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‘Is there jungle there?’ he asked pointing to the centre of Australia on the map.
A big space with nothing on the map must be jungle.
‘No.’
‘Is there snow?’
‘No. It is hot, and there is nothing.’
I showed some photos of the centre of Australia. No. The centre of Australia is definitely not Borneo.

The heart of the palm

We were shown the jungle out the back of the house. It was fascinating – and so rich with food and fascinating plants – most of which I had never seen before. A kind of jelly fruit – a bit like duku. An orange deformed shape that tasted like apricot. A red sphere that, when cracked open, was a lolly to be sucked but not eaten. Another green sphere which tasted like nothing and was hollow on the inside. All this was in the back yard next to the paddy fields. The family chopped off a heart of the palm for us, and the mother prepared it while we swam in the river flowing past.

Squishy fruit

Unknown fruit

Before leaving the village, we had another movie star photo shoot. Clement walked down the road to the place for the photo like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn.

The pied piper of Hamlyn

Today we took a long-cut through the hills, past lots of little villages. It was beautiful and very rural. What a beautiful, huge tropical island.

The country road

We had a nice evening stop with 3 girls Clement met when he was last here, and are sleeping in a huge, empty house. Really cool.