Bobo, the celebrity

Bobo arrived in Bali on Saturday night along with chocolate, biscuits, magazines and cards from my two best friends- it was an exciting time! The party rings were snaffled within about 2 hours but I am showing restraint with the other foodstuffs to last me my final 20 days (eek!).

We have had a busy time so far seeing Mount Batur (Bali's active volcano), traipsed around Ubud with a load of 30-something women gripping 'Eat, Love, Pray' in their sweaty palms and learned how ducks assist in the rice growing process.



I've now been in Asia for about 4 months and as I think I have mentioned in the past, am requested to have my photo taken with locals at least once per day. For Bobo, this is a new experience and he didn't understand it at first. He was perhaps even slightly intimidated. But now, after two days, he loves it! Walking about a temple earlier today, shy schoolchildren looked as though they wanted a photo with us but were too afraid to ask. My outgoing brother simply shouted (despite us being in a temple) to them that we are happy to be photographed. Cue a swarm of about 50 schoolchildren all crowding us and trying to take our photo, shoving friends out of the way so they can be the only one in the photo, 5 camera phones pointed at us at once etc... It turned into a slight brawl and I think the temple staff were happy when we left!

Transport? Transport?

I am happy to report that Bali is sunny, cheap and serves very western food. Since my short-lived love affair with rice is firmly over, the third aspect of Bali's brilliance is very welcome indeed. The hotel is lovely and I have investigated getting to the Gilli Islands with Bobo on Tuesday so we do not waste any time. We are also going to do a one day tour on Monday around the island which includes seeing Ubud, the setting of 'That Damn Book' as locals refer to 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

There are numerous motorcycles running rampant along the roads (driven in equal measure by locals and Western surfers transporting their boards), and pavements are non existent. It's like being in Vietnam again, only worse as the drivers shout 'Transport! Transport!' as they pass you, (even when I am running along Kuta beach at night, when it is blatantly obvious my feet are my transport). I will feel safer here when Bobo arrives as I don't think they hassle women with men so much. It saddens me to say this because I am a firm believer in the world being open to all, but I must concede that there are places equality has not quite reached yet. Maybe I'll buy a ring to wear on my wedding finger for the final few weeks..

To The Bat Cave!

More jungle antics abound with a visit to Mulu National Park to see the world famous Deer Cave, and the nightly migration of millions of bats who leave their cosy home to forage for food.

We arrived at the Royal Mulu Resort ready to explore the caves and see lots of wildlife, and after a week of roughing it in the jungle, we were ready for some 5 star luxury. We visited Clearwater Cave, Langs Cave, Wind Cave and then finally at dusk, arrived at Deer Cave and settled ourselves down to watch the phenomena.



We waited.

And we waited.

And then we waited some more. (Just for good measure).

Nothing.

The bats were apparently not hungry, but we were, so we left to go to dinner and agreed that we would come again the second night to see the bats, who would be starving by then.

Dinner was a spread. It was like being at Aunty's house on Christmas Eve- so many dishes to choose from and all looked amazing. There were different stations where you could have food cooked to order, as well as a buffet full of food I have missed dearly whilst on my travels. To entertain us, the resort engaged traditional entertainers, including one warrier who wore only a loin cloth, a spear and feathers, and thought it was funny to block my way to the food. I did tell him I would stab his spear somewhere uncomfortable if he didn't get out of my way to the ice cream station, but he didn't understand English, so this comment was wasted.

Breakfast in the morning was another spread, this time including a waffle station! I was very excited about this. Maybe more so the waffles than the bats, perhaps?! But anyway, we spent the day lounging around the pool and then traipsed off, cameras all fully charged, to try see the bats again.

We waited.

And we waited.

And then we waited some more. (Because thats what we like to do).

Nothing.



No bats, nada, zip. I was disappointed not to see them and will try to come back again in future but its a long way to come for something that may or may not happen, even if the food at the resort is amazing. (Actually maybe that is why the food is so good- it cheers disappointed tourists up). I feel so lucky with everything else I have seen here on this beautiful island and the best thing about Borneo: NO LEECHES! None! So no bats, but no leeches either. Hurrah!

