Well hello again avid readers, we finally got to Borneo but our trip was not without incident!

But before we proceed let me correct an apparantly common misaprehension! we have not gone nor do we wish to go T-total! KL is a city of hugely mixed cultures and ethnic backgrounds and although predominately Moslem there are many other races and religons living peacefully side by side....in fact I would say that this is the most remarkable thing about the city, it's cultural diversity. There are people walking about everywhere in a huge variety of costumes from sahris to yashmacs to turbans and even ladyboys in the most stunning miniskirts you ever did see (A bit of a dampener to the curiosity when you realise their gender is not what it seems!) Thus when you go out to eat you choose with which culture you are going to dine and abide by the customs of that culture (I've not yet seen a ladyboy cafe and wouldn't be too sure on how to behave in one if I did!) so in fact there is absolutely no need to go without alcohol at all, and believe me we haven't! The beer is quite cheap at 10 ringgits (1 pound 80) for a litre bottle of Tiger beer, the one we seem to be buying most of although it is a little dearer in the restaurants. We like indian food and most of the indian food is in moslem restaurants which are Halal so you dont get beer but there is usually a bar next door or somewhere close by, so you can pop round there when youve finished your meal and feed your habit!

Anyway, on with the show! We got up at quater to four this morning and very quietly got showered and dressed and sneaked downstairs and climbed over bodies (the staff and their personal houseguests sleep on the living room floor) and got a coffee and a piece of toast then woke Sophie the owner of the hostel who was asleep on the setee to let us out as they are very security concious and lock the place up at night. I was amazed as we went outside to wait for our taxi, by the activity in the street. The restaurant next door was in full swing of course, as I've mentioned before, although there were no big games on, but there were people everywhere coming and going. The taxi was bang on time at 4:15 and off we went to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. it was about an hour's drive including a pit stop to fill up with gas, many of the taxis run on it as it is only 68 sen (Less than 10p) a litre compared to 1.8 ringgits (about 30p) for petrol. When we got to the airport it looked surprisingly empty. There were very few people about and we strolled up and down looking for the Air Asia desks, eventually we asked at a help desk where the desks were and she said....wait for it!...."Air Asia different airport Sah, you want LCCT this KLIA" There was no time to debate the various benefits or otherwise of acronyms and their seemingly neverending use in modern asian life, all we had time to do was ....PANIC!!.

We ran out side right into the arms of a waiting taxi driver who, it turned out made a handsome living transfering people in a panic from KLIA to LCCT about a twenty minute run, he told us. We would have paid anything but he charged us a very moderate 50 Ringgits (9 quid) and got us there magically in about 10 minutes........ "I know special route Sah!"

Once at LCCT which turned out to be the lo cost terminal of the same airport, we relaxed and congratulated ourselves on what we had learned from many episodes of Airport on tele back in the UK, the maxim 'always leave yourself plenty of time!' We checked the paperwork and there it was KLIALCCT as clear as mud! It turns out that the LCCT is a very new part of the KL international airport, just celebrating its second birthday and Air Asia is also a very new airline, in fact the plane we flew on was barely out of the wrapper and although low cost, the service was really good and it was a quick and easy flight to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Borneo. The baggage came through very quickly and we got a taxi for the twenty minute ride into KK (I might as well adopt the local style now Ive been had by it!)

A backpacker's hostel called Summer Lodge had been recommended to us by Sophie at Red Palm so we made that our first port of call and happily they had a double room for the next three nights so I paid my 174 Ringgits (28 pounds) and we took our stuff up to the very pleasant room where we turned on the aircon and chilled for a little while and decided what to do. We were drawn down to the waterfront where there is a huge produce market brimming with strange weird and unfamilliar foods the like of which we had never even imagined, and the smell... well you simply can't describe it. There is a fruit they are very fond of here called durian and it smells like drains, I think there was actually a smell of real drains mixed in with it too but it was literally undiscribable! We then wandered over to the fish market and some of the smell accompanied us! I took some photos but this hostel doesnt have a card reader so I can't put them on just yet. I should get that sorted soon though.

I just re-read the last bit and it looks as if I was going to show you some photos of the smell! but of course I wasn't I have got some pics of dried sea cucumbers which do actually look like they might taste something like the smell...If you know what I mean. After the markets we walked along the seafront and sat down in a posh bar for a coke and watched some guys out in their boats, diving. We mused for a while whether they might be diving for sponges or exotic shell fish, then I had a look through the binoculars and was amazed to see them filling their boats with scrap iron off the sea bed! Water Pikeys I spose you might call them. We came back to town for a drink (Yes alcoholic Gill!) and then walked up into the hills along the inland side of the town. The road we walked along was on the edge of the forest and was shrowded by huge trees dripping with ferns and festooned with creepers. We could hear cicadas and crickets and the calls of hundreds of unseen birds, it was our first taste of our jungle expedition next week. We walked up to a vewpoint called Signal Point where we had fantastic views across the city and out to the island in the bay which is surrounded by huts on stilts built out into the water. We even saw the dome of a mosque in one of the water villages. These houses aren't quite as pretty as the ones on the library picture I used for todays blog as most of them are built out of corrugated iron, but fascinating non the less. We then walked a bit further past several old colonial bungalows cut back into the forest, and stumbled upon some very imposing gates behind which a manicured garden sloped down to an immaculate drive leading to a house called The Istana, which we found out later is the home of the head of state of Sabah (The part of North Borneo we are in) We walked back to town past the old colonial Padas where aparantly the British played cricket in the early 1900s. It is still pretty much how it was then although the green is no longer used for cricket. We were very hot and thirsty by now and returned to a bar we found earlier for more beer (Sound better Devon?) then back to our nice cool room for a read and a snooze.

After our rest which lasted longer than expected due to alcoholic intake, heat, no food, 4:00 o'clock start, and probably dehydration. We awoke refreshed and headed off towards the area we had found this morning with the posh bar. It had looked as though it might be pleasant in the evening as it was on a boardwalk along the edge of the sea. Another good decision there turned out to be dozens of restaurants along about half a mile of promenade all vieing for trade with all the passers by. One Restaurant had a stage show with a team of drummers accompanying traditional Borneo native dancers (One slightly un-authentic observation was that they had Y-fronts on under their grass skirts!) We eventually settled a restaurant offering Northern Indian quisine, a little different to the Islamic restaurants we had tried before. It did look pricy but hey we hadn't eaten since yesterday, and there was the added attraction that they sold alcohol!

The setting and atmosphere was idyilic. Sitting together on the edge of the South China Sea, 10,000 miles from home. We were cocooned in the balmy darkness lit only by an oil lamp on the table and the crescent moon low in the sky over the twinkling lights of the stilt village on the island in the bay. I came over all unnecessary and started whispering in Mandys ear. Ever the realist she said "Snap out of it you big lummox, the poppadums will be here in a minute" ......Oh well!

The meal was fantastic and if youve never tried lassi (a yogurt based fruit drink) I highly recommend it, although don't get carried away and revert to Tiger shortly after! We walked the mile and a half back to the Summer Lodge although it was a bit tricky as they dont have pavements in many parts of the city and the un-lit earth walkways are studded with man-holes, some without covers and building debris, quite hazardous in the dark. Still we obviously got back ok and now I'm up to date with this I will off to bed.