Got to get out as much as I can so forget grammatical errors!!

<p>Ok, here goes. We arrived at Sandakan and at first it seemed there was noone there to meet us. Then a Malay man with a small child approached us with a sign bearing our names. He spoke no English but indicated that he was our lift to the village.</p>
<p>We drove for 2 hours through palm oil plantations, something neither me nor Laur were prepared for. I'll take a video on the way back. Miles and miles, stretching over hills and valleys as far as the eye can see. Not a speck of rainforest, just spindley, uniform rows of palms. Useless habitat for wildlife, spreading across the landscape like a parasitic virus.<br>
We drove through entire deforested areas, the diggers ploughing sand and soil dust into the air.</p>
<p> Eventually we pulled into Bateh Puteh. Small, delapitated wooden houses, chickens, goats, small children. Very friendly and welcoming people. But noone from GVI, just a couple of other tired volunteers that have been here for a couple of weeks. </p>
Palm trees still dot the area, planted between patches of rainforest, Sungai Kinabatangan curling its way through. Hot. Very hot.
We were relieved to hear that we were to be in the same homestay and were led there. The house is one of the nicer ones in the village, right next to the mosque. More about that later. There is very little furniture but we have a proper, clean bed each. They speak a little English and are so friendly. We sorted our bags out and then it began. Wailing from the mosque. It is Ramadan and the praying had begun. The twist? There is a LOUDSPEAKER attached to the mosque the points straight into our room. This goes on and off for 4 hours, sometimes for am hour at a time. Monotone singing, chsnting, whispering. We are slightly hysterical about this cause it although we respect their culture it is so unlike anything we have experienced.

Right, got to go- off to work. More later, with pics xxx