Defeated by Mother Nature

No, it didn't happen. We couldn't reach the top.
Not because we gave up, but unfortunately because we had freaky weather and the summit was closed because it wasn't safe to go up there... Such a bummer...
But let's take it all from the beginning:

We left all happy on Thursday afternoon, up to KK, a 20 minute flight from here. We were all kind of giddy, this was it! Here is Claudia & myself:



We had all packed our own stuff in our backpacks, but Claudia was responsible for the First Aid kit - her bag weighed 5 kg more than the rest of the bags! We went through everything after dinner Thursday night, and made sure we had everything we might need. I must say, we had been really thorough with our packing, we had everything (F.e rescue whistles, snacks galore, tape (for broken shoes), knee protections, head lamps etc):



We got up early in the morning because we had pickup at 08.00, got ready and dressed:



We had a lush breakfast:



The funniest thing happened in the lobby of the hotel. Just as we are walking in to the restaurant, this guy shows up - and looks just as puzzled when he sees us, as we did when we saw him! Of course, we had to take a picture together:



Then we set off up to the Headquarters. It took about two hours from KK to the bottom of the mountain, and the weather got increasingly worse and worse the higher we got:



This is the view that met us, already at the Headquarters, or should I say - lack of view:



We arrived at the Headquarters at about 10.00, and got really surprised by how cold it was, already there! We all put on an extra layer of clothing straight away, and started getting a bit worried about how cold it would get even higher up. (We took off our jackets for this picture:)



Claudia trying out the poncho:



It took forever to register, and find a guide for us. As we were waiting some people came down the mountain, and we were very disappointed to hear that none of them had made it to the summit that morning.
Of course, we still had to climb, cause you never might know if we would be lucky and the weather might change, but it felt a bit disheartening knowing already from the start that we would probably not make it to the top.
Our guide talked us through the route a bit:



Then he said we could start, and he would catch up. He and his friend were also our porters, so we left them sorting out the luggage, and off we went. Here we are, all ready and suited up, it was really cold already here:



This was where we were going, to the rest huts at Laban Rata, a trek of 6 km:



Team Sweden:



Up and up...



... and up and up...



The further up we got, the colder it got. We were right in the clouds, so we didn't see anything. It started to rain, first it drizzled and then it rained more and more heavily - add to that the wind, and you are starting to get the picture on exactly how freezing it was!



The porters running (yes, some!) up and down the mountain were extraordinary! They carried so much stuff, not just peoples luggage but food and other supplies for the huts up on the mountain. Just look at this load, and he's such a little guy!



Part of the track. It was mostly rocky steps, but in some places due to the weather, it was just muddy trails, very slippery:



Tried to capture a bit of the clouds and rain:



We ended up splitting the team up during the ascent. Anna and I found a pace that worked for us, and we reached the hut at Laban Rata after 3h40, which was pretty good going! The others came in about half an hour later.
I don't have any pictures from the last bit of the ascent or of the arrival at the hut, because by that point we were so cold and frozen, we couldn't do or think about anything else than getting inside, away from the wind and the rain!
Here we are, in our room that we shared with an old guy from Penang (Malaysia) and an Australian guy:



Those porters/guides of ours, that were supposed to "catch up", didn't come until we had been waiting at the hut for half an hour! The only thing was, I had clothes in my backpack I had planned to put on sort of a bit up the mountain - so I did this climb in only two layers of clothes (my Team Swe-shirt and the rain jacket), with no gloves, warm hat or warm layer on top! I was BLUE, around my eyes and on my lips! So was Anna, we were sooo cold.
Finally the porters arrived with our things, and we could have a warm (it was supposed to be hot, but there you go) shower and get changed. We put on every bit of dry clothing we had! It was nice, but not enough.
We then hired sleeping bags, and actually sat in them like little caterpillars, while we had our dinner and drank enormous amounts of hot tea. The sleeping bags really helped, they were the only reason we started to get our body heat back. Here is a photo of the caterpillars:



This is the restaurant/reception/little shop at Laban Rata. It was supposed to be "heated", but in fact it was just heated between 20-21.00, so we were by then actually happy that we had started so late in the morning so we didn't have to spend too much time up there. We had dinner, and went to bed about 20.00, in time for the heating to come on. We all slept in all our clothes, in the sleeping bags, in the beds.



