Birthdays, Bouquets and Booze in Borneo (9 April 2011)

What do you want to do on your birthday was Ant's question this morning? Spa, swimming pool, shopping? None of the above, surprisingly, we went on another trek through the amazing rainforest. But before that came a leisurely breakfast of banana pancakes overlooking the sea. Ant had brought cards and presents from home so I had a good time opening and reading. Everyone has been so thoughtful, and it's good job I don't wear makeup in the rainforest, my tears may have made the mascara run. Then the manager came over to say he had something for Miss Gill from Mr Colin and I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers and some chocs that Colin and John had arranged to be delivered from home. I dread to think of how many calls and emails had to made for that to work, but I was glad it did, thank you Colin and John.



Eventually, after admiring my presents and flowers the amount of chocolate was looming large, so a walk was a good way to dispose of some of those delicious calories. After our trek yesterday, we chose a 2 km walk, (plus a bit of a walk to get there so weren't being too lazy). The book said it would take one to two hours. We decided somewhere, someone had got the maths wrong, it wasn't possible to take that long over such a short distance. Wrong again. Turns out we were in the foothills of Mt Santubong and it was tough! But amazing, right in the heart of the Borneo rainforest. No path that was too obvious, trees high, high above, straining to be the top of the lot to get to the sunshine, underfoot, roots and rotting leaves. Odd noises in the distance that neither of us wanted to think about and both of us on snake watch, well perhaps Ant even more than me! And it seemed even harder than yesterday. It was hard to get a footing, but luckily in places there were ropes to help. And it was hot, even in the shade of the forest it was hot. Like a sauna, so pehaps I was having a spa day after all!
After our efforts, we decide to make a visit to the much vaunted Sarawak Cultural Centre to take in a bit of local history. A living museum with different kinds of houses, displays of tapioca and sago and blow pipe exhibitions. I won't repeat the comment Ant made about the veiled lady's expertise in that area.... But it is my birthday are all, and the restaurant is "dry", so we rely on our traditional "special" water, i.e. duty free gin in a water bottle. We always were culturaly sensitive..... After that we were knackered, so managed to fall asleep in the aircon theatre watching the dance performance.....


This evening, just as the sun was going down the monkeys also came to say Happy Birthday. A group of six silverleaf monkeys went by swinging from branch to branch, looked like Mum and Dad and the kids including one tiny one who was getting left behind. He sat for a while staring in at me, of course, I was safely the other side of the glass doors to the balcony. Wildlife is great, but it does stop you sitting and admiring the view from outside!
So we finish with a birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Ant had brought a bottle of good champagne which we shared, together with a chicken curry. And Ant had then organised a birthday cake which was so big we shared with the restaurant.
A fab day, the best birthday ever, thanks Ant!


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Location:Kuching,Malaysia