a little Wining

Last spring i went wine tasting with my friend Andrea, it was old hat for her, but it was my first time. I quickly caught a bit of a wine buzz and soon after got caught up in the whole wine tasting thing. Andrea left for a few to use the ladies room at which time i made the awful mistake of joining a wine club which commited me to buying two cases at $180 ea. Now i relise $15 a bottle for good wine is not a bad price, but at the time i was pretty much broke, having just gotten out of debt to my Mom (thanks Mom) and i don't even drink wine. I might drink a total of three bottles in a year and mostly white since red gives me a headache. The stuff that made me go "Mmm" was a Pinot Nior, which suposedly does not have all the tanis(sp) and all that other junk that causes headaches. I ended up giving a few bottles away and tried to get family and friends to buy the other case. I even went so far as to call my attorney and ask him if he could get me out of the contract. I never heard back from him. Mom, Enza and Gr. came over a few weekends back and we took a drive over to east Eastern, Wa east of Twisp. That is where my winery is. We did some more wine tasting and i bought my second and final case of wine. I found out that after my first case of Pinot, i really liked it. They (the winery) were out of the year i liked 2004 so i got 2006.Then a few days ago i was at our local grocery and they had the 2004 flavor on sale for $7. Here i am someone who drinks maybe three bottles of white a year and i am buying another case or wine. I am finding that i am really enjoying a class or two of this wine. Now i don't feel so dumb about joining the wine club, maybe a little dumb for paying $15 a bottle when Hanks Grocery store has it for $7?

I got invited to a halloween party that i did not want to go to. I got invited last year and didn't go. This year i am living with and working with a friend from back home, Lauren. She talked me into going and i am glad i did. Once i thought about a costume and started making it i got into it. The party ended up being really fun. It was in a shop that was connected to a house up on the hill overlooking the Methow river in Twisp. There was food and entertainment. People put on little skits and did some lipsincing. Lauren and i and a few local friends went. We danced till the wee hours. They all got hammered, but i stayed in control avoiding the nasty hangovers that i am accustomed to. I got a ton of props for my costume, i will probably go again next year but it will be hard to top this years costume.

Alaska 2

i don't think my photos loaded from the last time, and i am up to three halibuts caught. Now that i am able to get the blog up, i was having trouble before, i will try and upkeep it a little better.

Alaska 2

Alaska

I am a little behind on the bogging and i'm already up to two big halibut. I went out two weeks ago early one morning. It was so early that Jill, my co-worker "Go by yourself, I aint getting up that early" It did not take long for me to hook into about a 50lb halibut. I danced around with joy as i boated back to the lodge to fillet up my prize. She yielded 26lbs of meat. Today we left at 8am since slack tide was at 10am. I like to leave the cabin two hours early because depending on the wind and the size of the waves it takes us about 30-40 minutes to get to 'Halibut Hole' Todays Halibut weighed in at just under 55lbs. Jill also got one that was 18lbs, We would have let it go, but it had swallowed the hook and there was no getting it out. I also caught a smaller one, but it was able to cough up the hook, so we let it go, It was probably under 15lbs.
Last year i bought a camcorder and underwater case off of ebay. I have rigged it up with a lead fishing weight, submersible LED flashlight, halibut leader and bait. The first cast of the day was the camera set up sent down attached to a pole i have with 150lb test line, Then Jill had her pole that was connected to the leader, hook and bait. We were tethered together by a small amount of 3lb test line. This way when a big ole Halibut took the bait, jill could pull hard and snap the tether, reel in the fish and i could reel up the camera, instead of having a big tangled mess, or losing the whole set up. It was a good idea, and we may try it again but all we saw on film was blackness, a small stream of LED light and small ocean muck floating by. We only kept it down 10 minutes. I need to do something to make the light wider and be able to see the bait???
Sockeye Salmon have been coming into the lake in good numbers, just these last few days they have slowed down, but only because it has not rained in so long and the water level in the river is way way down. As soon as it rains, the weather report says Thursday, i am sure big numbers will start coming in.
Last night we ate off the land, we had Sockeye from the lake, Rice from wherever the rice came from. The rice was topped with Sea Lettuce, an edible type of seaweed, that Jill harvested backed and crumbled on top. Our steamed greens consisted of what was in the garden Jill brought out and mixed with a few stinging neddle leaves, they sting until you 'Tame' the needles which you can do by sauteing them or steaming them. And for desert, Blueberry stuffed Salmon Berries.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, I made Dutch Babies for breakfast this morning, cause they remind me of my Mommy.
My friend Kirsti stopped by, she was doing a little camping around Methow. She spent the night parked out front of the office and then went with me to work in the morning. I think she enjoyed sitting in the truck perusing the internet on her lap-top while i did the same, and every once in a while i'd get out of the truck to throw a rock at a duck. On those cold mornings when i don't feel like getting out of the truck i can usually scare the pond predators away with the honk of the horn.
I would think by next week we will be done baby sitting the fish. Both ponds have been released. All we did was move the baracade blocking the fish's access to the river. The fish can now swim out whenever they want. We have not fed the fish at the Twisp Ponds since two weeks ago, there are not many of them left. The fish at the back channel are still getting fed, just half the amount. Those fish were not quite up to their ideal size, so we have been told to keep the feed flowing. The Coho in the back channel have to swim over about a two foot water fall to get to the river, there are tons of fish swimming just behind the heavy flow. I like to toss the feed right at the edge and sort of force them out. It is fun to watch them jump for the food and then realize they are about to float over the falls and then they quickly try and swim back into thier deep pool.
Yesterday there were two wood ducks inside the net that covers the pond. they had bitten holes in the net and wandered it. It was a bit of a hassle to get them out. They would try and fly up and get knocked back down in the water. I eventually was able to hold one end up with tree branches and a rake, i'd then walked down to the other side where they were and then they finally flew out from under the net. I repaired the holes and hopefully this keeps them out.

