One of our stops on our way to a new jungle resort in Borneo was for Indian food. What a treat it was to watch this guy making each individual fresh roti, and with a bright smile that showed how much he really seemed to enjoy doing it. To watch it was true art.

 

 

How to Make Roti

 

Starting with a little ball of dough he starts stretching it and throwing it in the air until it is paper-thin and two feet across!

 

Then he folds the thin dough many times into a square, oils it, throws it on a hot grill where it sputters and rises for a minute or two. When the roti beomes puffed and golden brown, he flips it till it is golden on the bottom side.

 

What he does next is quite surprising. Hot off the grill, he slaps it down on the table, and starts scrunching it and squishing it!  What?! I thought he was ruining it. It looked perfectly great before he started destroying it!

 

But flipping it onto a plate, he smiles in satisfaction as he offers it to you.

 

This is the lightest, most delicate, yet crispy type of bread I have ever eaten. Absolutely scrumptious. I could have eaten a dozen of these flaky bits of heaven.

 

Take a look at the video below. It was simply a delight to watch this young chef make roti like a professional in a fine restaurant! All the while he was making the roti in a casual little Indian buffet restaurant on the side of the highway that runs through the mountains of Sabah, Borneo.

 

We ate the delectable roti with a savoury lamb curry, a spicy chicken curry and delicious ice coffee made with milk. All of it made for an exquisite meal.

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Driving Through the Forest

 

An hour later we were back on the mountain highway, swishing along windy roads. Suddenly it got flatter, then traffic was backed up, and then the road deteriorated.

 

The villages got poorer and the houses were more run-down.

 

 

Border Security Problem

 

Finally, after a long two-hour drive with a quick stop, I bought banger toys, called Fury Bombs, for the kids at home. What fun they had with them. You throw these little tubes on the sidewalk and they make a loud noise with a small explosion.

 

Little did I know that they actually had a tiny amount of gunpowder in them! Though it wasn’t enough to hurt a child, it may have been enough to be held up at airline or border security for hours, maybe even thrown into detention! T looked alarmed and suggested I might get stopped and thrown in jail for carrying bomb materials. For a second I hesitated, but I bought them anyway.

 

The Fury Bombs package has a bag of little tubes that make a tiny explosion when you throw them down on cement, but they make a very loud bang.

But HAH – there were no problems, no searches, no detention. Later, at home, the kids had the most fun with these Fury Bombs. I wonder if they know that I practically risked my life for them? 

 

 

Myrne Resort

 

Our next little adventure was turning off the almost smooth highway and bouncing down a narrow gravel road through the jungle for about five kilometers – which felt more like twenty kilometres.

 

We arrived to find a big main lodge with big chalets around it. Each chalet had electricity, hot water, TV, and wifi with a deck that overlooked the Kinabatangan River! 

 

We thought maybe after a morning filled with the excitement of seeing the Pygmy Elephants, a fantastic Indian meal for lunch, and a long drive through the mountains, we would be able to relax in our lovely new digs.

Nope, David informed us that we needed to get ready for a River Safari at 4:15. Stay tuned for the next post and what we saw on more amazing wild animal encounters.

 

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