after leaving the orangs i headed by bus to the south of sabah to a town called semporna, this is where you get the boat out to the islands of sipidan and mabul. sipidan is famous for two reasons...1) the famous french oceanographer jacque coustaue came across the island and descibed it as one of the best under water habitat's in the world( and he should know!) he made a famous film called ""ghost of the turtle"".. the other reason it is famous is because about 4 years ago phillipino pirates turned up on the island in the middle of the day and kidnapped 11 tourists from off the beach and took them to a little island and held them hostage for three months till the ransom was paid!
no-one is allowed to stay on the island anymore and there is a few soilders stationed there now,so i booked myself a few dives and saw a some of the most amazing things i have ever seen, it really is another world down there!!! no pirate sightings .while on mabul i met a essex market trader(proper del-boy)who talked me into climbing mt kinabulu...4000 and a bit meter high mountain.it was the hardest physical thing i have ever done by a long way and i still carnt beleive i actually made it,the photo's tell the story but i carnt upload them coz im on another old computer and i carnt put into words at the moment the experience but will try to once i get back to the uk.it took me 4 days to get over the climb and i could not even climb a kerb but once i could walk i went on a jungle river cruise to see probiscus monkeys....then decided to say godbye to borneo. the problem is the weather is really strange for this time of year so jumped on a couple of cheap flights to cambodia, plenty to see and do no matter about the weather...have already seen my first robbery at gunpoint so looks like it's going to be quiet an intresting couple of weeks
