Day 20 (25/01/2011) Kota Kinabalu – Jakarta

We normally wake up on time to check out but it seems that this morning the workers on the constructions site next door wanted to make sure we don’t oversleep. I seriously wanted to scream over to make them stop. Guess I can’t just stop everyone else from work because I am on holiday, but I am sure they would have not said no to an extra holiday.

Our flight to Jakarta was in the evening so we still had half day to do something. We visited a few places around KK and met up with some locals which we met in a bar yesterday.

They showed us a few other areas in KK, mostly shopping centres and food stalls, nothing really for sightseeing. After we had been entertained with jokes and stories they were so nice to bring us to the airport. Sitting now on the plane towards Jakarta, I have to say the stay in KK was a pleasure, even if the nightlife was a bit disappointing. Maybe another time again :)

Read you soon again.

Day 19 (24/01/2011) Kota Kinabalu

We started early in the morning and visited first the view platform for the Mount Kinabalu. We could have climbed to the top in just 3 days, unfortunately we haven’t had that much time….otherwise we certainly have had some adventures.

After the most amazing views we went to the hot poring springs. I would describe these as a rather big disappointment, as they were just looking like normal swimming pools and nothing really special. There was as well a normal swimming pool with cold water. Somehow they didn’t appeal to us very much.

So we went to the canopy walkways and walked high above the ground through the jungle. Again, was nice, but not really too exciting.

BUT now we went to one of the waterfalls near the hot springs. I think that was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. It was the best feeling to stand under a nice cold and fresh waterfall. We were alone after a few minutes and able to change quickly into our swimming suits (not that I will upload them). We enjoyed the water so much we could have stayed the whole day. That little thing kept me happy for the rest of the day. I think I will never forget that experience and would recommend that to everyone. A little bit weird were the little fishes that kept biting our skin…but nothing too dangerous as they were only 1 cm long ;)

The next station was the Park Kinabalu, the starting point to climb the mountain. There was a little park and a museum for the people that didn’t go there to climb. Shame, but hey you can’t do everything in such a short time.

Upon return we only enjoyed a dinner and drinks. Nothing really happened that night, it was very quiet everywhere. Sometimes you can’t have everything for a perfect day ;)

Day 18 (23/01/2011) Kota Kinabalu

Way too early in the morning Marina and I got up very very moody and checked out. The cab driver arrived on time and brought us to the Airport in BSB. We were hoping to get some nice coffee at the airport to make sure we stay awake. Of course not one shop had open at that time. So we were waiting for our flight when finally half an hour before departure the first café opened…

The view from the plane was just amazing. Listening to the right music(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPFpW4nBjE) I felt nothing in this world could ever go wrong whatever decision I will make.  I know that my family and friends are healthy and that those will be with me, whatever may happen. I am really thankful to have such a great support from everyone :) Thank you.

After a very short flight of just 25 minutes we arrived at Kote Kinabalu in Sabbah – Malaysia. As soon as we left the airport we realised again how different Brunei is from the rest of Malaysia. We got very quickly to the hotel, unfortunately we couldn’t check in so early in the morning as our room wasn’t free. Luckily we choose this time a hotel that was pretty much in the middle of the city. So we left our stuff at the hotel and explored the city a little bit. Our first station was Starbucks for a nice Frappuccino. After that we felt way better and planned our day ahead as well as tomorrow.

First we discovered several markets, of which one of them was only Sunday. It was very busy and they pretty much sold everything a tourist could ask for. From the Sunday Market, we went to the Filipino Market, Central Market and Fish Market. We enjoyed as well the view from the harbour front.

Finally we were able to check into some pleasant rooms. After some lunch and tour booking for tomorrow we decided to join the nightlife. Walking around and checking out various places we settled down for one Café Bar near the hotel, which had a live band. The bar was half full, both locals and travellers. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere until three guys came into the bar and started to send drinks to our table. The first one was accepted; however the following just didn’t go down anymore. We tried to be friendly and declined further invitations. After a while they still didn’t stop, so a friendly couple helped us out and just sat down at our table and talked with us. The guys were not interested anymore, phew…(would have been different if they would have been nicer and better looking ;))

The first night was a fun night, but nothing much happened.

Let’s see for tomorrow :) And yes, comments are still welcome.

Day 17 (22/01/2011) Brunei - BSB

We had a few tours booked for today through the hotel and got picked up around 13pm. This way we were able to make up the missing sleep from the day before.

First we went to the water village, which is one of the original landmarks of BSB. To protect themselves from animals in the forest they build a whole city on water before the country discovered oil.

We continued with the boat on the BSB river to a point where Proboscis monkeys live. These animals are very quick and it was very difficult to get some decent pictures. Our tour guide was fabulous and explained many thinks around us. Overall very interesting, but nothing adventures happened so far.

After approx. two hours we changed transport and a new tour guide brought us to a few mosques in BSB, unfortunately it was praying time, so we couldn’t enter them. He showed us as well the palace of the Sultan. Most of the royal family lives there and has 1,200 rooms available. We also visited the Brunei Museum and a little bridal shop. We actually could try on a traditional bride costume against a small fee…I let it be that time...

Soon we finished and got back to our hotel, where we started planning our next tour to Kota Kinabalu. We had three options.

