Borneo - Blogabond

The last few days have been dominated by travelling from Thailand to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo.

After spending the last few days of Thailand at the stunning beach of Phra Nang Cave and also re-visiting the night market in Krabi, we packed up our stuff and boarded a mini bus to begin our journey to Borneo. After a 6 hour ride in the tiny mini-van, we then boarded a luxury coach to pass through the Thailand-Malaysia border and on to Singapore. It was a tiring 24 hour ride to Singapore, and when we arrived at 11am on Wednesday morning, we were pooped. Nevertheless, we had to waste some time as our flight wasn't until 5am the following day. We spent the day wandering around a small area of Singapore, and we couldn't believe how amazing it was. It was by far the cleanest city we had ever been to, and even though things seemed to run at such a fast pace, everything appeared to run smoothly. The buildings towered above us in every direction, and the architecture was sharp and contemporary, yet it somehow managed to maintain a traditional oriental vibe. The day was spent window shopping and going to see a movie, which passed the time well. As the day ended and darkness fell, the city lit up, with buildings competing to stand out. We spent an hour or so at the Fountain of Wealth, the worlds largest fountain. We circled the inner fountain 3 times with our right hand touching the water whilst making a wish, as this was said to bring happiness and good fortune. It wasn't long after we done this that a laser show began, which to our delight was free :-) The colours were awesome, and although we ended up soaking wet, it was well worth it!

By 8pm, we had exhausted the small patch of Singapore, and jumped on a public bus to the airport for $1.80 each, bargain! Its so easy to do everything in Singapore, we were amazed how everything worked so efficiently.
Once we arrived at the airport at 9pm, we still had 10 hours to kill till our flight left, and with no money for food or drink, we decided it would be best to whip out the sleeping bags and find a quiet patch of the airport to catch up on some much needed beauty sleep. We both slept pretty solid and woke up with 30 minutes to spare before our 2 hour flight to Kota Kinabalu, which was short and sweet.

We landed in Borneo just before 11am yesterday, and first impressions were pretty good, very similar to Thailand, although the weather sucked! One thing we noticed was that room rates are more than double what they are inThailand. This meant that we have been forced to stay in dorm rooms!!! Argh!! Its not too bad though, if you've seen the movie 'Hostel' then you'll understand how scary this is! But its all part of the experience, and at least you meet more people this way. So after a good nights sleep in the dorm, and all our limbs still in tact, we had a walk around the small city to familarise ourselves with the new country and plan our next 3 weeks. The food is awesome and pretty cheap, which makes us both very happy. Our plans over the next few days are to get prepared for the biggest trek so far. Were hoping to climb Mount Kinabalu in a day. Most people do it in two days and pay for a room halfway up, but in a bid to save some pennies, were goona start early in the morning and hope to get back down at around sunset, or shortly after. Considering Mount Kinabalu stands over 4000m high and is half the size of Everest, we hope that we'll live to tell the tale!!

Stay sexy,

Kayvon & Sara x x

written by

Kav & Sara on February 6, 2009 from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

from the travel blog: Round the world trip!!

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It's a good job you're both fine physical specimens. Most peeps would have to train for 6 weeks before attempting a 4000m mountain. Do you realise that this is almost 2.5 Miles VERTICALLY!!!

Singapore sounds awesome. I believe they are fastidious about clenliness and littering. I think dropping you chewing gum carries a custodial sentence.

I'm sure you've got lots of treats to come in Borneo and I can't wait to read the next report.

Remember "If an Orang Utan starts speaking in English it's probably a bloke in a monkey suit"

Have you guys ever thought about a career in journalism?

Theebs xxxxxxxxx

written by Theebs on February 7, 2009

hope the climb goes well and u manage to tell the tale :P lots of love, keep in touch xx

written by mandy smith on February 7, 2009

love the new blog, really interesting and informative. Couldn't find the new photos at first cos they're hidden amongst some earlier ones.

Thanks for the post on facebook, that's how we knew you had arrived safely in Borneo. Let us know you're back safe and sound from the mountaineering expedition.

Love Mummy x

written by susan shoesmith on February 8, 2009

Hey Kinabalu Kids. Mummy's getting anxious about this mountaineering expedition. She needs some comfort. Blog please.

Tsanks xxx

written by theebs on February 10, 2009

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