I am extremely excited at the moment for the arrival of Roaming Reedy the Younger, aka BOBO! My brother is coming to join me in T-minus 4 days for 10 days of fun and frolicks on the Gilli Islands, off the coast of Bali. We are also meeting with two lovely Scottish lasses I travelled through China with so it will be nice to be surrounded by friends and family again and be back in a somewhat comfort zone, after months of nonstop speaking challenges. I think the next two weeks will be an interesting insight to see how my speech is when I am with people I feel comfortable around... I'll let you all know what happens.

Blingtastic Brunei!

There was a sequence of unexpected events this week that led me into the land of gold and ostentatious bling...Brunei! Despite our leader expressly forbidding us to go, I *might* have had one of my great ideas for a fun adventure(!), and organised a car and driver for 5 others and myself to explore somewhere that I'd never really known much about or would plan to visit especially. (Also, I thought Brunei was near Dubai, so I learned something new! Everyone is a winner).

We had an excellent time and toured the Royal Palace, 2 Mosques, a 7 star hotel which was fancy but really empty, and the worlds largest water villages. Immediately after crossing the border, we saw that houses were sturdier and the roads had less potholes- there is a lot of money rolling about. Quick fact: Malaysians are not allowed to use petrol stations in Brunei because the cheap petrol is only for the locals.



After our illicit soujourn, we returned to Malaysia to stay with the Iban tribe in traditional longhouses, and hike the Headhunters Trail through primary jungle. As usual, my main concern was leeches. I wore tights under trousers, with 4 pairs of socks both under and over the tights to ensure that none of the little creatures could get anywhere near my skin. Great plan, except I was ridiculously hot, which was a slight oversight on my part, I must admit. The guide said he had never met anyone so obsessed with not getting leeches on them as I made him stop every 300 metres and check me, but I made it up to him by helping him to cook a dinner of jungle-style KFC for the group which I think he appreciated.

The week was ok speech-wise. The issue is that whenever I go for a long time without speaking on a regular basis (say, for the 3 weeks I was travelling completely alone), its harder when I do start speaking again because my diaphragm needs to warm back up and I need to get used to speaking again.

My speech is being tested under pressure it wouldn't normally face (i.e. once my confidence has built up and I am able to push comfort zones and boundaries). These challenges mean I know when to put more effort in and that I need to drop back to 3 words per breath, and to really concentrate on visualising the words coming out correctly.

I like doing things properly and to the best of my ability (as you are all well aware), and it annoys me when I can't get it right, but I know why it is happening and what to do to fix it, which is the main thing.

Borneo Part 2- Men of the Forest

Kinabalu over, it was time to head to the jungle where I stayed in a lodge for 2 days and spent time on the river looking for wildlife. My eagle eyes were rewarded with a rare sighting of a wild orangutan, crocodiles and various monkeys!

The jungle lodge had several tame visitors- George the Monitor lizard, Maggie the bearded pig and Thomas the civet cat. Bizarre, but a great experience all the same! I found out that the base note for Chanel Number 5 perfume comes from a civet cat's anal glands, which was some interesting party trivia.



I was also lucky enough to visit Sepilok, the orangutan rehabilitation centre to see the men of the forest in their natural habitat. Two orangutans were mothers with babies (which were adorable), and the dominant male had a ridiculously wide face, which is what the lady orangutans find very handsome indeed!

Leechwatch: Doing fine so far with no leeches, but we are hiking to a remote hill tribe next week so I am ready to see some then. Our guide advised 'rolling them like a bogey' and flicking them away, so I shall see how that works.

Borneo Part 1- Climbing the Beast

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week saw me hiking Mount Kinabalu, AKA the Beast. 8.30am on Tuesday morning was the start of what was to be quite an adventure, and little did I know what was to happen.

The group had the option to hike the easy trail, or the hard trail. For reasons unknown to me, we chose the harder trail, which entailed 8 hours of solid uphill hiking, sometimes scrambling on our hands and knees to reach a checkpoint.

