And so the adventure begins...

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Well I have arrived safely after a journey that seemed to take forever - it didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. Started with a re-pack in Heathrow airport when I was told only one piece of hand luggage even though my small handbag and small ruck sack was less that than half the size of the persons before me!!! Flight was then delayed to Dubai and so when I landed I made a dash to get my connecting flight only to find that the next one was considerably delayed too which did have the plus side that my baggage was now likely to make the flight as well.

Finally I arrived at Kuala Lumpar Airport at 11pm where I spent the next 5 hours trying to get some shut eye on a bench waiting for Check-in to open and surrounded by about 20 sleeping people including a eldery Chinese gentleman on the next bench who for the first hour I kept thinking was dying only to find out he was clearing his throat and this according the Isla (one of the girls from the project) something to do with clearing the Devil/bad luck. It was definately my bad luck as I really was in need of some sleep.....

Anyway caught the dawn flight from KL to Kota Kinabalu, one of 5 passengers so almost a whole 737 almost to myself - so almost had my own personal jet. Enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise over the clouds before my first view of Borneo. Both of which were stunning and worth staying awake for.

Arrived at Kota Kinabalu airport and was so quick through that Albert (my in country contact) was not there to meet me, so sat on a bench steaming nicely (in more ways than one - very warm even at 7am and secondly I was very much in need of a shower after 24 hours of travelling - pleasant I know!).

Unfortunatley the hotel room wasn't ready so Albert very sweetly took me for a tea at a beachside cafe while we waited for the another one of the group to arrive. Luckily Joanne arrived a short time later as I was getting to the point of pure fixation on a shower and a soft bed. Unforntunately for Joanne her luggage hadn't arrived at the same airport as her - initially io was very impressed with her packing light when I saw her rucksack at 1/10th the size of mine! She took the whole lost luggage thing better than I think I would.

After an shower and siesta we meet up with more of the group - from all over the world Canada, Austrailia, Hong Kong... and went for a whistle stop guide of KK (Kota Kinabalu) before finding dinner at a cafe on the Waterfront, unfortunately not Malaysian are but Italian but I was too tired to care.

I should add that 1 girls wandering around together does get some attention over her - even if you dress conservatively! Afterwards I took a wander around the Filipino Market with the two Canadian Girls (Sarah & Katherine). Katherine has extremely short hair (courtesy of a part in a play where she played a lead male!) and this definately caused some extra comments. "GI Baby" was by far the funniest. Wasn't quite brave enough to pull a camera out in the market and cause any more comments. And it isn't just locals that paid attention - some English guys on a Fund Raising event made a few comments too but we were persuaded and a very tired, slightly jet lagged me to have a drink with them before final energy reserves faded and we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

The waterfront is very nice at sunset and when lit up at night if you can ignore unpleasant smell of waste that wafts past intermittantly. Though with places called the "Shamrock" or "Cock and Bull" it didn't quite have the Malaysian atmosphere that I had thought I would be having on my first night.

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Photos

Dawn Flight
The beautiful sunrise above the clouds on the way to Kota Kinabalu made the sleep deprivation not so bad

Start of Journey
The adventure begins and the start of a very long journey to my final destination - very exciting location of Letchworth Railway Station!!!

First View of Borneo
My first sighting of Borneo and home for the next few months

KK Waterfront
The Islands from Kota Kinabalu Waterfront and a very tired, slightly jet lagged me!

KK Waterfront View
View from Kota Kinabalu Waterfront at Sunset

The restaurant
The restaurant where we ate on the Waterfront

Lanterns and Sunsets
Another photo from the Waterfront