[Mabul, Malaysian Borneo] Apparently (I had my earplugs in) there was a huge storm during the night that had V a little worried. At high tide and with a little choppy sea the water almost touches the deck so a storm or tsunami and we’re in some trouble. When we got up it was still drizzling incessantly so we decided to postpone our diving to another day (we have the time). I spoke to the staff and to Uncle Chang about it and was told it was not a problem but you do get the sense that nobody really knows what is going on. So our first dives here will now be at Sipadan – and the weather better be good because we can’t change the permit dates!

We spent the entire day relaxing around the ‘resort’, enjoying the cooler weather and watching the preparations for the evening festivities. The extra chairs and live band suggested it was going to be epic. As evening approached the weather cleared giving us a great sunset. We were joined by UC’s office staff and some others for what I guess was their company Xmas party. The kitchen staff pulled out all the stops for Xmas dinner. Instead of the usual (and by now extremely dull) three bowls with rice, chicken and fish we got an assortment including salad, turkey! even a choice of desert. It was a real feast.

From the sound of Uncle Chang’s speeches it seems that he is heavily involved in charities and does a lot of work for orphans. He’s genuinely proud of his ‘kids’ accomplishments boasting about their performance in football and basketball. It was heartwarming. The band cranked it up – ‘it’ being vaguely familiar and badly rendered covers – but it is their second language. The staff joined in as the guests looked on with grins and Uncle Chang went around distributing cool drinks to the kids and bottles of 80 proof rum to the staff and guests. Not sure what to do with ours we had a little rum and coke but it’s not really to our taste. No problem there – one of the boatmen emptied our bottle into his mug and with a big smile bid us ‘Merry Christmas’.

Sitting on our piece of porch we had more visitors in the neon lit water. A monster turtle cruised by. Beautiful creatures. Although our room is the closest to the common area the band did not play on too late. I think after a day of diving most people are just too tired for all-nighters. It was a pleasant evening but we are missing our friends and families, we’ll have to make friends with some fish tomorrow 🙂

[Pictures: Another shot from around the island. The fancy resort on the other side. Beautiful]

The staff and kids at Uncle Chang’s enjoying their xmas party

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi