Hotel Shangri-La Kota Kinabalu

... wildlife including a pigmy squirrel (tiny - like a mouse), a large bettle, a large lizard, a frog and some sucker fish in the stream. Was really interesting and pretty. We avoided getting drenched again by a luckily timed lunch break under a wooden shelter and then we went around the butterfly garden. We saw some beautiful species, some were so large they almost looked like birds flying around. Lily then took us to see if we could get a sighting of ...

... Peak, the summit at 4095m, just in time for the sunrise, and wrapped ourselves up against the cold as we waited for the sky to grow lighter. Though it was clear overhead we were looking out in most directions at a blanket of cloud, in places so thick you believed you could jump into it, while delicately wispy around the rock edges in others. The scenery up there was stark but stunning, dramatic rock formations looming out of the mist as the ...

... just wandered back to the hostel and flaked out for the evening.<br><br>The next day I had the genius idea to visit the Lok Kwai Wildlife Park, which is located about 25km out of the city centre. We found a taxi to take us there for the small fee of &#8364;8, the taxi offered to wait but we weren&#8217;t sure how long we would be and didn&#8217;t wanna rush ourselves so we said we would call a taxi when we ...

... job she says, but she works for a University in the UK. Cutting a long story short, apart from having the same name they also worked in the same arena and sat at the same conference in KL last year. She later confesses she told her hubby she recognised Cath. Small world and all that. We all agree to discuss this further over jugs of Long Island Iced Tea. A 2am finish ensues and we have a slow ...

... bus to the wharf where a rather surly Malay guide awaited us. Luckily we had some good English speaking Malay tourists on our boat to translate, because his English was sparse. The boat ride was phenomenal. The covered speed boat sheltered us from the sun as we took in the wonderful view. The area we travelled was mountainous and filled with strangely formed islands. Adding to the vista, was the clear, clean water providing stunning reflections. The euphoria ...

... 8 sets of eyes still couldn't see anything. About 3 quarters into the trip and feeling like the Orang Utans would be their elusive self, i heard the spotter calmly say.... 'Orang Utans'!!!!! I was in all of a kafuffle and suddenly lost the ability to turn on my camera and didn't know whether to abandon that and just steal the American guy's bino's who was next to me and proceed to push him in to avoid having to give them back!!! Anyway, i settled ...

... However the consequences were slightly upset tummies. Tom Yum was very hot! We shared a guide with Craig and his name was 'Mr Gary', whom looked 12 but assured us he was 17. We caught a windy bus before the start of the hike. 3 hours later after climbing 1400m in altitude, 6 km we arrived soaked. The track wasn't a walking trail but a river. The rain poured teh whole way, the Guaranteed jackets failed to keep us dry. Never ...

... etc) the airport shuttle bus arrived in KL. This was the moment we had been waiting for...our journey had finally begun...the bus pulled up and we were ready to take our first footsteps in south east asia.. and of course it was raining.. and when I say raining I mean raining *************al rain.. so we got soaked! But it didnt matter.We still had the biggest smiles and nothing could stop the excitement buzzing inside. Due to an interesting combination ...

... minutes after take-off! Steph had flown a couple of times before, but it was the first time for Anna. Two hours later we landed at Kota Kinabalu airport and took a taxi to the Beverley Hotel for our three-night stay. <br><br> We walked to town and Anna phoned her ex-colleague, a teacher named Khati, who had come over to Sabah when her husband, the manager of a ...