traffic conjestion in the Methow

I am working the early shift this morning, driving down the highway to the Twisp ponds, coffee in hand Willie Nelson on the radio. There is a car in the other lane stopped with its hazzards on and a car in front of me. I figure maybe there is a deer in the road. the car in front of me stops and talks to the car in the other lane, then the car in front of me pulls over and i quickly pull over too, since there is a big dust cloud and a heard of cattle coming down the middle of the highway. Some more of that small town stuff.
We cut open our 20 fish yesterday and they all seemed healthy, minus the fact that they were dead. I also have been helping out the hatchery by cleaning the raceways that no longer house our Coho. I geared up in raingear and hit up the left over slime and fish poo with a firehose. It felt a lot like cleaning up the factory on the fishing boat, except it was nice and sunny out and raceway i was cleaning was not moving back and forth in the waves.
I am also starting a garden. There is a plot already fenced off in the yard at the office, it was a garden a couple of years ago. I tossed among the dirt the 20 baby Coho carcases from yesterdays dissection. I also have two 40lb bags of leftover Steelhead feed, I did not know this either but industrial sized bags of fish food goes bad after 3 months, not so much bad as less healthy for a growing Steelhead. I am making my boss, Kraig buy all the seeds since i will be in Alaska and unable to reep the benifits of the garden, hopefully there will be some carrots or squash still around when i come back in Oct. I need a hobby when i am not in the 'clay dude' making mood. I really want another old VW, but i don't have the extra $$ right now. keep your eyes open driving around or out walking. I want the style of the WHITE cars NOT RED

It is funny living in a small town, where everyone smiles, waves, or says "hi" I just got a cup of coffee at the gas station for $.50, i filled up my travel mug, of course it tastes like $.50 coffee, but still. There seems to be three kinds of people here, those who have lived in the Methow Valley their whole lives, wearing work boots and Carharts, The Seattle-lites, who have the fancy vacation home and drive the Subaru and are always sporting the Patagonia wear, then there are the seasonal workers. Usually fisheries or Forrest service (Fire). I am probably the seasonal, but i look like the native, since i don't own any Patagonia and wear work boots and fake Carharts
We have the two groups of young Coho, 45,000 in the Twisp Ponds and 45,000 in the back channel behind the hatchery. These are the fish that we are directly in care of, feeding and shoeing off the preditors. We also have (had) 7 raceways at the hatchery with 50,000 Coho in each. Once a week we would take a random sample of 100 from each raceway, the ponds and the back channel and sample them, weights and lengths, we'd check to see if they retained the little coded wire tag that was shoved into their snouts earlier on, and at what life stage they were at. They got Coded Wire tagged at 'Parr' then they become 'Transitional' and lastly 'Smolt' where they loose all of their parr marks and turn the bright silver that Coho (aka Silvers) are known for.
On Wed evening we released all those fish that were in the raceways. We pulled out the wood planks that keep the fish in and then pushed a big screen that stretched across the width of the raceway sort of crowding them down to the outflow. We release them at night to lessen the chance of them getting gobbled right up by daytime predators.
Today we are doing OSI sampling. I have no idea what OSI stands for, but we will dissect 20 fish to see if all of their insides look good. Yep that one year of High School Biology is going to really pay off today.
On my off time i have been making the clay dudes. Yesterday on my day off i got to drive 8 hours down and back to Toppenish, the main Yakima office for nothing more than a signature. I have to have a special 'Tribal License' in order to drive the government trucks we have. For some dumb reason, i can't fax or send my signature down, i have to give it in person. They have everything on record from when i was there three months ago, including my signature and photo from the last three tribal licenses i had to get, but this is tipical of the way things are ran down there. On a good note because i had to take my own vehical down, they paid me $230 and it was a pretty drive, until just past Yakima. Toppenish looks like a cross between Keys, CA and Neah Bay, WA, but not as pretty.
I walked into the kitchen the other day and just outside the window was, not a bottle of Wild Turkey, but a real wild turkey.

throw net sampling

Had some really nice weather today while sampling the fish in the Back Channel and the Twisp Ponds. For todays sampling we used our brand new throw nets. In the video (if is shows up)i'm doing my best net toss that i have seen so many S.E. Asians do during my travels, don't be fooled by what looks like a crappy throw. We want to sample 100 fish and in my one throw i got 102. I knew i would be good at it. Over at the Twisp Ponds it was a bit harder, the pond is down a slippery slope, we parked the truck up top and sampled from up there. It is a pain to carry buckets of water up to fill the trash can we have to keep the fish in while sampling. We did not want not get enough on the first throw so we threw the net twice, and ended up getting way over 100. Next week we are going to bring a card table or something so that we can sample closer to the water. What we are sampling for is the fishes lifestage. Whether they are still 'Parr' prominent par marks, orange tint on their tales, white tipped fins are some of the things we look at. Then next stage is 'Transitional' This is what most of them are. Transitional means they have lost the orange tint and have a faint black outline around their codal fin (tail fin) they are losing thier par marks and transitioning into 'Smolt' the final stage before they are ready to be released. These are a bright silver with no par marks. We only found one in the two hundred fish we sampled today. Suryia is the gal i am working with and Rick is our boss, who is filming me. This is the first time Suryia and i have done this kind of work, i guess i did similiar stuff last year with the State. I think we did good, and i am sure it will go all smooth next week.