It was so funny, because several of our fellow climbers thought we were professional climbers! Someone had asked Anna & Maria "Which other mountains our Team had climbed?" and we realized at Laban Rata that others referred to us as "The Swedish Professional Climbing Team"! :) We think probably it was because we had our Team t-shirts on and looked kind of uniform, or maybe it was because of the fact that we were stretching before the climb? Maybe - it was purely because we looked the part so well!

Anyhow, we got woken up by our guide at 03.00 who said that the summit was closed, so we couldn't go up the last bit (a trek of about 2,5 km and rise of 800m). It didn't come as a big surprise, as we could hear the wind outside and it was really, really strong.
So we decided to go back to sleep, and then start the descent as soon as it got light in the morning.
We had our breakfast and then set off just after 08.00. This time around we were better dressed because of course, the weather were still as bad. I had two layers going up - but I had five layers on going down!
Unfortunately since we split up again and Anna and Maria set off in a faster speed, I have no photos of myself going down, because we didn't have any camera Claudia and I. Here is Anna though:



Here is one of the porters, carrying a bed:



Maria, in the clouds and the rain:



When we got back down (took me and Claudia 2h40 minutes) we had lunch at the Headquarters, picked up our certificates and then we were driven back to KK where we rested for a bit and all had lovely showers, mmm!

We treated ourselves to some really yummy Starbucks Coffee and some retail therapy, to make ourselves feel better for missing out on the summit. In the evening we had dinner with a friend of ours parents who recently had moved to KK - and some very nice wine with that. After dinner we went out to do some bar hopping, and had some very nice beers, and finally we ended up in a salsa club, and had some very nice cocktails and... shook the ache off our legs!







Considering the weather conditions, we have to be pretty pleased with our performance anyway, summit or not. It was freezing and the wind made the ascent very tough, so we are pleased albeit a bit disappointed.
All in all - it was a great weekend though! It was really cool to go away on a girls weekend a be really active - and get some drinks and dancing in to! Thank you Team Sweden - I had a fab time!

A short movie from Mt Kinabalu

Here is a small movie Maria shot of Anna and the weather, just on the top by Laban Rata, before descending. It kind of shows the wind and the clouds a bit so you can imagine how cold it was!

Team Sweden - Here we go!

This is it! Now it's time to test if all our training has paid off - today we are flying up to Kota Kinabalu, and tomorrow we are initiating the climb of Mount Kinabalu. We should be reaching the summit some time around 04.00 am on Saturday morning (our time) - and hopefully be witnessing a beautiful sunrise!



Gosh, I'm actually nervous! Mostly for the packing, have I remembered everything? Difficult to know what you might need on a mountain top! I think we should be fine, we have coordinated our packing for days now, and we are ready! I will be back on Sunday to tell you all about it!
Mount Kinabalu - here we go!

First haircut

Today it was time for Linnea's first haircut! No, she still doesn't have much hair, but it needed to get trimmed anyway. The bits she had were all in different lengths and she had all these whispy, long bits sticking out that looked a bit funny.
So I took her around to my hairdresser this morning. She was so good, a bit hesitant but then she just sat there and looked around her at all the exciting things. She was bribed with cookies and it didn't take long, but still - very good for her first time!

Missed Kodak Moment

I forgot my camera today for the hash, since it was at charging up for the big adventure I didn't think about bringing it.
Of course, today's hash was the most scenic and beautiful I have done so far... Typical!

It was full of big, huge trees - apparently we ran past Brunei's oldest tree! We passed a huge waterfall and walked along ridges high, high up with a view over the coast - it was all so pretty!

