Well we flew to Kota Kinabalu and stayed in a nice resort by the sea where we had our farewell dinner; the trip I was on splits into two halves Sabah (just done) and Sarawak so the group changes depending what people booked. Two of my Sabah group Antonia and Andy stayed on for Sarawak and just one other person joined us; Phil. Phil is in his late 50's originally from NZ now living with a Chinese wife in China, he is an absolute dickhead,possibly the most disagreeable man I have ever met who has no understanding for personal space, standing too close to you and looking over your shoulder all the time, with absolutely no regard for hygiene at all. I worked this out when we first met and he proved me right and far exceeded my expectations on our Sarawak trip!! See photo of him, you see what I mean!

The following morning we flew to Miri for the official start of our trip, the hotel was pretty good and I now get my own room as I am the only solo female on the trip which is good as dodgy stomach was terrible at this point - thank God for immodium or I wouldn't of made it!

Our welcome dinner was at a chinese restaurant - they have a lot of these - we had a sort of tank of a soup like substance in front of us and had to order things to cook in the soup like substance. Not really my cup of tea to be honest and what with the bad stomach I chose not to eat much (I was also put off watching and listening to Phil guzzle his way through it!!).