The First Post - Wednesday 13th February

So, this is it - a blog. Blog-tastic.

I am not entirely sure about this caper, but for now I seem to have endless words flowing from brain through my arm onto paper so I thought I'd miss out the middle man and whack it directly onto the great t'interweb.

I'll probably wish I'd started this earlier, as right now my adventuring has relaxed somewhat, yet I currently have a very pleasing amount of time to reflect on what I have just been through and psych myself for my next adventure - namely a mammoth journey from Borneo to home in the good old U of K, via Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

A quick recap of my itinerary to date:

Singapore
Peninsular Malaysia (including KL, Langkawi and Perenthian Island Kecil)
Sabah, Borneo
Australia
Philippines (including Baguio, Manila, Boracay)
Sabah, Borneo

STA Travel quite specifically indicated that my next step after Australia should have been New Zealand. And no doubt plenty of you out there will be shocked that I have cut this glorious country out of my journey, well squashed it to a mere 24 hour stop-over in Auckland. I'm sorry kiwis of the world, but quite simply I fell madly in love with Malaysia after working in Borneo for 3 months on an Eco Lodge and the lure of returning whilst I was 'in the area' eventually became too much to bear. Hence my travel partner (best friend, Jane) and I split up (the split was very amicable, she had a burning desire for NZ, me for Sabah) and we will reunite, no doubt emotionally at Auckland airport where we will waste no time in getting ourselves to Fiji, as dictated by our plane tickets.

So, as I said, possible mental instability made us change our travel plans and back-track from Australia to Malysia, where I showed Jane what all the fuss was about. Both of us had completed a Raleigh International expedition at the end of last year (www.raleighinternational.org.uk). Jane's was in Costa Rica and mine in Sabah. Raleigh is a registered charity - part adventure facilitator, part youth development. They sign up both well-off and disadvantaged young adults including international and host-country participants (aged 17-24) and take on scared staff (mainly Brits aged 25 plus) to act as youth developers/leaders to ensure the projects are safe and meaningful for the young adults in question.

I was a Project Manager working in on an Eco Lodge in a tiny village called Mengaris, district of Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan area of Sabah. This Eco Lodge is not only exceptionally beautiful, but it forms an important part of the goals for ecologically sustainable tourism in the Kinabatangan area, and is being built by the local group named MESCOT.

In 1996 the MESCOT Initiative was started by a group of about 30 visionary and dedicated individuals from the different villages of Batu Puteh (of which Mengaris is one of them) to create an alternative medium of income generation for the people of the area, while in the process of protecting the last remaining vestige of rainforest and traditional indigenous cultural heritage.

The driving force behind this unique project is a dynamic Australian named Martin 'Danger' Vogel (quite literally one of the most inspiring people I've ever met in my life). His passion, energy and sheer determination is pushing the project towards completion, and he is responsible for the very close links with Raleigh, who provide a lot of the labour force.

When I first met Martin, I'll be honest, I was pretty intimidated. As I eyed him up and down I got the distinct impression that our working relationship might not be an easy one. We were from very different worlds. Unsurprisingly, as our first night in Raleigh camp just outside Mengaris played out, I realised I wasn't wrong.

Our initial task before we even started work on the Eco Lodge was to get our jetty into the river so that we may wash. Yes, for three months I washed my hair in brown river water and dodged the crocs as best I could. My hair took on an alarmingly wild appearance and stiff texture, yet I count myself lucky that I wasn't plucked from the bank by a large reptile, so all was well. I could always shave it all off and start again.

Getting the jetty into the water was by no means an easy task. It was thoroughly wedged in deep, wet mud - high on the river bank. My team (Alpha 2) was buoyed up by Martin's enthusiasm, and being a largely male dominated group they were all trying to impress him. Imbued with male bravado and the high spirited energy of youth, they trekked into the woods to chop down large logs in order to try and roll the jetty down the bank. They larked about waist deep in mud pushing and heaving at the jetty to get it floating. They splashed about in the river pulling the jetty into place.

It was day one of Phase One, and we were taking a Raleigh Rule (a 'non-negotiable' to boot) and stomping all over it. All the participants were in the water, up to their necks, there for the taking by a croc. I, was jumping about on the river bank, having an anxiety attack. This, combined with dehydration and the searing heat resulted in a migraine and Bev, my fellow Project manager had to put me to bed (I say bed, I mean hammock).

Petrified I think is the word I'd use. I've always been a bit of a stickler for rules, and I could not cope with having to explain to our Country Director that on Day 1 I let a situation unfold which resulted in a participant getting snatched by a crocodile. Of course, Martin knew the water and had the situation under control , yet I felt very out of my depth and very out of control, so my body basically shut down and refused to deal with it.

It was a scary time, and I awoke the following morning worried about whether I would be able to cope with this expedition.

The next day I had an awkward chat with Martin. He thought I didn't trust him, I thought he was crazy. It wasn't the best of starts, and there seemed to be an element of 'control' competition in the air, yet obviously I backed down. What did I know? I used to run tennis tournaments, Martin had been working in this country for 17 years, and this project for 10. He knew exactly what he was doing. Thankfully we proceeded to get on spectacularly well and our friendship and working relationship blossomed, based on trust and mutual respect. What I have learnt from him, I feel ridiculously grateful for.

Quickly I began to feel the way Alpha 2 did trying to get that jetty in the water. He made me want to work harder than I ever had done in my life. He lit a fire inside me which smouldered at first, then crackled and raged, and I forgot all the thoery about what I was supposed to say, do, feel. I just did.

The work, the participants, the villagers, they became my reason for existing. And I got very used to a happy and simple existence where all I needed was energy and a parang (1 3 foot long machete).

My journey to work was a stunning twenty minute boat ride up the Kinabatangan river. On a daily basis we would watch proboscis monkeys gadding about and large crocs slipping into the murky depths. Various species of horn bill glided above, startlingly blue kingfishers zipped by our boat. Not a single day went by without me thanking my lucky stars for what I was seeing.

One day at the Lodge there was great excitement. 'ORANGUTAN....ORANGUTAN' came the shouts. We'd had a numbingly hard day wheel-barrowing heavy sand bags which would be used to form pathways to the sleeping chalets as part of the Lodge's accommodation. Exhausted, we ran towards the shouting and the pointing. Everyone fell still. I looked up, and stared into the eyes of a mother orangutan clutching her baby. As we held each others gaze, aknowledging each other's presence, emotion overcame me. Tom, another PM who had joined us for Phase 2 just held me close in a hug. It was a very special moment.

You see, I've started this blog and now I want to try and get every experience down. I'm typing fast and don't know if the story is flowing? I suppose that, as days go on I will just weave the memories into the text. Each day I wonder whether the Raleigh experience has touched other Project Managers as it seems to have done for me. Maybe, maybe not. Religion does not play a big part in my life, but I have actually on more than one occasion thanked God for the forces which came together to give me the opportunity to do it.

It has been, quite frankly, the experience of a lifetime.

I did, quite frankly, have the time of my life.

It gave me confidence like I've never known before and taught me invaluable lessons in patience, tolerance and truly being selfless. Anyone stuck at a cross-roads and wondering whether to jack it all in and go adventuring, I could not recommend this type of thing enough. Cliched as it may sound, you learn a lot about yourself and you meet some exquisitely unique people.

I think maybe at this point I'm just going to explain the structure of a Raleigh Expedition.

Malaysia Autumn 2007 saw around 70 young adults taking part - THE PARTICIPANTS (affectionately known as 'The Parps').

Expedition is split into three phases, each phase lasting three weeks:

1) Adventure Phase
2) Community Phase
3) Environmental Phase

As part of the adventure phase, they learn to dive (obtaining a PADI qualification), they trek for a week and then they climb Mount Kinabalu - 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) of exhausting challenge.

There were two community phases:

1) Building a gravity water feed system in Kampong Ambong, an hour outside Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah.
2) Work on the Eco Lodge, on the edge of Tungog lake in Batu Puteh, Kinabatangan.

Then there were two environmental phases:

1) Danum Valley
2) Imbak Canyon

Every parp gets to do the adventure phase, one community phase and one environmental phase. Hence every three weeks myself and Bev received a new rotation of ten parps, who we tried to instill with as much enthusiasm as we had for working on the Eco Lodge. Daily life was a crazy whirl of hardcore labouring, whilst trying to remain upbeat and enthused to motivate the entire team. I have never dug quite so deep - both literally and figuratively. There were times when I actually cried with exhaustion.

