sexy bikini

When the kids come by to the house, they are curious looking around, note that these kids live with very minimal procession, they are alway amazed by our staffs, mostly captured by technology and keep asking what games do we have in our smart phone or ipad, not only I rarely have things suitable for kids in my personal device, I also dislike hearing noisy of games, to divert her attention I show her a photo album, our marriage photo album, so that I can explain her the country where Valentin come from. They look with lot of question, who is this girl? who is this guy? what is he doing? ...... Then they came across photos of our beach brunch, they spotted the girls on bikini, quickly turn the page over, they said, "aren't they ashame wearing only underwear in public" I explain "Those are called bikini, is a kind of swim suit", "yes but still is just underwear"...
Same situation heppened when the kids came to the house, they don't knock or ask for permission before they go right inside, and saw me wearing only a singlet and no panties, they look at me curiously and one commented that I am too sexy, note that this girl is only 7 and she already wear veil to go to school, so what she means by sexy is not the literate meaning of it, but a polite way to say that I shouldn't be naked. So now I teached them to knock and wait for permission before they come in and I will go "dress up". I didn't want to shocked them with my sexiness, but over time they are getting used to it now, once I lend Umai my short pants to change when she spend a night at home, she said "Is so cooling, I wish I could wear these things at home but I can't..."

Abai

我们一直都是用陆路来到kinabatangan河，路到了河边的村庄-Sukau就终止了，kinabatangan河还继续往下游大概60公里（3小时船程）才到河口，然后分岔往左进入山打根海港，往右出Sulu海进入菲律宾的海域国界。下游途中还会经由两个没路到的河边的村庄，首先是离Sukau 35公里河长的Abai村，到了河口是Mumiang村，于是Abai就成了最与世隔绝的村庄，不只是没路可直达，而且河与陆路最近的两个接点,即Sandakan 和Sukau都至少要开上整小时的船。村里住着几十位多数前身为渔民的村民，由于河水越发污染，上游开发越来越多的油棕园流出的化肥料和农药都导致Kinabatangan的鱼产越来越少，我都怀疑村民还能从事什么来谋生，附近一所小学有两教师和十来个学生，他们念完小学若还要继续就必须到离村大半天行程镇上的寄宿中学。
而我介绍了这么多只是因为我和叮当打算去Abai再走一趟，再，是因为去年曾经从Sukau追大象群追到了Abai顺道下船随便绕了一圈没留下什么印象。而这趟我们想尝试从山打根海口进入，看看Kinabatangan的另一端。和几个朋友花了500rm租了一30加30马力十足的汽艇，从山打根海港出发，海洋上的晴空炙熱，但当船駛進了kinabatangan河，兩河岸便是綠林成蔭，忽然便有超塵脫俗之感。鹹淡水交界處混杂长了红树林和棕榈林，如nipa nipon, 朝逆流而上半小时后到了淡水處才渐渐出现了河岸森林。
开过Mumiang时我记得那里读过说第一批进入Kinabatangan河的是来采集灵芝燕窝的华商，就驻足于此村，而今天完全看不到华人留下过的痕迹，在这个马来西亚朝菲律宾方向的海口，倒是有一部份Sulu非法移民落脚，说到Sulu人，大马人到有点担心，因为年初在沙巴南部的Lahad Datu发生的Sulu武装人民和马来西亚警员对峙造成了死伤。

船开了一小时多到了Abai，在一片荒凉处忽然看见一个建得很好的码头，这就是我们这次来Abai的最大目的，来看地。。。

我们住在动物园里

有朋友到访sukau来找我，却因为叮当不在家没办法把那只有他能扛得动的五十公斤马达扛下河，于是没能用我们新卖的sampan木船载他们出游，只好让他们跟村里的民宿组的wildlife river cruises。知道一些游船队的向导并不是每个都积极，有的看见动物太远不兜路指示游客，有的只指示不加解说或解说肤浅，于是事后我让朋友告诉我他对行程的看法。
＂没太大惊喜＂我想这次向导也许不好
他又说＂开了很久的船在上遊有看见大象在洗澡＂
我惊讶的说他们好幸运而且向导也有尽责把他们带到那么远的bilit让他们能一睹这全世界仅此地才有的侏儒象
他回答＂就跟在动物园看的一样呀!＂
＂但那可是侏儒象吔!＂
＂意思是说它们比较小而已嘛＂
我无言以对。
没错在动物园也可以看到动物，而且可能看得更近，但sukau好比一座更巨大没设笼子篱笆的动物园，而我就住在动物园里。

干雨

虽说赤道雨林应该天天有雨，但我家已经快一週没下雨了，午后比平时更酷热，我们不喜欢空调，家里就只靠两把电风扇驱热，风扇到后来吹出来的风也是热的，可幸我不怕热而法国长大的老公这时也不在家，只是我刚种下的一地菜就得靠天天浇水，但我又有个种菜原则，就是要让它们自然的自己强起来适应气候变换，天天浇水就违背了这原则，于是我便隨兴的三两天浇一次，然后期待雨下，毕竟水缸存货有限，虽然老公不在我只是一个人用，但先在我还有菜孩子要养呀，没了雨水就得去用黄黄的河水了。
今早看来又是个大晴天，于是去喂孩子们水，午后忽然晴天就变了黑脸，雷声其次彼落，大风吹落了几把树干，温度骤降，我凉得关掉了风扇，坐在露台喝着法国南部夏天味道的pastis，准备享受这场大雷雨的降临。然而雷风不断过了好几分钟后我听到了鸟鸣，心想雨还没下来怎么鸟先出来了?这时天忽然就转晴了。我还真不敢相信这么铺张却可以一滴雨都不下，还好不旺我浇过了水。
今天算我体验了干雨一奇像。

太阳熊的养生套餐

世上最小的熊叫太阳熊 malayan sun bear（Helarctos malayanus)因为它们胸前印着金黄色的大斑点。我在马来西亚半岛森林里一特殊情况下曾看过，是在一原住民家里,看见一太阳熊婴儿跟几个孩子在一起，原本还以为那是什么怪狗，孩子们像抱宠物一般把熊拎来给我看吓了我一跳，虽说是婴儿也只有小狗一般大但它到底还是熊，已经长了太阳熊有的长爪和犬齿，我伸手摸摸它时它还会张爪要抓我，而出奇的它却任由孩子们拎来挪去一点不吭声，真是可爱。孩子们告诉我是爸爸打猎时杀死了熊（马来西亚的原住民是被允许在自供的消耗范围内猎食的 ），才恍然看见小婴儿熊从身旁出现，小婴儿没妈存活不了，于是爸爸把它帯回家养，我想小熊这样和人类一起生活可能存活不了的那是十几年前的事，如果是今天这小熊的命运就可保了。因为Sepilok Orang Hutan rehabilitation center设立了太阳熊的疗养计划，而且不久将对外开放野生太阳熊的范围，原理跟那里的红猩猩复原计划一样，这里不是动物园，没有被关在笼里供人观看的红猩猩，只有一些受了伤或被遗弃的红猩猩暂时被领养在这里，人类私下猎擒它们来贩卖或当宠物，猎擒过程失手了遗弃受伤的红猩猩或捉了大的扔下小的，或宠物养不来了便弃之的，都被送来中心疗养。这里是一片开放式的原始森林，除了小婴儿或需要医疗的动物会留在中心室内，其他红猩猩可以自由出入，只有在每天两次的喂养时刻游客才能观看来用餐的红猩猩，不是所有红猩猩都会来用餐，这完全归于它们的个人喜好和个性或当时的生理需求，比较独立或怕生的健壮红猩猩都会选择自己觅食，有些吃腻了中心的套餐（即香蕉）会离开一段日子后又再回来。
太阳熊爱蜂蜜，不知道给太阳熊的养生套餐会是什么山珍海味。

 

鲨鱼和海龟

鲨鱼的鳃和魚不一样，是无法自由开关拍动的，所以必须不段向前游，来让氧气充斥它们不可动之鳃。不进则亡。

年少时三

Paying 11 for 6

When you got no change to pay 6, so you pay 11, you are most probably a Chinese.
This habit of always trying to round up the change, like paying 11 instead of 10 to get a one piece note of 5 back, probably attribute mostly only to the Chinese, because I remember doing the "11 for 6" thing in France and got people looking at me strangely and return my extra 1euro. Another time when buying a ticket for a concert, I gave 55euro for the ticket of 35euro, the ticketing counter lady, maybe had been giving 15 change all night to everyone, went looking for a calculator, so I took back my 5 and paid her 100.
My French friends hate when I make fun of their mental arithmetic skill, they will tell me many great mathematiciens are French, but still many adult French I knew can't do division on paper, I am not judging them, I only think it is the fault of the complication of how French language name numbers, they are hating me more making this double insult on their mathematic and their language which they are so proud of, but many foreigner who learn to speak French will agree with me, cause the French call 70 as sixty-ten. 80 as four-twenty, the worst is 90 as four-twenty-ten, imagine 99? four-twenty-ten and nine. By time they finish saying 99, they probably already forgotten their last count.

