Leaping Monkeys

Had a great walk today round Bukit shahbandar... even did that last set of Killer steps!
H and i rewarded ourselves with a coconut... and a bit more of a chat.. and then went our separate ways..
I decided to go home via Pantai meragang.. just to have a look and see what was happening down there..

I also bumped in to some ladies i knew from my days assisting the animal shelter..
Rita now has 7 dogs in her care(The animal shelter has no shelter .. its the volunteers that take the animals in their homes...) the other lady Joan has 2 pups rescued from the beach.. and they were trying to locate the other dogs that were usually there...

One of the dogs turned up... she is a beauty..

sadly the little black puppy didnt show up.... but he could have been hiding..

There was a lot of commotion as we chatted and i could see that the monkeys were leaping off the palm leaves and in to the water.. Just hurling themselves wildly and then swimming across the river and once they reached the other side, they would forage for food.. and then swim back..

Not the clearest pic but you should JUST make out the monkey in free fall


About here!!

Once they had done with being on the other side of the river bank.. and got themselves enough food to eat..

they swam back to the other side, and all scrambled out of the water on to the
Palm leaf..

It was a very funny sight to see.. this queue of monkeys trying to get out the water..

I love it here.. im just soo lucky to get to see all this.. x

Bukit Shahbandar.

This is IT!
this is what its ALL about.. when i say ive done Bukit.. NOW everyone will know what i mean

It cant easily be described..
Its..
A; a walk
B;a walk with some steps.
C; a walk with some steps and some Hills.
D;a jungle walk.
E;requires 'some' Level of fitness.
F;and a indeterminate amount of Madness..
G;and also a willingness to become hot & sweaty
H;and VERY smelly too..

Water is a must when you go to bukit.. we all look like we are proper walkers with our water packs.. but believe me.. its a Must to have water..
Many times ive walked around and felt soo unwell.. The dehydration just creeps up on you.. then BAM!

These are the first challenge


Steps..
Helen counted them this last time...

I think she said there were 136 on this first bit..

Im sure she will correct me if (and i will be )Im wrong!



 NEARLY  at the top.. and you can see the enjoyment OOOOOzing from Both Ros & Helen!
(they are both going to dislike me for these pictures.. but hey..!! But i promise NO rear shots......)


So this is up to pondok 1...

This IS pondok 1.. and the only picture of a pondok i took..

There are 11 of these on the route we take..

but i figured that 1 pic was enough..
at least you will know what is meant by a pondok..

The waether was rather misty this morning .. so the views arent great.. but its far nicer to walk there when its cooler..

Bukit isnt a walk like we all imagine in the UK..

i think in the UK it would have been roped off.. Declared Unsafe and then probably been turned into a theme park by now..

I love the fact there is an element of danger.. it makes it far more interesting than 'just a walk'

This is looking down.. just after pondok 1..

so still early days yet!

Just a few more steps... as modelled so well by Helen & Ros(alind)

not sure how many here

But more than enough!

I should have taken the view to the right as there was a landslip here a while back.. and the jungle just slid away into the distance!!By (the piece of wood to the R is where its all slipped away from!)

This is another area we scramble up..

(Helen is working the camera really well here)

In the 2 and 3/4 years ive been here.. lots of the paths have fallen away, and crumbled .. but more paths have been trodden and steps made in other areas.. so its ever changing..

These Plants are called Pitcher Plants

                                   


 There are many types here..

We usually walk SO fast that we dont actually notice the flora and Fauna.. so it was a nice change today.. to get to look out for everything..

Beautiful..

                And a wild orchid too...        







Ok so were now about half way round... and the sweat is dripping off  us .. always a VERY attractive look..

 OK .. i promised no Bum shots.. but i kind of need to put this one in to help everyone understand the steepness of this part of the walk...


This bit doesnt LOOK steep.. but its a bit of a Killer hill!

BUT when theres an UP.. theres ALWAYS a down.. thankfully!

Helen still asks HOW did they make these steps as they are over halfway round ...

(same steps but looking UP!)





But theres more jungle to come...

Its stunning Jungle too... I love it in there .. all the noises of the secadas and sometimes the monkeys!

And sometimes us lot chattering away ..

But were near the end of the walk now... when you reach this pool.. you know that you havent got THAT much further to go.....

                                                                Helen demonstrates that Moment when you think its all over... lol..

                                                                    

 The lizard was there today.. and gradually turned redder, as we watched.. believe me.. we should have been the ones who were embarrassed!!! (Hahaha)

This one was hiding in the tree on the way out of the jungle..









And on the way out.. DONT forget to walk on these lovely stones..

Just dont try Running on them! and then trip over that nice drain way ( through the middle of the pic!)

No matter what...

I LOVE BUKIT!

And what a reward.... Pineapple.. My Favourite.. Eh Jo!!