Before expedition I trained a lot to try and prepare as best I could. Having trained for two Marathons I was no stranger to hard physical toil and the mental battle required to overcome situations when you are wet, cold, broken and yet still need to run on. So in the month leading up to the off, I joined a fabulous gym in Bristol and I ran, cycled, lifted weights, did classes. I pushed myself and then I pushed myself some more. Yet, nothing could really prepare me for the physical demands of working on the Eco Lodge, apart from maybe getting a job on a building site.

We carried iron wood four by fours up a very steep hill, in the midday sun and sapping humidity. We dug a 15m x 10m reed bed which every morning needed bailing out for two hours as the rain filled it up overnight.
We filled 1000 bags with sand, and carried them to the Lodge, laying them out and then stomping them flat with iron wood planks.
We moved 12 tonnes of palm kernels (one of the by-products of the Palm Oil industry) from Mengaris, by boat, to the Lodge.
We planted 1600 Durian trees as part of MESCOT's re-forestation project, which sits alongside the Eco Lodge project.

We heaved, we lifted, we carried, we dug, we pushed, we pulled and we wheel-barrowed.

It was intense, dirty, back breaking work. My abs and guns have never been so pronounced, my ability to overcome exhaustion and smile in the face of adversity, never so strong.

My confidence to sing loudly and act like an idiot, just to get the team through the day, never so surprising. One specific memory still has startling clarity. We were on maybe day 8 or so of digging the reed bed. This was to be a key component of the decomposting toilet system, when the hole is finally lined (still waiting for funding for this), reeds will be planted and the waste from the toilets will be pumped through septic tanks initially, then the dirty water filtered through reeds, and recycled. We had been digging for days, and every morning we had to bucket out all the water which had fallen over night in the Monsoon. It felt like a never-ending job, spirits were beginning to flag severely.

I was knackered, I couldn't be bothered. The mosquitoes were out in force and launching themselves at me with a determination I could only dream off. I was hot, sweating, dirty, itching; I wanted out. I looked at Alpha 2, my vibe was rubbing off on them. They were disheartened and unhappy. I took a very deep breath and started to sing:

'Here ya come agaaaaain, lookin' better than a body has a right too....' I looked up at Kirsty, a wonderful young aussie, particularly fond of Dolly Parton classics, in fact we'd bondly tightly over our mutual love of country rock music. She grinned at me and joined in:

'JUST WHEN I'D BEGUN TO GET MYSELF TO-GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETHER, YOU WALK BACK IN THE DOOR, JUST LIKE YOU DID BEFORE AND WRAP MY HEART AROUND YOUR LITTLE FI-INGER...................................................................................................................'

The others rolled their eyes, and one by one, joined in right with us. We proceeded to have possibly the best working day of that phase.

Sometimes all it does take is a bit of country music, so HA! to all those who ridicule me for liking it :).

That day, it saved us. In fact Alpha 2, Phase One were pretty incredible - they finished that reed bed in under two weeks, when Rosli (head of MESCOT) had predicted it might take us all three phases.

At this stage I am just going to list all the parps I had in each phase - just for posterity.

Phase 1 - Alpha 2 (aka. Alpha Tom)
Fairy Tom (Tom Rhodes)
Red Tom (Tom Jackson)
Big Tom (Tom Dixon)
Kirsty Harrison
Jess Haberley
Maddie Jacobs
Dave 'Culture' Bywaters
Ishen Amara
Bradley Prince
Josh Pearson

Phase 2 - Alpha 2 (aka. Alpha Jungle Work-Out)
Palmer di Peyster
Carly Wallace
Francesca Jackson
Ryan
Chloe Bird
Suzanne Rooney
Rony
Lois Allen
Joe Kingston-Lee
Yusif

Phase 3 - Alpha 2 (aka. Alpha Beefcake)
Jonny Shearman
Jo Loveridge
Kirstyanne Rung (Frizz)
Meex
Ibrahim MacKenzie (Ibs, Ibalocious)
Gilles Louwerens
Zoe Sweeney
Ben Vicarey
Stuart Tinner
Jun Pang

Righto, think I'm gonna post all this now - see what it looks like. There is more to tell, but the night is yet young...............