Not so laid back anymore

We have been sampling our little fish. Yesterday we did three raceways at the hatchery. I, in my waders hop down into the raceway with a big screen that stretches across and slowly move down the concrete canal coraling the all 50,000 fish to one end. Then i take a random scoop with the net. We are looking to sample 100 fish. If my random scoop is over 100, we do them all and if it is under 100 we scoop a few more up. I am pretty good at scooping. My first scoop was 128, but since then i scooped 107, 103, 111, 98, 104, 102. I am a great estimator. We sampled four more raceways today. Tomorrow we sample the two ponds. This we will do with a throw net. I think i am going to be good at this too, because of all the travel i have done through South East Asia, i have seen fishing done like this before. We will sample all the fish once a week until they fatten up to the preferred release size of '15 to the pound' I didn't know what 15 to the pound meant, but it means 15 fish= 1 pound. right now we are at 18 to the pound so they are close. To sample we use a concoction mixed with water to knock out the fish then weight them and take a measurement. We also scan them for a coded-wire tag. a CWT is a teency weency little metal tag that has a code on it that gets implanted into the snout of the fish. This code will tell us from which hatcher it comes from. Later on after the Coho have spawned and died i get to dissect the heads, retrieve the CWT and read the code under a microscope. Sampling isn't so bad, except the water is icy cold and with the wind blowing my hands were numb. I tried to wear a glove, but then i couldn't handle the little fish. The sacrifices i make for these little guys
I feel like i have made the best clay dude yet. I made a little group i call 'Safari-Party' I made it for my friend Aja, who is moving to LA. Once again i have made something that is going to be impossible to ship, I guess it will hang on my wall until i can get it to her Moms house in Modesto.

working the weekend

Yesterday we did some scientific work 6000 of our 50,000 Coho that are in the Back Channel at the Hatchery have 'pit-tags' in them, tiny little electronic code devices that are implanted into the fish's belly via a syringe. We have a couple of pit tag readers located in the river down from the acclimation pond. When we release the fish the recorded pit-tags will give us a 'Guesstimation' of how many Parr (Baby Fish) survived the acclimation. Yesterday we did an efficiency test by injecting a bag full of tangerines. What we found out was that water logged, chewed on by the dog, little oranges tend to sink and the pit-tag reader that is set directly under the overhead power lines doesn't read many of the tags.
I am the only one working today, so they have me on for ten hours. Work started to get a little too hectic at the Back Channel so i had to step it up a bit. Lying in my hammock i decided this 'Full Time' stuff isn't so bad, all i need now is a coconut or margarita

settling in

I've settled into my room, and i have my table set up to do some clay dude work on my time off. I have the noon to 8pm shift, which i like. I tend to get up early so i have a few hours to work on stuff before heading off to Parent the baby fish. I have internet access at the 'Twisp Ponds' There is only one small screen to clean there and feeding the fish takes all of about ten minutes, so i will be internetedly entertained there. At the back channel I have a book. Kraig gave me his old stereo amp so i am slowly installing that while watching for non-existent predators.

The next day after

I think my days are going to be rather easy. This week i am working from noon until 8pm. So today at noon i cleaned two of the three federal rigs (work trucks) Then i cleaned up the shop a little bit. Around 2pm Kraig drove me to the Hatchery. Behind the hatchery is a water way and pond where we have 50,000 of our coho. It is called an Acclimation Pond, they will stay in here while we feed them twice a day until they reach a certain size and then they will be released into the Methow River. They are acclimating to the water in hopes that they will one day return and spawn in these waters. Kraig (my boss) walked me through the steps of feeding and cleaning the metal grate that if not closed would allow the fish to escape into the Methow River early. Next up we drove 8 miles south to another set of Acclimation ponds known as 'The Twisp Ponds' these 50,000 coho are spread through out four ponds, that are all connected so that if the coho feel up to it the can freeley move about the four ponds, So far they seem happy milling around right where they are. We fed those fish, and also cleaned some leaves off of the escape gates. That is pretty much it for the work, the rest of the time i go back and fourth to each pond and watch for Minks, Ducks, Great Blue Herons, or any other preditor that tries to eat our fish. There is a big net covering the pond at the hatchery, but because it is a hatchery the animals know that there is an easy meal nearby, so most mornings the net needs to be mended. I spent a lot of the time sitting in the truck occasionally looking out the window, no preditors in sight. I read a magazine, wrote a letter to my Grandma, and walked around a bit. That is it work day is done. One of the other bosses is out looking for other usable acclimation ponds to expand my hectic work day.

First day of my return to Twisp

I have finally made it back to work, i was told i'd be hired back on March 1. Thirty Seven days late, i guess that is ok. I am still not officially on the pay-roll, but i will be getting paid, one day i hope.
Today i learned how to clean a raceway. Not like at the Indy 500. A raceway is where we are keeping our baby Coho Salmon at the nearby hatchery. I think we have some five raceways with about 50,000 Coho in each. Cleaning the raceway is like skimming the bottom of a pool with a big long brush. All i am really doing is brushing the bottom of the concrete raceway, stirring up silt off the bottom so that it may flow out as the top water flows out. Today we also emptied one of the raceways and transported the 50,000 Coho to their new homes in the 'Twisp Ponds' four ponds located not far up the Twisp River Rd. in Twisp, WA. Using a big pump we vacumed up all the fish and dumped them into a big tanker truck, the truck drove to the ponds and we hooked up a big hose and dumped them on into the pond. I think my days will consist of cleaning the raceways and feeding the fish, easy enough.
I was surprised to drive over the hill and into 70 degree weather with sunny skies, but i am not complaining.

Monkey Monkey Turtle

We tried to get a room at the Mayfair Motel, this is the place i stayed last time in Borneo, but the were full up. We stayed the first night at a spot down the road. The next day we were able to slip into a room at the Mayfair. The Mayfair is a great place. The beds are comfy, there are hot showers, each room has a big flat screen TV and DVD player and there are a ton of movies to borrow and watch. The best part of the Mayfair is the old Chinese guy that runs the joint. We call him 'Mean Dad' I know he means well, but he only knows how to talk to you in a pissed off stern way. "WHERE YOU GO TODAY" I think we are going to go to see the Orangutans. "YOU TAKE BUS 71, 2RINGET, YOU GO NOW!!!" I was looking for a movie and decided on 'Bullitt' Mean Dad said "YOU ONLY CHOSE ONE MOVIE!" " YOU SPEND 20 MINUTES TO CHOSE ONLY ONE MOVIE, TAKE TWO MOVIE NOW!!"