I was jogging quite a bit today, and came to place myself between the superfit and fast front runners and the walkie-talkies. So most of the time, it was just me and the jungle! It was all peaceful and lovely, I could hear birds sing and I walked and jogged along, just enjoying it all (concentrating on following the right paper so I wouldn't get lost) in my own pace.

The shout-up was great too, we had a beautiful sunset over the coast, and Flying Foxes (fruit bats) circling over our heads.
Brunei at it's best!

Kindy Schedule 12-16 May

Term 3 Week 7 – Pirates



This week in school it's all about pirates! They are going to learn how to dress like a pirate and have pirate ship role play, they are going to make treasure boxes and count and add treasures to it; they will be making treasure necklaces, learn how to make and follow treasure maps and write messages to put in a bottle - for Pirate Pete.

This sure sounds like a fun week at school!

NashHash 2008

Today the whole family took part in the 7th NashHash, which is a sort of super-hash joining different hash chapters around Brunei. They were all represented, the HeteroHash, the Men's Hash, the Women's Hash, the Tutong Hash, the Kiddie Hash etc.
There was three runs to chose from, and since we had brought the kids along we took the short run. But, since it wasn't a "kids" run as such, even the short one was pretty long - and tricky at places.
Look here, as Nathan helps the kids climb this "bridge":



Lucas is really good, he does it all by himself, only needs a hand to hold on to if the hills are too steep or he needs to balance over something. Even Linnea is pretty tough actually, but by the end, she gets tired and needs a ride - and a drink:



It was a muddy one today, but this was only the beginning..:



Mum and Lucas:



The Watson family was here:



Here we are, out of the jungle, on the home stretch back to sign out:



Unfortunately, the wind and the rain rolled in, so we had to all stay under the tents.





A bit of a shame, but didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. The kids had fun in the mud, found some new friends - and before going home we had some yummy shawarma.



It was a really great afternoon! I so enjoy being together the whole family, being outside, doing something sporty and active - it's great!

Our summer vacation schedule

If anyone would be keen to catch up with us while we are on our Europe tour this summer, our plans look something like this:

4 July Last day of school
17 July Departing Brunei
18 July Arriving UK - Horsham
21 July Morning flight Gatwick to Copenhagen
25 July Train to Billund/Kolding area
31 July Going to Skara (Sweden)
6 August Nathan flying back to UK/Brunei
18 August Boel & kids flying back to UK/Brunei
25 August School starts!


(Image borrowed from allposters.com)

So, now you know where to find us these weeks! Only two months to go!

Our first A&E-visit

Today we had another, not so pleasant, first.

I had been to the supermarket when Nathan calls me and asks how far I am from home in a very upset voice. Turns out Lucas had been drinking mosquito-kill-liquid (the kind you plug into the electrical socket, that will evaporate and keep mosquitos away).
He and Linnea had been playing upstairs and apparently found this little bottle (that we didn't have plugged in the socket but on a shelf in his wardrobe) and got curious. He then came downstairs to tell Nathan he had "yuk" on his tongue from "drinking the black"...

We took him to the A&E, but the Dr was quite calm about it and said not to worry. He didn't think he had been drinking enough to get sick, and the composition of the liquid wasn't dangerous either.
So we got sent home again and just needs to keep an eye on him the next 24 hours. In case he starts vommitting uncontrollably or gets stomach pains - we have to go back.





I don't think he would have had all that much either. It smells very bad, and probably tastes just as bad. Plus, to get it out of the bottle he would have had to suck on the "stick", it didn't just pour out.

The Dr, who was from India, said this happened a bit in India, but that it was the first time he had a case of this since he came to Brunei 2 years ago - so at least he had something new to deal with today!

Sunshine and sunshine

We have sunshine every day here in Brunei, every day. We have nice, hot weather too, every day. We can go to the beach every day if we want to, be outside all the time.

