Hiya everyone, if the last couple are any thing to go by this could be another epic!!

So after landing in KK (kota kinabalu) the capital of sabah (you see borneo is one island split in to four bits, sabah, and sarawak owned by malaysia, Bruni it's own country and Kalamantan owned by indonesia, the largest and least developed of the four) we found the local bus to town, or so we thought, it was actually a bus to the central bus depo, where we had to catch another bus to the 'backpackers area' where we fell off the bus dead on our feet. During the bus journey from KL to singapore at midnight the day before, or the flight from singapore to KK, neither one of us had managed to sleep, the odd cat nap here and there but not enough to make us feel fresh and bushey tailed. To my greatest suprise Hev got her second wind and left me sitting on the bags on a street corner, whilst she went off and found a hotel for us to stop in, ten minutes later we were booked in and ready to take a look around KK. (Bet you thought i was gona say sleep, well thats not the way we roll baby) KK is only a small town and it didn't take us long to get our bearings to where the hub of town is and where the markets and sea front were. We wandered round a shopping center, and Hev even managed to find a T-shirt that:A) she liked and B) fitted her, so she spent some of her birthday money buying it (only took four months!!). Then all of a sudden Hev took a faint spell, i thought it was from parting with her cash, but i think it must have been the lack of sleep i managed to get her a bottle of red bull, the concentrate stuff , ten minutes later we were up and running again, amazing stuff red bull. We ended the day with a selection of awefull local bread stuffs whilst watching an awefull film on TV (often we are disapontied when we have TV).
The next day we spent wandering round local markets looking at tat, the local fish market looking at fish, the harbour where we watched some monster tuna being brought ashore, and a sea food restaruant that had coconut crabs, (look at the pics, they are beasts!!) We also checked out the local tour operators, as i wanted or would have liked to climb mount Kinabalu, but only if it fit into budget, which it didn't, so it got sacked off, there are much better ways of spending $150!!
We left KK the next day for a town named Ranau, which we know is near Poring hot springs and the tree top walkways.We pilled onto a local bus, did a tour of town, as we were on the wrong bus, got off at the main depo, jumped onto another local bus that took us to within a five minute walk of the hotel we had left an hour ago, Sweet!! The mini bus to Ranau was half full when we arrived, we were told we would leave at 11:30 or when all the seats were full, we left at 11:30. The journey was great as we travelled up into the hills of Sabah, with some breath taking senery of the national parks, then sadly you see the slash and burn farming of the locals, which is destroying the reason to come to Borneo! The driver stopped at the main entrance to the national park of Kota Kinabalu and looked at the pair of us and said "mount Kina Balua??" "Nope Ranau" we replied, his facial expretion told a thousand words, why were we going to Ranau again?? When we arrived we asked each other that very same quistion, i dont think its unfair to call Ranau a one horse town!! Usualy we would spend hours going from one guest house to the next, but when there are only four it doesn't take that long, we booked into one that was in 'THE BOOK' ( which we had not consulted in quite some time). We wandered round town which took a further five minutes, where we found a market selling chicken on a stick, thats what were doing here, eating great local food!! (no it was a stick full of parsons noses, gutted) We then found a resturant for lunch, that was owned by a chineese guy, (always look for china town) we had the worlds best chicken sweetcorn soup and a large bottle of cheap beer, fantastic!! The next mission was to find insect repelent, that contained deet, as we had been eaten alive since we ran out, we went to every shop in town searching for the ever elusive Deet, there is no Deet in Ranau, trust us there is no Deet in Ranau!! We bought more citronella based repellent and retired to our room to watch films for the afternoon. After two films we were bored to tears, so we went for a walk, at night, in our strange new town, we bumped into a group of chineese guys drinking beer, they sold us a couple of bottles from the back of their car, we soon realised they were plastered, as the guy selling the beer forgot how much it cost and had to ask his mates how much beer was, then still charged us less.

