Been on Borneo, saw wild Orangutans and crocs, king fishers, goannas, gibbons, monkeys and much more. The jungle was amazing and the Diving at Mabul was good although not as good as the GB reef. the Malaysians are really friendly. had some nice food including a jelly fish salad.

I have had busy few days. Flew from Tawau in Sabah, borneo, it's an hour and a half drive from Semporna where i was staying when i did my diving on Mabul Island. I booked a mini bus with the dive shop at 6pm for 25 ringget. There were 3 other people booked so would be a shared cost. at 5 pm they told me they made a mistake and the 3 others had gone at 6 am! i would have to pay 80 Ringgit on my own. I grabbed my stuff and ran to the local bus station to catch the last bus. It's not like a normal bus station in Eng or Spain for example; It's just loads of blokes shouting and all the busses are jammed in in rows wiuth no numbers on. They are all mini van busses. I found a man and he took me to the right bus and was very nice and arranged things in Malay as no one could speak English. I sat on the un-airconditioned bus for 45 mins waiting/sweating, for it to get full! there are only 12 seats and in the end there were 18 passengers. Once we got going it wasn't so hot as all the windows were open. A nice man sat beside me and he spoke excellent English, his kids has studied in Brighton and Porthsmouth. He was a progress manager for one of the 100's of constuction sites in Semporna.

Got to the airport in a bout an hour and a half. The fair was 25 ringgits. 4 pounds 33 p. Caught a flight to Kota Kinabalu and stayed in Step-in-Lodge- the one i stayed at before.I arrived at 11.30 pm and was on bed by 12. Got up at 5 am and went back to the airport and got a flight to Miri in Sarawak. Got my Passport stamped as its a different state to Sabah, but still part of Borneo. Got a Taxi from Miri Airport to Highlands Hostel. It was an ok hostel there was me and another man in an 18 bed dorm! all the doubles were filled so there were a few people about. I had a nap and then went for a wander in the city. bought a backpack cos the wheely bad doesnt work in asia as the roads are really bad. Threw away and gavr to charity lots of my clothes and stuff, douwn from 20 kg to 14 now with the day pack weiging 9 kg! a bit heavy but at lest i dont pay exrea baggage allowence for air asia! The backpack i got was only 80 ringgit. 13 pounds. Hope it will last the 4 weeks! I cant belive its nearly time to come back!

Next day I went to Niah Caves. The caves are famous for the edible birds nest soup. It's $10,000 US per kilo. The collectors go up 100's of feet on bambook canes. Saw people collecting Bat poo to sell as fertiliser. Walked 8.5km around the caves, some of it in pitch black- I hired a decent torch for a pound! was a bit scary in places, very quiet and alot of bats squeeking and flapping about!

Took a flight the next day at 10 am and arrived back in KL. Took a bus from the airport for an hour and a half to the KL Sentral bus terminal. No busses to Cameron Highland so went to another bus terminal 20 mins away in the Taxi. Found a bus leaving at 3.30pm and it was already 3.15 pm. there wre 87 ticket offices and i looked at about 40 of them before the touts pointed me to the right company. The fare was 23 ringgits. ( 3 pounds 97) The man said it would take 3.5 hrs. He then lead me to the bus- it was a ten min walk down the main road not even in the bus station! Found the bus and it left at 3.30 pm. There were 4 other westeners on the bus! wow i wasn't the only one for once! We stopped for a Tandas break (toilet) at a service station at about 5.30 pm. The next leg was loooooooooong!! we were going up hill at 20 kms per hour as the bus was about 100 yrs old. We were over taken by children running up the hill beside the bus!!! the roads were windy with hairpin bends on every corner where most cars and motorbikes chose to overtake our slow bus! it was dark now and there was a massive elecrical storm. The mountains were lit up by lightning and it was rianing hard. We arrived at Tahna Rata it was 9.30 pm! 6 hours!!!!!!!! the hostel I booked sent a bus to pick me up. The guy said why did u take this bus company ? it's the worst one in Malaysia! He said the other two companys got there in 4 hours! well u live and learn.

Checked in and payed 10 ringgit- 2 pounds for my bed. Got some indian food witha scottish girl and an ozzy guy at 10 pm and then went to bed.
Got up early this morning and tried to go on a day trip- all full so going to see the Rafflensia flower and Boh Tea Plantation tommorow! flying to Chaing Mai on the 4th from KL to see my friend Eve! yay! x lots of love xx Han