Still, I get so jealous when I read about the beautiful weather that awaits people in Scandinavia this weekend. It's going to be "summer", about 25 degrees and sunshine, all weekend. Oh, how lovely!
I just love those first really warm days of spring, when you can finally pack away all your winter jackets and shoes, and take out the BBQ and your garden furniture instead. That first good weather of spring is really something special - lifts you spirits after the long, dark winter!

It's not quite the same, when you have sunshine every day... I really do miss the seasons and the shifts in nature.

Tea Party

Here is a little picture from this morning, and Linneas playgroup. This is Linnea and her friend Ben having a little tea party:



Linnea goes to a friend of mine once a week (sometimes twice, like this week) for a couple of hours in the morning. My friend has an organised playgroup for pre-schoolers at her house. It's really well done, she has loads of artistic material and loads of toys and water play for the kids to use as they wish. Linnea always comes home with loads of paintings and drawings she has done, she loves being creative!
My friend is the most patient person I know and she is absolutely fantastic with the kids!

Linnea loves it and every morning she is asking if she is going to "Issa" today.
It will do her good to start pre-kindy in August, she is really ready for it. She craves the interaction with other kids, and also more action than I can provide here at home, and one day a week at the playgroup isn't really enough.

The scrapbooking presentation

Today was the day for the big presentation at the BCL-meeting, about scrapbooking.
I was well prepared, I had spent hours and hours putting together a PowerPoint presentation and practised my speech several times. I was nervous, yes, but really looking forward to it too!

Imagine my disappointment when the technical equipment let me down... we couldn't connect the computer to the projector, because we/they didn't have the right cable... Boo-hoo.
The people who had come to listen didn't mind, and my presentation went really well anyway. I just felt slightly disheartened since I had put so much time and energy into creating a nice visual presentation, and was so proud of myself with this first effort in doing a PP...

Anyway, here I am in action, using the white board and more animated version of myself instead:





I got super feedback on my presentation though! Enough to raise my spirit! It was really great fun!

A glass of water

If you go to a restaurant here in Brunei, and ask for a glass of water, you will more often than not get a boiling hot glass of water.

Just look at this picture, you can see the steam on the side of the jugs!



The reason the water is hot is not only because they boil it to clean it (you wouldn't serve water straight from the tap here, it's not very clean - as I have been writing about here), but also because many Bruneians will find a hot glass of water actually cools you down better than a cold one, just like the Brits drink hot tea to cool themselves!
Not me though, still seems strange to me. Who knows, I might get used to it with time.

Ten days to go!

It's approaching far to fast - our climb of Mount Kinabalu. It's next week already, can you believe it!

We are ready though!
We are all feeling rather fit at the moment, after some extensive Bukit Shabandar-training (I'm so over Bukit at the moment... will probably take a while before I get back up there after this mountain climb...). We have sorted out our packing lists, and my only worry now is whether to bring my big SLR camera or not? It's heavy to carry, but then again - if this is not the occasion to bring it to get fab pictures, what is?

Yesterday I went to pick these up:




Our team shirts!
It's getting serious!

I've got the power

In some places here in Brunei, especially in compounds as ours, it's common to pay your electricity in advance.
You buy a scratch card that contains a number, you then sms that number together with your meter number to the Electricity Company and receive a code which you put into your meter - and woupti, you have more credits on your meter!



We have never let the meter go under 100 credits, but when we got back from Oz it was down to 77, and it was Sunday and the office was closed. Slight panic!
So all day yesterday we did our best to save electricity, so that it would last us through the night (we only run the ACs at night). It did, luckily, as you can see, we still had 26 units when I charged it up this morning. But it was a close call!

How to travel

My good friend Anne is on her way home to Denmark tonight, with her two boys. She was a bit nervous as to how the trip would go, since she's on her own with the kids and it's indeed quite a long trip.
I tried to give her all the advice I had on how to keep the kids entertained, but to be honest - our kids travel so well, I didn't have much advice to give!