The next morning brought a KFC breakfast, its the only place in town that serves somthing other than rice or noodles, yes we thought it was odd that a town so small would have a KFC. We were heading for the hot springs and the forest walk, we knew it should cost 5rm per person each way (80p) in a taxi, but the drivers have a monopoly. They are the only way to get to the hot springs, and more importantly back, the drivers offered to leave now for 30myr or they would take us for 5myr (the same price as the locals) if we waited untill the bus was full, so we waited. With in the hour we were on our way, when we arrived, i realised there was no pick up point, no taxi rank, i put that thought to the back of my mind and went on to the butterfly farm (an added bonus) the amount of these amazing creatures fluttering around was a sight to behold. The forest walk way was awesome, the climb to the start point was a gruleing slog but the view from the walk way was breath taking, you had to pay a extra fee for taking pics, so we just hid our camera in the bag and took pics when the camera police weren't watching, Hev (who is profoundly scared of hieghts) began jumping on the rope bridges, which amazed me as we were arround 40m up!!! A long way up the view was awesome but sadly we didn't get to see any of those iconic ginger swingers - our time will come. The last thing left to do today was fill one of the hot pools with hot spring water and chillaxe, thji8s was to be the closest thing to a bath we have had since we left home. After only an hour the pool was full enough for us to get in and the chillaxing began, we seemed to spend hours in the pool, but in reality we were only there for about fifty minutes, but other than changing the colour of our jewellry, it took all the stress and tension out of the carry on of the last couple of days. After we took a dip in an all natural spring pool, which was freezing, refreshing but still freezing, and before trying to bum a lift back to town we had overheard an australian couple saying there was a Rafalsia flower (the worlds biggest flower) in bloom near by and they were going to go see it. Desperate to see one of these ourselves we stalked them in our best following with out being obvious way. When we got to the entrance there was a local guy wanting $10 for the two of us to go see his plant, we at that point desided it wasn't that important and tryed instead to get a lift back to town. We asked a couple of drivers who told us they were booked for the day, but if we asked there was another driver going our way, there were three brits waiting to get a lift back to town also, they asked how much we had paid for our lift, and seamed genuinly shocked when we told them 5myr each, the driver told them he would take the three of them for 30myr, we said if we stuck together we would get the lift for 5myr each, after a little whispered conversation they paid over the odds and left us on the side of the road, Sweet. We found our lift back to town for 5myr each in a car with some friendly local guys who were going that way anyway, they would have taken us to the door if we had told them our address. That night we went for more amazing soup and to b**** about being dumped by fellow Brits, we've been ditched enough times by locals not to take it personaly , but Brits, our own, what the hell.

The next morning we went for breakfast in a little restaruant, and there were our 'friends', who left very shortly after seeing us, or at least thats how it felt to me. We were had seen all that Ranau had to offer so we headed out of town to a petrol station where we could catch a bus to the town of Sandakan. It was raining and we thought we were gona get soaked, but as we aproached the station so did the bus, freaky timing, but some how very apropriate, the bus dropped us off at the main depo of Sandakan, which was a couple of k out side of town, we jumped a taxi and got dropped off at the backpackers area. We found a hotel and checked in, within ten minuets of getting out of the cab, clearly not a day for messing arournd. We went and checked out town, we found that there was a bus that would take us to Sepilok to see the big ginger tree swingers so planned to go the next day. We spent the rest of the day checking out Sandakan and eatting more fantastic chinesse food (well i did, hev had sweetcorn soup again).

The next morning we were up early to catch the bus to Sepilok sanctuary, we spent best part of the journey talking to an american bloke that kept telling us go to the grand canyon, to humour him we promised that we would, it was too early in the morning for anything else. Having arrived and paid our fee to the sanctuary we walked along the long boardwalk through the jungle to the feeding platforms where we could see the orangutans come for their breakfast. As we walked along the boardwalk one of the orangutans was ahead of the game arriving early and swooping in from a tree on to the railings of the path we were walking on, it was fabulous to see this creature so close up. They look really friendly and cuddly but sadly we couldnt get close enough to find out. We stood in silence with the crowds and watched as the orangutans all swung in for their breakfast and dined on milk and bananas and other assorted fruit. The crowds filtered out after a while and we stayed a little longer, when it seemed like it was all over and the orangutans had left another tribe of monkeys suddenly appeard to clean up any left overs, so we waited a while and watched. We had seen what we had come to see and it was still only early so headed to the rainforest discover centre up the road where there would be the chance of glimpsing some more wildlife from their tree top canopy walk, and we could explore the grounds and see the botanical gardens. A fabulous and exhausting day - the rainforest is surprisingly hilly.

We spent a few more days around Sandakan taking in the town and pleanty of chineese beer, before we headed off to the next town. We had hoped to visit the tourist information office in Sandakan to see if we could find a way to do a day trip to the next town where we wanted to go on a boat trip, but due to the weirdly long weekends in Malaysia they were close the whole time we were there so we decided we had to wing it as our guide book didnt have much info on this area either.

We knew there was no direct bus to where we wanted to go, we knew we would be droped at a junction where we could get a local taxi for about 10rm each for the last 40k, this didnt happen. With all the taxi drivers sticking together it was 40rm per person. Feeling robbed we payed the taxi driver and set off for the one cheap accomodation we had heard of, and ofcourse it was full. This is where our taxi driver made his money as he wouldn't leave us until he knew we were booked in to a hotel and not stranded, and then left his details with the hotel so he could be contacted the next day to return us to the junction for our onward journey. We would have to stump up resort prices which we will never speak of as the room was not worth the money, thankfully the boat trip that was thrown in was worth every penny. On the river trip amongst other things we got to see Proboscus monkeys (the ones with the big fat noses) silver languars (pic) and maquacs who apparently if you make eye with will attack, also horn bills and kingfishers. The highlight of the day for Rob was when we saw a salt water croc, it was only a baby, but still. The sighting was acompanied by a story from our guide about a plantation worker who was taken from the banks of the river while fishing one afternoon some three months earlier. I was daft enough to enquire about the mans health, not realising how very efficient croc are at catching their dinner, and was left feeling quite concerned about the proximity of our room to the river bank. That night I barely slept worrying about the crocs and kept awake by a whimpering dog underneath our stilted room, surely the croc would have it soon.