We took bus 71 to the Orangutan Sanctuary to see the Orangutans. I had been there last time i was here, but this time was better. We were a little early and the ticket booth was closed, but sitting on the railing in front of the booth was a adult Orangutan. We learned later, that she had been rehabilitated and released into the wild, but had come back because she is lazy and wants to be fed instead of finding her own food. She was very cute and photogenic. We bought tickets and walked down to where they feed them. I guess they rehabilitate ones that have been found as pets and then slowly release them back into the wild. They put out food, and eventually the Orangutans wander deeper into the jungle and stop coming back. Only two came back to feed. Two females, both with new borns. The were so fun to watch. They were feeding them bananas and sugar cane. Along with the Orangutans there were some little Macacay monkeys that would come around. The Orangutans being bigger would scare the monkeys away and if the monkeys got too close, the Orangutans would even shove them away. One of the moms eventually grabbed three sugar canes with her one foot and another two in another foot, two in one hand and one in her mouth and swung away into the trees, i guess she was not into sharing. I was wearing sandals and felt a little pinch on the bottom of my foot. When i looked down there was a leach attached to my foot. The are not dangerous so i let him hang out there till he filled up and dropped off by himself with a full belly of foot blood. They inject an anti coagulant so my foot bleed a lot but it eventually stopped.
Then next day we the bus a little further past the Orangutan Sanctuary to the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. I had seen them last time in the wild, so i came with the idea, that since they would be feeding them then it would be more like seeing them in a zoo and therefore not as good. It was real good, there were some 80 or so that would come in out of the trees to feed and the looks on their faces and mannerisms were so funny to watch. They are like old fat men, sitting with their legs spread, one hand on their knee eating and looking around with their big noses bouncing. We sat and watched for some time. There were also plenty of Silver Leafed Monkeys that were being fed long string beans, the people that worked there let us feed them too. The monkeys would fight and run up and snatch the bean right from your hand.
Josh and Lori headed out on their way back to KK and then onto Indonesia. Ann and i booked a night at Turtle island to hopefully see turtles nesting. We took a bus to the dock and then rode a boat an hour or so to one island. If you know the story about the 3500 British and Australian POW's that were housed at Sandakan during WWII. Four of the only six POW's that escaped and lived hid for a while on this island thanks to the help of some local fishermen. We had lunch there and walked around through the village. After lunch we took a 20 minute boat ride, is some scary seas. I wasn't scared, because i have seamanship in my blood, but the two Czechs and Ann were a little scared. The waves were pretty big and the boat driver was going way too fast. We reached the island and spent the day on the beach and snorkeling in amongst some milky water and dead corral. We had dinner and then sat around waiting for it to get dark. On the island is a Turtle hatchery that has been there since the 50's. Turtles come every night to lay eggs. The eggs are collected and placed into specially dug holes, where they are monitored, When they hatch they are then released into the sea. We were able to watch one turtle lay eggs. I guess there were a bunch on the island that night, but they only allow you to see one. This is a good thing because along with Ann and i and the two Czechs there were 40 other old Dutch and Germans that came running up and encircled the turtle. She layed a few eggs, buried them then slowly moved off, she would stop and plop out a couple of eggs, and repeat. One of the Rangers said this is a bad sign, and that the turtle felt disturbed. Naturally all of those eggs that did not go into the nest would have not made. I guess since Tourism pays for the program, then the must right off one turtle a night, to be disturbed?? We also watched 45 newborns get released onto the beach and into the see. These guys were so cute and fun to watch scurry into the sea.

Ann flys back to the State tomorrow from Sandakan. I am back in KK today and do not know what i am up to tomorrow?

diving

We went to the airport in KK since Anns luggage was not delivered during the night. Her bag was sitting down in the lost luggage office. So grabbed it and flew to Tawau. At the airport in Tawau we hitched a ride with a fancy hotel bus to Semporna, that is the little beach town where all the Sipidan dive operators are set up. We struck a deal with Uncle Changs Diving and spend a night in Semporna. That night on the way to get something to eat, outside on the corner there was a guy set up grilling fresh chunks of tuna. We ordered up some delicious fillets grilled with butter and garlic, some little egg rolls, and calamari. We took our $4 meal into the next door bar and joined it with a couple of beer. Easily the best meal in Malaysia.
The next day we took a 40 minute boat ride out to Mabul Island. Uncle Chang has a backpackers lodge out there amongst the local fishing village. A bunch of shanty shacks up on stilts over the water. We got there and had breakfast, all the meals are included, geared up and went out for our first three dives. We saw many big sea turtles. The reef has been hit pretty hard by fishing and there is too much trash floating in the water, but we still saw plenty of good stuff. When diving you are taught not too touch anything, coral, fish sea turtles. I was a little bit taken a back when our dive masters would prod and poke with their little sticks, of course with the prodding and poking they uncovered some cool stuff that we would not have seen otherwise.
There is a funny little drum kit that someone made out of five gallon buckets and water jugs, the stands are all bent and welded rebar. They dragged that out along with an electric acoustic guitar and one of the dive masters and another couple of guys rocked out all night. Most of the workers are Filipino and have come down illegally. With them they bring pints of rum, if you know the know or are in with the in, you can acquire a pint of rum for $3, and it is good rum at that. I did not drink too much because i knew we would be diving Sipidan the next day and i wanted to be clear in the head.
Sipidan Island is protected from fishing by the government. The island is very small but the reef extends out pretty far, it is known as one of the healthiest reefs in the world. You hit the water and you are in complete awe. It is hard to explain, within just a couple of meters (we speak metric underwater) there are 50 different species of marine life and coral. The sun was shining that day so the colors were vivid. It is like swimming in a fish tank. Whenever the dive master sees something interesting he will tap his tank with his prodding and poking stick to get your attention. it was a non stop orchestra of 'tink tink tink' The gov. only allows 100 people a day to dive Sipidan, and no one touches, prods, or pokes anything. We saw tons of turtles, turtles that you could swim right up to, or that would gracefully swim with in centimeters of you. We dove Sipidan the next day and it was just as good, but you could tell that a storm was on its way in. That night it poured down rain and has not let up until last night. Six days later. Ann was getting sick and durring her second day in Sipidan decided not too dive any more, because you can't dive with a head cold without causing permanent ear damage. She sold her last three dives in Mabul to a cool Swiss guy, so he and i and the dive master hit the water outside of Mabul Island for our last day of diving. It was raining and a little cold, but you could still see plenty of good stuff under the sea. After my last dive we headed back to the mainland and got pelted by rain the whole way home. Josh and Lori had left the day before, and we were going to meet them in the town of Sandakan. Ann and i Spent the night in Semporna and then hoped a bus back to Sandakan the next day. Our bus trip to Sandakan was fine until about 20 miles out, when the bus stopped behind a line of traffic. It took a while for us to understand what the driver meant when he said " Bridge is out from rain, you can wait here till tomorrow or the next day or walk" Wait here, like in the bus for two days????
walk 20 miles in the pouring down rain, and what cross a muddy river that is strong enough to tear down a bridge?????
"No" he says" there are mini busses on the other side and you can cross the river, maybe up to your knees"

