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Published: July 13th 2009
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Swimmer boy
Beach on Manukan Island Splashing across the South China Sea
Dad is getting soaked. Young Rohan looks like a stunned fish. He clings onto Dad like a limpet. Mum is getting scared. The boatman hands her a life jacket. Benji and I are grinning from ear to ear. We are definitely NOT scared. Not one bit! We love the shear speed and seaspray. It's the best ride of our trip so far. Speedboats are always fun. And this one is really zipping along. Of course, there are a few waves to crash through - or knock us sideways. But the boatmen can handle that. Sometimes they slam on the "brakes" and wait for the biggest waves to go past. When we arrive at each island, they count heads to check that no-one has gone missing overboard.
National Park at sea
Tunku Abdul Rahman Park is a National Park off the coastal town of Kota Kinabalu. It includes the islands of Sapi, Mamutik, Manukan, Sulug and Gaya. "Pulau" is the Malaysian word for "island". We visit two islands on a speedboat - Manukan and Sapi.
Sandcastles on Manukan Island
Like everyone else, we head straight for the white sandy beach
Feet first
Fish feeding on Manukan Island. The locals love this place - only a few tourists are here. We have fun decorating sandcastles with driftwood and shells. There are two shark nets protecting the beach. And we don't see any traces of jellyfish anywhere. Just sand-coloured fish swimming close to shore.
We also have our first taste of a sweet corn iceblock. It tastes just like eating corn straight off a cob. Yum!
Jungle meets beach
Karambunai Peninsula is about 40 minutes drive north-east of Kota Kinabalu. Take a look at that beach! White, sandy and truly wide. And it stretches for six kilometres. With only a handful of people on it. Dad says it's one of the best beaches he has seen - outside of Australia. I am the first to spot dozens of tiny crabs scurrying across the sand near the waves. Their body and claws are almost see-through. That camouflage trick almost worked on us. Now, we see dozens more as we walk along the tide zone.
Rocky pools
The resort here has great pools,. They are connected by a neat pair of water slides. We slip and dive down those slides in every position
Beach footprints
Rohan (left) + Dad (right) we can think of.
Meanwhile, Rohan has a great time in the toddler pool. He even joins us for a turn on the slides.
Poolside chess
We break from the pools to have a game on a giant chess set. School is in - Dad gives us a chess lesson. He explains opening strategies, dual-purpose moves and how to keep the king safe.
My Dad was once a champion at chess. He reckons I am picking it up really well. Maybe I will try playing again back home.
Lagoon ride
The clouds are rolling in. A wall of rain is coming towards us. Dad grabs all of our stuff and puts it under shelter. The the storm hits!
A boatman dashes over to us and asks if we want to cancel our ride. No way! We don't want to miss out. So, we put on life jackets and wade out to the "banana boat". I grab onto the handholds tightly and brace for launch. Awesome! We were going to get wet no matter what. The speedboat tows us out into the tropical downpour. The rain is warm on my face. This is more
Water slides
Hours of fun! fun than riding in fine sunshine.
Twisting by the pool
I find a whole set of ninja clothes in our hotel room. So, we must dress up and try them out. Why waste them? Mum says they are actually bath robes for relaxing in. Who needs that? They work for me as ninja robes. Karate is also fine by me. "Ai-Yah!". We practice a few moves by the pool.
Young Rohan knows the pool is too deep for him. So he hops over to a shallow water feature and plays around in there. He is happy between the pot plants.
We are all delighted to find chocolate doughnuts for breakfast. Rohan soon smears choc all over his face.
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