We're actually home!!! After over 6 months of travelling through, India, Nepal, Thailand and Malaysia, we've decided to come back to our family and friends. It feels a bit weird to be suddenly back home, sleeping in our own bed again. No bed bugs, mosquitoes, flies, frogs or lumpy lobsided mattresses. No fans, noisy aircon or indeed noisy neighbours. But is it cold! We arrived home on the coldest day in March for 10 years. And it was snowing! But it was great. Can't believe that I'm saying this, but we were actually looking forward to the cold weather. Even though it meant a 30 degree drop in temperature we were really looking forward to coming in from the cold and snuggling up together in front a warm open fire.

Over the last few weeks I really began to feel homesick. For everything and nothing at the same time. I thought that I was slowly going mad. To have such a wonderful opportunity of continuing on travelling, of seeing something more of the world, but not feeling up to it. I never knew that being homesick could be an actual physically disabling thing. But the choice was simple, either go home or risk loosing the plot completely. We had done what we wanted to do anyway. Originally, we hadn't set an exact timeframe. We'd left it open, giving an estimate of somewhere between 6 months and 1 year. And with no set itinerary, it wasn't like we were changing our plans.

Nothing is really finished anyway. We can go back anytime - and will go back! Travelling has brought is so much. We've had a real adventure meeting some amazing people along the way. It would be impossible to start listing all the things that made this trip so wonderful. I dont think that we will fully realise this for some time yet. But one thing that we realised is that its not where you go but what youre doing that really matters.

So, I'd like to say thanks to all those who posted comments, it was great to know that someone was watching this space. No doubt that I'll be meeting you all somewhere down the line. Keep in touch and let me know how your keeping.

Love

Gerry N Isabellexx

We've been busy over the last few weeks, so we haven't had the time to write an update. With Claudine (Isas mum) over for a mere 2 weeks we've been racing around Thailand trying to get as much in as possible. We've travelled from Bkk to Chiangmai, back to Bkk, then Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and then back to Phuket and Bkk again. It's been a bit of a whirlwind tour and I don't know about you Claudine, but we are totally knackered! So, you'll have to forgive me on the sparsity of descriptions on this one. I'll let the photos do the work.....

Deux semaines de vacances pour maman qui sont passees tres vite. Donc voici quelques photos. Pardonnez-nous pour la sparite des commentaires, mais avec autant de voyages nous etions fatigues. Je pense que maman aura aussi du mal a recuperer...

After arriving on an overnight bus from Bkk Claudine was gifted the best room in the ENP. With 25 volunteers the park was really crowded. So, Lek gave up her own room so that Claudine could have a good rest.

There were so many changes. One month gone and so much had happened. Sadly, Canoon and mum had been taken back by their owners. Canoon being then sold to a circus and the mum being sold to a breeding centre. And a few of Karl and Michelle's dogs had succumbed to a strange disease. Though, it wasn't all bad news, there were a few new additions to the park. Like this little fellow. Unnamed as yet he's only four weeks old and very naughty!!!


Tongjan having some fun of her own.

The mud bath is up and running again. No pun intended! The number of extra hands made it easy to do. The babies really love it as you can see for yourself. The time 'bathing' is divided between the river and the mudbaths now.

Peek-a-boo! The one with the big ears is one of the new female adult additions to the park. Bigger ears than Tighe. To the left is the new 6 year old female.

Claudine just couldn't get enough of the fruit in Thailand. Even nicking the elephants share!

Et on a plus d'une photo comme ca!!!

Before heading to the south, we had a day around Chiang mai. This is at the monastery on the hill.

One of many photos taken around Koh Phi Phi. I'm in this one though!

Around Phi Phi. Amazing water!

A big lobster for Claudine. Last dinneron Phi Phi.

Dernier dinner sur Phi Phi. Et un homard, un!!!

A macques around Phi Phi. Fat and very tame.

Isa and mum snorkling.

We had a wonderful view over the beach. Though getting up those steps was a killer.