About 3 hours into the hike, the heavens opened (which has become a regular feature in Borneo- it rains here. A lot). The rain was a nonstop, heavy downpour, and we were soaked to the skin, with waterlogged shoes, within a matter of minutes. The trail had turned into a river/waterfall and there was the classic approach avoidance conflict of knowing the water had leeches lurking in it, waiting to attach and suck your blood, but also knowing that you have to keep walking. What do you do?! It's a rock or a hard place.

After 8 long hours, we reached Laban Rata, the checkpoint for the summit and the place of rest before the final push. Luckily, our group was in a nearby dormitory so we did not have to hike further up the mountain to get to our beds. After a cup of hot Milo it was bedtime at 6.30pm as we had to be awake for the 2am summit climb. This was where the problems really started.

No- one really slept that night as I think we were all over tired from the first days' hike, and nervous about what the next morning would bring. 2am came around and we strapped on our wet hiking boots ready to start the summit climb. I had no dry clothes due to no radiators in the dorms so was wearing my pajama top with robots on (thanks Cuz!) and leggings, with red knee high socks over the top, which wasn't particularly warm or stylish.

Outside was pitch black- all we could see was the few feet in front of us lit by head torches. The trail soon became very steep, and after about 1km, became completely vertical with a series of ropes that were used to pull ourselves up the mountain. We had no idea if the trail was on a sheer cliff face or not, which added to the fear levels.

In Bolivia and Peru, I suffered quite badly from altitude sickness but didn't think it would pose a problem in Borneo because Kinabalu is 4,000 metres, which is nowhere near as high as some of the mountains I hiked in South America. It did not occur to me that we ascended 1,000 metres in 2 hours for the final push, and as a result, at about 25 feet from the top of the mountain, I became quite unwell.



The girls I was hiking with kept encouraging me to go on, but by this stage, I couldn't see straight (it was like being drunk, when the world spins and images have trouble keeping up with your eyes), nor could I really speak coherently. A passing guide saw me fall over and took it upon himself to carry me up the final section, which was kind of him but didn't really help the situation as with altitude sickness, the only cure is going down, not up.

At the summit, I perched on a rock and couldn't even lift my head to admire the view. I felt utterly awful and must have looked like I'd had a few too many in the restaurant the night before the climb. Luckily, one of our guides took one look at me and dragged me back down the mountain (there was a lot of dragging going on that day). He had one hand around my waist to support me as I was unable to walk straight, and one hand on the rope to ensure that we did not slip off the side of the mountain, which was a distinct possibility. I lost count of the number of times I fell over simply because the guide was running across all these huge rocks and at one point, my arm was ripped from the socket because I was sliding away from him and he tried to pull me back.

It was only when we were halfway back down to Laban Rata that I could focus my eyes again and realised just how sheer the edges of the mountain were. In England, the climb would never happen without proper safety equipment and clothing- I was wearing a pajama top with robots on, for goodness sake!

Luckily, back at Laban Rata I had some breakfast, a cup of tea and was able to get down the mountain, but it was an experience I am not keen to revisit in a hurry.

Hannah + high altitude = recipe for disaster!

The Land Beneath the Wind

I'm now in Borneo and today is the first day of my last tour... mixed feelings, but mainly hunger, in anticipation of the group meal later today.

I got here on Friday after a flight where they served Ferrero Rocher (my kind of flight! It certainly beats weird ham and cheese doughnut things) and have just been relaxing, reading and catching up on admin as I won't have email access for the next week or so, whilst I hike Mount Kinabalu and visit the Orangutans.

I went to the cinema yesterday to watch 'Buried'- (laughably horrendous, watch it if you are sad and need cheering up), which ticked another travelling box of something I wanted to do while I was away (go to the cinema in a foreign country, not watch an awful Ryan Reynolds film).

Leechwatch: None so far, but it is early days still. I have my tights packed in my backpack and I am not afraid to use them, even in 30 degree weather!

Other than that, no news to report. Things are ticking over nicely.

