Christmas, New Year, and the in between bit. Oh and the bit just after.

Christmas Day
Christmas was a difficult time for us all. Such a lack of potato was always going to hit us hard (we also missed our family and friends, but that's just a side note). However, us Sabah boys are troopers, and we made it through those dark days all the way to the sunny side of the beach on Christmas day! We kicked off with some beach side nom- your classic Christmas Day meal of Black sauce fish, sweet and sour pork, black pepper beef, buttered prawns and a whole lot of rice. This was followed by some frisbee in the sea (team GB here I come) and a cracking game of beach football with some locals. So no turkey, but I can hardly complain.

Christmas Day nom. Not a roastie in sight...

Christmas Day on Tajung Aru Beach

Christmas Day with some generous Filipinos who presented us with some Skol beer.  

The in between bit
The beach theme continued on the 28th when we travelled over to the Outward Bound Centre to meet with our fellow Project Trust volunteer Jenny and her mentor, El. They took us out to Dinawan Island which lies 4km from their centre. Kayaking was our chosen mode of transport and I was buzzing to relive my scouting days. However, in the Scouts you get to kayak across beautifully calm lakes and large ponds, not a wave in sight. The sea, of course, was a different ball game, and when your kayak is lopsided with all the weight in the back, it becomes a painful struggle against nature's bathtub. Just keeping your kayak straight for any amount of time was a triumph. The more the waves turned me the more I began to furiously shout at my boat like it was her fault, as if it might sense my fury and straighten up for fear of punishment. It didn't. But eventually we made it to the island, my anger faded, and I was able to make up with my kayak (even though it didn't say sorry) and begin to enjoy the beauty that surrounded me. Sunset in the lagoon was particularly spectacular, and it was then when I spotted the great bird Yowie that is the hornbill. Everyone doubted me, they thought it was a mere crow of some kind, but I knew. It was a great moment. For the rest of the evening we simply enjoyed each other's company, ate some chocolate and watched the sun go down. When night fell, it was trunks off and in the sea for me and Jay until we finally got too cold, a phenomenon we haven't experienced for some time. It wasn't the best night's sleep I've had with Jason screaming like a girl after a crab crawled over him (he insists it was a rat), and we had to rise at 5 in the morning for a grueling journey back to the mainland on our kayaks. But it was great fun, and lovely to finally get out to one of the many islands that decorate Sabah's shores.

Kayaking across the choppy seas. 

Dinawan Island, fresh off the kayak.

Me looking like Gandalf/Jason Mraz

Dinawan Island round the other side. 

Lads collecting firewood from the lagoon before sundown.

My proudest moment- the day I spied a live, wild Yowie. I know I've got a picture of one of these already but this was the real deal- Number 91, HORNBILL.

Sunset merged with the finest cloud one will ever see.

Sunrise, a boat and an island.

New Years
New Years was to be celebrated like any other Sabahan gathering- plenty of food, plenty of drink and plenty of karaoke, but there were some extra twists in the tale to spice up the night. We kicked off the night at Brother Thomas' house. We met his family, talked for a bit, and went on a quick tour of his home. Little did I know what delights I would find upstairs. As soon as I peered my head round the door, the first thing I saw was a cooking device filled with glorious, crispy, golden roast potatoes spinning round and round. My eyes have surely never been so wide. I almost exploded with delight. When they were finally ready, a white swarm surrounded the bowl as the locals observed four white boys devour potato like we'd been starved for months. We then went party hopping- we travelled to Fanny's where the karaoke was pumping. We bossed the classics- kicked off with Hey Jude, then cooked up a storm with some of Robbie William's finest ballads, She's the One and Angels. Once our deed was done, it was back to Brother Thomas' for the midnight countdown (and a few more roast potatoes). It was then that we found out the Sabahan New Years tradition. It times gone by, when the river was clean, everyone would be jumping in and essentially getting as wet as possible. The tradition is very much the same, except the river is a bit of a health hazard unfortunately. The substitute was a giant paddling pool coupled with a fine collection of water guns. We decided to dive into the neighbour's paddling pool without considering the fact that we knew no one in our company. We chose to ignore this and splashed them all regardless. Good fun was had by all.

She's the one- Robbie Williams. Text book karaoke material and most certainly a passionate closing of the eyes kind of song. 

Our New Year crew!

Having a ball on New Years- post Roastie, pre paddling pool.

A bit of rough and tumble in a paddling pool never hurt anyone! ( I did hit a small child in the face while rising from the water but that's a minor blip)

Oh and the bit just after
As if we hadn't had quite enough of the beach, we popped down into Kota Kinabalu last weekend and got a speedboat out to Mamutik Island, slept the night, and went to Manukan Island the next day. We did some snorkling, clambered on some rocks, confronted some lizards, played some football with the locals, did some jungle trekking, played some frisbee and generally had a swell time!

Some serious rock clambering on Mamutik Island

My ultimate Steve Irwin moment with a monitor lizard. Didn't quite go for the classic face to face  but then again I'm not a crazy Australian.