On se rapellera surtout des marches a monter pour avoir cette vue superbe de Phi Phi.

Reminders of the Tsunami. We stayed in one of these bungalows 7 years ago. Alll that's left is the base.

Will post something on this later on.....

After Uncle Tan's we headed for Semporna for a spot of diving-well Isa that is. This is the port for Sipadan island, one of the top dive destinations in the world. Getting there was a bit of an ordeal. First we had to walk up a steep and slippery embankment to a dual carriage, in the sort of heat that causes sandals and flip flops to stick to tarmac and turns the soles of your feet into the most tractionless substance known to mankind. Then, it was hail the local bus and sit in an oven-van time. Funny, I'd never heard of them before I came to Malaysia. A pretty primitive device. Just put about forty locals and two whities into the back of a converted hi ace. At midday, 40 degrees celcius, 100 percent humidity, no aircon or windows that open. And the combined mixture of body heat and odour will bake you a nice, pleasantly mannered, sweet smelling tourist.

Then, to add to the fun, we were left outside a mosque for a half an hour, whilst the driver got a few prayers in. Of course, this was all in the interest of road safety. The best method they have here. This wasn't the only stop that we made. There was a trip to the gas station thrown in for free. This is a typical Asian thing that we've experienced on more than one occassion. Fill the bus and then look for the petrol money off the passengers. Feck the tip just ask for the petrol money. You never know, it might catch on with the Dublin taxi drivers!

Semporna itself was no great shakes. A bit of a concrete, non descript town. We wanted to treat ourselves after the jungle so we opted for the deluxe room at the Dragon Inn, a cool chinese styled floating hotel. But even here we had more fun than we bargained for. The tv had a mind of its own! No kidding, it changed the channels itself. And always when you were just getting into some crappy American rubbish that you'd swear that you'd never watch. The menu would pop up, flip down through the more tantalizing programs and then stop on some retarted stuff. Just so you could take your time getting into that before the cunning f***ers in reception messed with your head again. No wonder I couldnt find the remote control. It was called Mohammed and it could be found crumpled into a heap, dying from laughter, on the floor in reception. Dial 0 for the reception. Ha bloody ha ha!!!!

But the dive itself was amazing. I'm paraphrasing Isabelle here. On the two dives that she made, she saw an unbelieveable amount of coral, tropical fish, turtles and sharks! Not the dangerous ones. Though, if I had seen even a tiny one, it would be free bum burgers for the fish. Even just snorkling, you could see a lot of marine life. On the second excursion, I saw a green turtle. It was really huge and graceful. I tried to follow it for a while. But when I realised that I was off the reef, and in 600m of open water, I remembered that I'm a bit uncomfortable out of my depth. Though the experience has definitely renewed my interest in trying diving again. Ther's just too much to see here just to stay at the surface.

After Sipadan island we headed back to KK for the last four days. We had planned on doing some cheaper excursions aroung the greater KK area but were frustated to find that everything was regulated by the goverment, meaning that it was ridiculously expensive and time consuming to do. The amount of hidden costs was crazy. You pay at least twice the price that you expect to pay. And that's for everything. Kota Kinabalu is also the centre for misinformation. Nobody will give you the facts just their own interpretation of them! Felt like we were back in India again. For the last 2 days we headed to the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park to get a bit of sun. This is the 5 island National Marine Park that sits just off the coast outside KK. However, instead of landing into a tropical paradise, we landed onto the tattered and overcrowded remains of one. A real shame. The dirt and pollution of the city makes its way across the bay to these shores. If only people would put their rubbish into bins!!! On the second day it was even worse. After a stormy night, there was so much rubbish in the water that it made snorkling a real hazard. Though we did brave it and saw some wonderful tropical fish amongest the empty coke bottles.

On the whole, Sabah, is truly an amazing place with much to see and do. Though it's not really a backpacker destination. Despite the so called backpacker accomodation, everything is so expensive here. To do it justice you need to reach a bit deeper into the pocket and splash out on the hotels and the excursions. If you're watching the euros, or should I say the ringets, you'll feel a bit ripped off here. Though, I will come back for Uncle Tan's and to dive in Sipadan. Nothing, including greed-yes that's the word, could spoil these experiences.