Having seen and done what we had come to Kinabatangan for and unable to afford yet another night there we headed out bright and early thge next morning heading for the town of Semporna. Our driver from the day before picked us up and took us back to the junction. He had contacted the bus companies for us and told us the bus times, it would be a while before a direct bus but if we took another to a nearer town we would easily pick a Semporna bus up from there. Our early start was somewhat wasted due to the first bus being far to expensive (its all a matter of skin tax) so after only an hour and three more buses we finaly got one at the right price. Sadly that old expression you get what you pay for came to haunt us as we were dropped 10k from town at the junction nearest town where the bus turned. The air turned blue, not only had we payed more than we wanted for the journey but we were now being dropped 10k from the place the driver had told us he would take us to (we know that generally being white its assumed that we are rich and will therefore always pay more than the locals, but in Malaysia this is taken to the extreme not only were we ripped off we were also lied to for our custom). After a few hundred metres we found a bus stop where we waited for a bus to town. Every car driving past was beeping the whities in the bus stop and our mood was not lifted, until a mini bus pulled up on the other side of the road and the driver shouted SEMPORNA, we practically ran across main road traffic to get on his bus. What made it even better was he didn't want crazy money to take either, and by that point we wouldn't have cared, finaly carma was on our side and we were on our way to Semporna for some fabulous snorkelling.

We arrived in Semporna which is possibly the hotest place we had been to sice Siem Reap (Cambodia) which sadly did me no favours and left me physically drained after trudging with my pack and the impact of the day as a whole. Rob braved the heat to discover the town was far more popular than we would have ever guessed, after what seemed like forever he returned to tell me hed found a dorm room, which we gladly trugged off to. We ditched the bags in our surprisingly nice hostel and were about to set off to find a snorkelling company when we met our room mate a young english diver who was in the process of checking out. We started to chat and were glad of a little inside information as he had spen the last week here diving. Devistatingly he told us the water visibility was now very poor due to a recent storm, we decided nature was against us and with our recent speight of luck thought it was definatly time to get in to Indonesia and try our luck there instead. We looked around Semporna for the evening and headed to the market as thats normally where the action is, and we were not disappointed. Within two minutes of sitting down a gang of delinquent children asked us if we had a light, we were shocked that children so young might be smoking. With that they struch what appeard to be a fat match against the floor we gleeful giggling they threw it in to the air and it exploded, danger Will Robinson danger - children with fire crackers. They spent the next 10 minutes tormenting us with the crackers as we were never sure when were going to have to duck for cover. Eventually a local man chased the kids away, at the same moment a gigantic grouper was brought ashore from a fishing boat - maybee he was trying to save the fish from coming under attack not us? Id swear the fish weighed more than both of us put together and must have been 7ft long (yes im a fishermans daughter but honest it was massive) if only we'd had a camera. It took a team of eight men to man handle the sea beast on a crate trolly up the stairs to the market, hugely entertaing to watch. After the excitement we diced to find somewhere for a quite drink and a bite to eat, so we could plan the next phase of 'Escape Malaysian Borneo'. We found a place advertising roti and remebering how good they were in Merang were tempted in. We were served the first one and being the gentleman that he is Rob "kindly" let me have it, first bite deliscious cut the second piece only to reveal a dead fly - I was only so relived to find it wasn't half a dead fly. The resturant owner was devistated and promptly personally replaced it with a fresh one. The rest of the evening passed eventlessly, we retired for the evening. We found both dorms were now completely empty and as such looked forward to our first uninterupted nights sleep in days? We locked the door to our private dorm before going to bed - big mistake. At 4am the idiot on the front desk banged hell out of the door until I answered, another couple were checking in and rather than put them in the empty dorm over the corridor he decided it would be better to put them in our room and wake us up. This was the final straw we had to get the hell out of Malaysia, (I'm a backpacker get me outta here).

We boarded the first available bus next morning to Tawau the boarder town for Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), luckily I read abaout Indonesian visas on the way there, they would not be issued on the boarder. We spent the rest of the day as minor celebrities in the Indonesian embassey waiting for our visas to be issued. Finally we collapsed in our hotel at the end of the day (which may or may not have been a brothle) ready to get out of Sabah. At the ferry terminal next morning we purchaced our tickets and had our final victory in Malaysia, we barterd the ticket price down a little. The difference was later snatched away in harbour taxes!! We boarded the ferry with dozens of other people and again became instant celebrities as once again we were the only while faces arround. We sighed a sigh of relief as we crossed in to Indonesian waters heading for Tarakan - in the words of D-ream, "things can only get better".

Thats for another day.

Exec 1: What's hummus?
Tom: It's a very tasty diarrhea-like substance.

Until the next edition of war and peace, remeber we love and miss you all,

The Shoe string two

XoXo