Xmas 2012 in France with family. First impressions

The 2.5 hour wait at Kuala Lumpur, for our connecting flight to Paris, is stressful... I barely sleep but the girls manage a nice balance between sleep and on-board entertainment; as adaptable as ever those two (we are soooo lucky!). Our first impression at Roissy CDG is pleasant, at 6:30 am on the 19 Dec 2012 the customs and immigration staff are welcoming, polite, relaxed and even laugh a little ! Things are easy and clear, everything is well sign posted and organised... We get to the TGV station with the free airport shuttle; again nice and easy. It's cold, not freezing cold, but still we are thankful for the warm clothe we carried in our suitcases. The first local croissant and pain au chocolat are a treat! But the railway station is crowded, we can't find a seat in the "salle d'attente" and have to resort to a less comfortable bench in a draft. We are not shocked that everyone speaks French, it's a good feeling of returning to "normality". The TGV is a bit of a disappointment, not as flash and high tech as I remembered... just a fast train. But it's bang on time and as fast as ever. At Le Mans, we first slept and then met up with Benoit's cousin who procured our car for us; a "grand picasso C4". A good family car that is perfect for travelling through France and Europe but scary to drive in Paris... Insuring the car for the following day trip was a little bit of a challenge but we managed it. Of course we had our first good family diner to be followed by many others... Then, Benoit drove the 800 Kms to Perpignan, on the 21st, with us four and Réjane to celebrate Xmas. The grannies (Réjane and Marthe) and Jean-Louis had a great time with their gran-daughters while we re-adjusted easily to the environment. People were all nice, talkative, they seemed relaxed and happy!!! Not the grumpy froggies we had braced ourselves for... What a relief. We stayed in Canet-Plage until the 27th and had time to go for a picnic on the beach (I join proof below), to visit a medieval cloister and village (an architecture which we had missed so much in NZ), to go shopping for the girls (La FNAC was as crowded as the Eden park during the RWC), to eat, drink, eat and drink and eat and drink and... On Xmas day we were even graced with the presence of my aunt, uncle and cousin Jean-Pierre (from Barcelona) and had food and presents galore.

Back in Le Mans, Santa was still hyper active but we had time to eat, drink, eat and drink and eat and drink and... The girls met up with their gran-cousins Megane, Julien and Dylan; nearly teenagers, how exciting! They had a lot of success interpreting Maori and English songs. The integration had started and was on the right track...

On Dec 29th in the morning we readied ourselves to go back to our tiny, empty, apartment in Paris but with a view of the Eiffel tower (our selling point for the girls)... We called our best friends to let them know to expect us very, very soon now... That's when we got the worst possible news from one of our closest friend: their eldest son (22 years old) had died a few hours ago, in his sleep, from a heart failure. We tried to keep our spirits up in front of the girls but we went back "home" with a heavy heart, a knot in the stomach and the deepest anxiety in empathy with our friends pain and loss. 29 December, what a sad day.

3 days in the Celebes underwater Paradise

Our arrival at Semporna, the gate to the best dive in the world at Sipadan (according to Cousteau), wasn't the greatest. We got ripped of by the taxi, our hotel room was smelly and depressing, the service was poor, restaurants were closed and we were generally tired and gloomy... But, once we got on the water the to te islands of the celebes (Mabul, Sibuan and Matabuan) it was pure magic... one of my favourite snorkeling to date... It wasn't easy to get to Mabul on the 15 Dec as the boat we chartered first had to get gas, then its propeler broke and we had to wait for a replacement in the middle of nowhere. When we finally got there, we found a crowded divers hangout on one side and a slum with local fishermen on the other side of the tiny, tiny island... but the underwater world was just a beauty.

Back at Semporna we enjoy a beautiful fish BBQ two days in a row... it's next door to the hotel and irrestibly good. On our last day we go out with a dive boat to Sibuan and Matabuan... The visibility is just unbelievable, the waters are clearer than in a swimming pool; I swear! Our snorkeling guide spots two turtles which we follow for a while, around Sibuan. The girls get a free diving initiation with Awang, and although they only go down to a maximum of 5 meters, they impress us with a calm and relaxed behaviour... Daddy's very proud of his little mermaids! Our last stop at Matabuan is fantastic as we have this little slice of paradise to ourselves... l

Benoit and I are badly sunburnt but extatic, what a fabulous last day... Then it's the 9 hours comfortable bus ride back to Kota Kinabalu... alast meal at "Little Italy", a last stroll down the smelly waterfront, a little bit of last minute shopping and we are off to the airport with a fantastic load of good memories and high expectations for the future...