But if I am allowed to generalize, then there is worse than the French, the Malay.
After a few experience of Malay merchant miscalculated my change (it could even be more) now I will always recount the change instead of trusting the merchant skill. It also happened sometimes they themselves ask me to count it for them, especially in the food market where some farmers are illiterate and don't count well.
At one of my weekly market place, Thers is this lady merchant, each vegetable I add in my shopping basket, she will repaet asking her husband to do the addition for her.
Today I went to the house of an old lady to buy organic kampung chickens' eggs, 60cents each, I got 10, and the whole family asked each other how much is the total of it, few seconds later they all agree with 6 ringgits, I gave her 10 and she return 6 to me and I returned her 2 back... I then asked about the price of her chicken sell prepared. "Prepared?" I explain "killed, unfurthered, intestine emptied and chopped" she puzzle for long time figuring out a price cause she said no one ever buy it that way. "what? everyone else do all these themselves?" she puzzle again by my surprise, so her daughtor told her "she doesn't know how to kill a chicken, Chinese people only know how to eat." Although she made me sounds like an idiot but she is right. Chinese love eating and only know how to eat, they specialy love eating seafood and surely non of the know how to fish, cause the Chinese outside their bussiness environment is like handicap, most of us has phobia for rural living, we are afraid of insects, know vey little about animals and plants, we can't fish nor swim, neither to climb a tree or plant food.
In the eyes of the Malay, they think we are such a big eater and we are so sissy. In the eyes of the Chinese, they think Malay are hopeless in mathematic and lousy bussiness man. So that should make us both need each other rather than hate each other.
But no matter what, unfeather a chicken should not be easier than counting 60 cents per egg for 10.

White man toilet

As the kampung kids tought me many things about jungle, I in return want to show them my world, or to be more precise, my house rules. The first time the girls came borrow the toilet, mostly out of curiousity only, one finished my toilet with a big mess, durty foot print on the seat and all over the floor. So I told her that this is no like their toilet which is basically just a hole and without toilet paper cause they use water to wash, in our white people toilet (how they call it) after pipi or caca we don't use water to wash our xx but we use paper to wipe, then we shall throw the paper inside the wc and flush, most important, we sit on it, not climb up to stand on it. She smile shyly and she assured me she will try do it right, the next round is a big improvement, no more dirty foot prints and wet floor, but the toilet roll are all wet, I shoute at her, what the hell is those wet pipi on the roll? Se laughed.

 

The little Amazonian

Umai, one of the 9th kids from our neighbour, she is eleven, not yet a lady and too Amazonian to be called a girl. She became very quickly close to us when we first move in, so she come the most often amongs other kids to our house to play with us, or help us with all kind of dirty garden chores. She climb tree like a little monkey she love getting me all sort of strange fruits or insects as present, she brought us fishing in a hideen stream full of mosquitos and she will make fire to chase them away.

There was the time when I am alone in the jungle house and paranoid by some new visitors, a miny mouse and a giant gecko, so she told me these things are afraids of her and she want to come spend a night to acompany me, she brought with her a mouse trap and set it up with some oil palm seed. She arrived nearly night and she haven't had dinner, I told her she better dine with her family before coming here or else her mum wouldn't like it, she told me she is not hungry and never mind dinner, then I asked what she have had for lunch to make her so full, she said "porridge". I insisted on asking more cause I knew these strange kids don't eat, finally I learned that her family got no food for dinner today cause her step father have no income for some days. I was shocked, then how about 2 babies sisters? She said, "they got the milk from mama's nene.".... Although she keep insisting not to be hungry, when she eat at my place, she finished up her noodle, plus accepting all extra food I proposed, hot milo, biscute, fruits. I couldn't imagine how she would hold this empty stomach for all night and the whole next morning (cause I also learn that she don't usually have breakfast). I started to be angry about her unresponsible parents, they make kid, more kid, a lot of kids, she got 9, recently one new born, we sent her to the hospital far in town last month cause she can't pay taxis and she already pass the quota to give birth again in the village hospital, now she can't even feed them all but she keep making new baby. But these whole issues doesn't at all seems to borther Umai, she told me "it's just like puasa (Muslim fasting month).

 

Free lunch or starve

The Sukau villagers, represnt well most rural Malay villagers, are the people who live with whatever the nature give them, or whatever allah want them to have, "isahallah". At a surface this can sounds like a kind of philosophy for some people who live in the european standard of civilisation and seen poverty only from TV. But having the chance to experince living amongs them and see the reality deeper, what I finally learn behind this romantic capediem. atitute is also the atitute of being used to things only come easy or else never persue after anything, I would call it the "free lunch atitute or starve" atitute.

One example with the land, every Malay native (bumiputra) in the village own a few acres of land entitled to them from the government. In these land, most bigger tree are logged to build their house, whoever got outsider offer to do palm oil would be more than happier, except few do fruit plantation, most of the land are usually left unused, for yers... and for our project, those are the only land we can go after now, as a Malaysian but non native (or meanings non Malay or non minority) I have no right for free land, neither the right to buy one, I could buy one but only buy under someone else name who is a bumiputra, as we have no one trusted to this level, so we opt for renting.

