt Kinabalu would have to be one the most amazing things we did on the trip (actually, one of the most amazing things ever!!). At 4095m this is the highest summit in South East Asia (excluding Papua's peaks). We had really bad weather while trying to make it to the summit and spent 2 hours sheltered in a small hut waiting out the gale force winds and rain. To our surprise, most people attempting the summit that day gave up and did not make it to the top - for us it was well worth the wait and to be one of the few that made it up that day makes it all the more special for me.

We spent quite a few days based in the central town of Ranau, a place not frequented by many visitors apart from being a toilet stop along the coach route. From here we traveled to the Hot Springs, Canopy walk, and the Sabah Tea Plantation for Tim's adventure race. Too sore from the Mountain climb 2 days earlier and not confident with the mountain bike section of the race (85% of it) I opted to sit it out and help the organizers. Tim made an amazing effort being the first non-Malaysian to cross the finish line. Nursing wounds and sprains from a bike crash the previous day and battling the blistering heat, Tim finished in the Top 20. As for me, the job title they gave me was - wait for it - "Sabah Tea Adventure Race Ambassador"!!!! I got to greet the Minister of Tourism, Hand him the starting flag, and do prize presentations (the things they'll do to have a 'international' in their photo's!).

The last few days of our trip was spent at the very swanky Sutera Harbor Marina resort. Lazing in the sun, jetting out to the local islands and drinking cocktails by the pool - just what the doctor ordered.

After 3 weeks of wildlife, beaches, the Borneo jungle, and what seems like thousands of tightly crammed minibuses we saw only some of what Sabah has to offer. Tim and I could see ourselves returning to venture to corners not yet explored and to those who wonder if they should go and visit - DO!!!

Well, if ever a 3-day weekend away could feel like a weeklong refreshing holiday - then this weekend was it.

Bangkok was GREAT! As planned Tim and I headed off to Bangkok on Friday to make the most of the 3 day HKSAR National Weekend. On arrival at the airport we caught the country train from Don Muang into Bangkok spending the hour-long trip absorbing the 'interesting' outskirts of the city, playing with the infectiously happy children and trying not to fall out of the open train doors.

What we thought would be a short walk to our hotel was a little bit longer given i was so absorbed in the little milk tarts with corn i had bought from a little old lady, we completely missed the hotel (still don't how we did it given it's a 4 start hotel in a 1 star neighborhood - that kind of thing stands out!). We eventually found our way back to the hotel to the laughs of the tuk tuk drivers who had seen us walk past 15 minute earlier.

The hotel upgraded our cheap standard room to a suite room which was bigger than our apartment in HK (my 2 favorite words are free & upgrade so I was thrilled!!!) and so was the beginning of a great weekend! We spent our time wandering around Siam Square, shopping at Chatuchak markets and exploring the seedy streets of Patpong. I must say I am completely shopped out but given it's a Monday and once again I have nothing to do at school (the students have 1/2 days and they are all involved in end of year fun days etc) I feel like I’ve just come back from a week on the beach. The sun was great and I got my much needed dose of vitamin D, the food was magnificent - Pad Thai just isn't Pad Thai if it's not from a questionable road side stall and coke just isn't coke if it's not served in a plastic bag with a straw, and the people were HAPPY - something I miss so much here in HK, people rarely smile at you or say 'thank you' here but the Thai people with their happy smiles and joyous laughing was a really nice touch to our weekend.

One of the very happy Thai people we met.

This is like volleyball but using only their feet, it's amazing to watch.

Tim makes sure he's well hydrated before entering the mayhem of Chatuchak Markets.

So in the spirit of a picture tells a thousand words (and sometimes it's pretty boring reading reams of other peoples travels) I thought I’d put some photos up so you can have a quick look. Sorry about the poor quality, it's a free site so i have to compress them a lot. Anyway....

This is Nathan Rd, the main thoroughfare through Kowloon, if you want to shop for anything from Armani to a 'fake Rolex' then this is the place to go.

This is one the many streets that run off Caine Rd (our road), this is the gateway to some fantastic relatively unknown Indian and Chinese restaurants.

Tim and I were invited to a Chinese wedding a few months back. Tim is not fondling the groom he is actually participating in the custom of writing best wishes on the groom’s boxer shorts.

Once again, at the wedding, this time the more well known custom of throwing/catching the bouquet (try and spot me, I’m under the pile of many competitive Chinese women!)

Well, it’s coming up to 6 months in my new adopted country. It really has flown and I can see that the expected 3 years I will be spending here with Tim will absolutely fly by!

So what’s new with me?

I’m now the proud owner of a guitar and have booked into a 3-month course starting after I return from Borneo. After signing up for the course at a small music school down the road from our apartment I strolled casually down Caine Rd with the guitar slung over my shoulder like I was some bohemian musician making an appearance in trendy SoHo – if only the locals knew. So anyway, as you may have guessed, we’re off to Borneo – that is, after a quick trip to Bangkok in two weeks and then Australia mid July – THEN we’re off to Sabah. Which is exactly what the doctor will order after completing the school year here and having to say farewell to all of you in Melbourne again.

Living here has been a real eye opener, as a small kid from sleepy Langwarrin (and Tim’s as equally sleepy Beaconsfield) the city life has been a surprisingly nice experience. We’re living in the Hong Kong equivalent of Lygon street, Carlton along side the worlds longest escalator so not only do we have the best restaurants to choose from every night, we must also battle the happy snap tourists talking pictures of themselves on the escalator just to get home each day. It’s coming into typhoon season at the moment, 33 degree heat, 95% humidity and storms, storms and more storms – it’s quite a good time for getting out and running in the rain or trying to make it to the yoga studio without getting washed down the storm drain. I'm holding my breath though for a REAL typhoon, that’s when the true paranoia of the Hong Kong people sets in and no one leaves their homes - that means we get a day off work! DVD fest here we come! There’s also an awesome Italian restaurant down the road from us that claims to stay open even during a typhoon 8 so I’m tipping we’ll probably be there for lunch.

It’s exam time here in Hong Kong – the time during which everything these poor children have worked literally 12 hours a day studying 7 days a week comes to a head, amounting to 4 days of exams during which time I find it very hard to make any of them smile for they are fearful they are going to bomb out and disgrace their family! All I can say is I feel for these kids and it makes me want to give them a big hug and say – you ARE SMART, you do WORK HARD, and you will SUCCEED! It is a sad state of their education system though when they pay me so much to work here to supposedly teach ‘innovatively’ but in the end it’s all about the test (even for the P1’s – 6 year olds). That said, I'm adjusting slowly to the system and the start of next academic year in September will bring a fresh start for both the school and me.

Anyway, this was just supposed to be a little intro to get my web page started but I tend to blab. I’ll get some pictures up here and keep it updated regularly with little stories as I go. Keep smiling and remember to sing as though no one can hear you.

The Sands, the Pharos, the mini Venice. European architecture and Cathedral ruins - where are we? I had to keep reminding myself I was only a 1 hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong and a 20 minute walk into mainland china - we were in Macau. A fantastically odd little island of Portuguese and Chinese heritage with a HUGE obsession with casino's or more to the point Hong Kongers have the obsession and the Macanese have the right (gambling is illegal in HK) to exploit this market - and they do - with all the style of Vegas.

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So anyway, we were brought there by one of Tim’s races and while he was kayaking through South China Sea surf and abseiling down mountains I was roaming the alleys and markets reminiscent of a small Portuguese village. Macau was a great little place and having spent only 2 days there Tim and I will surely be back (I mean we still have the casino's to explore, need I say more!)