Departing and arriving...

We left New York - fly to Vancouver, landed, sat for an hour, took off again, flew another 12 hours to Hong Kong, landed, walked across the airport to another flight, flew another 3 hours until we arrived in Kota Kinabula, Malaysia. We left the house around 3 pm on Friday to drive to JFK and arrived on Borneo island at noon on Sunday.

After arriving at Kota Kinabalu, we checked in at the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort, which is on the beach. After a much needed and very refreshing shower, we headed out to the Sabah museum, where we learned about the history of the area and the tribes. The museum has an outdoor area where there were examples of traditional houses built of local materials such as bamboo poles, bark walls, and palm leaf roofs. From the museum, we went to the bird sanctuary, located in a mangrove swamp. We did not see many birds, but it was a nice walk along a boardwalk through the mangroves. Our final stop, was the outdoor market selling fresh fish, chicken, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. This is a colorful and bustling place. Unfortunately, we got caught in a downpour while in the market - according to Ross, our guide, it is likely that EVERY afternoon we will get caught in the rain. That's just the way it is here. After a brief stop at a bank and a store to buy water, we returned to the hotel for dinner and finally to sleep horizontally in a bed for the first time in 2 days.