Once we found an unused land that we like, when discussed with the owner for a rental price he demanded the price of 30% of our future implanted capital plus the profit of it... I think to myself, he might as well ask us to be his god parents, in chinese we said 衣食父母(food & clothes parents), describe the person who give you an living.

He then said, the land price have increased because of tourisme boom these pass years, I understand that this village used to be disserted, land worth nothing and suddently few investors came in, then people start to think that their free lunch arrive and they shall be rich now. then I told him, the value of the land increase with condition when there is investment or businness implantation in it, we are talking about less than 10 decents lodges bussiness implanted here since last 10 years, I don't deny that the land price did increased, like infaltion increase too, but not to the extends of the value of 30% of our future business.

He don't seems willing to settle for a reasonable rental price, so he will keep his unused land forever. Today 99% of the land in Sukau still remain unused, and meanwhile no new investors are coming in to Sukau except us. The value of the land is perhaps only a dream for them to turn rich overnight.

Daily Lifestyle far from "metro boulot dodo"

 

The daily lifestyle in the jungle is about knowing how to lay back, not to get panic of having nothing to do and learn to enjoy the nature show. 

Apart from some rare morning if we got land offer to visit, then we will go for a boat ride and do some jungle treck to find our future land for the project, we just bought a second hand broken wood boat, water leaking inside, motor can stop in the middle of the river where there are crocodiles waiting, but we are happy to be a boat owner cause it is freedom and fun with a boat when we are living by a river.

Most mornings, i will do house work, yoga at open fresh air.

Day time is hot here so we will nap or do more house work; and I shall be drawing to keep my creative spirit live but I m not....sometimes we will go to town for internet, there is a free wifi hut but with speed as slow as dial-up internet in the 80's, and when i say town it just means the heart of the village where the school & public hall are.

Later afternoon is my favourite moment, usually there will be a big thunder rain at this time to cool down the heat, animals come around the house after the rain, we can watch macaques swinging above the house, wildbores passing through and destroying our garden  soil, bird attacking squerral to protect their nest, hornbill couple sing duet or sunbathing in the garden once and the latest update this morning- a pinkish baby snake roll up on out stair case. Not to mention all kind of strange insects.

I just started to plant a potager cause fresh vegetable is hard to get here, so I will work in the garden, plant seed, clean dries leaves, make my wild orchids bonzai and during those moments I am feeding the mosquitos who have been hungry since the whole day. Valentin will work as some reparation job, there are always something to fix in an old wood jungle house. Neighbour kids love to come by and we will play with them, we just bought some badminton rackets for them. 

Then I will prepare dinner while kids are playing with Valentin as I am no fan of playing with kids, especially playing anything to do with ball.... they are nice kids, so wild, they help us with lot of dirty garden job and they don't care to be bitten by bugs, I will ask them to kill bugs for me when i see some. But they are so curious about our home and they touch everything they can see & sometimes destroy them forever, so I will chase them back home when i got fed up of them too soon.... 

After dinner, Valentin will do the dishes, then we would watch a film or read or write. Night fall around 6:30pm, we go to bed like 10pm, the day start early here, like 6am, so we natuallary sleep and wake up early, and I feel healty about it.

So here is my lay back jungle life, I'd still complaint how bored it could get sometimes, how I miss Paris and how inconvenience it is to be so disconnected to the world, but the scenary is truely relaxing & refreshing, the air is clean and smell of different fragrances every day depends on the flowering plant, we can drink the rain directly we call it sky-juice, no car noises but only animals voices, no concrete structure but only huge trees sculpture.

 

 

l'aventure c'est l'aventure

chers amis, ma famille;

Je m'accroche à "l'aventure" comme un bernique à son rocher pour ne pas sombrer dans les profondeurs de l'abîme... Car il faut s'accrocher. Pas plus tard que la semaine dernière nous cassons le joint de culasse de la voiture en pleine nuit au milieu de nulle part, le tout entièrement de ma faute ce qui ajoute à mon émoi. Résultat: 5 jours coincé à l'hôtel et une facture salée. gasp!
Notre safari aux terrains constructibles quant à lui avance à petits pas lents, il se traîne, il minaude, il dandine de ci, delà...  Mais qu'on me donne une marche militaire!

Heureusement il y a toujours quelques bonnes nouvelles pour relancer la machine. La maison est de plus en plus belle, le jardin aussi et s'est enrichi d'un potager.



Nous venons d'acquérir une barque et son moteur (mais pour combien de temps encore tant le poids du second semble entraîner la première vers le fond. Les fuites sont innombrables...)


Au rang des bonnes nouvelles j'ajoute que je pars 2 semaines en Australie travailler un peu.

Dans la rubrique Vie Sauvage, voici un serpent qui n'inquiète nullement Tikka.



tressage d'orchidées sauvages...

On vous embrasse tous tendrement avec une pensée spéciale pour mes deux neveux Adam et Théodore.

vos Tikka et Valentin