After climbing Mt Kinabalu, we headed straight for Uncle Tan's guesthouse to sign up for a 3 day jungle adventure.

The first morning, before heading for the jungle conservation area, we visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary for a half day tour. This is one of 3 Organutan sanctuaries that exists in the world, to rehabilitate sick and orphaned orangutans. With most of the land in Borneo (Malaysian at least) being deforested to make way for palm oil plantations, the oranguatan amongest other wildlife have become an endangered species. The centre claims that it rehabilitates the 'man of the forest' such that they can successfully return to their natural habitat and live as nature intended them to live.

Whether you fully believe in what they tell you, that all the orangutans are successfully 'rehabilitated' to fend for themselves,etc, there's no denying that there is vital work being done at the centre. Imagine what would happen to the orphaned and injured ones should there be no centre to house and care for them. It's also a great place to see the orangutan up close. We went around the morning feeding time, when the orangutans literally hang around waiting for the 'keepers'/'handlers' to arrive up on the platform with bunches of bananas. It's mostly around this time that the hords of camera happy tourist (that's me too!) get to see them up close. Though, not being a fan of Zoos, it's something that I felt a bit uncomfortable about. There's also an information centre that show's a balanced, informative and well made documentary about the orangutan crisis in Borneo and how the centre operates. In addition there's also some information on the crisis facing other wildlife, such as the rhino, in greater Sth Est Asia.
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This is the mountain that we had come to Borneo to climb (though not photo of actual summit). Mt Kinabalu, standing at 4090m is the highest mountain in Australasia and one of the so called seven summits of the world. The guide book informed us that it was a relatively easy climb if a little sore on the legs and knees. What an understatement that this would turn out to be!!!

I don't think that either of us imagined that it would be so STEEP. At the best of times it was like climbing a ladder into the attic of the sky. I'm not kidding, the steps were so high that I almost had to give Isabelle a bunk/leg up. It was hard enough for me to stretch my foot up to the next step, but for poor Isa it was like climbing a series of medium sized walls all the way to the summit. It was relentless. Constantly climbing up, without any downhill to ease the strain on the legs. It took is 5 hrs of hard slog to reach the resthouse at 3300 m.

The next morning, we were up at 2am (!!!), to begin the final assault toward the summit. In almost complete darkness we made our weary way towards the top. It was actually really amazing, just by the light of the half moon and our little headlamps, we picked our way along the granite face.

Ropes were fastened all along the trail to aid the climbers in steep or difficult parts. This often lead to bottlenecks as people of different levels of fitness and age constantly josteled for positions on the way up.

At 5.30am, when we finally reached the summit, we couldn't get to the offical peak point. The Japs had taken over. There were literally dozens and dozens of them all over the summit all waiting for the sunrise. So we sat and waited until 6.20am, offical sunrise time, hoping to take a picture from the offical point. But, they wouldn't budge! Even with the freezing cold they just stayed and took photos of each other in every pose imaginable. Was like a fashion shoot!

So, we just snapped what we could and headed back down to where we could get a better shot of ourselves.

On the way back down I stopped to take a few photos of some of the other smaller peaks that surrond the summit.

The views into the valley were really spectacular.

Between the sky and the clouds, you could see all the other peaks and ridges across Borneo to the sea.

The trek down was even harder than the climb up. Even by the time we got down to the resthouse for some grub, our legs were shaking from the strain. And we had another 6km to go, descending down another 1500m, before we could finally rest. Isabelle was almost in tears by the time we got down, 3 hrs later. I was in bits too, resorting to hobbling side to side down the steps, arse sticking out- wincing on every step. I must have looked like an aul fella with a bad case of gout. But, even now, 3 days later, still nursing our aching knees, we say it was worth it. A great experience.

