at last i have internet access, suprisingly they dont have it in the jungle or up mt kinabalu!

so when i arrived at borneo i had a free day before the group met so hired a boat to go to the island manukan. this was lovely, part of a national park so had to pay an entrance fee to get on it. did more snorkelling and a bit of lounging on beach.

next day met the group, theres mainly 30 something, but a 50 and 64 year olds!! the group is great, having a really good laugh with them. half from uk and half from usa with a few aussies in for good measure.

next day drove to foot of mountain and stayed in wooden lodges. early start the next day to start the treck uphill. it was a killer treck, really steep huge steps to climb up in the heat... it was like being in a fairytale as you feel dead small compared to the huge trees and roots underfoot. after about 5-6 hrs we arrived up in the clouds to our overnight tin sheds. they were tiny freezing things that we stayed in until 2.30 am! then started to the top in the dark with headtorches on so we could see the sunrise at top at 6.30 am.. it was like being in the sky, there were millions of stars out that looked in reaching distance. it was bloody tough but worth it at the top. it was freezing until the sun came up... then the long long treck down to the bottom after breakfast. got a blood blister on my toe from coming down. ive now learned the interbational travellers card game 's***head' which we played to while away a few hours half way up in the tin sheds

the next day we all ached so much we could hardly walk. drove by coach to next hotal/lodge and some of us went to an outside hot spring in a forrest garden setting. that was sooo hot we ordered cold tiger beers and sat there till dark, then had dinner .

thursday we set of to the jungle by coach and a river boat trip around 5 hrs total.. then in the jungle stayed in little wooden huts, it was great there was nothing else around apart from jungle, strange animal noises and mosqutios! the weird secada insects are really loud and make the strangest noises, like mobile phone rings, chainsaws etc etc..

we did 3 boat trips in day and night down river to see animals. we came across orangs, snakes, probiscus monkleys, macaques, colourful birds, lizards, crocks, civit cat... amazing to see them in there natural habitiat. there were also pigme elephants but didnt see any unfotunately... half the group opted to do a night jungle walk and cam back covered in leeches and bleeding for hours from them, glad i didnt do that then!

friday, now at sepilok forrest edge resort which is lovely. its right next to the orang sanctuary which were visiting tomorrow. were in wooden chalets in like a froest park, with animals around us. its the closest thing to civilisation ive seen for days now.

im loosing track of days and have no idea whats going on elsewhere im so engrosed in whats going on here, i love borneo. the group is a great group, wre having a good laugh.. one bloke did vol work at an ornag sanctuary in kuching which sounds brill and ive took the details of him so may do that next..

so ill try to upload photos in a few days when back at kota kinabulu as this is the only pc and dont have time........ goodbye for now. x x x x x x x