We were picked up from Paganakan Dii at 7.30am for our 50 minute car journey to Sanadakan, where we would be catching a speedboat to Selingan (Turtle Island). Selingan Island is one of a group of uninhabited islands straddling the Malaysian and Philippine boundaries lying within the Sulu Seas. This cluster of islands namely three main nesting islands - Pulau Selingan, Pulau Bakkungan Kechil and Pulau Gulisan, covers an area of 1,740 hectares and are protected for the sole purpose of conservation and preservation of turtles and other marine animals inhabiting the area. Luckily Jane was feeling much better today, although her rash was still there, she wasn't feeling as upset with it. We arrived 45 minutes early for our speedboat trip as we had to go into the offices (hut on the jetty) of the ... read more

We arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 9.30am and to take us to the Gomantong Caves and then to Paganakan Dii, Sanadakan, were we would be stayiing for 2 nights. The caves were a 30 minute drive from TLFL followed by a 10 minute walk through the rainforest. The Gomantong Caves are an intricate cave system inside Gomantong Hill. The main cave system is divided into two parts: the more accessible Simud Hitam (Black Cave), and the larger Simud Putih (White Cave) which lies above. The names refer to the main type of nests produced by swiftlets in each cave. The cave system is home to many other animals, including massive populations of cockroaches and bats. The caves have been renowned for their valuable edible swiftlet nests, which are harvested for bird's nest ... read more

We were heading out today to Kampung Bilit for our two night stay in The Last Frontier Lodge, based near the Kinabatangan river and in the rainforest. Kampung Bilit is a small village with 150-180 people whose livelihood depends very much on fishing and craftworks. The village consists of mainly of Orang Sungai, which literally means River People. After getting a little worried, as all our planning for this trip had been done over the internet, Gert (owner of the TLFL) finally arrived 20 minutes late. The journey to TLFL lodge took approx 2hrs in Gerts' 4x4, the road surface was very good apart from the occasional pot hole, until we got to the dirt track leading to TLFL. After 20 minutes on the dirt track we arrived at TLFL and the infamous 539 steps! Atfer ... read more

After much excitement today, at 8.20pm we embarked the Air Asia flight D72009 from Stansted, ready for take off at 9pm. Finally after 13 hours of flying we were to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 4.50pm (local time). Flying into KL it was evident that the rainforest was disappearing, being replaced by lots of palm oil trees (were the money is) planted in nice neat rows. We disembarked the plane and the first thing we noticed was how extremely hot, humid and windy it was. We managed to go through passport control, customs and collect and luggage all by 5.40pm (that just wouldn't happen in Engalnd!!) Our first night was to be spent at KL airport in the Tune hotel, which was a five minute walk from the airport (maybe ten with our backpacks!). We were ... read more