Been really looking forward to this

7.3.16
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me !!

We checked out of Grand Margherita, left our suitcases there and got the 10.15 am shuttle bus from the Hotel to Permai Rainforest Resort with just one other man who was going to the Culture Village.
Joe our driver was a real character and excellent source of info.
It’s funny, the world over, you get the best inside info from drivers.

On the way the area changed from rural to suburban, big dual carriageway with beautiful landscaped central reservation and lovely villa style houses.
He said you would need to earn around 1000 RM a month for one of those (£172)A huge villa on a corner equated to around £100,000.
Next were schools, primary, Muslim, secondary, college, all so modern.
I said to Joe that my perception of Borneo was so different, I hadn’t expected big supermarkets, malls and such modern schools.
He said Borneo is very wealthy, they have their own gas and oil, and a very good Government that looks after everybody.
I asked about healthcare. He explained- you pay 1rm – 17p – to see a Doctor. After that its means tested but very cheap, no waiting lists and people with no money will still get treatment.
For people in remote villages there are Government allowances, no one is hungry or poor.
At 18 men and women do National Service for 3 months. They get paid 500rm a month and are more than happy to go.
Joe stopped at the Sarawak Culture Village, 10 minutes walk away from where we’re staying, it’s on our to do list.
He offered to buy our tickets for later, said we will save the 6% GST, and I’m sure he makes a little something too.
Opposite in a smart complex he told us is a food court, and 7 Eleven. They’re literally everywhere.

We arrived at Permai at 11.15am. Checked in, I had emailed ahead and asked if possible to be early, got our maps and all the info.

Felt really teary when we saw our lovely little tree house, magical!!
We paid a bit extra to have tree house 10, as it has the best view and a second balcony to sit and admire the view.

There are 10 tree houses overlooking the beach, a couple are having maintenance work, including number 9 next door.
Of course it was raining, but after a few photos and a bit of unpacking we set off to the food court for brunch as Joe says we need to allow 2 hours in the Culture village before their show at 4pm.

Only 3 stalls were open, but the burgers looked very tempting. When it arrived it was huge, cheese and egg inside too…complete cholesterol nightmare, but have been so restrained til now and it is my birthday, so I opted for the 3D drink to go with it, tropical fruit, ice cream and milk.
Divine…til I got to the bottom, very odd !!!

We went over to the Village Centre. In relation to other entrance fees its 3 times more than we’ve been paying elsewhere at £10 each, so we were expecting it to be pretty good. And it was.
For anyone who has been to the Weald and Downland Museum near Chichester, West Sussex, it was the same sort of idea but with much nicer landscaping and a lake and covers 17 acres.
Instead of houses that you can go inside showing history over the years it is houses representing the different ethnicities that make up the Borneo Sarawak Province.
In total there are around 40 different minority cultures in this area!!

We went in 7 authentic ethnic houses, they give you a passport book to get stamped so you know you’ve seen them all.
There’s also buildings showing different games, rituals and activities that take place and people demonstrating them.
The long houses were my favourite, there are 3 types to walk around- Bidayuh (8.4% of population) Iban (30%) and Orang Olu (5.5%)

We saw demonstrations of sago flour, spears, musical instruments, costume making and cake making.

There’s opportunities to have a go at blowpipes, and wooden tops and also to play the flute with this man

All in all very enjoyable and half way through the day it stopped raining.

At 4 pm we went across to the theatre for the show.
It was performed by the various people we had seen giving information and  demonstrations.
It was very colourful and was mainly dance, with a blowpipe demonstration and a bit of audience participation which thankfully we avoided.

After the show we went to look at the beach and to get Sprite from 7 Eleven.

The fridge in 7 Eleven with the Sprite, 7Up etc was out if order so I opted for mango juice instead.
It turned out to be mango milk but with lemon flavour vodka it worked pretty well sitting on the balcony until the sun went down.

We decided to eat at the Feeding Station, Permais own restaurant overlooking the sea.
We both love pineapple rice and with seafood and chicken in it sounded lovely although it was stodgy and very little other than rice in it.
We were so looking forward to breakfast there but a bit wary now.

he sound of the waves was lovely and slept really soundly, although John thinks a monkey jumped on the roof around 6 am.

Breakfast actually was lovely, open buffet with pancakes, fruit, omelette, cereal, toast, and a range of rice and noodle dishes too.
Really good fruit juices and filter coffee and discovered I like Kaya, coconut jam. I have 3 tins in my case for Lauren. I will know if she ever reads my blogs if I give her just 2.
By the sea, watching squirrels, just perfect. And sunny too.

After breakfast we went for a stroll on the beach.
The monsoon has destroyed the bridge but t was not too difficult to clamber around the rocks.
Its beautiful.

The next beach along belongs to Damai resort and all the rocks have been cleared and I would assume in high season they have sun loungers etc and that’s the way of tourism, but it was very special seeing it in its natural state.
Whilst walking we noticed that in fact tree houses 2 & 3 have a better view as there’s not so many trees in front.

We went back and sat for a little while on our balcony but the roofers were next door repairing number 9 with electric saws and grinders, it was like being back home with our neighbour Mahmut and his endless DIY although he doesn’t sing.

We decided to go for a walk and do the jungle trail.
You have to go to reception and sign out to go trekking.
Whilst there I explained very nicely about the noise, and that the air con doesn’t work, the outside light doesn’t come on until ages after you’re down the stairs and the arm on the balcony chair is broken and that we’ve paid extra for the view which is better at number 3 and for a second balcony that we can’t sit on as its too noisy.
They were very professional and promised to get things looked at asap.

Our jungle walk was a real challenge !!!
It made me realise how travel really does broaden the mind and how much more adventurous and fitter I’ve become since our first trek.
There were rope bridges, big steep rocks, fallen trees, steep declines, rivers
Loved it..although glad I didn’t know about the snake as I climbed over a tree, until afterwards.

It took closer to 2 hours than the 90 minutes as we got a bit lost at one point but felt great that we had done it.
We decided to go back, have a shower and then use the jungle pool, after signing back in.

Had been in for about a minute and the maintenance guys turned up, they fixed the chair, sorted the air con, couldn’t sort outside light and the workmen next door had packed up.
So impressive, cant recommend this place enough.
There’s high wires, climbing wall,  kayaks etc too, perfect place for groups of young adventure seekers and people like us.

Decided to forget the jungle pool and sat on the balcony and just read for around 3 hours. Heaven.
I’m reading The Ballroom Cafe, after doing an Amazon search of recent popularity.
Really enjoying it and a quarter through already. Something of a record for me but could be months before I finish it.

Wandered down to the food court for dinner.
Had really good local dishes, watched the sunset and made our way back.

Red sky at night, Shepherds Delight.

Night night.