Ann and i were both a little warey but we started walking. less than a mile, we came across the problem, it was not a bridge that got washed out but the entire road, It had to have happened a while ago since there were police directing traffic and a tractor down in a hole where the road used to be. We tracked through the mud and jungle and crossed the little river of mud, maybe up to my shins. The hardest part was not slipping in the mud on the way down to the little river. Every one was walking, We were the only foreigners around and everyone thought it was funny that we were out. I was the first to venture across then set my bag in the mud on the other side. There was a little Malay who i helped by grabbing his bag then i told him to climb up on my back and i would take him across. Instead of climbing he jumped up onto my back, i was not ready for this and the momentum got me going through the river a bit too fast, i did not fall, but i hit the muddy bank on the other side, mudded up my shorts as the guy jumped off safely, then he grabbed my wrists and pulled me up. Everyone around was laughing and Ann was wishing for her camera. We got ann across and then hiked up the other side to where a mini bus was waiting. In Sandakan we found a decent priced hotel, and took a well deserved long hot shower. The next day we hooked up wit Josh and Lori and moved into their hotel. It is the same place i stayed last time i was in Borneo. It is owned and run by a very anal and stern Chinese guy. The rooms are great, air-con and big flat screen TV's with cable and dvd player. There are a bunch of DVD's to chose from. You must leave your key at the counter, then upon arival back in your room after being out in town, the beds are made, all your stuff is organized. my ipod is placed neatly on the counter with the headphones cord wrapped up with a rubber band, a rubber band that was never on there before, my clothes a neatly folded. Everything in the lobby is labeled and overly organized. It is actually kind of nice after being in the mud and the rain, to have everything clean and organized

a couple days in KL and back to KK

back in KL, didn't do much. Did some laundry went to the movies $3 to Bedtime Stories, a waste of $3 if you ask me. Ate some weird foods on the street. I seem to alway pick the weirdest looking dishes and most of the time they are not very tasty, so i end up getting something else. One of these times i am going to find something that is out of sight good, just not yet. The food here is set up like all pot luck style. You get a plate with rice.I always ask for less rice and the end up giving more rice. Then like a cafeteria line you go along and pick out what you want. Lately i have been sticking with some sort of friend chicken in some sort of saucey soup. The spicey honey red sauce has been a favorite. Sometimes i get a piece of fried fish, that tends to taste like it was cooked a week ago. They do not have much of a selection of vegies, usually saucey onions or way salty collard greens. I go for the greens and a pineapple shake for my vegi intake.
Josh wanted to go to the gym in the Petronas twin towers one day so i walked around town and found the central market. All over town there are guys with carts selling cut up fresh fruit for $0.40 a bag, so i eat a lot of pineapple, mango and papyas. At the Central market i found a funny little spa treatment. There is a big pool with seats around the pool, you take off your shoes and hang your naked feet in the pool. The kicker is the pool is filled with little fish that nibble on your feet. 5ringet, which is a couple of bucks. the guy selling tickets said that they are fish doctors to heal all your aliments? I thought i would go back and grab Josh and we would give it a try. When we came back we both decided that since we had both recently cut big chunks from the bottoms of our feet while in Koh Lipe, that we should probably keep them clean and away from any fish spit. There were two Britts with their feet submerged and they said it tickled so much that they could hardly stand it.
We went to the airport in KL to meet Josh's friend Lori. It started to rain and by the time we got to the airport it was dumping. At one point while waiting in the lobby, a big flash of lightning went of and then a huge thunder clap. So loud that it set of thirty or forty car alarms, the whole parking lot was beeping and honking. We met Lori and then all three of us flew back to Kota Kinbalu. We are now waiting for my friend Ann to fly in tonight, but i think her flights were delayed to where she may have missed a conection, so it may be a couple nights here in K.K. Soon we will be flying to the east side of Borneo, the town of Semporna to go and dive Sipadan and Mabul islands

copy and paste this into the browser to see some photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/farleysmail/OnKohLipe?feat=directlink

