The trouble with goats, for me, is that their milk and cheese smells of goats (what a surprise!). It is an acquired taste, which I couldn't manage to get passed.
I once went about 50 miles in the Hindu Kush for some goat cheese, way up a valley whose only inhabitants were a goat herders family, I really needed that cheese
I can really understand that situation, Druk1, as a fellow traveller, albeit not recently. Without hopefully not boring any other readers, it is hard to put into words the moments on our travels when the simplest things take on a much greater meaning and significance when we are presented with insurmountable problems, like eating! Our memories are full of travellers' tales, that only travellers would fully understand. However there are moments when we get a reality check when we realise that our travels have changed our previously normal perspective. One instance for me happened on a small crowded beach on the Costa del Sol in Spain in the 80's. I was with some people who wanted to sunbathe for a while and, even though I don't often do that, I followed suit. I was remembering Filipino, Brazilian or African beaches that stretched on for miles with no-one else in sight. I could hear an English man say "Oh this is paradise" as he got nearer, and I thought "bloody hell I feel like a sardine". Then after a minute, I realised that for him it was paradise so I got off my proverbial high horse and thought "good luck to you, mate." (I did not say anything). We must remember that our reality is not the "norm" and that happiness is relevant to everyone in their own way. I could sit with you on a bus in India, Druk1, and we could chat ad infinitum about the ways of the world but we still have to get a bus away from the airport in the UK back to where we live, still feeling a little shell-shocked as we slowly readjust to the "norm." People here are very lucky to have experienced the wonders and magic of the Philippines even though we hear "boang" and "oi" from the mouths of our Filipina wives on most days! Being optimistic in the face of adversity is the answer for me and being grateful when our wives present us with wonderful Asian food most days. So many people I meet in life are habitual moaners and I have to quietly move away so their negativity doesn't spread. It takes all sorts to make a life though.
Yup, fully agree, been to a lot of way off the beaten track places for different reasons, all my time in the PI I never met another puti who had been to sitangkai and went back door to sabah with badjao.
The closest I got to Sitangkai was Sandakan and Semporna when I was heading to Sipadan Island. It is a bit of a blur now. Sipadan was very nice and there weren't many divers back then. It was before some divers/tourists were kidnapped in that area.
