You what?

I've finally settled in and have sort of caught up on stuff so I now sort of have free time again. For starters, the 5 week expedition was really good. I mean, it had its ups and downs like everything else, and I won't lie - I was counting down the days from the beginning - but it really was good.

The breakdown:

• About 5 days in Likas doing team-building and preparation stuff.
• 3 weeks in Kg Tungou, Ranau building a water feed system and hanging with the truly awesome locals.
• 1 week Adventure Phase, which consisted of actual camping next to Sg Kiulu, 3 days of hardcore hiking with no water sources nearby, and white-water rafting down to TAC.
• 1 day at Traverse Adventure Centre (TAC) next to Sg Kiulu, which was a truly lovely place where we slept in hammocks that were already set up.
• 1 day at Borneo Paradise Hotel, which is a crappy little 0-star hotel but is a great place to be after over a week of no proper showering or clothes-washing.

I learned:

• German numbers, days, and head, shoulders, knees and toes.
• How to cook meals with tinned stuff.
• How to make goreng pisang.
• How to set up my own hammock and basher.
• That the Brits call it "porridge" while the Americans call it "oatmeal".
• That I can survive about a week in super smelly clothes.
• That kampung people are the loveliest people there are.
• "Type 2 Fun" - The kind of fun where you don't realise you're having fun while you're doing it. In fact, at the time, you may think it's not fun at all. The realisation only hits you later when it's over.

So now I'm back, and I've started at the department that I would like to confirm in (they've given me an actual office with windows, there's free parking, there's a game room complete with foosball table and Wii, and there's a small walled garden where we can hang out), and more importantly, I'm clean and can shower at least twice a day if I like.

It really was good, and I made loads of friends from England whom I miss already.

FYI, the blog for my expedition can be found at http://malaysia-summer08.blogspot.com. Read all about it.