November 4-11, 2008: Atlantis Women Tour Borneo
4. Monday & Tuesday: Palm Oil Plantation,
Kids, Heading Home
(Atlantis tournament #126, part 4)
Emil Signes
August 6, 2013 (rev. August 15, 2013)
Sign on street in Sandakan. We had a
great time here.
Atlantis Women in
Borneo-1. Tuesday/Wednesday: Long Trip and Kota Kinabalu
Atlantis Women in Borneo-2.
Thursday/Friday: Travel to Sandakan & Orang Utan Rehab
Centre
Atlantis Women in Borneo-3. Saturday
& Sunday: Tournament & Celebration
Atlantis Women in Borneo-4. Monday & Tuesday: Palm Oil
Plantation, Kids, Heading Home
Sunday was a long - typical rugby party - night, but
we were to be up early in the morning to head off to visit a palm
oil plantation, the IJM Palm Oil mill at Desa Talisai. Mr.
Velayuthan Tan, the founding president of the Borneo Eagles
(formerly Sandakan) Rugby Club (and father of the rugby-playing
Tan brothers) is the CEO of IJM (or was in
2008, retired in 2010). As I recall it was about an
hour and a half away, so we got some nap time in on the bus.
When we got there, we met with top officials of the plant and some
of their spouses. We introduced ourselves, told them where we were
from and what we did for a living; they seemed impressed by most
of the players' life pursuits, especially the fact that Sarah was
a pediatrician.
We were treated to a slide presentation on the history of the
facility and its production of palm oil, and then were scheduled
for a tour of the factory. That is, until we realized that
no one had told us that open-toed footwear was not allowed in the
plant, and the majority of us were there in sandals. Next
time.
We did, however, get a tour of a lot of the outside grounds of the
plantation and got a chance to spear and move bunches of palm
fruit around, making us aware of the difficulty of that job.
While we were out on this tour, there was yet another Atlantis
first - an Atlantis team picture in hard hats!
Left: Everyone looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at
breakfast
Right: Our transportation
I don't remember the bus being cold
(This might also have been the only time on this morning's
trip that Holly was awake)
Left: Entry to Mill // Right: First Slide of
Presentation
Team in orange hard hats and
our guides
Left: Explaining something about palm fruit
bundles to Sarah
Right: Closeup of a palm fruit bundle
Cutting palm fruit (L) to show us a cross-section (R)
with the outer rings (pericarp) and the oil-rich kernel
(endosperm)
Later we both drove and walked about the
plantation and saw the workers' housing, got to walk into a palm
grove and see other parts of the grounds including many plants
that are native to the area. Finally, we returned to Sagaran
and Nancy Tan's house for a meal and saw more natural wonders of
Borneo.
Worker housing at IJM Plantation
Team amongst the oil palms
Rambutans: Persica and guns at rambutan tree;
Holly and Jane with rambutan fruit
Fan-shaped palms
At Sagaran's. Left: Tracy shows off a bunch of bananas
// Right: Holly with a gourd
At the Sandakan airport, we purchase last-minute souvenirs, say
goodbye to Tresia and board the plane to KK.
We flew from Sandakan to KK, a
one-hour flight replacing the 8 hour trip we took on Thursday.
After a few tired hours in KK, we flew to Seoul, where after
another few hours we began to split up and head towards home, a
group of us through Atlanta, the remainder through other US
cities.
It was a long trip back, but it had been - as are all Atlantis
trips - a worthwhile endeavor.
The last team picture in Borneo - at the Sandakan Airport
we say goodbye to Tresia
Seoul Airport: this is absolutely the
last team picture of the tour. Persica's still
here: she took the picture.
A group of us showing everyone's fatigue.
Some took a shower; Sarah looks the better for it.
These three tour veterans
look just fine and pretty awake as we wait for our planes in
Seoul.
Michelle Persica, Sarah Schooler, Jess Hammond
Another Atlantis trip, another successful venture.
Atlantis Women in Borneo-1. Tuesday/Wednesday:
Long Trip and Kota Kinabalu
Atlantis Women in Borneo-2.
Thursday/Friday: Travel to Sandakan & Orang Utan Rehab
Centre
Atlantis Women in Borneo-3. Saturday
& Sunday: Tournament & Celebration
Atlantis Women in Borneo-4. Monday & Tuesday: Palm Oil
Plantation, Kids, Heading Home
