Likas Square Business Suites Kota Kinabalu

... Sipadan Island is heavily guarded by military and divers are restricted to one side of the island. The best part about learning how to dive was the fact that Joannie, Ilani and I were doing it in one of the best dive sites in the world, so we saw all sea life and coral while we were learning. Our dive instructor, Rex, was hilarious, kind of crazy, and a pretty good chess player. When the 3 of us completed the course, we went back to the mainland and celebrated and ...

... village staying with a family such a lovely family and sign language is great. BUT the biggest event was climbing to the summit of the highest mountain in SE Asia. The ascent was done in 2 stages. 8kms in 8 hours to 3000 met. Rest then we got up at 2.30am to do the final ascent in the dark to see the sun rising at the summit. I was absolutely exhausted I somehow was climbing with 2 other very fit people I thought my lungs would give up- but thank goodness ...

... then tells me we are liable for all the expenses (if the travel insurance doesn't come through) associated with the procedure, specialist etc. I sign on the dotted line - it's her health at risk here. As I turn to leave, even though I am a little stressed by all this, I notice the most amazing fish tank. It is full of live coral, tropical fish and you name it. It strikes me that we have just been sent to a very expensive hospital with hopefully the best of ...

... we thought we could probably handle this one! By this stage, the drizzle had started to get a little bit heavier and about half way through, it was pouring down. We kept on going, but after a few more blind corners, and having no idea how much further we had to go whilst geting drenched, we decided to turn back.
We found a restaurant and decided to go in and have some lunch and dry off a little. There was ...

... Eventually at 11.30am they said there were beds and we were on the move! Phew - next came the hard bit - parting with the money! Park fees, transport fees, food and accommodation fees, compulsory insurance and the mandatory guide all needed paid! In the end this lot cost us 950ringit which was as cheap as it could possibly be! The tour companies were starting at 900ringit per person!

We were off and had teamed up with an Aussie couple who had name dropped all the ...

... the back - I am not sure how much longer we can do this as some of these taxis are not that big! We got back to Kundasang in time for an early tea at our latest favourite roti and curry place and then spent the evening cruising out and packing. I am proud to say we still fit everything into the 3 big packs we took away though the girls are desperate to spend some more money and increase the luggage - actually shopping has not really been a big feature of the ...

... high vaulted cave. Once finished oohing and awing, we moved onto the final cavern. Here monkeys climbed down a high cavern wall from a forest canopy to be fed by visitors. People were also lighting candles to another Hindu shrine. We chose to respectfully decline the candle lighting. During the hike out Matt convinced me to go spelunking or caving. Decked out in rubber boots and hard hats, we trekked around the caves for about an hour with an informative, funny ...

... and for 'one time only' and 'your very lucky sir', i would be able to get a bed and dinner for 195 ringgit and this would be the very final offer! Still recovering from 'not' getting the deal of a lifetime that the woman believed she was offering, i thought that i was in one of those situations where, at the end of the day, i had 'two choices'! It didn't help that i would still be yet to pay 100 ringgit for a climbing permit, 30r for a national ...

... in perfect English (they also spoke a few other languages!) and the father kept coming over and bringing us food from the barbeque. Not sure how we managed it but the seafood barbeque was so impressive looking we just had to try it! Crabs as big as my hand, prawns not mush smaller - it was a wonderful evening and so nice to be part of a family during Christmas time - they made it very special! The next day was climb day number 1, and also Christmas day!. At 8am we ...

... along the beach, flashing his money to his mates and into the sunset. We didn't see him after that, we reckon he either went on a bender or got killed by the competition. Who knows? We spent an afternoon back in Manila, where there were hundreds and hundreds of girlie bars. We were there literally one afternoon and everning and every person on the street comes up to you with a list of girls, it was mental. Every club, bar, even some restaurants had a ...