Dhahran British Grammar School Expedition 2006

29 March

We flew back to Kota Kinabalu in the morning and checked into the Beverley Hotel.  It was nice to come back to the luxury of the hotel, with its efficient air conditioning, nice restaurant and proximity to the shops.  The first time I took kids off on an expedition, I was surprised with their enthusiasm for shopping, but I have since grown to expect it.  This afternoon, they could hardly wait to get to the shopping centres.  Kota Kinabalu is quite a large town and has a lot to offer.  Most importantly, for many of our students was Burger King or something similar in the mushy fast food vein. 

We finally got to try durian today.  I would have taken photographs of the kids faces as they ate this king of fruits that the Lonely Planet guide describes as “like eating blancmange on the toilet”, but I was too busy stuffing my face. Delicious, quite delicious.

By way of a change from the usual rice diet, and to avoid further fast food feeding frenzies, we took the group to an Italian restaurant this evening. Before going out to dinner we checked that everybody had showered and changed.  Amazingly, despite the heat, the sweat and the grime from travelling, some students still have to be told to go and wash!