"Ain't no Mountain high enough...." Right, here goes another epic..we've done loads so forgive me if it's brief because we've just spent nearly 3 hours just uploading the pictures!! (by the way there are new photos on the KL, Gunung mulu, Brunei, Kinabalu albums...told you they were coming!) So our plans were set...we left Miri and got numerous little buses to Brunei. It was such a broken journey, we got one bus to the Malay border, then another to the Brunei border, then another to a little twon then ANOTHER to the capital - Bandar Seri Bagawan. Found a hotel where the receptionist was VERY helpful and gave us loads of places to go see...we arrived at about 1 and she was determined for us to cram in as much sightseeing as we physically could! So, ok we thought we'll go 'do' a Mosque...and off we went to the 'new' mosque and it was beautiful... We were given very flattering blacj robes to wear around the mosque which, of course, made us very hot it the 30 something degree heat! And we climbed the 278 steps of one of the towers just for the hell of it...mad! After we finished there we hopped into a man's car and he took us to the Sultan's palace which was amazing! Especially because it had just been his birthday so everywhere was adorned with lights and decorations. After that we got a water taxi back to our hotel...which are soooo cool by the way, definately the way to travel i think...had something to eat (but not before we were stalked and followed into the restaurant by a discusting little man...we got rid of him soon enough though)...and went to bed. Next morning, following the receptionists advice, we caught the 11 o'clock bus to the ferry port where we then caught the ferry to Labuan. Here we were supposed to continue our voyage to Kota Kinabalu, the mainland, but the receptionist got it wrong and we were left stranded on the island for a night - don't bother going there, its not the best. Didn't really do much as there was nothing to be done...watched a few films and thats about it. Caught the ferry the following morning though to Kota Kinabalu where upon docking we headed straight for food! Then we went straight to the Tourists Information Centre to aquire about our mountain hike...they sent us somewhere else (naturally). So we went to the 'booking place' and we did our last 10 days all at once! We booked the climb up Mt Kinabalu, Uncle Tan's wildlife adventure, and diving in Sipadan!! After purchasing new socks for Tor (she needed them for the climb) we caught our little minibus to the mountain HQ. We met Louciana on the bus and arranged to join the same team as her on the hike the next day...needless to say we were early to bed that night - though not much sleep was had by any as it was cold in our room, we all ended up sleeping in our clothes! Next day we started our climb!! We met up with two danish girls who were also to be in our team, aquired our guide William and headed off to the gate. And off we went...! 6 hours it took us to get up to Base Camp, 6.5km and it was ok actually, the end was getting a bit dodgy and there was definately ache-age in the old thigh muscles but all in all it wasn't a bad trek, met some nice people, saw an old friend (James the policeman from Gunung Mulu!!) and had a very deserved dinner! Tried to get an early night because we were due to leave for the summit at 2:30 the next morning but, again, our room wasn't heated - we only had two blankets each and ended up sleeping in our clothes again. I think in total both of us had a maximum of and hours sleep, not so good when you have a mountain to climb...! So at 2:30 we got up, wrapped up and headed off into the unknown and into the pitch black of night...and of course it started raining as soon as we began to clamber up the rocky terrain - just our luck! It was awful weather, through gale force winds, lashing rain and bitter atmosphere we struggled up to the 4095.2m peak. As we reached the summit we were told it was -3'C, and we felt it too! I swear at one point i thought i'd have frostbite. I have never experienced a more awful, frightening, regrettable, amazing, enjoyable, spectacular thing in my life...so many emotions it was unbelievable! The view was incredible, absoloutly breathtaking but unfortuanately none of us could linger long enough to really appreciate it because of the cold. So we headed back down almost as soon as we got up the bloody thing! And let me tell you, that was no easy task either!! In the light of day the rock face we had climbed earlier was terrifying! Thank god it was dark whilst we climbed or i dont think many would have dared do it! Near vertical walls with only a rope to hold onto and guide us, how no one was injured i dont know... So after negociating our way back down to Base camp (i slipped and fell, scuffed my knees - those of you who know me best will not be suprised at my clumsiness!), we had a short 30 minute sleep, quick breakfast and then off we went again down the rest of the way. It took us 5 hours to get back down again and it wasn't easy, the steep teps that hinderd our ascent did nothing to help our descent...our knees and thighs were killing us byu the end of it and we were both ready to callapse! But we couldn't for we had to catch our bus to Sandakan that very same day...so after a 18hr hike with 1hr 30mins worth of sleep we then had to wait a further three hours till our bus at 9:30pm that night....we were exhausted and every move was a nightmare...such an effort. We did catch the bus though, and we arrived in Sandakan at 1:30am this moring...needles to say we founf the first hotel we could and jumped into bed for a much MUCH deserved sleep! Today we havn't done much as moving is agony! we did manage to go to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre though, which was great. Really cool, as you'll see from the pics! And as we were walking back we turned arounf and a male was following us! It was a little scarey as he walked right passed us!! Especially because we both knew neither of us had it in us to run...!! So that's it for now...write again as soon as i can and let all you avid readers know what's going on next!! So until next time..."Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough....to keep me from writing to yooooou"!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx