basaga and beyond

Dear travel journal,
Today I woke up to the sounds of a busy long house. Kids running around getting ready for school and roosters in the background. I just lay there for a while and took it all in and watched the sky becoming lighter, through my little window. Then I got up and met more extended family members and my amazing hostess Christina made me breakfast. While the different family members with varying degrees of English all tried chatting and asking questions. And then I walked with Christina through the village to take her youngest daughter to school. The village is traditional long houses built along the river, full of long houses, some of which date back 100 years!! And some being built up and being modified as we speak, including Alvin's massive extension, which will be big enough to be base of operations for some of his projects. The kids at the primary school thought that I was super fascinating. I got lots of looks and stares and when you smile or wave the just giggle and run away. Preschool kids, lol. Back at the long house i was introduced to all 4 dogs, two of which where found under a banana tree as pups, one who is pregnant, and back upstairs the babies morning routine was in full swing - food (made from freshly boiled fruits and mashed through a sieve), water (6month olds drinking out of cups! With help obviously), and then bath time. I then helped pack all of the food and life jackets etc. needed by the great projects tour starting today in the back of the van and then sat down and read a little. Then i packed up my stuff and in the van we jump and ran into town to go to the bank and drop of the provisions to valantines (guide taking over the tour when Alvin can't do it) house in his village. Back into kuching through the winding roads and rice fields and villages and the fruit trees that are huge and everywhere from replantings by the locals ( which is great for the orangutans). We then grabbed a second breakfast (1st one at 6.30am, 2nd at 11.30am) and went to the airport to pick up most of the visitors from england. It was soo good seeing everyone. Maria, Jason and Kirsty from my tour last time and 2 couples from another project group just after ours - Julie and Philip and anne and Paul. Then jumped in the van and headed back to basaga to check in as a group. Everyone had a shower and freshened up and I moved from my single room to the double I'm sharing with Kirsty. Then we all sat around with a cold drink and had a chat and then Alvin came and got us and we went out for a light lunch at a little traditional cafe. The noodles were very tasty. And then back to basaga. We went through our bags and moved everything into a smaller day pack ready for part 1 of the trip. Then we all sat around chatting and had dinner and then everyone went to bed, except anne and I who stayed up and waited for Sam and callam to arrive as their flight was a late one. They arrived about 10.15pm, we greeted them, they checked in and then we crashed. Ready for the adventures to begin tomorrow.Read more