Our two might be loud and noisy otherwise, but on an aeroplane they are absolutely amazing! The trip home from Sydney was Lucas' 86th flight, and Linnea's 56th. They know the drill, that's for sure.
I managed to watch three (!) movies on the way home - all while Linnea was playing with the little inflight kit they give you (with socks, earplugs and lip balm etc.), watched her own movies, slept a bit, ate some and listen to stories (Astrid Lindgren again) on my iPod.



Lucas of course, was playing PSP most of the way, so Nathan managed to watch some movies as well, and do some sudoku.
It was another very pleasant flight!

Please and Thank You

Granddad tried (more or less) in vain to get Lucas to say 'please' and 'thank you' in all the right places, during our stay in Oz.
I must admit that every now and then he gets it right, but mostly he is not that good at being verbally polite.

My theory is that it's a language thing. We don't have 'please' in the Swedish language, not as a special word. We word our sentences differently when we want to be polite, and we don't use 'thank you' in quite the same extent either.
I think, that he kind of "says it in Swedish, but in English" - if you know what I mean? I believe, that when he gets a better feeling of what is the difference between English and Swedish sentence structure, it will come automatically.

But today, while discussing this, Nathan turned around to him and said:
- You know your 'please' and 'thank you', don't you Lucas?

And the answer he got was:
- Yes Dad!! I say 'please' to Thomas, and I say 'thank you' to Thomas!

At least he has got his priorities right! (Thomas is his Lego-supplier...)

Holy Comoly!

Hey! We are back home - home sweet home...

We have had two great and very busy weeks down-under, with the whole family. It was Granddad's 60th, so they came over from NZ together with their best friends, to celebrate it in style with the rest of us.

The birthday weekend itself was spent in the wine district of Hunter Valley.
The first evening we all went to an Irish restaurant for dinner, and some beer tasting. The Saturday, which was the birthday, we first visited two different wineries - one where we tasted champagne and another one where we sat down and had the full-on tasting of about 10-12 different kinds of wine! It was red, white, dessert wine etc - it even included cheese and crackers! It was fab!
We then went to a very nice restaurant for the birthday lunch. It was a three-hour happening, so lucky we had brought the PSPs and the Archos for the kids! Linnea even took a nap on the floor in the middle of it all!
The birthday was finished with a bbq-feast on our patio at the hotel, that the hotel supplied.

Sunday we drove back the scenic route, via Wisemans Ferry. It was faboulus views although the kids were not too impressed, all we heard from the backseat was "are we there yet?" over and over again.

Apart from celebrating the big birthday, we managed to do quite a bit of shopping and I went to three classes at Nikki's scrapbook shop and got to meet her colleagues.
The kids have been playing very nicely with each other this time. Although they have been loud and rowdy, it hasn't been too many rows to break up, which has been nice.

Our family also went in to Sydney City one day, to see my friends from home, Carina & Oscar. They normally live in Malmö but are outstationed in Sydney for five months.
We went to the Sydney Aquarium together, an outing I really liked - and the kids too! It had a fantastic shark tunnel, where you walked in the middle of all the fish, so cool.
We stayed over at their place in Manly, played at the beach, had a gorgeous dinner and some nice time catching up - and the next day we did The Rocks together with Grandma and Granddad before we returned out to the suburbs.

We also went to the Featherdale Wildlife Park on our last day. It's a park with all the Australian animals, and you even get to get up close and cosy with the koalas and kangaroos - it was great, I really enjoyed that! Both Lucas and Linnea were very brave, and fed and patted the kangaroos. Lucas' favourite animal was the kangaroo and Linnea's favourite was the baby Koala bear. (Liam's was the crocodile, and Caitlin's the fluffy bunny...)

All together we had a wonderful time - but coming home was nice too! (The amah had apparently been bored, because she had re-folded ALL our clothes in our wardrobes and sorted ALL the kids toys... hi hi)

Here is a slide show with a selection of all the photos we took on this trip: