Well Folks, the site went down this morning and despite our best efforts we could not enter our rivetting blog. We suspect that this may have something to do with the ammount of message traffic our blog is attracting so please slow down the number of hits you're making Sarah and Martyn. I know the message from Devon is in response to a "worried parent" text we sent him so that doesnt count as he didnt have any credit to return the text. Love you all whatever! Specially you Sarah-sexy-drawers!!! Sorry!!!! been out on the pish!!!!!! and Mandy's not reading over my shoulder like she usually does!XXX

Takes deep breath and pretends to be slober!....

Ive got to write up two days in one here. So Ill start with the first day.... That would probably be yesterday .... Yes.... I think so. Anyway get ready to be jealous friends. We went diving on a coral Island for a day. God you can't believe how long it's taking me to type this...... We got up at silly-o:clock as usual and went for beakfast in the beach hut restaurant.... You lot, probably know this better than I do.....anyway , sticky toffee and marmalade later (and toast for the pureists) we headed down to Kota Kinabalu to find the ferry station because that is the pre-requisit for catching a ferry. However in Kota Kinabalu all is not as it seems.... So we selected a ferry company, there are many companies competing for your trade by trying to shout louder than the other companies, and eventually decided which of the six or so Islands which comprise the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park we wanted to visit and bought a ferry ticket to get to Mamutik Island. We were then told that we had to go to 'desk two' and pay the tax. Well in choosing a desk to buy a ticket at we had deliberatly avoided desk two because the occupants looked like little aisian vampires and selected desk 6 where they just looked like the usual Sabah rip off artists. Any way we couldn't get on the boat untill we had a "Tax Paid" sticker so desk two it was. Ask to see the tooth marks in my neck when we get home, Then we were ussured to the end of the Jessletown Jetty which was great except there was a team from the local triad ensuring ( do you really understand what I mean by ENSURING ?) that everyone who got on a boat was fully equipped with sub aqua equipment, wet suit, mask, snorkel, diving bell. underwater scooter, waterproof camera, Hans and Lotty Hass manual etc. all at an extra 100 ringgits a shot. Any way due to Mandy's persuasive skills ( I don't care whether you're Maffia or Raffia mate we aint buying it .... OK?) I managed to acquire a mask and snorkle at a reasonable rate, then we got on a boat.

Well........ you know the way Mandy doesn't trust anybody to do anything? as we're pulling out of KK harbour she wants to see the driver's quallifications. Well the Triad persuaded her he was reasonably qualified due to the huge ammount of money we had spent renting a mask and snorkel and she eventually put the poor bloke down and let him get on with driving the boat Which I might add , he did in incredible style, (They've offered me a free meal in the Golden Dragon in Andover if I say good things!) We got eventually to Mamutik Island, but there was a sting in the tail.... As we got off the boat we had to walk through a tin shack where blokes with all the authority of the England Rugby Team at Twickenham said " You must pay 10 ringgits landing fee to get off the boat.... Well I Mean, did you ever? any way for some reason we agreed, got off the boat onto Paradise Island.... It was beautiful. We found a spot on the silver white sand for an hour or two then I went snorkeling and was absolutely amazed to see the number of fish species that were swimming around me. I couldnt get Mandy to put on the Mask and Snorkle at this stage so we found a beach hut which willingly plied her with Carelsberg untill she did what she was told. And by that time I had found another bit of reef with even more fish for Milady to inspect. So by the end of the day we had both been suitably awe inspired by the phenominal display of natural beauty and colour beneath the waves. All too soon it was time to be catching the last ferry home and how fortunate that was???. By the time we got back to our favourite bar in the square heavy rain clowds were threatening and indeed rain began to fall keeping us hemmed in at the BBQ bar (see previous Bloggs, Good Tiger) for three buckets. Eventually the rain died down and we ventured forth looking for food, finding an Indian Restaurant we had visited what seems long ago for a fantastic meal and eventually a taxi back to the Hotel.

All was not quite over yet as I sneaked down to watch the Chelsea Liverpool Game on the 199 inch telly in the living room at 2:30 am. I was joined by three Irish Guys and three of the staff. Good guys all, not one of them supporting Chelsea,. Anyway ... they were very fortunate to score at all and it does give us something to to think about with regards to.......... At this point I stopped typing and probably fell asleep at the computer and now I can't remember what I was going to write so it will have to remain like Schuberts!