Papa, Mama, Pit, Frunty, Marie Louise (Holland), Dom (England), and Caroline (Ireland), made up Team Gibbon with the best team spirit at Uncle Tan's this year! Check out the flood: how do we get to the bathroom at night!!? By canoe?
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Borneo Adventure: back to Uncle Tan's!
Pit and I had such a good time with the Simpsons at Uncle Tan's last year that we booked for another visit for the 4 of us this year! Hoping that it would be a bit drier this time around and that Papa and Frunty would love it as much as we did! The trip started out with the stressful news that the tsunami in Japan might affect Borneo...which it did not. The day after, a big storm hit though and there was a traffic accident on the way from Uncle Tan's Base Operations to the boat that would take us along the river to the jungle. Luckily we made it safely to Uncle Tan's only to wake up the next morning with the path from our cabin to the dininghall completely flooded!! 5 days of rain prior to our arrival plus the heavy rains on the day we joined caused severe flooding in the area and we were almost evacuated on our second night. Most of our fellow campers spent their second night in tents in the dining cabin while our family of four were given a cabin on higher stilts because of fear for the children's safety.
We had, in short, an incredible time and despite the floods, an amazing chance to see orangutan, proboscis monkeys, silver tails and various exotic birds. Our fellow travellers were very friendly and played endlessly with Frunty and Pit. It was a great time and although the river kept rising, the sun started shining and exploring the area by boat was very peaceful and beautiful. It's a race against time as illegal loggers take down the rainforests here in Borneo and the animals with them. We are grateful to have been able to enjoy Borneo now and hope it will be preserved in the future.
We had, in short, an incredible time and despite the floods, an amazing chance to see orangutan, proboscis monkeys, silver tails and various exotic birds. Our fellow travellers were very friendly and played endlessly with Frunty and Pit. It was a great time and although the river kept rising, the sun started shining and exploring the area by boat was very peaceful and beautiful. It's a race against time as illegal loggers take down the rainforests here in Borneo and the animals with them. We are grateful to have been able to enjoy Borneo now and hope it will be preserved in the future.
The Longstaff's Visit
Canadian friends whom we met in Amsterdam and spent time with while in Toronto, came to visit us with their 10 year old son, Kyle. We had a great week together which involved catching up by the pool, eating at hawkers' markets and sightseeing at the Flyer, Night Safari, in China Town and on a Duckboat tour. We had a lot of fun and were really happy they made the effort to come all the way to Singapore before heading to Krabi for the rest of their holiday while we came down to Borneo, a trip we had booked in August! Hope you had a fantastic time too, Scot, Ninon and Kyle. See you soon in Toronto!
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Dablo
Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Paul left Singapore early to make it back to BC to see their beloved dog, Dablo, who was in critical condition. Unfortunately, they did not make it home to say good bye to their dog. RIP, Dablo and have fun with Mowgli, Charlie and Zooey. Here are some photos of happier times when V and P were here with us this past week enjoying sunny Singapore. Thanks for spending special times with us, for playing with Frunty and Pit everyday and cooking gorgeous meals!
Pit's Religious Homework
Pit goes to a Christian kindergarten here in Singapore because it is nice and new, friendly and fun though at times quite strange, bizarre and overwhelming. The graduation ceremony for K2s last year, for example, was indescribable. Anyway...it has been quite an experience so far. The other day, Pit brought home a religious puzzle to solve and afterwards I said, "that was a religious puzzle, Pit, for Christians. Are you a Christian, Pit?" To which he answered,
"No, I am Canadian."
"No, I am Canadian."
Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Paul
Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Paul have just left for Australia and Canada after a really fun week with us. We said no cooking or cleaning but Aunt V couldn't help herself and in so doing, helped us greatly. She even bought us a new broom! Uncle Paul played endlessly in the pool with the children who just adore him and still found time to fix our upstair light and the chairs I found in the garbage during CNY.
We'll miss you two and look forward to next time! Good luck with Dablo!
We'll miss you two and look forward to next time! Good luck with Dablo!
