Baby updates

Its a girl!! 

We'r at halfway mark, 21weeks.

She likes to Samba in the evening. 

She dislikes fish still...... Fine! I dislike fish still.

Good news is Im feeling alot better! Bad news is supposedly doesnt last very long.

Hey you look familiar!

So we scoot off to Phuket for a short short short holiday before bb come along, just a few short days of eating good food, go for long walkabouts , boat ride on a Chinese Junk - which btw was amazing & then we bump into a familiar stranger. From way across the road I saw that unmistakable dreds,skinny frame, teeny tiny eyes & megawatt smile & it was LEE!

about 4 years ago, When we first started the retreat. Lee stayed with us for quite awhile.. around a week. Probably friendliest chilliest person I've ever met..as you can see his "good vibrations'' were extremely infectious, just look at Anton hahahaha. Anyways Lee would walk around topless covered with tribal tats, stroll into our  kitchen & cook with us, casually turned our restaurant area into a make shift spa providing all day free massage & ear cleaning services, move mattress out from the hostel & sleep under the stars..so no doubt he very popular with other single female guest. 

Small world indeed, we caught him out in the streets of old phuket town an hour away from his flight back to korea..had some drinks in a quirky coffee shop/guesthouse/secret garden where they do all the naughty stuff..offered us some "herbal jacked chocolate'' ..maybe Anton poked his curious fingers in em when i wasnt looking!!!  

Ford Ranger Challenge

So we've been working on some new accomadation to host some Local NGO groups, Had the hardest time trying to cart things around. Life is just so pre-historic here. The perfect solution came along when we saw the Ford Ranger Challenge Ad. Stand a chance to win a new truck!!! Mamamia! After filling in the details etc.. case went cold. - But that is till last Sunday! Anton got a call from em. Whooopie didnt think we would stand a chance. Naturally every1 is bouncing off the walls in excitement like a Ribenna Berry.

We need this truck! SO PLEASE VOTE FOR US!!!
http://fordrangerchallenge.com.my/contests/showentry/1040587

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After a few follow ups.. not picked as final 5. Very dissapointed. no new truck i guess :0( 

Coffee ( Tea ) Party at the office

We don't usually have coffee/tea breaks much at work.. But it seems the only way I can limit my caffeine intake is to share. I got a great bag of Papau New Guinea Blue Mountain from a good friend few days a ago...I know, go big or go home right? Since its somewhat forbidden for preggars to take coffee, I might as well make the best of it & have the best the world can offer.That delicious cobalt blue foil packet calls to me relentlessly everyday!!! Aarrghh I cant take it no more!

Im no connoisseur but I do love my coffees & now that my palate for food ( food is also a big deal for me ) is all fucked, life has become bleak & depressing.. not to mention I've had problems sleeping too.Anyways I gulp down my 8oz worth of guilty pleasure in less than 5 minutes. All I can say im impressed by what mother earth can produce ..of course given the right conditions.

So often we take everyday meals for granted, Essentially its fuel for the body, mind & soul - Im sure mother-in-laws,orthodox midwives,hardcore chinese sinseh types who practice their so called self-righteous pragmatism are rolling their eyes on the very irony of my coffee article. For the record..Im so glad Anton's Mum - Mary has no place in this department & im allowed to eat,drink as I want. (MAJOR BONUS GIRLFRIENDS! TRUST ME.) -I digress. So now that Im eating for 2,you cant help but be grateful for Earth's provision. Everything you need in order to keep those delicate wheels & gears turning is out there in the fields,seas,mountain,streams.I can only hope people realise the severity of tipping the balance of our ingenious food chain. I guess we humans are not so smart after all.. always making the most obvious mistakes.

But today im putting em 'Horse Blinkers'' on,...Its Black gold babyy! black gold! WWeeeehooo.

Mr Majawat & Mrs Hall's Wedding

We had the honour of hosting Ian & Eve's wedding few weeks back, Ian is an Architect based in KK ,he's also working on the upcoming Sunbear sanctuary & some really cool beach shacks in Mantanani island. http://arkitrek.com/

Eve's a journalist from KL. They brought together about 80-100 party animal all looked like they've been caged for way too long :0) I must say they've officially outdo us in the party department & I feel old & domesticated watching on.

1) They absolutely tear the roof off a Karaoke bar in the dodgiest part of town ( Even I didnt know of it existed,apparently that was only a warm up session )
2) The girls had team Ian go through horrible forfeits & punishments in mid day heat ( All to proof worthy of the bride's hand )
3) A crazy cultural medley when the couple did the tea ceremony dress in Cheong Sam + Scottich Kilt + on our vintage Malay wedding throne + Hippie streamers in the background
4) Beers to cool the mid day heat
5) Sunset Cocktails,courtesy of ehem us .. www.balin-sandakan.com
6) Then some food & great speeches
7) More booze & potent Tapai ( local Rice Wine ) to get the party going
8 ) Some dancing ..some drag dancing to be exact
9) More booze
10 ) We left & last checked party did not end till 5am - Sunrise is about 5.30 here.

ohh oh .. I almost forgot she gave everyone the loveliest wedding favour everr..A family recipe book,a compilation of both families secret recipes ( Duhh )

Nevertheless I really admire the enthusiasm & randomness of this quirky bunch. But all in all it was nothing short of the big four letter word. L.O.V.E Im glad we got to be part of it.