If KL was a football match it would have been described as a match of two different halves. The first half seeing us beaten down by the wearisome crowds, the heat, the humidity and the choking pollution of chinatown KL. Almost rushing back to the airport and heading off to somewhere a bit easier on the nerves. Whilst the second half saw us totally at ease, having fun, enjoying ourselves and some of the delights of the more upmarket districts of the city.

One of the most beautiful and easily the most impressive buildings that we visited in KL. The Petronas Towers were the worlds tallest buildings until 2003. Though I'm told they weren't built by the Malaysians. Actually, they weren't even built by the same firm from the same country! One being built by a Japanese and the other by the Koreans. We didn't get to go to the top or the vistors viewing area. Instead we had luch with Karen and browsed the huge mall inside, that housed a whole host of designer label shops- Calvin Klein, Chanel, Gucci,etc. Who said that Malaysia was a developing country?

Though the highlight of the day was going to dinner with Karen, Michael,Karen's parents and other relatives. We had a Chinese New Year celebration dinner. Even though not being celebrated until the being of Feb, we were treated to many different dishes accompanied by beer and the best of brandy.

After a few of these Karen's uncle, Hong Kong-yes, that's his name!- got up and sang some karoke. Much to our laughter and delight(!!!), he sang The Green Grass of Home word and tone perfect. Like the man himself, he was standing there singing the song for an Irish ex-pat audience. Then, not to be outdone, Karen's dad got up and finished off the session with a few of his own. I cannot remember what he actually sang, I was too busy cracking up. But it was brilliant and funny. They knew then all. And could sing better than the best of us.

The next place after Ko Lipe was Pulau Langkawi, just south of Ko Lipe. Our first stop in Malaysia.

This is where we met up with Karen and Michael. After talking about it for so long, here we were together, enjoying a delicious Pina Colada, in Chomper Chomper, Malaysia.

We were a little bit adventurous on the second day. We visited the seven wells waterfall and even did a little trek up close to the top of the rainforest, before heading back down to cool our feet off at the bottom.


Then we took a scary cable car ride up to the highest point in Langkawi. We could barely look down as the car ascended the 700m incline towards the summit station.

There we walked across the new super cool cable suspension bridge that spans a couple of hundreds metres across two mountains. Needless to say, the views were spectacular and well worth the dodgy underwear afterwards!

The rest of the time we spent on the beach, enjoying the surf and sand. I had a heavy cold so the best remedy was to just to relax and let it take it's course.

No point stressing out and trying to see everything. Especially, when you have the sun, blue skies, a comfy lounger and a good book!

We've been very busy over the last few weeks, so we've a lot of catching up to do! Firstly, as promised, I'll post some photos of our visit to Ko Lipe and the surrounding Marine Park. Then, I'll divide the update into 3 seperate categories, Langkawi and KL, Mt Kinabulu and Sabah(Borneo).

So, without further ado.........

Deckchairs at dawn, could be the name of a new band? Ambient sounds for the gilted soul. Hmm, was very relaxing though.


The island maintains it's strong fishing culture. Part of its charm?

This is where we landed. Not jetty or pier, just hop off the longtail into the surf. And hope those bags don't get wet!

One of the old boats on the southern shore of Ko Lipe.

Boats on the shore of Ko Adang. This was one of the islands that we visited on a one day tour of the marine park. Beautiful but not much marine life.

On Ko Adang. The water was very clear and the sand so soft and powdery. In the background is one of the many smaller islands of the marine park.

Longtail. On the way to the ferry.

This was the coolest place with the coolest staff. Thanks again to the gang,Sev. Fiona and Jeff.

This is Sev (hope i got the name right!). Beautiful and a brilliant fire show performer.

After taking 2 flights, a 2hr taxi ride, a 2 hr minibus ride, a 2 hr speedboat and a 10 minute longtail boat ride, we finally made it to Ko Lipe. Even though we had spared ourselves a crazy overland journey from the top to bottom of Thailand, it still took us more than a full day of travelling, to get to this tiny island. It's easy to see why people don't travel down this far. We wouldn't really have considered it, if we had only two weeks. Just too much hassle for what it is. As part of a 51 island marine park, KO Lipe is advertised as an unspoilt paradise of white sandy beaches, coral reefs, tropical fish and sea turtles. We didn't find that it quite lived up it's reputation. Though very beautiful, and largely undeveloped, the marine life was rather disappointing. There were very few fish. And the corals were either damaged or not that spectacular. We even went to four of the surrounding islands but saw nothing better. It was like all the marine life was being destroyed. Indeed, just outside the marine park area, we saw many large fishing boats casting their factory nets. A local told is that even the sea turtle is being caught for trade with the large chinese population, who live on the mainland and in Malaysia. So much for conservation and the Marine Park!

However, I'm being a little harsh here. We had a great time on the island and really enjoyed it's many fine, white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. The locals were very helpful and friendly. And the food was largely very good. There was even had a coffee dock at the place that we were staying, with over 20 different types to choose from. I think I only managed about a third. Just to goddam hard to hold the cup straight, without spilling it, when the violent twitching begins. After 3 cups I usually take my twitches a swimming. Great to lay back and let the coffee take over. Think I even invented a new stroke. The double breasted, skinny, falpacciono. Sounds almost like some of the local beach girls! Oops! Not very pc.

We had free entertainment too, in the form of Lewy the frog. I think our little friend had a soft spot for Isabelle. He just wouldn'y go away. On the first day, I tried to move him outside our bungalow by carefully putting him on a piece of card and placing it outside. But when I closed the door and went back inside I found him sitting there, grinning at me, in the very same spot, I had removed him from. He had jumped through the window! Then, the following day, when Isabelle returned to the bungalow to use the loo, she found him sitting on the toilet seat staring up at her, as if he knew she was on her way back. When she moved him aside to have a leak, she jokingly asked him ' and what are you doing here, hmmm?', he turned his head to the side and looked at her face, as if to ask 'what to you think,hmmm?'. Just as well she was sitting on the loo, cause she p****d herself laughing.

We are now are in Malaysia where we've met up with Karen and Michael, friends from back home. I'll post something on this soon.

After almost electrocuting myself in two different internet shops, I've given up on posting some photos. That will have to wait until later.

This is Lek, the founder of the Elephant Nature Park. 'Lek' means tiny in Thai. Think you get an idea of how small she is compared to the elephants. Really amazing to watch her at work. The elephants respond to her in the most loving of ways. Even rapping their trunks around her delicate frame.

St Stephens' Day at the river.Watch out! The troops are arriving. And fast!

Same day,dunking babies in the river. You have to be very careful. Especially, when your in the water with a delicate piece of equipment. The babies are like kids, charging about, chasing each other. They are oblivious to the unweary tourist, often sending them running for cover, at the very last minute.

With Poo Pa in musth (period of hightened sexual arousal), it fell to Tongchan to take the tyre and entertain us. For a whole half hour! I shot the whole sequence, front, back, sides, above and below. Unfortunately, I cannot post them all. You get an idea though.

Tongchan pushing the poo poo cart. This was shot through the tree in front of the feeding area. I really love this elephant. It's hard not too. She would steal anyone's heart. On the last day before we left, she came up to me and gave me a gentle nudge, as if to ask for a scratch under the chin. I hunkered down a gave her a kiss on her little trunk whilst giving her a right sctaching under her chin.

Us, on Christmas day. A year ago I'd never have imagined that we'd be spending Christmas with a bunch of elephants....drinking elephant beer......And of course having a great time with the other volunteers, plus Karl and Michelle. On the day itself we even had a concert held by some Karen people. It was really funny to hear christmas carols sung by the locals. Toward the end of the evening we all joined in a rendition of ???????? Actually, cannot remember! OOPs!!! Must have been the Chang beer. And elephants have a good memory. Though not us after some elephant beer.(chang=elephant)Lets say that everyone was a little merry, rather early......