Done with Koh Lipe

We are back in KL, Lipe was great. On the dock in Langkawi while we waited on our speed boat to get its gas tank replaced we started talking to a couple of Swedish Girls. I wont give their names since we just referred to them as 'The Swedish Bikini Team'. Neither of them had the last name of Lundman, nor did they know anyone by that name. We ended up hanging out with them the whole time in Lipe. The ride over was scary. The driver was probably high on gas fumes, and because of this he never trimmed the motors or boat so we rode the hour pouncing through waves with a mean port list. Once there we booked our bungalow at the first one we found. It is way cheaper than the states, but Thailand costs more than Malaysia and more than what we were used to. For two nights Josh and i each paid $10 for our hut. After the second day we moved locations. We took the Bikini Team with us and we all moved into a group of huts that also happened to be next to the generators that power the entire island, this was bad because of the continuous noise, but good because we had 24hr power and fan. Here we paid $5 each a night. The other downside to this place was we think that nearby there had to be a big black pit that was full of the entire islands sewage, because when the wind would blow our way the smell was atrocious, but then on the good side, our huts were also the Tsunami Shelter point, so we had that feeling of safety. While in our new digs, we met our neighbor and new friend Raquel from Espania (that is Spain for those of you who do not know) The five of us became buddies. We would go together to breakfast and then either walk two minutes to Hot Beach, where most of the people hung out, there was no breeze and the sun seemed to be just a few feet away, or we could walk two minutes in the other direction to Windy Beach. This had bigger waves and you would have to struggle to get your towel to lay flat on the sand. We spent equal time at both. One day we walked North, or at least what felt like north to 'Porn' beach. There is a porn resort on porn beach. Porn, we all decided means something different in Thai than it does everywhere else. This beach was mostly older couples with kids, who were all clothed. Though we did see a few disgusting speedo wearers AKA banana hammocks.Yuck!!
One day we booked a snorkel trip, this was fun. We took a longtail boat out to a couple different coral reefs and tooled around, We all got way too much sun, but had fun. A longtail boat is what the locals use, it is an all wood, thin shaped boat with a huge car engine on the back with a propeller that extends out the back some ten or so feet. The are surprisingly maneuverable and can go in very shallow water. After our day of sun and snorkeling we decided to eat some of those lovely fish that we saw. For dinner i had an assortment of shells, a squid, and a small grouper. I was tempted to eat a trigger fish, these guys are very colorful and known to bite through your wetsuit when you come too close to their lairs. I didn't want to mess with my fish karma since i would be diving among them very soon. Dinner was good.
Koh Lipe was a good time and we are thankful for meeting up with the Swedish Bikini team and Raquel, cause it made it way more fun then if it had just been Josh and i. We are now back in KL until we meet Josh's friend Lori on the 28th. We will then fly back to Borneo and wait for my friend Ann to come in, then finally we will be on our way to Sipadan for some long awaited diving. The main reason i came on this trip.
I had a list of notes from my stay on Koh Lipe, but i left them back in the room. If they still seem interesting i may do a second recap on our time in Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe

Well there is Internet on Koh Lipe, but no ATM, which is a shame, cause neither Josh nor i took out enough money to stay the amount of time we would like to. We are both very happy with our decision to come to this island. It was a bit of a sketchy ride over here. We took a speed boat with three engines. We were meant to leave at nine in the morning, but the boats fuel tank was leaking gas so they had to first swap it out. We took off an hour later with the fresh smell of petrol in the air. I think the boat driver was a bit high, because he never trimmed the boat, so the whole 45 minute ride we were listing hard to the port. At first it was fun as we flew into the waves, fun until the time when we all thought we were going to flip. We went from laughing and smiling to straight faced and ready to be there. Once on the island we got our passports stamped and we checked into the nearest bungalow and off to the beach we went. While waiting for the boat to be repaired in Langkawi we started chatting up a couple of nice Swedish Gals. Teres and Ida have now become our Koh Lipe travel companions. They are both very nice and it is way more fun to sit on the beach with two pretty girls than just Josh and i.
Koh Lipe is a very laid back island, there are a lot of tourists but they all seem to be here for the same reason, to sun themselves and to get their relax on. I didn't meet any Americans in Malaysia, i know of at least four couples here. One place was showing a bit of the Inauguration, and all of us Americans were watching. Finally!!! get that guy out of here and let the Obamanation begin. I don't have much to write about what we have been doing, a lot of sitting in the sand and swimming in the ocean. The water here is crystal blue with nice corals right out from the beach. I have been using my mask and snorkel a lot, thanks Mom and Enza. We have booked a snorkel trip for tomorrow. I here the diving is good around here, but i would rather stay a few more days then go on a dive, and we can't afford to do both. We had planned to Island hop our way up to Phuket and then fly back to KL on the 28th, but i think we will instead stay here till the 27 and boat back to Langkawi and fly back to KL for $30 instead. Plans change so who knows.

Langkawi

we arrived Langkawi in the morning and got suckered right away at paying too much for a room. I guess i can't complain too bad about paying $10, but we could have done it for $6, but then you are not on a tropical S.E. Asian holiday if you are not pooping water and getting ripped off at least a couple of times. Tonight will be our third night here. We walked the beach front strip the first day and then watched the sunset on the sand at a bar near our hotel. The next morning I walked around alone, as Josh had too many rum and coconuts and maybe one too many beers. He got up around noon and we decided to walk down to where we found out was a much cooler beach scene and cheaper rooms. I had a beer, and Josh had water at a cool little bar, then we sat on the beach. I have not been managing my tanning sessions well, I burnt myself the first day and now i am just a big blotchy red, white and tan peely mess. Today we rented a car for $14 a drove around the island. We stopped and took a ride in some gondolas way way up to the top of the island, it was a great view and we felt very satisfied after paying $6. for the ride. During our Island circumnavigating we stopped at a few other happening touristy spots, but they all cost $$ so we skipped them all, except a crappy little waterfall that would have been spectacular had there been water falling. We stopped at the ferry terminal and bough a ticket for a jet boat that will take us across the border tomorrow morning to the Thai island of Koh Lipe. We have decided that we are going to island hop our way up to Phuket and then fly back to Kula Lumpor the end of the month to be on our way back over to Borneo to finish up the trip.
They say Koh Lipe has no ATM's, and island without ATM's is probably an island without internet, so this may be it for a few days

we will have fun, and we will be safe

KL day #2

two days in a row with no rain, i love this town. We hit up the Petronas Twin Towers yesterday. They only allow so many people up onto the sky bridge, which is kind of nice. You get ten minutes, but there are only about ten of you, so enough time to get a great view and some nice photos. There is a five story mall on the first five floors so we walked around there and even went and saw a movie. Four Christmas' for $2 US. It was arctic cold, happily i had my sweatshirt along with me. We laughed outloud.
Today we took a stroll through China town, had some food, your choices are pretty much Indian or Chinese, i think we had closer to Indian food. We then walked around and found a Botanical Gardens and a, bird sanctuary that we did not want to pay to get into and an Islamic Arts Museum. We paid to get into this for two reasons, one was to get out of the heat and the other was, we have no idea what Islamic art is. Geometry, beautiful designs where you at them and think, 'How in the hell can they do this' then it shows you some complicated geometric formula and wah-lah mathematics the root of everything.
We are staying in a dorm with room at a Hostel in the India part of town, this is why all the food we find tends to be Indian. We are paying $4.20 for a bed. The first night the guy above me talks in his sleep and yells out in French. I did not mind too much since i have always kind of liked the French accent. Now i have a German kid above me and he also talks in his sleep, like full on conversations with himself. The two accents i never cared much for are Israel and German, so his coughing and yelling does not really lullaby me back to sleep.
We leave for Langkawi in the morning, we are talking about maybe staying there five or so days then flying East to the Perenthians? these are islands on the Upper East Coast of Malaysia.
here is a link to some photos so far. There are some shots from New Years Eve and a Wedding i went to before flying over here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/farleysmail/Borneo?feat=directlink

No more rain = no more Borneo

Our last night in KK it dumped rain, so much rain that the streets flooded and it looked as though water would soon flow in under the doors of our Hostle. Within 20 minutes after the rains slowed the the streets were completely drained of water. They are used to it here and must have good drainage, though i am sure it goes unfiltered right into the sea.
Then next morning we took an 80 person speed boat ferry to the island of Lambuan. The ride in the rain and waves took about three hours, it would have been nice to see a little more than fogged up windows, but we sat about two feet away from a tv screen playing a really bad karate movie, so at least we were entertained. We decided to stay a night in Labuan instead of catching the next ferry to Brunie. It rained all day. Josh caught up on his internetting and i walked through the rain to the cities museum and learned all there was to know about Labuam from the dawn of time (cavemen) till now, a duty free port where people load up on booze and cigarettes on their way to Alcohol free Brunie. We found a realy dumpy place to stay for 20RM or $6. This place was like Bangkok dirty, but it was the cheapest place we could find. It was discovered in the morning that Josh was missing $50 in $1 bills, obviously taken while our bags were in the non too secure room and we were away. He confronted the door man and then the owner. We went through a long drawn out ordeal that included a trip to the police station to fill out a report, obviously Josh is still out $50 plus the 2RM he had to pay for the report. While still being stuck in raining Labuan we walked into a travel agent and since air travel is so cheap here we booked two tickets to Kula Lumpur. $50, we just wanted to go any where that it wasn't raining. The cheap flight was the late flight so we left our bags at the travel agent, bought two shitty little paper thin umbrellas and laughed at how wet we got from the sideways rain as we walked to the Aquarium. After looking at the few fish on display we called a cab, picked up our bags and went off to the airport 5 hours before our flight. We hung out at the airport playing chess and cribbage. We got to KL and into our Hostel at 2am. We are out on the town now, it is not raining, it is way less balmy, maybe in the high 80's. Josh is booking us a $30 ticket to the Island of Langkawil, which is in Upper East Malaysia.

I took a ferry over to the island across the way for some snorkeling, sun and fun. I went with a Canadian in my hostel and another Canadian gal we met at the hot-springs. The island was the same island where i got my dive certificate two years before. I think i was so excited to use my new Mask-Snorkel set up that i put sunscreen on my arms and had the Canadian gal goop up my back, then i dove. The snorkeling wasn't all that great. The water was kind of cloudy, but still saw some cool stuff. Back on the beach i layed on my back and fell asleep. Into the water, onto the beach, in and out a few times. When the boat came to get us around 3pm i felt a little burning sensation around my legs and stomach area. Back on the mainland i bought some aloe, but not nearly enough. I awoke many times in the middle of the night in total pain, headache and diarea included. The next morning i limped myself to the nearby marked in search of some real Aloe leaves. The Chinese had no idea what i was asking for when i would say 'Aloe' i walked around for too long and then gave up. On the way back to the Hostel, one of the gals who works there ran into me and she said she would find me some, she did and i covered myself in it and took a nap, she was a life saver. I am still red, but it does not hurt too bad and hopefully it will fade to brown, or even back to white would make me happy.
Josh and i are taking a ferry to Paulu Lompabom (sp) in the morning on our way to Miri.