1 + 1 = 3

Week 3 - Hymm,.. Im late...

Week 4 - Ok lets buy a test kit,I know its wrong, but the excitement was more like a teenager after some forbidden

pre-marital sex..Oh C'mon,dont judge me... nobody keeps their virginity these days! - Negative.

- Interlude - Urshering the Year of the Dragon, Fire works, parties, drinks, didnt feel like touching my usual favourites.

Week 5 - Blotching ,.. yEaay grandaunt is here..oh wait...it stoped ( I later found out its called implantation bleeding)

Week 6 - Lets buy another test kit this time hospital quality. peeeeeeeeeeee. * pee * peee * peeee* ( sorry im very visual in my writtings. - Positive.

Week 8 - we see the lil guy/gal ,tiny about 1-2cm. somewhere in the fuzzy screen wa

s a blip thats going a thousand miles an hour.

- Interlude 2 - Fish & almost everythingelse on the dinner table smells like dead corpse, I've turn into a fart machine, my boobs feel & starts to take the form of sm mammalia udders, & all i want to do is sleep..im a needy bag of hormones.

Week 12 - Present. Yesterday, we had another ultra sound scan, It was full of life,like the galloping of a thousand wild horses, the little blip have grown into a strong steady drumroll. Wriggling in me, with a firmly clenched fist the baby waved like a rapper going "Yo! Yo! SUpp dawg?!" - so i guess "the dawg's cools yo!" is my answer to the amazing gift

we now call our child aka bb.

So I guess IM PREGNANT folks!!! The addition to our international fa

mily is due late Sept. If you are visiting end of the year we'll definately introduce you to the new boss & village head.Will keep everyone post.

See! bright white spec near the mouth going yo! yo!!

Annual Celebration

We try to throw a little house party at the retreat every year to celebrate another year of success.. in overcoming some huge storms, never ending maintainence work, down right cuckoo tourist & a few other close calls. Its just nice really nice to sit around the long picnic bench & have a good uninterupted family meal. Nothing more to report.. except the food was delish - courtesy of Balin Roof Garden. who says you cant blow your own horn.BONKKKK BOOONKK~

Im sure we have a more flattering picture of me over the saucce some where. this 1 just looks baaaddd~

I forgot!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! no depressing re-caps this year. Yippy!

Hi HO Hi Ho its off to work we go!

Its maintenance season again! Definitely not my forte. Anton's been going around fixing things.. first up! the roads! then prolly the roof...& more coming. So god,please please please only send nice & understanding guest. Sometimes we get people who are really unrealistic..just because the reviews are good doesn't mean we miraculously transform into a 5* Taj. Anyways I'll stop here.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! its off to work we go. we've got some seriously strong & hard-working dwarfs here. Fortunately they don't read English. I'm sure they don't like being called dwarfs, but I think strong & hard working dwarf is quite a kinky little compliment don't you think?

Refer to image 1. As you can see we didn't expect the rocks to be huge atlas boulders! because I thought we ask for pebbles. When the truck came everything was dumped onto an immobile pile. Had to bring in some heavy machinery the second day before the guys could shovel it flat like a sheet of pasta. Gaaahh! what a costly repair is all the good wife could say. well at least its 1 down..99999999 more task to go.

Our Water tank almost tanked.

When people tell me " You must've have a ridiculously fun job!'' I always say " There's good days & bad days,more bad than good... but the few really good ones makes it all worth the bad..know what i mean?" So anyways today is a bad-ish day. Sorta like bad but not unfixablely bad, just pain in the arse kinda bad day.

The water tank that stores water ''duh'' from the government pipes was on the verge of toppling over. had to drain it all jack it back up blah blah blah.. & its fixed! so like I say bad-ish day. If your'e having a bad day I hope its like 1 of these "ish'' days.

BORNEO ECO FILM FESTIVAL 2011

Before I even had time to promote it on the blog, its all done & dusted. The turn out was great,a mix of friends, tourist, locals. I feel like an over-soaked sponge dripping with info. Every night,despite mulling through a long sweaty day, Anton & I have a hard time getting over the buzz as we lay in bed with our pinkies twirled into the weeeee hours.

Great big shout out to Chris Chong, Ikhwan Rivai, Inanc Tekguc,Harun Rahman, Roger Munns Yasmin & Ekonights gang,Wong..what a humbling expererience to have professionals of their calibre to believe in our vision, Thankyou for dedicating your lives to telling somebody else's stories. Roger Wang, Hezekiah Asim, Kalina his lovely wife who literally moved liked the birds of borneo, Angelina Perete, Amir Yusoff for anointing our little festival with great fun & inspiring music. Agnes,Cede, Holly, Helen & Harry, Wendell, Rozie & my dearest Anton - I know I bitch alot about work..heheh but you guys were awesome to work with. Lastly all my friend's who came to support even though I know u didnt want to watch the films :0( - they seemed more intrested in raiding my Nacho stands.But it sure feels like we've won an oscar!

What an inspiring weekend! WOopie.