PS yes i know its coconut really!!!
call it a bit of a Jo brain f8rt!

I will Miss Bukit LOADS when i go back to the UK!!

Maybe ill just stay?

X
                                                                                                                                                 

Birthday ...

A few of us met up for lunch yesterday instead on our usual monday ... as it was my Birthday..
Helen suggested we do something... (i figured forget the fact i was 45 was a good start) but after much debate.. and deep thought (2 seconds is deep for Me!) i figured.. Sushi!

A because it is really well air conditioned
B because it is really well air conditioned..
c cos i like it there..


Strangely.. I dont like sushi at all...
but i always find something i like...

It was lovely to meet up with just a few of the girls i know here.. i didnt want any fuss...
and im not that keen on big groups of people..

I always worry that i should have invited X Y and Z.. but i really couldnt face a big crowd..
(there has been soo much happening recently.. i think im in a bit of a tailspin!!steve would say PMT!!)

I had a lovely lunch.. specially as i got to have a birthday cuddle with Clauds too.... x

In the Evening.. we went out for supper at I lotus..

we had the VIP room.. which was laid out really nicely...
and ate far too much nice food like this Mango fish..

I love the mango fish ...









and we drank far too much............................... TEA too..... but who needs booze! we had a lovely evening and no booze at all..
i think the tea had the same effect as wine anyway..
Brilliant birthday.. and my last one in the Abode of Peace..

MOJO..

I was wondering.. If anyone had seen my ATC Craft related mojo.. as for some reason.. i seem to have a post Holiday Blockage! (ooer!)

I sat at the table earlier and just had NO mojo at all..

I will continue to look around other peoples blogs for inspiration..

I think the printer MIGHT be on the road to being able to do what it says on the side of it soon(ie Print!!)

I find having No access to anywhere crafty in Brunei has dampened my spririts a little..
BUT
be sure i WILL be back!

x


Ps this is Nelson in the Garden earlier.. not even HE

could locate the missing Mojo! x

Temburong Day trip, Canopy walk.

Sunday 14th March.. at 0615 My husband  steve and i were wide awake.. not bad after having a brilliant night out until midnight Saturday..
Today was Temburong day..
I think unless you have lived under a stone the last 10 years.. you may have heard of this place.. as its been on many travel programmes. Its basically a day out with a walk up into the rainforest canopy.. with views, far & wide..

So we arrived in Bandar Seri Bagawan at OH730! and actually struggled to find a parking space (Its Sunday!).. but eventually we did.. we met up with some other friends who had some visitors here.
We were all eager to get on the way.. but you first of all have to sign in, and give your passport number .. then you get a seat on the boat (these boats are also known as Flying Coffins!)

The journey takes about 45 minutes.. and is quite a fun way to start the day...

We arrived and were greeted by lots of secadas and Rhino horn beatles and butterflies and moths.. it was quite surreal...

were then were whisked off the the Sumbling Eco Resort.. (a very posh title... and resort was maybe slightly overstretched) BUT.. i think given time.. these guys will make it a great eco resort..

We had some tea and some Makan of fried banana,(cucur pisang) green bean paste fritters, and rice with shrimp paste... The cucur Pisang is my very LOW cal favourite!!

We then were shown.. and helped.. to make marinaded chicken with ginger lemongrass,pepper and tamarind..

!

Sheila and i were able to 'assist' with the making of this lunch.. which was then put into a hollowed out Bamboo over a hot flame..
its technical name was Bamboo chicken!





then we headed Off up the river.. Its an awesome way to travel in these long boats.. as if one person moves.. YOU ALL do!

   

we travelled a while.. then because the water is soo low we had to get out and walk a short way while the guys hauled the boat up thru the low water..

This was the only time we had to get out and walk... as the stones were pretty hard going on our knees...

We arrived at the base of the walk to the canopy steps.. and climbed the stairs and the forest floor the 385 meters up to start of the canopy walk... wow.. this was pretty darn warm!

well.. i wasnt convinced that Steve would be keen to do the canopy walk.. but he did.. and i was really pleased

although.. he did disappear down on the last tower, and didnt come up to the top which i thought was the best view!

This is US on tower 2.. i think..

This is steve heading toward the final tower.....

Me and my famous self portrait on the last tower... there was NO ONE else who would come up.. so self portrait time it was!!

so back we head to the longboat for the journey downstream..
sadly there was no water at the waterfall.. so we bypassed that!

we got back to the eco resort and had a lite lunch..

The veg closest in this pic is banana stem.. steamed.. it was very nice.. we also had the chicken that we helped make earlier too as well as veg rice and ommelette... all very tasty...

We all then (well ok some of us) were taken upstream and had a relaxing 20 minutes floating down the river on inner tubes...
Bliss!! what a great day