Where the Wild Things Are: Our Cabin and First Hike

Here we are on the island, Pulau Sibu. We have had our first drink and have decided to head to the cabin to check it out. Here are some of the single cabins along the way. I will tell you more about why that man is chopping that tree up in a minute.

I will tell you that we were so excited when we saw this place. It was recommended by Ted's boss and his family who had loved it, but you never know what to expect. We thought this place could be really built up and not our taste, but it was just right. It was kind of like camp only nicer. We locked up our passports and wallets because we didn't need them (except some small bills for babysitting during the evening) and took a deep breath. This was going to be the perfect weekend.

This is the beach from the bar and restaurant area. Oh, one thing we loved about the whole weekend was that when you walked to the bar or restaurant area steps, you popped off your shoes and left them there. The two places were attached by a small walkway and we walked all around in our bare feet. We put our shoes on to walk around the resort but the workers and owners didn't! Their feet were used to the prickly seed pods that hurt the rest of us delicate flowers.

This is a look back at the restaurant area and the bar beyond it. This is a big grill for BBQ night.

The front of the bar

Here is our cabin, H1, second from the beach only to H0 (how funny is that?). It's a family chalet, which means that the left side of it has a king size bed and the right has two sets of bunk beds. The two rooms are attached by the porch in the front and the bathroom in the back.

Comfy chair for watching waves or the kids playing on the playground in front.

Here is the kids room. The bunks are covered with mosquito nets.

The view from the porch to the beach

The master bedroom with mosquito net

The view from our doorway. What can I say? I was excited to sleep this close to the ocean. And the tide is out here so the waves got much closer!

the playground

Basketball net and another play area

As we were putting stuff away, the sky grew dark and the temperature suddenly dropped about 10 degrees. Ted looked at me nervously as the wind picked up. We put our stuff away and a few minutes later, we heard a cracking and then a crashing sound and the workers came to get us, told us everyone needed to go to the bar area. No problem! Apparently, every afternoon a storm can be spotted in about that area but it never comes to the island. Today it did and it happened quickly, taking them by surprise.

The sound of thunder so close and the flashes of lightning so bright, it was unlike any other storm I've witnessed, probably because we were basically outside though. Poor Wyatt. He is terrified of thunder and I think his little heart had just calmed down from the boat ride. He kept his hands over his ears for the next two hours. The storm didn't last that long though. They turned off the generators and we hung out by candlelight, all the guests in the bar. It didn't ever feel too scary, but definitely exciting.

Eventually, the storm passed and we all walked back out to the beach and then got ready for dinner. The crashing sound? The wind had knocked over a tree, the tree the guy was chopping up in the picture above. The didn't want anyone getting hurt so we were all gathered in the safest place.

6:00 is children's tea, dinner for kids. They had BBQ tonight, very hungry kids. And how wonderful was it to not have to cook or clean up after them? or even think about what to make or where to go to eat? After dinner, the kids went off to examine fallen coconuts and have a super quick swim. Then as the sun was setting we got them ready for bed. The babysitter was coming at 8 so that Ted and I could go to the dinner for adults. How civilized. We also had BBQ. And wine.

All was going well, we were done with dinner and having a drink at the bar when Ted told me there were going to be fireworks. at 9:30. We weren't supposed to go back to the cabin until 10, but I was worried for scared Wyatt. The fireworks were very real and very loud. They were not backyard fireworks. We booted it away from them and walked down the beach to sneak a peek onto our cabin porch. It looked quiet but could Wyatt have really slept through that? He was really tired. Looked calm. We walked a little more on the beach, just enjoying the large full moon. 

When we got back to our cabin, no one was on the porch. Uh-oh. The babysitter was inside the room sitting because Wyatt had indeed heard the fireworks and gotten scared. He had come to the door crying, no easy task when your're wrapped in a mosquito net. Anyway, he was calmly asleep again.

At some point in the night a coconut must have fallen on our roof. There was a loud bang followed by a rolling sound. Ted and I shot up and he ran for the kids, thinking one of them had fallen out of a bunk in the next room. They were safe and sound and snug. We eventually got back to sleep.

The next morning we had pancakes and corned beef hash and coffee, then dropped the girls off at Kids Club for activities from 9:30-12:30. Wyatt was too little so we took him with us for a hike instead of going snorkling like we had planned. Ah well.

Here we are at the start of our journey.

and into the jungle we go!

There was a jungle path for about a 10 or 15-minute walk and then we reached the other side of the island. 

On the other side is a fishing village.

Mangroves

The fishing village

Where the Wild Things Are: seriously doesn't this look like the book's cover? I am certain Maurice Sendak spent some time in Malaysia.

Little fishing shakes out on the South China Sea.

The pier 

This is one of those sneak attack shots. I took this picture of Wyatt to really take the picture of these people out on an island in the South China Sea OUTSIDE at a fishing village cafe sitting in lounge chairs and watching satellite TV on these GIANT screens. Too funny.

Tiered gardens and a sea view

A disco? With CDs covering the walls. How very retro? or modern?

It's my turn to carry the tired little guy.

Can you spot the little brown lizard?

He's posing for us!

What the heck kind of animal is big enough to make droppings this size? We were kind of afraid to find out, but eventually we found out that they belong to wild cows on the island. The residents there told us they were bony ninja cows, not your typical dairy cows.

At the edge of this trail was what appeared to be an abandoned resort. There was this big concrete slab and a bunch of what used to be cabins.

We found out that there used to be another resort there, but the owners treated their workers very poorly. The locals got together and determined that none of them would work there, which meant that the place folded. You have to be kind to your workers if you want your business to succeed. At our resort, the owners were an Australian family. They were doing all the grunt work too, the landscaping, the hauling of children and luggage from the boats, and later in the week we saw them bringing in the big barrels of petrol that the boat threw overboard to them. They corralled them to shore, pushed them up the bank, and rolled them to the kitchen. Hard work!

We walked along the beach on our way back.

We changed into our suits and picked up the girls from Kids Club. Next up, the rest of the day in the waves!