Thailand Blog :: return to "normal"

So I did the watermelon cleanse for 3 whole days, I am so proud of myself because I was so tempted to rip open a potentially unripe jackfruit or walk to the big C when my neighbour started playing guitar and wailing like a strangled cat after 9pm, just after I tucked myself into bed. I was tempted to go knocking but I didn't. He stopped at 10.30pm. However, if he does it again tonight I will tell him because I'm up early to catch the minibus to Cambodia and back to get my second 60 days stamp. 

I went out early to find the visa run buses and was unsuccessful, so I cycled to the wholesale market on the highway. It's just over 7km from my accommodation and it didn't take long to get there. 

I went to every stand asking for "Monthong nim nim", which I think means really ripe. Most of them said no and the ones who had them wanted 100baht or 80baht per kilo. I returned to one of the first stalls where I actually got a 2.5kg Monthong for 80baht! However, it lacked a real flavour. It was OK, but compared to the one I had 4 days ago it was bland. 

I don't know what made me buy more from that seller though! But I did and the second Monthong I got was also lacking flavour. I just hope the Chanee I bought it better. 

Then after I went there I was on a hunt for US dollars. After sitting in numerous banks (one bank I waited 30 minutes!) I couldn't find any that had money so I have to spend  little more on the Cambodian visa because I'm paying in baht. Nevermind. 

I cycled around most of the day, which means my tan on my arms, legs and face will be even better, but my white bits will still be white... I better start staying in the sun for longer when I'm naked sunbathing on my balcony. 

I also kept wondering why my lips hurt. It's because they're burnt! So on with the coconut oil, except I love to lick it off my lips! 

I bought pineapple at a different market and now my tongue is burnt too, so I'm feeling a little battered and worn out from my hectic day. I will be happy to turn off the lights and sleep. 

I am grateful for my bicycle and the ability to use it. I appreciate rest and relaxation. 

Borneo Blog :: tarap, durian, coconut milk

Today has been epic! 

I wanted to buy a cheap tarap as a last goodbye to this amazing fruit, so Des took me to Dongonggon Tamu on his motorcycle. On the way he took a detour to a different market near Cyber City apartments close to KK airport. 

This market did not have tarap, but it had an incredible coconut milking machine! I say milk, but it was thick like cream. Oh so good. I got a 500g bag but only drank half as I was already still full from breakfast (my new favourite avocado, coconut oil and soaked walnuts). 

I put the rest in the fridge when I got back but after checking it a few hours later it has turned sour! Seriously the fridge in this hostel is absolutely rubbish at keeping milk fresh! 

So after this we went to Dongonggon and I was so disappointed to find that the tarap was more expensive than what I found in KK the previous day... However, I did find a lady selling just 1 for 3 ringgit. It's not the cheapest I've paid but it was still cheap in my opinion. It isn't ripe until tomorrow. 

As the tarap has to wait until tomorrow I decided today would be my final durian in Sabah. I had only planned on getting one, but as I'm addicted I ended up buying 4... I got a tray labeled as Musang king, but if it was it was over ripe. It didn't taste as amazing as I expected based on other people's reviews... And so I bought 3 wild durian. One after the other of course, after each one I said "OK this is the last" but it is by far my favourite durian I've ever tried so I had to eat until I was 100% completely sure I couldn't eat any more. 

I feel good though, I definitely did not over do it like in Ranau. 

Then to top off the day nicely I had a chat with my Mum :) it's been a long time since we talked, mainly because she works and I'm 8 hours ahead of the UK. 

Borneo Blog :: too much durian?

If you haven't been expecting this post I'd be surprised. So if you've been following my Instagram then you'll know I eat a lot of durian every day (pretty much since I got to Ranau). Therefore, it was inevitable that this day would come that I say perhaps I've been eating too much! :P 

This morning I didn't feel all that great in my stomach. I actually burped a bit of sick during my morning coconut. I thought perhaps I didn't leave enough time between dinner and breakfast. I've read some raw vegans leave at least 16 hours between their last meal and first meal. I think I left around 10 or 11 hours between my late salad and coconut. 

Yesterday I ate 1 normal durian, 1 wild durian and 2 packets of mixed durian, which together made me so full. It was an eyes bigger than my belly moment and I just couldn't resist, which makes me question whether durian is actually an addictive fruit. 

