Village Life in Ranau, Sabah!

Hi guys. This entry will entail the most fun and exciting weekend of our trip thus far and maybe even our lives thus far. Our dear friend Hunther, whom we met through Couchsurfing,com, of course and became great friends with, invited us to his family's village in the hills of the Ranau district of Sabah, right at the foot of Mount Kinabalu. This time was definitely the highlight of our travels and, as you will see, the highlight of my amateur photography career. So, without further ado, lets begin....

We're driving out of KK in his sister's four-wheel drive.

This is the view from his family's home perched on the hill.  So beautiful!

This is their pet monkey named Biju, lovingly named after the famous Indonesian soap opera star. Such a CUTIE!

More views from their front door.

And more views.

And MORE views. I couldn't stop photographing. This was what we woke up to every morning. Ah, Lovely Sabah!

The next day, Hunther took us to his family's pineapple farm deep in the hills.

This is a rubber tree.

Rubber is a huge export in Sabah. They take hatchets and chip away at the trees and let the rubber milk drip into the cups (kinda like how we make maple syrup). They then take the milk and harden it into sheet form. Rubber tappers make great money in Sabah.

The children in the shot are Hunther's adorable little nieces and nephew.

"Hey guys, wait up for us!"

Just trekkin' and chattin'.

There we are in front of the famour Mt. Kinabalu before it gets shrouded in the day's clouds.

A gnarly caterpillar of some sort....I think.

Making our way through the pineapple groves.

Taking a break at hut.

And snacking on wild tomatoes.

Lets take a closer look.

Some other worm-like creature all curled up on the path.

This is a baby pineapple. Isn't it cute!

"Adu, Adu!" - "It hurts, it hurts!"

The pineapple leaves are like serrated knives gently sweeping across your skin.

These kids treated these like their backyard.

So WONDERFUL!

There we are again. Yep... that's us.

"Hey guys, wait up!"

Here's Hunther preparing us fresh pineapple chopped down just a few meters from where we were sitting. Mmmm!

A shot of one of the many villages that belong to Hunther's family. That's a his mom who is sitting in front.

Same hut, but from a different angle. Gorgeous!

Me and his nieces and nephew. Awwwww.

All I can say is....CUTIES!

AWWWWW!

Their house had animals EVERYWHERE. One of those chickens became our dinner. Delicious!

Mmmm. The dishes here consist of rice, dried fish, veggies (picked that day) and deer (hunted last week).

There are some of us, sans moi of course. But Hunther's family is so big, it was hard to gather everyone for a group shot.

Well, that's it. This was the BEST WEEKEND EVER! Hunther's family are some of the sweetesr people we have ever met. They accepted Ami and I and took us in like one of their own right away. A few hours into our stay, they were already lamenting how much they would miss us when we leave. Hunther's mom took us to her church on Sunday morning and Ami and I really felt like we were one of her kids, the way she gave us some ringgits when we awkwardly forgot our wallets for the collection basket during mid-service. It was all the sweetest experience ever. They have already invited us to come back.

Ok, so now Ami and I are off to a beach side coconut plantation to help an ex-pat couple build their self-sustaining orchard for a couple of weeks, maybe more. There will be no electricity so no internet. It will be a while till the next blog or till any videos are added to the existing entries. So become a follower of this blog and your e-mail will notify you of the next entry and you don't have to keep checking.

P.S. Mind all the spelling errors and lack of informational value. I'm packing in a rush as I write this.

Till next time folks!