Geo: 3.12433, 101.684This morning Lisa, Rach and I went out for brunch. Lisa has a car and it was so nice not to be catching taxis all the time. She found us a great cafe to eat at. We were spending the day sightseeing. Our next stop was the Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park. We spent about half an hour here stalking the butterflies as we took photos of them. It seemed a similar size to a butterfly enclosure at a zoo. There were many colourful butterflies to see among the tropical plants and flowers. We then drove a short distance to the Kuala Lumpur Orchid Park. This seemed a bit run down in areas – but more importantly, it was free entry. There was also a great view of the Kuala Lumpur Tower and Petronas Towers ... read more

Geo: 5.97267, 116.071We got up early this morning, went to breakfast and ate too much from the buffet. Then we packed our bags for the day. Yesterday we booked a taxi and it was here on time. He was taking us to the pier for our snorkelling day trip. Here were found many westerners. We waited at the meeting spot and then someone from the dive company came over to us. He went through information for the day and then took us to the boat. I was pretty excited as it has been so long since I had been snorkelling. On the boat there were a few staff members, Rach and I and a small group of teenagers from Melbourne. We sat at the front of the boat and then we were off! As we cruised ... read more

Geo: 5.97267, 116.071It was a very short flight of only 45 minutes. Towards the end of the flight we had a great view of Kota Kinabalu. It is a well known mountain on the island that adventurous people like to climb. At Kota Kinabalu airport we collected our bags and got into a taxi. We were staying at a resort that was just out of town.We checked and were taken to our room. On the way we passed a nice looking pool and walked through well maintained gardens. There didn't seem to be many other guests around at the moment. It was now time for us to relax. We freshened up and walked to the bar and restaurant area which was by the beach. Here we ordered some cocktails and enjoyed the beautiful and peaceful ocean ... read more

Geo: 5.4957, 118.206The gong was rung at 5:45 this morning, meaning it was time to get up and get ready to the morning jungle safari cruise. We had a terrible night's sleep. Constantly during the night we were scared and puzzled by a loud noise. It sounded like something/someone was hitting the windows and walls of the cabin. It was so loud. We eventually worked out that it was a gecko. We quickly got ready and rugged up. It was cool outside, but would warm up quickly. There was a lot of mist this morning and it looked beautiful. It also took a while to clear. Yesterday we went down the river, this morning we went in the opposite direction. This was a chance for some new scenery. About ten minutes into the cruise we stopped ... read more

Geo: 5.84117, 118.113It didn't take long to get to the Sandakan Memorial Park. Our driver parked and walked us to the entrance. There is no entrance fee here. Here we read the information board, it was a lot of depressing information to take in. This park is a memorial to all the 2500 prisoners of war, mainly Australians and British who died here during the Second World War. The prisoners of war here were made to do hard labour, one of the tasks was to build the nearby Sandakan airport. The pavilion, which is a museum was built by the Australian government in the 90's. There were a few relics from the war, an excavator, boiler and generator. We walked up the steps to the pavilion. Inside there is a small, but very informative museum. Continuing ... read more