FAO MY BOURNEMOUTH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
The Bournemouth McGuire course is next month and public speech arrangements are as follows:

Date: Saturday 13th November
Place: Millenium Flame, Bournemouth Town Square
Time: 3pm

Please go and support the new students; doing your first public speech is a terrifying but wonderful experience and they need a supportive audience. Applaud their courage and bravery for me!

Things I miss...

I have been unwell this week with a stomach bug and therefore have had much time to consider things that I am now beginning to miss about home. With only six weeks left of my self imposed exile, the list below is not exhaustive, nor in any particular order:



My family and friends
Plugging electrical items straight into the socket
The pound sign on keyboards
Watching 4od
Straightening my hair
Cosmopolitan
Using makeup
Duvets
Builders Tea
Marks and Spencers
Closer Magazine (my guilty pleasure- the real life stories are genius!)
Proper Chips
Highcliffe Beach
Sleeping in a room on my own (as opposed to with up to 13 strangers. Some of whom snore/smell/are guilty of both)
Using a shower without flipflops on
Glasses of milk
Walking to work
Lunches at the Regency
Being cold
New songs on my iPod
Being able to listen to strangers conversations on the bus
Cheese
Elaine Page on Sundays
Beans on toast
X Factor
Powerplates and spinning
Access to the McGuire support list
Party Rings
Cadburys
Knowing what day it is
Glee
Having a working mobile phone
Drinking tap water
London Theatre
Consumer Rights
Baking
Not being charged to get my money out of ATM's
Pizza Express
Raspberries, strawberries and clotted cream
Getting library books out
Adventures
Queuing
Knowing how much things are without having to use mental arithmetic
Random facts with Lucy
Wearing jeans

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying travelling and love seeing sights that I had only ever dreamed about but sometimes you do just want your home comforts!



The other thing I noticed on Tuesday (when I was ill) was that whenever people spoke to me, I struggled to answer due to not doing a warm up (because being in any position other than flat on my back caused physical pain) and also feeling so rotten. I just don't understand how I managed to last 18 years not being able to communicate...seriously, how?! When I look back, I am genuinely bemused at how I managed to do everything I did (living in New York 3 times, living in the zoo, going to uni etc)- how did people understand me and what I was saying? I don't have my first day video with me but when I get home that's the first thing I want to watch with a cup of tea, to remember exactly how far I have come. Yes, ok, I might have turbulence now and then but speaking eloquently is relatively new to me and I'm very proud of how I've coped, especially in these past 5 months.

Even if I live to be 105, on my deathbed, I will still be astounded at how much better life is when you can speak!

Going Wild!

My arms are sore from shovelling and sweeping, my legs are tired and I am more than ready to fly to Borneo, but I still have 3 days' left working at the zoo.

My first day was spent helping the elephant section and what struck me most was how different the health and safety is to that of English zoos. In my zoo, you were never allowed anywhere near the elephants and always had to stand behind metal bars if they were roaming freely in the paddock. What's more, you certainly never touched them! Imagine my surprise when I found myself in the elephant house next to one male and one female elephant who were being cleaned. Neither were restrained in any way, and the female even laid down on the ground so that the keeper could scrub her belly properly. The keeper handed me a scrubbing brush, and I tentatively helped him whilst simultaneously thinking, "Thank god I added my health insurance information on the sign in sheet!"

Saturday I was with hoofstock, and mainly focused on the giraffes. I love giraffes because I think they are quite like me: gangly and too tall for their bodies! As a special reward for working so hard, the keepers led me to the roof of the giraffe house where we fed them food pellets and I was allowed to stroke them, something which I had never done at my zoo. We sat up on the roof for a long time, just watching them interact with each other; it was wonderful!



Each day at the zoo begins with cleaning enclosures and the Zoo Negara staff are fastidious about this. My hands are blistered and my forearm muscles ache from using them so much, but it is still an amazing experience that I am so grateful to have had. Next week I am working with Tapirs on Monday, and then hippos on Tuesday...brilliant!

