PXR Borneo 2011

I forgot to mention that I'd be out of the office for a month or so in Borneo, although those of you who read here regularly might have spotted clues in some of the July posts.

School-trip-tastic it has been. We visited these places, with the help of these people.

Some of the many highlights for me were - in no particular order:

• Snorkeling amongst tropical fish
• Conquering Mt Kinabalu
• Trying Durian fruit (described as eating a mixture of over-ripe strawberries and raw onion in a room with a gas leak!)
• Air conditioning!!!
• Sleeping in a hammock
• Watching the boys freak out when they got attacked by a leach!
• Meeting orangutans and other wild life.
• Being asked to speak at a local church - fortunately there was an interpreter.
• Hearing the dawn chorus
• Reading books - when I got the chance
• Sharing a room with a retired Royal Marine, now Outdoor pursuits freelancer, and hearing many an anecdote about military life.
• The food
• Chinese films featuring jumping vampires
• Members of the group who were prepared to laugh at my jokes
• Saya oran putti gilla!
• The people of Long Pasia
• Being told by one of the boys that for a French teacher, I was "surprisingly intelligent." Read into that what you will! :-)
• Writing cards to all the team on the last day.

Planning to go to Ethiopia in 2013. If all goes well, I may even be a qualified Mountain Leader myself, by then.