Originally we were only going to spend one night on Labuan (an island three hours from Kota Kinabulu) as it was just supposed to be a stop over on our way to Brunei. However this would have meant we spent Hannah's birthday in Brunei, a very conservative Muslim country where alcohol is banned. We couldn't be having this for Hannah's 30th so we decided to skip Brunei and spend two nights on Labuan instead... which just by chance was a duty free haven. Y...

Once again back in Sandakan for the day. Our bus wasn't until late afternoon so we took a nice walk and ended up at a quaint little English Tea House and Restaurant. Very colonial, overlooking the sea and complete with croquet lawn. They had scones, cream and jam on the menu but we'd heard that they were horrible. I couldn't resist the lure of bread and butter pudding. I just never learn. Microwaved with a nice film of hardened custard with added spl...

Tom had previously dived in Australia. I've never dived before and have always wanted to try it. The diving off the East coast of Borneo was supposed to be spectacular so thought that this would be a good opportunity to have a go! Semporna itself is a pretty rubbish town and not really a place where you want to be after dark. It is however the gateway if you want to dive at any of the world renowned dive spots off the coast. So we arrived late at night (!) b...

Turtles!! I was very excited about our trip here. Tom not so much but I think he did enjoy it in the end! We almost didn't make it here and were extremely lucky to get a place. So the plan was that we would go across to the island, stay one night and be able to witness either a Green turtle or Hawkesbill turtle lay her eggs.  The advice was that to get the best deal you had to get to Sandakan and go down to the jetty where the turtle island people operate f...