I was going to avoid eating durian today, but I went up to Kundasang with my new friend Nelli this morning and on the way back we stopped at a durian stall just outside of Ranau town. It had so many varieties like D24, D101, kura-kura, tembaga and many others. So I tried the D24 (Nelli thinks it wasn't actually D24) and I bought a kura-kura because someone on Facebook has asked me for the seeds. 

The kura-kura was actually quite poor, tasting like it may have been a day too old and it wasn't as sweet as the D24 I had. Then the lady at the stall offered us free durian so I had a few pieces and it was creamy and semi sweet. 

Early on before going to Kundasang I bought 4 wild durian. I left them at Nelli's hotel, which is opposite the market! Unfortunately one of them was so ripe it had cracked at all seams and was calling me with its scent, so I've just polished it off... 

Nelli has worked on some durian farms, collecting them in return for free food so she's had some amazing durian. She reckons the durian here doesn't taste as good as in Kuching (Sarawak) and I'm beginning to realise just how mediocre it is in comparison to wild durian, which packs a punch of flavours. I think from now on I'm just going to eat wild durian here in Ranau unless I'm presented with something amazingly sweet smelling. 

It's not that hard to pick it up around here, so fingers crossed I can continue to get some from the market. 

I've been planning my days this evening and I am thinking about cycling to the hot springs tomorrow to see the rafflesia flower (weather permitting). I've been sat around for too long, I need to get out and take some amazing photographs. There's a butterfly farm, orchid conservation centre, canopy walk and waterfalls at Poring, so it will be a long day in nature. I will pack my basket full of fruit so I will have the energy to see it all! 

I definitely want to see Kota Belud tamu on Sunday and proceed to Kudat, so I want to round off my time here in Ranau by doing the things I had planned to do when I was in KK. I just need to figure out the logistics of buses and taking my bicycle. If it's possible to cycle for part of my journey I am definitely interested in doing that! 

So even though I've eaten too much durian, I'm still going to to eat it but just wild durian because it's the most flavourful and apparently is lower in fat! 

Borneo Blog :: wild durian

Welcome to another blog post :) if you're new here I hope you have a chance to read my previous posts and I hope you stay tuned for more! If you're a regular then thank you for your loyalty, I hope to entertain and inspire you some more! 

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Saturday is the tamu day in Ranau and as always when I visit a fruit and vegetable market I am never disappointed! I couldn't believe how busy the street was, the normal market here rarely gets busy, I always feel like I'm the only one there so it was great to see more people occupy the small space in this town! 

I had a mission of finding a coconut and getting breakfast before I got to the serious business of buying some exotic fruits, but then I saw some wild durian and decided I had to buy it in case they disappear (in KK there was a champedak seller who literally sold out as he pulled up to the market!) 

May I present my durian finds for the day... 

Top left clockwise costs: 5 ringgit for 4, 10 ringgit for 3 and 10 ringgit for 3

I ate the durian from left to right 

So right about now would be a good time to name the durian, but I'm not exactly an expert yet and although I've read the posts by Lindsay on Year of the durian I am too lazy to go over the information again to give to you guys so you'll have to excuse me and just read about how they tasted. 

The first durian was just so tiny it falls into the category of being cute. It was the most fragrant, being able to smell it from far away and had the most flavour. The spikes were sharp but it was easy to handle and open because it had pretty much burst at the seams. 

This durian smelt like a tropical fruit punch, wonderfully aromatic and it made my senses go crazy! I just wanted to rip it open and eat it up so fast. The flesh to seed ratio is probably one of the worst I've experienced, but the flavour is so intense that all is forgiven! The texture was so dense, moisture was minimal and it reminded me of eating a rich cake. It tasted like chocolate. This was incredible! I have found nature's rich chocolate cake in a tiny durian. The Seeds were such a deep red colour too, probably the most beautiful seeds I've ever seen for a durian. 

Tasty, fragrant and beautiful 

The best things come in smaller packages 

The second durian was disappointing in comparison to the first one. It lacked fragrance and the taste was quite off-putting. However, I loved the appearance. It's just a green ball of long spikes that curl toward the seams, which makes it easy to spot the place to open it. The texture of this durian was moist, silky and smooth. The flavour can only be described as garlicky mashed potatoes, at least that's what it reminded me of. It was definitely interesting to eat and by the time I'd had the last one I was wanting more! 

I never expected it to taste like garlic! 

