Thursday 27 August 2015

Tuesday 21st July

12:50pm

This morning we were awoken at 4:45!! With only time to throw some water on my face and throw on my boots, we set off for our sunrise walk with many of us still in the same clothes we'd slept in.
     It was still completely dark, so our head torches were required for about half of the way there. It was roughly a 40 minute walk across the beach, but it wasn't too bad as it still being dark meant that it was fairly cool for once.
     We walked all the way to the end of the island and sat there on the shore as the sun rose before us. It was partially hidden by cloud to begin with, but slowly it ascended past the cloud and at last the sky was fully lit for the day. It was so peaceful just sitting there with nothing to do except stare at the sky ahead of us.
     The walk back was a little harder as once the sun was up it started getting hotter very quickly. It certainly built up an appetite too, so we were glad to have breakfast as soon as we got back to camp.
     The rest of the day has been very laid back as we've just been getting ready to leave, and the other group here left this morning so at the minute we've got the camp to ourselves again for a little while.
     We took full advantage of our last opportunity to go swimming and spent ages in the sea, splashing around and admiring just how amazing it is here. I'm really not a beach fan (and even here I can't help but get a bit annoyed now and then by the sand getting EVERYWHERE) and I'm sick of being so stupidly hot that you're all constantly sweaty and dirty no matter what you do, and I'm tired of the fact that on this island your feet are never really dry... But despite all that, I absolutely love it here because it's so incredible that it's simply impossible not to.
     Apart from packing (which was nearly completely trauma-free this time!) and eating lunch (which was tomato pasta!!!) I've done pretty much nothing for the rest of the day, and now it's just some more relaxation time in the hammocks before we get on the boat and start our journey back to Kota Kinabalu.

10:30pm

The boat was late - nothing unusual in this country - so I fell asleep in the hammock where I was resting and only got woken up when it arrived. Then it was a 45 minute journey back to the mainland (many people let the boat rock themselves to sleep) and a 2 hour coach journey, and now we're back in Kota Kinabalu.
    This time we're staying in another different hostel called Borneo Backpackers (which is actually the same place we are in on our first night in KK). We got there a little later than planned so dinner was served nearly straight away.
     After dinner we were briefed by Dave about what life in the jungle would be like and what to pack as we're only allowed to take our day bags with us to the jungle rather than our main bags. The briefing was followed by a lot of anxious questions from everyone, but most of us are really excited about going into the jungle, as well as being slightly scared!
     Then there was just time to pop out to grab any last minute bits we needed for the jungle (extra bug spray was top of many people's lists!) before packing and rearranging our bags ready for the journey to Batu Puteh - the last camp of our expedition.
















   

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