1.       Bus, which takes 8 hours and starts at 8am

2.       Bus, boat, boat, bus and starts at 6am and we might arrived around 4pm

3.       Plane, takes 25 minutes and starts at 7:40

Considering all options and prices we checked online for last minute plane tickets with a few airlines. Luckily we found two comparable cheap ones, but unfortunately we couldn’t book them online. So I did the only thing I could think of, logging into the skype account of my dearest family member (THANK YOU :)) and started calling the airlines. Only one airline was able to sell the tickets via phone, so we will be flying with Royal Brunei Airline tomorrow.

After this rather difficult task we went to the food stalls at the opposite of our hotel and had a actually very nice dinner.

Getting back, we tried to catch some early sleep, as we had to get up around 4:30am to get a cab to the airport.

All in all I would say Brunei is a beautiful country and defiantly worth a visit, but not for many days as it is just too quite. There are a few things that we probably would have done with a little more time yesterday.

So, that’s it for now again:) Read you soon.

Day 15 and 16 (20-21/01/2011) Miri Sarawak - BSB Brunei

Waking up in cosy beds is the best feeling after the tour yesterday. We got on the way to the Lambir Hills National park. We wanted to take a bus and luckily we got informed before we started the trip that the park is closed because of flooding and that the caves are still closed as well. So our plan was gone before we even started.

Instead we decided that it was great weather and that a visit to the beach would be great. We took a cab and ended up in the middle of nowhere and at a place that was called Hawaii Beach, of course we didn’t expect a great ocean to swim in but at least a nice area would have been great.

We found thousands of little crabs and some larger ones; overall it was a nice trip. We went back to the street and waited for the bus back to Miri. We actually were lucky as the bus came just after a hour waiting. Normally it drives every two to three hours.

Back at the city we were sitting down at one of the restaurants and got ourselves some fat food to treat the little hungover from yesterday. And suddenly a familiar face was standing in front of us. The French guy, let’s call him S., who we met at the Niah Caves was as well in Miri and just came back from a little shopping tour. We actually had planned to head towards the biggest Mosque of Southeast Asia after the lunch, but we ended up having long conversations and a few coffees. We decided to meet up later at the bar we went yesterday.

During the conversations with S. we had a little talk about our travel plans, especially about Jakarta. After getting some inside stories, we realised that the planned 5 days were way too long and needed a plan B. Back at the hotel we were sitting down and started planning an alternative to Jakarta, which didn’t take us over the budget limit. We decided to go for Bali :)

Getting ready and heading towards the bar we nearly were too late as S. was waiting already. Together we enjoyed a few drinks before meeting some locals. Ok, let me rephrase that. Before the bar closed and through us out, S. met the manager of the bar and a friend, who decided to take us to a club nearby. All in all it was an awesome night. Because we didn’t make it to bed before 5am, we missed the bus at 8am to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei. I really hope S. made it to the pre-booked plane on time…

Instead we took the 3pm bus and where on our way to Brunei. We arrived at around 7pm and realised that the city was way different than all the other cities we’ve been to in Malaysia. It was quite, alcohol is banned and there are no clubs or bars. We just had a quick dinner and ice coffee. On our way back to the hotel we came across a street that went uphill and decided to walk it quickly... without breath we arrived at the top and realised that there was just a little non halal market, but the view was amazing.

Nothing happened in particular today, so hopefully tomorrow again some more adventures.

Day 14 (19/01/2011) Batu Niah – Miri

Waking up early in the morning is not a pleasure if you had an absolute rubbish sleep. The noise from the next door room drove us crazy. It seems like the hotel is actually a home for a large family of course with loads of kids. They only had an ice cold natural shower. Anyway…we packed up our stuff and checked out.

We were looking first for a car that could drive us to the 11km away junction where we planned to take the Bus to Miri. A lady next door told us there is not cab or other cars that would drive, the excitement grow…

Walking to the nearby petrol station we got informed that the streets are flooded and no car would drive through it but a man offered us to bring us to the point where the water started and that we could hop on a lorry that might be able to get over. Arriving at the flooded street there was no lorry anywhere. Standing there with our backpacks the locals around us started to joke that we could swim over…mmhh not really funny after a night like this and the problem that we might get stuck there. After a while a small boat showed up and took us on board to bring us over. Relieved at the other side we were looking for a car that brings us to the now only 10km away bus station, but nothing….so we started walking. We tried to stop every car that passed us, after a few minutes one of them actually stopped and we hopped onto the back of the car and enjoyed the natural air con.

The bus waited already at the station and started after a few minutes. Just over an hour later we arrived in Miri and got to the hotel safely. Dirty and wet we took first a nice warm shower.

We started exploring Miri by foot and went first to the Visitors information centre next to the local bus service station and started planning our day tomorrow. With Map and a smile we walked around and got at one point to a fish market, the smell made us both nearly sick so we left and looked for something to eat in a nicer area.

There is not a lot you can do in Miri town, most of the attractions are outside. So we only paid a visit to a flower park, which wasn’t really flowery and felt lucky to be back in civilisation. Starbucks was next on the list.

The evening was spend in an absolute great bar, called BARcelona and was a Spanish tapas bar on the Jalan North Yu Seng. At the beginning it was quite empty but was filled up with locals and expat very quickly. After a few beers we decided to call it a night and wanted to pay and SURPRISE someone paid already, looking probably a bit shocked we wondered who paid it as not many man spoke to us that evening. Two young man next to us, who didn’t talk to us or even looked at us the whole evening, actually paid the whole thing. Of course we wanted to know why and ended up in some nice conversations with them. Thanks again D. and T. :) We stayed until the bar closed and got home a bit more drunk than actually intended.

Tomorrow will be a new day and I am sure some more adventures will come our way.