As I was returning from Tiga Ruang I had the morning off. We had new volunteers arrive today and Dan was meeting them. We were meant to have 6 volunteers but only 5 turned up. Two of them were girls from France, two were 16 year old twins brother and sister from Saudi Arabia and the last one was a Chinese Indian Malaysian girl Darshini who works in Kuala Kumpar. I slept for a bit and then went through emailing the volunteers who are arriving later this month. Maisy was off to Tiga Ruang with her sister, Anne, the two French girls and Roya who arrived last week from England. Ramona was staying in the house this week as we had university student group arriving Wednesday. It was Ramona's Birthday Monday, so Wid when she returned from the mainland with shopping had brought a cake for Ramona. It was coffee and cheese kinda like a cheesecake with a coffee base. We didn't have any plates or cutlery so we all ate with our hands. In Malay tradition Ramona got some of the cake put on her face, she didn't seem to mind she was just happy to have cake. Dan's parents were arriving today so he went to spend the evening with them.
The next day was my off day which I spent sorting out Admin work. Dan went on snorkel survey with the volunteers and data analysis in the afternoon while Ramona did data analysis in the morning while I stayed at the house doing odd jobs. I decided to go for a trek around 3pm. I walked from the village to long beach, then up to the Windmills down a jungle path round to Coral Bay. The plan was to get a boat taxi back to the village but forgot my wallet so trekked back to long beach and then back to the village. This was over 12km walk and by time I we back I was knackered. I saw lots of Tokay geckos, household geckos and different birds. It was nice to get out of the house and explore more of the island.
Wednesday the University group arrived they were from Durham University and were called Ducks. Durham University are really important donators helps fund our project. There were 9 students, 2 guys 7 girls who were all second or first year at university. I went on a beach clean in the morning with 3 volunteers. Again we went to Tanjung Butang this was the 4th visit and there was still a lot of rubbish. Being on the north of the island it gets a lot of litter blow into the vegetation. We collected 14 bin bags and there was still more rubbish.
In the afternoon the DUCK group came over to our house for our welcome presentations. Here we talked about what we do at the three projects, these guys were really interested by what we do. It always makes it easier when people are interested in the project, they asked lots of questions and showed good knowledge. In the evening we had Malay dinner, this was at someone's house I hadn't been to before Kah Mah house. I was taking my three volunteers the Saudi twins Nadia and Tammam and Darshini along with 3 volunteers from Dive Project. One of the dive projects volunteers was Italian he was 48 and had two kids. He was so typical Italian very flamboyant and eccentric so at dinner he was very funny with stuff he said and how he acted.
Thursday morning there were lots of turtles to identify for data analysis, all had been seen before but there were some I hadn't ID'd before. It was nice to chill in the house on my own as Ramona was on survey with the 5 of the Duck group and Dan was on Survey with the Volunteers. After Lunch Dan went on Snorkel your with the Volunteers and Ramona chilled in the house with me. I was off to Tiga Ruang in the evening so had stuff to sort out in the morning as well. After Lunch Ramona had some of the Ducks in our house for Data Analysis. While they were doing that I went to the kitchen. Before coming out to Malaysia I thought of shaving my hair. While being here it has started getting a bit scruffy so I went down to the Community house and got their hair clippers. I started shaving one side and realised it was very difficult to do by myself. Tammam the Saudi volunteer was watching me shave my hair and could see he wanted to have a go. I gave him the clippers and told him to follow a hairline just to do the sides and back. I'm not sure what grade the clippers were but it was cutting very short. At first I weren't sure I had a shower as a lot of hair was stuck and then I got Tammam to blend with a higher grade the top and sides. Considering how risky it was letting volunteers shave my hair I was quite happy with the outcome. After my haircut we headed for the boat to Tiga Ruang.
The next day was my off day which I spent sorting out Admin work. Dan went on snorkel survey with the volunteers and data analysis in the afternoon while Ramona did data analysis in the morning while I stayed at the house doing odd jobs. I decided to go for a trek around 3pm. I walked from the village to long beach, then up to the Windmills down a jungle path round to Coral Bay. The plan was to get a boat taxi back to the village but forgot my wallet so trekked back to long beach and then back to the village. This was over 12km walk and by time I we back I was knackered. I saw lots of Tokay geckos, household geckos and different birds. It was nice to get out of the house and explore more of the island.
Thursday morning there were lots of turtles to identify for data analysis, all had been seen before but there were some I hadn't ID'd before. It was nice to chill in the house on my own as Ramona was on survey with the 5 of the Duck group and Dan was on Survey with the Volunteers. After Lunch Dan went on Snorkel your with the Volunteers and Ramona chilled in the house with me. I was off to Tiga Ruang in the evening so had stuff to sort out in the morning as well. After Lunch Ramona had some of the Ducks in our house for Data Analysis. While they were doing that I went to the kitchen. Before coming out to Malaysia I thought of shaving my hair. While being here it has started getting a bit scruffy so I went down to the Community house and got their hair clippers. I started shaving one side and realised it was very difficult to do by myself. Tammam the Saudi volunteer was watching me shave my hair and could see he wanted to have a go. I gave him the clippers and told him to follow a hairline just to do the sides and back. I'm not sure what grade the clippers were but it was cutting very short. At first I weren't sure I had a shower as a lot of hair was stuck and then I got Tammam to blend with a higher grade the top and sides. Considering how risky it was letting volunteers shave my hair I was quite happy with the outcome. After my haircut we headed for the boat to Tiga Ruang.
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