We saw a MONITOR LIZARD!

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Hia again!

OK folks, here we are again!

Well, thought we'd tell you about Borneo up to now. We arrived in KK on Monday. We're in the city again but we're near the sea so it feels completely different. We weren't really sure what to expect but it's lovelier than I (Marissa) imagined and much more chilled out than KL.

We are staying at Akinabalu Hostel which is tres basic but it feels clean and the lounge area is nice (that's where we are now) and everyone is really friendly. We have to share a bathroom but it's alright - not as bad as I thought! I'm over it, I'm over it.

On Monday night we went down to the harbour and watched the sunset, which was beautiful (orange and pink!) while drinking Kinabalu Slings (whatever they were - leftover dregs of alcohol me thinks!). But they were 10RM a pop (under 2 quid) so we thought they were a good shout! The waiter who served us was really sweet - we had a chat with him and he told us about Manukan Island which has a lovely beach, so we decided if the weather was nice in the morning we would take our pale selves over there to catch some rays!

Next on the agenda was to get us some food (cheap food), however, we ended up at the Seafood Village, which is a big Chinese restaurant and a little more expensive than we wanted really (still pretty damn cheap though). They have lots of different fish, prawns, mussels, crabs, etc etc alive in tanks as you walk in to tempt you to the fishy delights in store ahead! We didn't realise that it was like "pick n mix" and you picked what you wanted from the tanks and they charged you by weight so we just ordered off the main menu which to be honest was a bit naff - considering how close to the sea we are the seafood wasn't all that. Of course I ordered scallops and it's the first time that I didn't enjoy them that much - bummer!

Anyway, that's the end of our first night in BORNEO!

Next morning we woke up and the weather was fine so we decided the beach was the way forward! We walked down to the harbour to catch the boat over to Manukan Island and hired snorkel gear so we could see some fishes swimming in the sea! On the boat over we got chatting to a nice Aussie couple who were on a 3 week holiday and doing pretty much the same things we are planning to do, just in a different order!

Anyway, the beach was fabulous - it was nice to put my 'ni' 'ni' on for the first time this year (although probably not so nice for passers by - ha!)! Oh, that's where we saw the monitor lizard - it was about 2 foot long - craaazy! There was a restaurant on the island with a BBQ cooking a whole manner of different seafood for next to nowt so we got a selection of lobster, prawns and mackerel (oh, and some chicken satay for good measure!) all cooked fresh on the barbi for under a tenner with rice and drinks! While we were eating our dinner we were joined by a ginger cat and kitten and they soon became our friends! Dan, you would have loved it! It's mad because the cats over here are born with genetically short tails - for ages I've been thinking that some sick person's been going round cutting all the cats' tails off!

After that we went snorkelling which is brilliant but Marissa found it a bit scary! It's like sticking your head into a big fish tank and you can chase the fish around (well Matt did that - Marissa was being more cautious!). Anyway, we were having fun and Marissa was getting a bit more confident.... and then a fish went and bit her on the leg.... how rude! That lead to her running out of the water like a woman possessed and not returning to the sea again!

Next day we did nothing but booked ourselves accommodation at Kinabalu Park all set to attempt to climb the mountain - dern dern derrrrrn (dramatic sound!)...................

Once again there are no photos due to the camera malfunction.

Until we meet again mon cheres xx

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