It was quite a culture shock arriving in Kuala Lumpur from Labuan Bajo! I had managed to hop on a flight straight to KL when I arrived in Bali. I arrived at midnight, feeling a little under the weather, so decided to treat myself to a couple of nights in a hotel. And what a treat it was! It was a swanky little place in Chinatown which set me back a whopping 15 pounds a night. My room had air-con, a TV and a huge bed with a duvet and real pillows, and my bathroom had a shower! With hot water! And a sink! It was so lovely. I only had one day in KL before flying to Sabah and I spent most of it in Chinatown which I loved. It is a crazy place with little shops selling every item under the sun and hundreds of restaurants and street stalls with all kinds of food. I really enjoyed it there and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the city when I get back from Borneo.

The following day I flew to Kota Kinabalu, the main city in Sabah. I only spent one day there (and even that was hard to fill, there isn't much to do) before getting the night bus to Semporna on the south-east coast of Sabah. I was booked into a hostel attached to a dive shop where I had arranged 3 days of diving. I liked it so much I ended up staying for 5 days of diving and 3 days of certification, bringing me to the next level of diving - Rescue Diver!

The hostel itself was not the nicest or cleanest place I've been but by staying there I met loads of really cool people. I had lots of friends to hang out with in the evening, comparing dive stories and exchanging information on other parts of the world. Fabulous. There were a couple of guys who arrived at the same time as me to start their Dive Master training and they were a really good laugh. They'll both be there until at least Christmas... not sure I could stay that long!

The town of Semporna is a bit of a dump but by staying there you can reach the world-famous dive sites of Sipadan and Mabul, while also accessing the more northern islands of the archipeligo in the marine park. During the 5 days of diving I visited Mabul, Kappalai, Sibuan, Bohayan, Timba Timba and Mantabuan. Mabul was my favourite but all of them were fantastic. I saw so many turtles every single dive I actually stopped counting them! They are so used to divers that they often swim very close, that is if they're not just sleeping in the coral. I also saw lots of my favourite fish - juvenille box fish - and some cool frog fish, mandarin fish, stone fish and scorpion fish. I'll put a few photos of them into my next album although I won't claim I took them! Unfortunately I didn't get to dive Sipadan as there are only 120 visitors allowed each day and during July/August the permits get booked up 3+ months in advance! So I guess I'll just have to come back again...

After my 5 days of diving I really wanted to stay a bit longer so I decided to get my Rescue diver certification, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. Luckily another guy had just booked to start the course the same day so I could join him. The course takes 3 days - one day of theory followed by 2 days of diving (training). The theory wasn't too difficult, just a lot to learn - we spent 10 hours studying! And for me, who hadn't used my brain for the last 11 months, it was quite a shock! The practical, however, was incredibly hard and so so tiring! I am still utterly exhausted, 24 hours after finishing it. We had an instructor and a trainee dive master with us, who played our "victim", and of course he would be a 6ft2 Danish guy built like a rugby player! He weighed a ton! I had to practice skills like towing him to shore while delivering rescue breaths, carrying him onto the shore on my back, bringing him unconscious to the surface and climbing a ladder onto the boat with him unconscious in my lap! We also had to learn how to deal with a panicked diver on the surface where you can't get too close in case they basically try to climb on you to save themselves. I avoided being dunked but poor Mike got caught twice. Tee hee. All in all it was an exhausting but brilliant course and I feel so much more confident as a diver in handling difficult situations. I really learnt a lot. And now I need to rest....

I have left Semporna now and am about to begin a 3 day expedition into the rainforest along the Kinabatangan River. I'll be spending my birthday with the orangutans!!