I'm not actually sure if the third durian is wild or just a local durian, but the spikes were similar in appearance to the first 2 so I just decided that it was wild! This durian is pretty much summed up by the word mild. Everything about it was mild, from the aroma to the flavour. The texture was in between the first 2 durian, slightly dense and slightly moist. This was the biggest as you can see and the flesh to seed ratio varied for each piece. There were a lot more seeds in this than normal durian (in my experience). I enjoyed this one because it filled me up more and it lasted more than 30 seconds! 

Bigger but milder 

My favourite durian for flavour was the first. My favourite durian for texture was the second. My favourite durian for satisfaction was the third. My favourite durian for appearance was the second. 

Overall my favourite durian was the first. Come on, nature's own rich chocolate cake! I had the most amazing durian experiences today and I cannot imagine anything better than this! 

Have you ever tired these durian before? Let me know if you have and what you thought.

Borneo Blog :: snoring and Sunday Market

I almost forgot that I need to blog tonight. I'm feeling a bit out of it due to a lack of sleep last night. There's a very overweight (probably classed as morbidly obese) Malay man staying here for work and for the first time he slept in the same room as me. He snored all night and it was so disturbing. I ended up getting out of bed after 1:30am and headed to the kitchen to watch videos. 

I saw that there were people setting up their stalls for the Sunday market around 2 am, that's just way too early! I went back to bed around 4:30am and I seriously hoped I'd sleep, but his snoring was so loud and consistent that I ended up listening to a smooth jazz radio station and falling in and out of sleep. 

What I (re)learned from this experience is that I dislike people who snore, I love the saxophone (it's got a really sexy sound) and I prefer my own room with no one else in it! Right now I could not see myself in a relationship with anyone sharing the same bed or the same room! I much prefer to sleep alone at all times. 

Sunday is my favourite day because of the market right outside the door! So for breakfast I just walked outside, found a coconut seller and then had a look around before deciding what to eat. 

I bought 2 huge bunches of red bananas for 5 ringgit each (under £1) both with 15 fat bananas on, a large tarap for 5 ringgit (this was my breakfast as well as 2 red bananas that broke off in transit), I got 1.5kg of rollinia (sweet heavens my favourite), 3 coconuts, jicama, cucumbers and a butter fruit. I ended up topping up my vegetables and some papaya from Central Market. I spent about 50 ringgit and I'm sorted for a few days! 

Having spoke to people in the market about where the fruit comes from the 2 main places are Ranau and Tenom so I definitely need to explore these places. 

I will keep you updated, but for now I'm leaving it here. I have to floss and brush my teeth (a chore and a bore). 

Goodnight! 

Borneo Blog :: jungle durian and cinema

Yesterday it was suggested to me that if I want to really experience life here I should work for a day. I contemplated that and thought about the fruit and vegetable market. I wouldn't mind spending a day in the life of a fruit seller. Well right now I'm not looking at doing it anytime soon, but it was a great suggestion. 

What actually happened today was a day in the life of KK's entertainment. 

Firstly, I slept till 7am, longer than normal because I over did it by running and cycling yesterday. I woke up with a slight sore throat and feeling like I needed to rest, so I drank almost 1 litre of water in bed before getting up and had coconut water, flesh and then a 3.5kg watermelon for breakfast (this is my routine here). 

I did the usual upload of YouTube video, checking emails, Instagram, etc and I moved rooms in the hostel. (3rd time!) at 11:30 I went out to the market for lunch. I bought loads of bananas for 3 ringgit and then I ended up buying champedak for tomorrow and some packaged jungle durian! 

I didn't photograph the durian but it was so pale it was almost white. 

I sat along the harbour where the night market is and enjoyed the views of the islands and boats. That's when a local man (always a man) came over to interrogate me. It's always about being a single female. Thankfully he was working and got distracted by a group of people so I escaped after finishing my big bag of bananas (I gave him some too, I am friendly but I wish they'd leave me alone). 

So I was going to a new mall. It looks shiny and still being built, but I thought it must have a cinema. I walked around and it was just so empty. I don't see why they would open it up when the majority of the units are empty. Feeling like it was a waste of time I decided to go to the shops opposite. I found a place to get some t-shirt printing done and then I discovered the super mall, Central Plaza I think it's called. 

8 floors up and there's entertainment central. So this is how the locals unwind. Karaoke booths are everywhere, arcade games dominate the floor and a 20 lane bowling alley (I'm pretty sure it was 20) entices you in with special offers (for 15 ringgit I can play 3 games, that's under £1 for a game!). 

