Now, This Is Living!

Warning - lengthy waffle ahead. Turn back now  - or make a cup of tea.

As I sit here surrounded by washing (how did 3 people create mountains of washing when they wore their bathers for most of the week?) and my boys sleep off their 'holiday hangovers', I feel so very lucky, punk.


Lucky, lucky, lucky to have walked onto a stunning, picturesque movie set for a week and not be kicked off. Not because we behaved so badly (the wedding night excepted) but because it was just beyond beautiful and exactly how I imagine 'the other half' must live.

I'm so lucky to have been part of a gorgeous gang of great people who travelled to Sabah, Borneo to witness two particularly great people marry. Lucky to have had a whole luxurious week of my boys, of warmth, of being waited on, of another culture, of cocktails, of sound sleep, of socialising, of running without a headful of stuff blocking the magnificant view... I could go on and on and on.


And Magoo.

Magoo had the BEST time and was in toddler heaven. He made some little buddies - and some not so little buddies. He swam and slid his heart out and chatted non stop to anyone who would listen. He was captivated by the "rangtangtangs" and was like a dog with a bone. Luckily a cute, puppy looking type of dog 'cause it went a little something like this :
"we see rangtangtangs aday?" (short pause)
"we see rangtangtangs now, Mummy?" (short pause)
"what rangtangtangs dooo-ing?" (pause)
"rangtangtangs wake up now?" (short pause)
"where rangtangtangs go now?" (slow walk and pause)
"we see rangtangtangs, Mum?"      You get the idea!

The "rangtangtangs" were amazing, cheeky and entertaining. The beautiful little baby 'Ten Ten' was just adorable - and really brought home the not so vast differences between our hairy cousins and us.
'Ten Ten' was described as being a needy newborn who required feeding every couple of hours, cried loudly when her nappy was soiled and was agitated as her first set of teeth began coming through. Familiar much?

I managed a run each morning as the sun was coming up and it really was a treat. Not everyone's idea of a treat, I know, but it really was mine. I ran along the beach in front of our resort around a point and into where the river continued into the mountains. The view was awesome and my ipod remained off as I preferred the sound of the ocean and the jungle to the aussie accents of Hilltop Hoods swearing at me as I made my way up a Malaysian beach. 

On the first day I ran about 18 minutes out and the same back. I didn't encounter anyone that first morning but I did think I had discovered where the staff held their private parties way down the beach. I've seen Dirty Dancing, I'm in the know. I spent the rest of the day looking for a watermelon to carry down there Jennifer Grey style that night.

The next morning I set out on the same run and after a few minutes noticed some thing on the sand ahead. I thought it might be people crashed out, so being a nosey parker I kept running towards them. Then I decided the partiers actually looked more like piles of rubbish being collected. As I ran to within a couple of metres of this 'rubbish pile', the 'rubbish pile' twitched, raised a few sets of horns and swished some tails in enquiry. It was four water buffalo lying in the sand. I stopped short, turned on my heels and hotfooted back down the beach like lightning. That morning I opted for short relay runs in front of the hotel, all the while clearing my throat in preparation for any screaming I might have to engage in should I be chased! I did see my four friends much further down by the river on another couple of runs and I'm sure they were relatively harmless - but I wasn't taking my chances.

Sabah is a truly beautiful place. The pure luxury of our resort was in contrast to the simple way the locals lived - but their modest ways of life were gorgeous and fairly clean. Read- Sabah does not smell bad! We took a day's island cruise to snorkel, paddle and swim. We visited a terrific zoo where Magoo got up close and personal with his star attraction, the elephants. We shopped a little, ate a lot and loved it all.
If the great beaches, stunning landscape, friendly people, gorgeous pools and ridiculous buffet breakfasts weren't quite enough - there was always happy hour. Oh blessed happy hour.

 The beach bar hosted 'Happy Hour' drinks between 5-7pm every evening. Anyone with young children knows that the hours between 5-7pm are notoriously described with a flurry of adjectives  - but "happy" wouldn't usually feature on that list. Happy we were though. When cocktails cost the equivalent of soft drinks, children run free in the grass and sand, your new buddies (big and small) trickle in for that 5pm gong, a spot of beach volleyball, table tennis or bocce is played and a cute little band strum Beach Boys hits - the world is truly wonderful place and you can't be anything but

 happy.

Even table tennis with an overenthusiastic, but sadly underskilled toddler is a happy place with a cocktail in hand and so many great people to share it (and him) with.

Hubby was the best man at the wedding we travelled up for - and the best man in our suite too! Magoo was in his element to have Daddy's attention from morning to night (okay, minus a couple of hours a day for Happy hour when Captain Morgan held court, during the golf morning, the wedding and when the jet ski called).
My point was that Daddy was awesome, involved and helpful. Which meant Mummy got to be chilled Mummy (okay, except on he back of the jet ski, in seatbeltless vans dodging water buffalo and isalnd hopping in an aging boat).

In summary, our holiday was bliss! I wouldn't change a single thing (unless you count the addition of a couple more days and the subtraction of a couple of less wines at the wedding).

Shar :-)

Coming soon to a blog near you (well, this one, duh) -
The Wedding Post.