13-14 Dec Gomantong caves & Kinabatangan river

Gomantang caves are world famous for their swiflets "birds' nests" which are collected mainly for the chinese market. But, what is less known is that the cave also hosts bats that produce mountains of guano which in turn feed millions of cockroaches; they are all over like a thick, brown, moving carpet. We also spotted giant centipedes which are poisonous. The "don't touch anything" warning was rather un-necessary!!!!

We had two trips on the Kinabatangan river at dusk and at dawn and stayed overnight in a "jungle resort" around Bilit. On the river we spotted many different kind of birds: hornbills, egrets, herons, kingfishers, etc.; a snake, monkeys of all types, including two orang utangs. Unfortunately, we only saw the footprints of the Borneo pigmy elephants...

We had to win a pretty hard argument to get seats on the bus for Semporna as the company had overbook and no-one spoke English... a surrealistic conversation. On our way there we saw numerous trucs carrying palm fruit for the oil manafacturer and a dull landscape covered in palm plantations all the way to the coast.

12 Dec, meeting the clown of the forest

We loved the proboscis monkeys, they are endemic to Borneo and just amazingly funny monkeys. The small pointy noses are the females'... the long trunk-like ones are the males... The bigger the nose the bigger the @%^& of course. They live in harems with one dominant male, only, for all the females; a more than 20 to 1 ratio, so the big guy is rather busy !!! The young males wait their turn at not too close range. Not only are they plain ugly but they also have a disgracious cry (a very loud OW)and they fart (they eat poisonous leaves and have several stomachs to digest them...). But they are the most thrilling site we've seen to date. The last picture is my favourite; imagine witnessing it

Other monkeys like the silver macaque below also join the proboscis for addtional feeding by the tourists...

And the hornbills are never too far, if there's a chance of a pisce of banana...

11 Dec, meeting the man of the forest (Orang Utang)

This is mainly why we came to Borneo, to meet the last wild Orang Utangs. But, we have already seen how much the jungle is receeding replaced by Palm Oil plantations already covering 80% of what used to be forests, are we too late? Sepilok hosts the main Orang Utang rehabilitation sanctuary in the world where orphaned baby Orang Utangs are taught survival skills before being released back into the "protected" areas of jungle. On our way to the feeding paltform Benoit spots a young male in a high tree... then we spend a couple of hours watching and photographing those beautiful, flexible, highly human-like apes. Don't try those postures at home!

The Rainforest discovery center is also a good place for a stroll on the canope walk and in the garden where all kinds of weird and beautiful local plants are to be seen, including a few pitcher plants.

9-10 Dec ... Sandakan, the gate to the Monkey Sanctuaries

Here we are in the wee hours of the morning waiting for our bus at Ranau. But the bus to Sandakan is delayed by a good hour and a half, which give us plenty of time to chat with a lovely French couple Jean & Christiane. They just climbed the Kinabalu (after the base camp of the Anapurna earlier this year) and they are 70+ ! Kim, Lilou and me have to remain on a two-seater for the 5 hours of the ride... but at least it's ACed... First bad surprise at the arrival at the Sepilok junction where we are supposed to call the jungle resort of Paganakandii; it being a Sunday the local store is closed and we can't use there phone... so we have to rely on sign language to get a local to make the call... after a 45 minutes wait in scorching heat, they come at last. Second bad surprise when we get to the "resort", it's a bit too "jungle-like" for our taste. A huge black spitting cobra (very dangerous as we were candidly told)is spotted just a few meters from our bungalow... Benoit's worst fear are coming true! We ran away despite the beautiful, traditional setting and looked for a hotel in town. To recover from the shock we decide to indulge in the luxury of the Sheraton which was giving a very good deal, a wonderful buffet breakfast, the invaluable access to Disney channel and a fantastic "infinity pool"... This is way over our supposedly budget budget, but still we shamelessly enjoy it for 5 nights !

Sandakan is a large port and fishing center with lots of restaurants and stores; the perfect headquarter for visiting the monkey sancturies around. We organise the 4 following days before going back amongts the rich Korean and Chinese tourists.