jungling

bought a day trip up into the jungle and at the same talked to the kid selling us the trip about hiring him to drive us around the island. He said that he could not talk about it in the office but he would meet us after work. We met up and then walked to the Filipino market for some food. They have fresh fish bbqed up and you walk by and pick out what you want. I got some sort of snapper a tiger prawn and half a stingray. You then sit on these little plastic chairs at a long table. Our new friend Lee walked us through the steps, you fill a bowl with water and then your drinking glass. The bowl of water is for dipping your fingers in since you eat with your hands. Pull off some fish, smash it up into a ball along with rice and shove it in your mouth. It was all quite good. When you are finished you squish little limes into the water, swish your grubby fingers around and now your hands no longer smell like fish. We ended up not hiring hime to drive us around the island, but dinner was good.
Yesterday morning we got picked up in front of our hostle at around 8am and drove an hour or so, we were getting a tour along the way, but i was only picking up on half the stuff our guide was saying. The story of Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in all of S.E. Asia. Something about a dragon and a pearl, a prince who dies and a sad princes, who turns into a rock. We were headed to the base of the Mountain, where the is a botanical garden and hot springs. We stopped a couple of times on the way for some photo ops. Had lunch. It was Josh and i, a Malay couple, a young gal from Canada, and an older women from the UK. From the looks of the places we stopped, you could tell that had it been peak travel season, the places would have been packed. The place we stopped for lunch had some 30 tables inside and only two were filled. One by our group and another by a Japanese group.
We got to the garden, which was very cool It had a nice set up, well kept path. The park was not very big but in the acre or so we walked through there were some 400 species of orchids and another few hundred other plants and flowers, there were marked with red meaning they are only found at the base of the mountain, blue meaning they had medical uses and green meaning they were native to all over Borneo. We were showed the smalled Orchid, which was the maybe the size of the tip of a bic pen, heck i would have walked right past it. We were also showed, but not allowed to touch some super rare orchid that used to be sold for $700 to the USA, this is what our guide told us, or at least that is what it sounded like he was saying. We learned a few things, like if we get lost in the jungle there were some plants and berries we could eat and some that would give us stomach problem or maybe die?
The next stop was some cheesy souvenir market, where every stall sold the same thing. This set up is different from Thailand and everywhere else in S.E. Asia. the sellers just sit there fanning themselves or texting on their phones until you touch something, then they jump up to attention tell you the asking price and then tell you they will give you 'special discount' and if you start to walk away they just sit back down, no pressure to buy. Maybe it is just too hot to wheel and deal.
The next stop was the hot springs, some scalding water bubbling up from a rock pool mixing with some water flowing down the mountain. The pools were man made. there was the cool pool and then and area with Japanese style soaking tubs, that you would fill with a spout. Scalding hot on one side and cool on the other. Before we got in the tubs we did a hike up the mountain and across the cable bridges through the canopy. Anyone with any fear of hieghts i do not recommend this, cause we were way up there. Now we are back down, hot and sweaty and jump into the cool pool then make our way over to the tubs. I found an empty tub and turned on the faucet and could tell that it would take at least two hours to fill, so we wondered around and found one that was a little fuller. We ended up sitting, Josh, Me, the Canadian and the Londener in a tub that should probably fit two. You need friends for water displacement in order to sit in a full tub. At this time it also started pouring down rain, so there was no need to dry off or change back into our dry clothes.
Josh is on his way up to the tip of the mountain and i am meeting up with the Canadian gal, and another Canadian from my hostel to take a boat over to the island across the way for some sunning, snorkeling and relaxing. It seems to be clear skies and sunny, then it pours down rain between 4-6 then clears back up in time for dinner.

Day two in KK, Borneo

while at the internet place yesterday we heard what sounded like a major car accident, and withing minutes the sky opened up and dumped waterfall onto the streets. I have not seen rain like that since, i don't know when. We were very unprepared so we decided to take a cab that i had spotted just around the corner. I do not mind a little rain, but we had Josh's big backpack since we had not checked into a new room yet. As we left the internet place on the street in front of me a motorbike came to a sliding halt and ended up underneath the car in front of him. Being a veteran of that sort of thing i ran through the rain to see that he was ok. I pulled his bike out and stood it up, He just looked at me with a "what are you doing" sort of look as he crawled out from under the back of the car. I asked if he was OK and he looked down at his bloody leg looked at me then hopped on his bike and sped off. "Just walk it off" i yelled.
We found the cab and all the cab drivers huddled under a very small overhang, we hung out under there with them and worked out a price to the new motel. We made it and checked into to our new spot. $6 a night for a dorm with AC. We walked around and found a couple new malls and bought some essentials, My head has been totally clogged with cold like symptons since i have been here, went to the pharmacy and using my pro charades skills i told the gal what was wrong and she gave me some pills, i took one and felt clear and much better this morning.
Today we have booked a one day trip to the nearby national park and hot springs. I also talked to the young kid who booked our day tirp about hiring him to drive us around the tip of Borneo over to Sandakan, that is where he is from, I thought this would be a cool way to see Borneo, with a local guide who also speaks English. He said we could not talk about it in the office, but he will call and meet us for a drink tonight to hash out the details. We will see if the price is not too high?
It is hot and humid here and i can see big bubbly clouds off in the distance, It seems to dump rain in the evening heavyly but not for too long. I think we might look for a beach or something for today.

I'm in Borneo

I was tired of being cold in America so i decided to go down to Borneo for a few weeks. I flew out of SF a couple of days ago and i new as i was handing my bag to the lady at the United counter that my bag would not arive with me in Borneo and i was right. They were really friendly at the airport here and actually came up to me to say that my bag was missing. I will head back to the airport tonight to retrieve it. I am traveling with a co-worker of mine named Josh. Josh and i got in at midnight and shared a cab with a dude from NY who works at the UN. He picked up the bill too. The hotel was way out of town and conected to what is known as the first and largest super mall in east malaysia. maybe it was not called super mall, but it was something like that? We got settled in around midnight and then walked around the mall even though everything was closed. We did find a happening little night spot with a live band, two Filipino gals singing american pop songs while some old dude played the keyboard. We were two of maybe six people in the bar. We paid almost $5 a peice for two small beers. We we soon joined by a very drunk Malay who bought us a round of Guiness' I saw the bill and he paid about $5 for four beers. We talked a little but his drunken English was not very good. The two singers finished up and and came over and talked with us. It was then our turn to buy a round. It took a while to interprit that i would pay for the beers but i wanted our drunk friend to order them so that we could get local price. The guy kept telling us he was from Brunie, which would be like saying 'I am rich and important' then the singers would giggle and lean in and tell us he is only saying he is from Brunie? We cut out of the joint about the time the drunk guy was way drunk and seemed to be hinting that maybe he should stay in our room since his not so drunk friends had already left him. He did not stay with us.
This morning we walked around the super mall, i bought some sunglasses and josh bought a phone, call any time as it cost us to recieve incoming calls. 011-60145-602735 It seems like a lot of numbers but i am pretty sure that it is right?
We are off to find a new place to live