we arrived in Kota Kinabolu midday and you could really feel the sun beating down on us as we lugged our big bags to the taxi rank. we eventually found an airconed taxi that would take us into town.

we arrived and found quite a dead but freindly town, it was probably the most laid back capital in the world. we found a nice little hostel the was sandwiched between two pizzahuts! so guess where we were eating that night!

the hostel was a nice small place with good security, free internet and sky tv. we didn't really do much that night so we just went to look round, eat pizza and watch the last episodes of Heroes!

the next day we were booked to go on a tour to go to sepilok which is the only place in the world you can see wild orangutans and wild pigmy elephants. we took a long bus ride that took us the entire length of borneo, which did only take 7 hours. we arrived at a junction that we had to walk down to get to our hostel, this took way longer than we thought, it was a 4km walk and thats quite far with no water, baking sun and big backpacks!

we settled into our new home and went to the orangutan center which was just down the road. when we got there we found out that we hadn't got enough to get in. and the nearest ATM was in town about 10 - 15km away.

that afternoon we headed for the junction again in the intense heat and humidity to catch a bus to the ATM. this was in the middle of no where and the buses were cramped full and the driver kept stopping to let more people on. eventually the ticket conductor was hanging out of the open door to make space.

the next morning we went to the orangutan sanctury again, this time we had enough to get in and see them up and close. there were a group of macaques that would run around under the feeding platform and steal the food off the orangutans, it was quite funny to watch.

that eventing we met up with our group for two days. this tour included going down the river looking for wildlife and getting very wet basically.

the little village we stayed in was in the middle of the jungle and you could only access it by boat. it was a nice little place and the food was good.

that afternoon we went on our first boat cruise. and we found out why they call it a rain forest! it wasn't like the rain you get at home its more of a bucket thrown over you every couple of seconds. i spent the entire time holding onto my camera trying not to let any water through! there was no point in whering a coat because it'll just get soaked through! we did see quite abit like proboscis monkeys, herons, crocodiles and fruit bats. so it wasn't that much of a futile effort. then to our suprise our guide started shouting and aiming the boat at the river bank. so he flooredthe throttle and head straight towards it! we later found out that there were 4-5 pigmy elephants stood on the river bank. at this point he's still revving the throttle and trying to get us onto the bank. me and josh are sat athe th front of the boat and these elephants were big, even though they are the worlds smallest elephants they could easily still kill you!

we later found out that they are one of the rarest animals in the world and chances of seeing them are slim, so we're pretty lucky there!

we went out again the next morning, we didn't see anything too exciting but it rained as predicted, so i outsmarted the rain and didn't wear anything but swimming shorts! it was cold but aleast i had some dry clothes!

later that day we got a transfer to the base of Mt Kinabolu. to start our two day climb with Steve and Libin ( two Americans who are studying law at Harvard). we joined up with them to split the cost of our guide, which was for the best because he was bloody useless!

the hike itself was quite grueling at times simply because of the volume of water that your feet absorbed! it was looking good on the first day, we were out pacing the guide and then waiting for him to catch up, this took up most of the time. this process took about 7 hours in total climbing 3300 meters above sea level. on the last 2 hours it turned torrential, water was using the paths like they were rivers and we had no choice but to walk up them.

once we got to the accomodation it was a huge building with loads of dorm rooms. it was quite comfy but the heater came on that night and we had to turn it off at daft 'o clock. and then get up again early to start the next hike up to the summit to see the sunrise.

this required waking up at 4am and lugging your aching feet out of bed and putting your wet shoes back on to start the climb. as you can imagine. we weren't happy little bunnies!

after meeting up with the guide, Libin and Steve. we started climbing up to the gate that allowed us through. it was quite tricky though because we had to use touches throughout this whole process until we started our decent. once we got past the gate it was impossible to go at your own pace, you could fly past one group but then you were stuck on a narrow path behind an old lady that should be in a hospital bed rather than climbing a chuffin mountain! and going at a slow pace is hard up steps because your legs have to move slower and its like doing 400 squats up them bloody steps!

our guide got to a point and said: "OK you go ahead. I'll wait here" really i think he was just overweight and couldn't manage the climb anymore, so he just sat at the base of the vegetation with his mates laughing that we had payed him money to take us to the summit.

once we got onto the mountain past the vegetation we managed to speed up, Steve and josh sped off and left me with Libin. Libin was finding his climb tough so i had to stay with him and egg him on, while constantly turning to make sure he's OK and hasn't stopped. this continued for about 1 hour until we got to a rocky outcrop. this is where i met Steve. Josh had left him halfway up the mountain and made like a tree - leave! so picking up on the idea i let Libin catch his breath with Steve. and followed after josh; solo.

i stated up the mountain with tons of energy from constantly stopping with Libin. so i started at a fast pace. and after about 20 minutes i had already over taken half the people in front of me. so this was good progress. i managed to reach the top about 45 minutes before sunrise to find josh and 3 other people at the top. so i made up quite a distance. and as they were all sat down i was the highest person in South East Asia! Woo!

we were waiting round for the sunrise which took forever in the minus cold temperatures. people pulled out drinks that had frozen and it wasn't very rewarding to drink. after the sun came out there were about 30 people on the summit and it was a bright orange sunset with warming capabilities! that was a nice feeling. it got so cold up there.

after our group were up there we decided to make or decent, this involved going down the same way you went up but you can really see how dangerous it was. there were ledges that were barely a foot wide with rock face on one side and sheer drops on the other. this made Cliffhanger look tame!

we enjoyed the views on the decent which only took us a day. and once at the bottom we said goodbye to the two Americans. and found somewhere to stay.

the next morning we flew off to Singapore, i was kind of sad to leave such a wonderful place. the people were friendly, the weather was predictable and the mountain was spectacular! but there was more to come.