And so it begins...

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So, the first week is almost done and it was a pretty full one! The week went as follows:

Day one - Arrive at Kota Kinabalu airprt at 9:20am after two days of travelling and zero
sleep! Ben picks me up from the airport 9:30 and we head straight to the market - still
in jeans and trainers in 36 degrees - to smell some local flavours. Then met up with some
of Ben's friends and headed for some brunch with his folks. After some fish-head soup
and other wierd stuff we headed to a pool in a country club down the road where we had
some Bloody Marys in the pool bar followed by some chicken wings and other nibbles.
After that we all headed to the local gun club, about 20 minutes outside KK. Shot some
handguns. You know, the normal thing to do in the outskirts of the jungle!

After that we had dinner acccompanied by a few beers in the Irish bar The Shamrock on the
Waterfront where I proceeded to pass out after 50+ sleepless hours and jetlag. The lads
also took a bunch of pictures of me cheers for that boys! I eventually woke up and headed
back to the hostel to get some much needed shut-eye.

Day two - spent the day exploring Kota Kinabalu itself. Must have done about 15km
by the end of the day! But saw all the fish markets etc. They have Tiger Prawns out here the
size of your forearm!!

Days three, four and five - spent these few days working on my PADI diving skills so
I can now dive anywhere in the world! It's a lot to take in in just a couple of days but totally worth
it. Did the diving on Palau Sapi (Sapi Island) where I saw pleeeenty of jellyfish (it's the season),
Clown fish, Cuttlefish, Sea Cucumbers, Angel fish and many other colourfish I couldn't name. To
boot there were Moniter Lizards just running round cafe on the island looking for a feed! Big
buggers they were. Hit the gym with Ben (much needed) and then had dinner with his folks again
followed by some to round off the day.

Day six - I'm currently writing this on the plane headed for Manila in the Philippines.
Playing rugby in the Manila 10's tournament so will round that up as soon as I get the time
out there. I'll probably only last about 5 minutes seeing as though it's 35 degrees and the humidity
is UNREAL!

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Comments

[Aaron Lowry]

#1!!!
Hey jon, glad you're having a good time. No one can ever come close to describing the heat and humidity there until you've actually been so I don't envy you having to play rugby in it! Good work with the PADI, just don't get too carried away playing with the sea cucumbers ;-p

[Abby]

Lazy
Oi lazy boy...write another blog! Dad has printed the first blog off so we can keep a file and show Nana too! love and miss you xxx

[Mumsy]

At last
Well it has only taken me until 4th April to read your first blog, you know me and technology!! Have just found out you have now posted another so will search for the next hour to find it. Sounds like big bro Ben and his family looked after you well in Borneo - thanks Ben if you ever read this!!