Hallelujah. A cinema! I have been wanting to watch a film in a cinema for months. I actually hadn't planned on watching a film today but it was as if the universe had planned it for me, so I ended up buying a ticket to watch Into the Woods. 

The cinema is 5 ringgit on Wednesdays and it's ladies day on Monday so that's 5 ringgit too. I sat in a swanky theatre for less than £1 and saw an amazing film! Oh and I also took my fruit in with me, so I ate the durian and stunk out the room with the champedak hahaha. The film is a must see. It's a wonderful musical and Meryl Streep is phenomenal, such a beautiful witch and her costume was to die for. If I were a witch I'd want to look like her with blue hair! Oh and Johnny Depp was a sexy fox.

So after the cinema I wanted to go home. I looked outside and it was raining like there was a flood from the sky... It's still raining and it's been over 2 hours! I think it started when I got into the film around 2:30pm and the clouds are still covering the sky now. Needless to say I got soaked, but I loved it. There's nothing better than tropical rain. It's times like this that make me feel most alive and most human. 

I prepared my salad when I got home and now I'm sat in bed writing this. All that's left to do is floss, brush teeth, compile my YouTube video for tomorrow and sleep! So on that note I'm ending this post here. 

Thanks for reading and I wish you all a good morning/afternoon/night. 

Borneo Blog :: a new adventure

I arrived at Kota Kinabalu airport around 5.30pm on Saturday 10th January 2015. It took about 20 minutes to get through passport control so this meant when I got through to baggage reclaim my bike was sat waiting for me. 

Eager to eat durian I wanted to get out of the airport as soon as I could, so I rushed to find the ATM machine and waited patiently for the man to finish using it. This took at least 5 minutes and at the end of his multiple transactions the machine just shut down. He cleaned it out. 

"I have no money" was my first thought. Panic struck and I was wondering how the heck I'd get a taxi with no money! A young couple were in the same boat and then they mentioned the exchange booth (so silly of me to forget about that!) and I remembered I had £25 in my purse, so I quickly changed my money, paid for a large taxi and made my way outside. 

The taxi was pimped out to the max. It was covered in (hopefully faux) leather with diamontes and had 2 chandeliers hanging in the back. Awesome! I tried to have a conversation about durian with the driver but his English wasn't very good so most of the journey was silent with the barely audible radio playing in the background. (Animals by Maroon 5 was the song I mainly remember) 

When I arrived I left the bike in the box, put my bags in the locker and set off on my durian hunt. I found it quite easily, but was disappointed with the price. It's more than I was spending in Bali and more than what I've paid in Thailand. Still cheaper than getting it in the UK though! The seed to flesh ratio was against me and I was left day dreaming about the Bali-Bangkok durian I had in Ubud. Nowadays I daydream about Monthong. That durian has an awesome flesh to seed ratio and is so sweet and creamy. It has to be my favourite durian variety so far. 

On the way back to the hostel I found a shopping centre and bought a 7kg watermelon for 5 ringgit. Unfortunately this was a 1 time deal. Watermelon goes for 2 ringgit/kg and the girls who sold it to me were inexperienced! 

In the morning I woke up feeling awful because I ate too much and it didn't sit well in my stomach. But after half of the watermelon I felt refreshed. 

Sunday is a market day on Gaya Street, right outside my hostel so I had a brilliant morning looking at the fruits and vegetables. I had been doing some research and was able to spot tarap and champedak so I bought one each. Both are awesome fruits, tarap is less messy because there's no latex on the skin or fruit. 

Check out my YouTube videos of me eating tarap and champedak. 

Soulful Sunday - Meditation, Gratitude and a General Update

Meditation

I have been trying to implement meditation into my morning routine. I wake up naturally, no alarms (unless I go to the wholesale market very early) and I get myself a drink of half a squeezed lemon and 500mls distilled water. This is important to get my system powered up and cleaned out from the day before! I take this back to bed and put on some meditation music off my YouTube playlist, lately I have been listening to the Chakra Chants. I think I did this 3 consecutive days in a row and I find that as soon as something disturbs the routine I am thrown off easily.

"They" say the best time to meditate is in the morning, but I get so relaxed that I end up falling asleep again! I seem to be sleeping a lot these days, going to bed at 9pm and waking up at 7am, but sometimes I have slept till after 9am despite the early night. My exercise is somewhat none existent, so I am rather confused as to why I sleep a lot! 

