Our day started with a little bamboo cutting course by Lynn and Lotte. They showed us how to cut and process bamboo. It's not rocket science.
There is an "island" on the campsite. That's what we call it, but it's only an island during the rainy season. Now, in the dry season, a stream flows along one side and the channels are dry on the other side. Ivar and I grabbed the rake and gathered all the leaves on this island. There is also a hammock here, hanging nicely by the river. Ivar will mainly take his naps here in the coming days, if he is not disturbed by the monkeys.
Also a small project: every day we measure how much the new bamboo in front has grown. You can see the markings on the back bamboo. It grows about 10cm a day! Unfortunately, someone cut off the new bamboo and took it away. :(
Every morning I wake up early. Malaysia is a Muslim country. Therefore, the muezzin calls to prayer before sunrise. However, he has to share the calling with the rooster. Usually, it goes like this: rooster crows, then the muezzin calls, and then the rooster crows again. Sometimes the rooster starts as early as 3 o'clock. Silly.
On 10.06. we say goodbye to Lynn and Lotte. After 5 weeks, they leave Mai Dusun Retreat and go to Borneo. There they will meet Lotte's mother, who is traveling from the Netherlands and brings real cheese. Ivar and I start a first project: there is a staircase here that goes around the corner. Cats like to pee and poop under the corner. Right next to their food bowl! In the very back corner, so you have to lie down on the floor to reach it! Now someone can't say anymore that cats are clean. To stop the cats from doing this, we are building a kind of grid.
Well, tough luck!Sometimes Stevie looks pretty exhausted. She actually had 3 kittens, carried all 3 to the neighbor because she didn't feel like it anymore or needed some peace. Unfortunately, only 2 kittens are left. The 3rd one got lost during this action.Since I wake up early because of the muezzin, I'm always the first one down. Then I make myself a nice cup of coffee and enjoy the coolness in the morning. If you can hear the gibbons in the distance, the morning is perfect! Sometimes I sit by the stream. The big cats follow me and play between the trees. On the way back, I collect the fallen durians. They are ripe now and fall from the big trees. The outer shell is very spiky. You really don't want to get hit by it. In the evening, Md takes the durians home with him.Sometimes I need a bucket to collect all the durians.
Ivar and I went shopping and were in a store called Ecosave. They really have everything there! In the fruit department, there were 5 different types of mangoes! 5! In Germany, there is only 1 type and it's simply called 'Mango'! But here they are called, for example, 'Elephant Trunk Mango' or 'Mango Aiwen'. The colors range from green to yellow to red-purple. We plan to buy one of each mango and then have a 'mango tasting'!
One evening guests arrived. Our host MD introduced them to us as 'Chinese Family'. In the evening, we sat down with them and I asked a man, 'You're from China?' Uuuuuh, that didn't go over well. The man looked a bit angry and said, 'No, I'm a local! I was born here!' His parents were born here and his grandparents also lived here. Oops.
They had plenty of beer and made sure we always had something to drink. Later, we played poker (without money) and the Thai game Pok Deng. Since we couldn't and didn't want to play for money, we used peanuts as bets. Unfortunately, we kept eating our winnings!
Pok Deng with peanut money
For the weekend, we had to move out of the house into tents. The family of MD's wife is coming because the feast of sacrifice is coming up, and they have reserved the two rooms and set up a few tents.
On Saturday, June 15th, Ivar and I had the day off. After breakfast, we went to a waterfall called Puncak Janing.
The waterfall is not high, but long and has many steps. You can cool off and swim in its pools. Luckily, I was prepared and wore long pants and a T-shirt. In almost all Asian countries, people swim in T-shirts to protect themselves from the sun. It was okay for them if white people only wore bikinis or swim trunks while swimming, but it was still strange. Here in Malaysia, they swim in hijabs and full gear, so one should follow the customs. Especially since there is hardly any foreign tourism in this region. I could certainly swim in a bikini without anyone saying anything. But there's no need to provoke anything.
The water was pleasantly cold and little fish nibbled at our feet. A girl named Aihna approached me. She spoke very good English and we talked for a long time. Her boyfriend also spoke good English but was less talkative. Later we said goodbye. They wanted to go home and we wanted to go to a night market. However, we met again there by chance! Aihna accompanied us through the market and explained different dishes to us. Then she went home. Ivar and I walked up and down the row of stalls several times and tried the various delicacies. In the tent, we tried to watch a movie, but we fell asleep pretty quickly.
On Sunday, May 16th, the guests left again, although they wanted to stay longer. But an aunt was admitted to the hospital, so they didn't feel like celebrating anymore. We cleaned up a lot, arranged the rooms, let the washing machine hum, and moved back into the house.
Today, Ivar and I are starting our new project. More on that next week....
At some point we went for Roti. Roti simply means 'bread'. The dough balls are then flattened into thin flatbreads and topped.
