Day 4: Mornings are for boat rides

Contrary to the sucky day we had yesterday, today was awesome. We had to get up early to take a boat ride down to Kampong Abai to get some water samples and although the ride was long, it was enjoyable. It wasn't raining, it wasn't hot. And most importantly, I was clean and dry :)


Nothing really eventful happened just that we took a loooooong boat ride down stream, I saw birds (hornbills, darters, kingfishers), saw some orangutan nests (I think), found out that one part of the river is 21.5 meters deep (!!!), drove all the way to Sandakan to courier off the samples to Tanah Melayu, and back to Sukau again to turn in for an early night.

The tourists...

...and the researcher :)

Day 3: Soaked undies is no fun

One word for today: RAIN.

Adjectives to go with it: Non-stop, Heavy, Massive, Continuous

Synonym: Storm

OMG.

It sucks when you have to bear through the whole day drenched and, worse, disgustingly smelly and soaking wet jeans, and WORST, soaked undies. YUCK.

We got onto a boat in Batu Putih to do three more tributaries today, and as luck would have it, we couldn't get a boat at MESCOT (what with it being a Sunday and all and hoardes of tourists were coming in apparently) so we looked up a villager to rent his boat -- which took rather awhile as he was in the nearby puny town 'hanging out'.

We finally got our boat and just as we set out, THE RAIN CAME. The massive torrent of water from the heavens. Like W.T.H. And it didn't stop till we completed our whole thing.

I had to walk on this to get to the boat. A klutz like me does not like planks like this.

The thing about weather in the rivers is that you get an almost-storm on the main river, but you get drizzles in the tributaries. And no, tree-cover is not one of the reasons.

We also learnt another lesson today: never NEVER EVER attempt sampling at night. Especially when it's one of those rainy times. And the fact that there are man-eating buayas in this area really freaked me out. Basically I was reminding myself that it's just gonna be like one of those night-river-cruise-thingies..but yea, it ain't that enjoyable when the ride was about 5 hours long, with no proper seats that create butt-numbing effects, in smelly-soaked clothes, and overall feeling totally disgusting.

It was almost torture.

And I lost count the number of buayas I saw. Well, more like their eyes 'cos that's the only thing you can see in pitch-darkness. Croc eyes' reflect like gemstones in the dark when you shine a torch at it. Was keeping myself entertained by watching the silhouttes of the trees against the sky (quite similarly like people watching clouds. What I was grateful for that night was that the boat had a roof. At least I didn't have to undergo another bout of rain.

Btw, this is the "crocodile hunter" part of my experience if you are one of those who have been told that "Li Ying's not in KK this week, she's being crocodile hunter".

And yea, everything I had in my bag was soaked. My river schematics looked absolutely dreadful, and my notebook now resembles one of those field journals that archaelogists find during one of their digs (and according to B, it's looks as if it contains codes to some mysterious conspiracy theory).

Day 2: Monkeys and crocs, oh my!

We continued our journey to Sukau from Telupid today. Buayas, aside, I am really really excited of going back there again. Instead of the B&B where we stayed the last time, we chose to stay with the boatman instead (who also runs a homestay). The room they gave me was a simple and decent room with a table and a single bed. For me, when I'm in the field, as long as everything's clean, it's fine.

We took a boat out to three of the nearby tributaries to do more measurements, and lo! I was so lucky to see a bunch of proboscis monkeys out for an early meal!

It's times like this when I wish I have an SLR camera.

Day 1: To the East we go!

As promised, this will be a "six-part-series" of what I did the past few days in the wilderness.

Okay. Wait. The Grand ol' River isn't exactly a 'wilderness' but yea.

Basically, I spent the whole day today bumping around in the backseat of the Triton with a styrofoam box, three backpacks, and three smaller bags. First I bumped all the way from KK to Telupid, and then around some oil palm estates trying to locate the headwater of Sg. Lokan. We eventually did find it (I think) and I waded around in it at dusk, getting my measurements.

On our way out of that place, I saw some fireflies (which, sadly, is quite a rare sight these days) -- solitary ones, of course.

We put up a night in the Forestry's Rest House in Telupid, which is really luxurious accomodation, considering the fact that I am in the field. I mean, come on, a big bed, hot shower, and air-con :)

Just to remind me it's still close to the hutan, I found an earwig in the toilet when I woke up the next morning. And I was really intrigued with this massive milipede (although I am still freaked out by them).

The view is really good too.

Question of the day:

Do I, or do I not, go on a date with somebody whom has only met me once and had brisk snaps of conversation with?

I think not.

I appreciate your, erm, friendly gestures, but no, thank you.

When breakfast is good...

..and costs only RM6.50!

An extremely heavenly way to spend Sunday mornings :)

a matter of which way to look

Since I was 'accused' of being a party-girl and basically that's all I blog about, I thought I'd come up with one of those wordy-insight entries. Btw, I am far from being a party-girl and it's just coincidence that previous entries are on that, because, hey, I did say I'll blog about EVENTS.

Anyway, here goes:

I remember there was once a while back when I underwent depression or somehow just caught up with a lot of negativity. Someone respectable even pointed it out to me, and another friend actually suggested psychotherapy. Really.

But you know, along the way of moping and trying out extremeties to return meaning to my life, I realised that with everything, it's just a matter of perspective. For example, the saying goes:

"You never know what you had until you lost it."

But then again, you'll never know how much better you may have until you've lost the old one.

And I've been a true believer of "Things always happen for a reason." May it be a joyous affair, or a devastatingly heart-breaker, things ALWAYS happen for a reason. And it usually is for something better. There were so many times when I was disappointed, frustrated, or at a loss because I felt as if I were throwing away 'opportunities' due to commitment to other situations at that time. As it turns out, it was a good thing I couldn't make it as there are other better stuff that I really want to do being offered to me.

Sometimes it may sound like some lame 'self-consoling' thing people do when they say stuff like "better stuff might come" or "it's not meant to be"...but when you think about it, annoying as it may be, there might be an ounce of truth in it.

Talking about views, here's CorporateMe vs. In-FieldMe :)


Off the subject, the range-finder arrived today and it's quite a cool gadget to play with albeit its dizzying effect. So today's knowledge of the day is that the distance from my supervisor's room to the roof of the library is 296m.

Cheers and have a great weekend y'all!