I have also had the good fortune to have a complimentary Fitness First gym pass in KL to get my fitness levels up for Mount K. The gym is superb and everyone is very friendly to me. This week is good for my talking practice: all day long I chatter away to zoo keepers and members of the public, and then more talking in group exercise classes at night. Lots of good speaking opportunities here! I think I am finally relaxed about expecting turbulence whilst I am travelling. I am so far out of my comfort zone that I sometimes struggle to remember what a comfort zone would feel like. Even when I am chatting to my family and friends on Skype, I am aware that people in the internet cafe can hear me and are listening (who wouldn't?! My life is a nonstop stream of excitement, hee hee!). I am now looking forward to coming home and getting myself really strong again although this time I will have the confidence to know that my speech does hold up when it is pushed to the limit, as it has been these past 5 months.



On Sunday I had a day of rest and so spent the day doing contacts and shopping, which I normally hate at home but here it is quite fun as most clothes seem to fit me. Karen Millen had some amazing party dresses in stock for Christmas and one navy silk dress caught my eye, but sadly I have nowhere to wear such an item and therefore cannot justify the purchase. If anyone wants to invite me to something special so I can buy the dress, I will gladly accept! Emails to the usual address, please!

Fortune favours the brave

Following a gruelling 10 hour bus journey up Malaysia's west coast, I arrived in George Town. I wasn't sure what to expect because it receives very mixed reviews, but the place itself was charming enough and it killed time until I fly to Borneo. I found nice people (finally!) to sightsee with, and as part of the tourist Heritage Trail, we got our fortunes told by one of Malaysia's oldest tarot card readers.

Auntie Sim works out of a shack near George Town's central market, and from the start I was apprehensive because I only let one of my dear American friends read my cards as she is the only one I trust to tell me the truth about what she sees. The problem with the reading in George Town was that it was so vague, she literally could have been talking about anyone. The reading itself was like a comedy film: she spoke rapidly for about 30 seconds and her husband would translate maybe 4 words into English... so I wondered what she was really saying! The results: I will have a "not bad time" travelling(!), I have to listen to my gut instinct, relax and not think too much. Thanks for that, Auntie Sim!

The hostel in George Town was my worst so far; hamsters everywhere and no air conditioning which is vital in 40 degree heat. Sleep was an unavailable luxury in George Town; the person in the bed under me kept scratching his body throughout the night, which shook the cheap bed frame. I finally drifted off to sleep at about 5am. Then at 6am, I awoke to him shaking my shoulders and trying to show me his bites. No word of a lie. This was the conversation:

Scratchy Man: Have you been bitten?
Me: No (Thank you, NHS London, for my silk sleeping sheet!)
Scratchy: Well, I have.
Me: Oh, ok.
Scratchy: Look, all down my arms and legs. There are bedbugs here.
Me: Ok. Well, why dont you move beds?
Scratchy: I like this bed.
Me: But you think it has bedbugs?
Scratchy: I stayed in this bed in this hostel 6 weeks ago, and I got bedbugs then, too.
Me: Ri-ght. So why did you come back?
Scratchy: (not answering) Look! They are everywhere on me!

In the end, I closed my eyes to ensure he got the message that I did not want to talk (yes readers, I know I have complained about lack of talking recently but I think you'll forgive me for not feeling particularly chatty at 6am with someone who has kept me awake all night because he is a moron).

My daily running routine has stepped up a gear in preparation to hike the beast, Borneo's Mount Kinabalu, in 2 weeks' time. Mount K is South East Asia's highest point and half the height of Everest. Apparently, you need bucketloads of mental endurance to reach the summit for sunrise, so I shall be conserving my energy for what should be a highlight of my jaunt.

In the meantime, another random speaking opportunity came my way. Some of you know that I used to live in a zoo, and as a result of this, I know several zoo keepers. Whilst discussing the lack of speaking with one of them, he mentioned the possibility of me volunteering in KL zoo, to ensure that I keep the speaking up. Never one to miss an opportunity, I instantly accepted the challenge and hotfooted it down to KL and am ready to start work at Kuala Lumpur's Zoo Negara first thing tomorrow morning. I volunteer with them until Wednesday so I am excited but nervous to see what this week will bring!