Hello! I've had a very exciting past few days - I am now a licensed open water diver! Over the past 3 days I've completed the PADI open water diving course which allows me to dive anywhere in the world :-D. We did 4 confined water dives (diving in shallow water near the beach) and 4 open water dives. Not only is it an awesome feeling being able to breathe underwater, we saw some beautiful fish (including clown anemone fish - otherwise known as Nemo fish...), sea cucumbers, anemones, starfish, coral, rays...

The owner of the hostel where I'm staying is a bit of a character, but good fun. He's taken us all kinds of places from traditional houses, to a small chocolate factory, to a very bizarre chinese restaurent where you have to cook your own food....all good fun though (and none of us got ill!).

KK's most famous attraction is Mt Kinabalu, which was one of those things I was told I "really must do". Sadly they have just doubled the price and according to other guests in the hostel it's now really touristy - there's actually a queue to get to the summit...so I decided to give it a miss. A real shame, but it means I've got some time to do some more diving instead! Tomorrow I'm heading of to Sandakan to do a jungle trip - hopefully I'll get to see orangutans and proboscis monkeys, as well as a whole host of other exciting creatures. Then the plan is to go down to Sipadan - one of the top 10 dive sites in the world where they regurlarly spot hawksbill and green turtles :-D

Love to everyone - and if you know someone who's looking for a dive buddy...

xxx