Our second visit to Kota Kinabalu was simply to overnight before catching the ferry to Brunei. The bus from Sandakan had been tediously unairconditioned - based on our bus experiences so far, I can only assume Malaysia's reputation for ice-cold aircon comes from the Peninsula as it's been rather lacking in Sabah. Other constants have been that a meal ticket is usually included in the price whether you want it or not, and the prices we've been charged have been over the odds. We've successfully challenged a couple of attempted rip-offs where we either had local info as to the correct price or it's been printed up on a piece of paper, but other times we've just had to suck it up when the ticket guy wouldn't back down, even when he had no leg to ... read more

The package we'd chosen for a short stay in the Kinabatangan jungle started with a drive on a rough road through palm tree plantations. Unfortunately for Borneo's ecological diversity, logging of the jungle is taking place in both the Malaysian and Indonesian parts of the island, with revenue-earning palm trees being planted in its place. A short boat ride then took us to our "resort". Wild elephants had stumbled into the camp a few months ago, causing a fair amount of damage, so a 5,000 volt electric fence encircled it now - worth knowing if you're keen on moonlit midnight wanderings. We were able to upgrade to a cabin for our first night but had to slum it in a dorm for the second. In a darkly amusing incident, I joked with LA Woman that it ... read more

1.5 hours from Kota Kinabalu, Mount Kinabalu reaches half the height of Everest into the sky, yet its peak is achievable by anyone with some fitness and no climbing ability. Kundasang is the closest town to the National Park in which Mount Kinabalu sits, and a bus journey got us there first thing in the morning. The top of the mountain was completely covered in cloud and over the 2 days we were in the area we experienced the micro-climate that it creates, with sun and clear skies giving way to mist and rain, and vice versa, alarmingly quickly. Decent accommodation was all booked for our first night, and we ended up in a miserable roach motel where my right flip flop had reached double figures in kills in the evening before we turned off the ... read more

Leaving Malapascua meant we had 1 final ferry scam to encounter but, more worrying, was actually the act of getting on and off the boat. Boarding and disembarking the ferry were interesting balance exercises, complicated by carrying a 15kg backpack. Boarding involved climbing a narrow plank that moved up and down as the tide rose and fell. Disembarking required crossing to another boat then descending a steep plank to some flip flop-unfriendly rocks. My sense of balance behaved itself for once and I avoided plunging into the sea. To compensate, the rough seas on the journey itself (courtesy of an approaching typhoon) gave everyone a liberal dowsing with salt water, a parting gift from an island where I'd been showering in brine for the last week. WIth an early flight to Clark the following day, we ... read more

Our flight from Manila to Cebu City was uneventful, and a taxi ride took us to a bus terminal from where we caught a bus heading north to Maya. We reached Daanbantayan (near Maya) too late to catch a boat to Malapascua so we overnighted in an extremely pleasant guesthouse owned by an American guy Skip and his Filipino wife, together with their children Chip and Flip. Given his middle-age spread, it was a surprise to discover that Skip had been a student of Bruce Lee's back in the US - a great example of how one shouldn't judge by appearances. However I don't know if any physical characteristics could have indicated that he was the attorney for the Log-Built Homes of America Association.... read more