I find that the best time for me to meditate is in the morning because I have less disturbance from my house mate, alternatively I will meditate when he goes out. Some days I will get into a really deep state and one time I felt like I was above my body (I was quickly brought back though), but other times I will find it hard to keep my mind quiet. 

If you want to start meditating and need some tips then I recommend you get acquainted with the Chakras. I find that I get more from working on my Chakras than just breathing, but a good place to start is being aware of your thoughts and your breathing (e.g. take a deep breath and follow it to your stomach, legs, feet, toes, etc. feeling the sensation as it gets to each of these body parts).

Gratitude

I am currently on Day 26 of my gratefulness challenge and I have 5 more videos to film. I started an appreciation blog a few years ago and I made 146 posts! That is quite an achievement for me, so hopefully when the videos stop I will be able to carry on being grateful and thankful throughout my day. I want to be aware of everything in my day to day life and I think being grateful should start first thing in the morning. 

General Update

My house mate and I have decided that we are going to cycle to the Wholesale Fruit and Veg market 3 times a week. We have been getting a lot of free food recently and believe that we could probably sustain ourselves on this produce and reduce our spending. We would still have to buy bananas in bulk and we seem to have to buy tomatoes too. I will be spending some money on persimmons and cherimoya too because I enjoy these fruits a lot.

I had a Tarot reading on Wednesday and it was my first time. I actually started my day in Liverpool after spending the night at my dad's house (we had a father-daughter trip the day before). My dad had turned the TV over to the psychic channel and we watched a bit of Sally Morgan, she has a TV show that follows her around during her tours and one on one readings. From what I have experienced, my dad is a logical thinker and needs to see proof before he accepts the idea. Sally can speak with spirits and she was doing just that on her show whilst my dad tried to express his opinions that she is just a performer. I too used to think like my dad, "it's made up", "it's staged", but Sally seems really genuine.

I told my dad I was going for a reading as he dropped me off at the train station. I thought it was quite funny that we even had the discussion in front of the TV because he didn't know about my reading at that point! I don't want to tell you what was said to me, but a quarter of the way through I had a spirit come to tell me that I will be OK, I broke down in tears! I wasn't expecting any message, but to have one after the morning's discussion just hit me from nowhere! 

The rest of my reading was so accurate to my current journey I was just shocked that this is so real and I have now witnessed first hand that there really is something in the Tarot and people with psychic abilities. Out of all the cards I could choose, I got the ones that suggest I will be OK and everything that I am working for will work out. 

This afternoon I am going to a spiritualist church for the first time to see what it is like. I have really been feeling a calling recently.

I am going to leave it here and wish you all a wonderful Sunday afternoon. I hope you will get in touch if you want to tell me about your experiences.

Love

Jennifer x

Sunday update - technology

The days all merge into one by the time Sunday comes around. My weekly trip to New Smithfield Market always seems to feel like it was just yesterday that I had been, but clearly it was a week ago else I wouldn't need more tomatoes!

I try to get some exercise in every other day or so by means of cycling and I really pushed myself too hard the other day. I still need to purchase some pedals and shoes, but I'm delaying it a bit longer to see if they go down in the summer sale. I like being on the bike, it's a great way to cover some distance and get in a workout. Running would make me need to wee and poo so I didn't run far... :-)

I really want to get a group of ladies together to meet once a week for a group exercise class in the park. It would be a good challenge for me and will help my own fitness as well as my creativity.

I've spent some time listening to specific meditation tunes on YouTube over the last couple of days. It's been interesting and I want to focus some time experimenting to see if they work long term or just at all! I mainly want to look into astral travel, healing, positive thinking and working on the chakras. I'll make a post when I've done some experimenting.

It's been a few weeks since I deactivated my Facebook account and I have to say it's liberating. It is easy to be addicted to it and I even question using any technology... I think that's partly why I haven't blogged as much. 

The world is very much technology focused and when I met George in Thailand he got me thinking. George is from Cyprus, said he is sensitive to electromagnetic sources so he doesn't own a phone, laptop, tablet, etc. He's well read (Dad owns a bookshop) and he meditates, that's his claim for knowing about the Thai Fruit Fest, it came to him in his meditation. I'm either naive or he's genuine, but I'm going with him on this one. I doubt I'll give up my phone or tablet (because I like taking photos) but I like the idea of spending less time glued to a computer.

So on that note I am going to go!

Enjoy your Sunday. If you're in Manchester and want to do some weekly exercise send me a message!

Jennifer x