Friday 11th September 2009 Breakfast in Kota Kinabalu, lunch in the air, dinner in Singapore. The life of a pair of international jet-setters! After breakfast in the hostel (Summer Lodge) in KK, we went out to the airport and returned the car. We told the agent that it would be a good idea to take it to a mechanic but he wasn't very interested. Arriving at Singapore Changi Airport, we went quickly through immigration and customs. We found the 'Singapore Stopover' desk and checked in, getting our free passes, transfer vouchers and some lovely “Singapore Stopover” stickers we were told to wear while transferring to and from the hotel. Talk about feeling like a package tourist! Still, for NZ$1 each, a night in a hotel, transfers and free entry into some sights, we shouldnt complain, or ... read more

Sunday 6th September 2009 We must have been too early or not stayed long enough at the Kota Belud Sunday Tamu (market) as it was nothing like the LP described it as. For a start, it wasn't huge, there weren't any buffalo and we didn't see any Bajau horsemen. I think this is a case of being too well travelled - a bad case of been there, done that already. Markets are places that draw the tourists / backpackers (we try hard not to be tourists if we can help it), and this one drew us. It was still a good market, heaps of stalls of scrummy looking veggies (neither of us are cooks, but really wanted a kitchen right then so we had an excuse to buy fresh veggies!), fish, plants, clothes, curtains, cooking gear ... read more

Sunday 30th August 2009 We had a leisurely morning as the first day of our 3D / 2N jungle trip didn't start until 2.30pm. We made our way down the road from Labuk B&B to the Uncle Tan Operational Base, the company we are heading into the jungle with. The staff at the B&B had given us an idea of what to pay for a taxi to Uncle Tans (RM3-4), but the taxi drivers weren't cooperating, they were asking RM10. It was interesting trying to haggle with them, to see how far they would go and at what point they would walk away. Well, initially they walked at RM10. Even the guy at the back of the queue wasn't interested in negotiating - and he'd be back in line before anyone even left SORC so no ... read more

We only had one morning, three dives, at Sipidan. In many ways it was a disappointment, after all the hype, but also in many ways it was really impressive. What we did see, the coral, the fish, the sea life, was quite spectacular. The weather that day didn't make it an easy set of dives. The sea was pretty choppy and the currents underwater were strong in places. This didn't help with spotting the sea life, or with getting on and off the boat. Between dives, we were dropped off on Sipidan island, for a hour each break, and that wasn't fun in the rain. There is a toilet block, the remains of some old resort buildings, an army house and lots of open space. We were given food during each break, soggy fish sandwiches, hard ... read more