We arrived in Kota Kinabalu on Saturday 16th August after a 16 hour door to door trip. Very tiring indeed! We had a fair bit of turbulence on the way. Remind me to never wear pure white jeans on a flight again. It doesn't mix well with orange juice, lol.

We arrived at our resort http://www.shangri-la.com/en/p.....ariaresort which is stunning in very way. The website is nice but does not do the reality justice. The place is far nicer than I expected. The Shangri-La group have other hotels and resorts mainly in Asia/Malaysia and also own the Trader hotels. The Shangri-La main website is at http://www.shangri-la.com/ The customer service is got to be the very best that I have ever experienced. The customer service and friendliness is first class in every way.

I am so humbled by the Malay people. They are so kind and always smiling and nothing is too much trouble. Most of them speak fairly good english. I think Borneo was once a british colony.

Unusually for that part of the world, the hotel has fantastic facilities for children and the kids club and activities are kept to one side of the resort so that the honeymooners are not disrupted!

We went into the capital Kota Kinabalu with the intention of doing some serious shopping but returned sooner than expected. Like most countries, there are areas to avoid but thought we would be ok here. We walked around centre which was a shopping mall and being blonde, we were starred at a lot. I always wear a bum bag in foreign places and keep my hand over it at all times but that was being starred at as well as my son. This was when I decided to leave. I've walked around south India and the Caribbean with my son but didn't feel as threated as I did that day. They have an immigration problem in Sabah with Filipinos at the moment and tourists are a target.

We had no other problems elsewhere though. We visited the Rasa Ria Orang-utan sanctuary which is where the monkeys spend the first stage of their rehabilitation programme. They also had a gorgeous 4 month old baby gibbon, so cute. We flew to Sepilok on the east coast and went to their sanctuary. This is where the monkeys spend the final stage of their rehabilitation programme. It was lovely but by this time I was so saddened that we were unable to touch them. I can totally understand though. They are so threatened out there that they need to fear man and
remain wild as when they are rehabilitated, they are released back into the wild.

As selfish as i may seem, I decided this was not enough for me. If I wanted to just look at Orang-utans, I could just visit monkey world in Dorset, yet I had flown to the other side of the world and needed to do more. I had met a very nice swiss gentleman who travels a lot and hired a guide himself and went into the rainforest and saw the monkeys in the wild. He very kindly gave me the guide's contact details and so once I had arranged suitable childcare within the resort, I rang the guide and made arrangements for the trip. As I am sure you will understand, whore I was going, was no place for a child. On the day of the trip, the guide and I took a short 1 flight to the more south of Borneo, took a jeep and had to walk the rest of the way that we could not drive. The rainforest was so hot and your sweat literally pours off of you. Forget the makeup girls, lol. We walked for some time before we actually saw any monkeys. We saw snake (a bit scarey) and all sorts of other wildlife. Whilst we were perched upon a log resting, there was a rustle in the foliage and the guide told me to sit still, stay calm and be quiet. There were 2 Orang-utans. 1 a bit reserved and kept its distance and 1 was a bit more curious. He/she came our way, at first being a bit cautious, walking behind me. My heart was pounding, I thought it was going to pop out of my chest! A mixture of fear and excitement filled me. The monkey slapped its hand on my shoulder and slowly but firmly (it hurt!) slid its hand down my arm. It was so incredible and I will never forget the emotions that flooded through me at the time. He/she distanced itself by a few feet or so. I whispered to the guide that I wanted to touch the monkey. The guide just recommended that I slowly and gently held out my hand. I did so and the monkey initially slapped it which made me nervous. I tried again shortly afterwards and this time it held my hand. It seemed like ages that we were holding hands but later after the event when the guide and I were chatting, he said it was only for a minute or so. The guide took some pics for me with my camera but the monkey did not seem at all perturbed by this. After this the monkey went off, back with his/her companion. This experience was one I will never forget as long as I shall live. It was the highlight of my holiday.

We went on several other trips but only the ones that did not require too much walking. As most of you will know, I had a bad leg prior to our trip and it flared up again after my little Orang-utan stalking trip! One other trip which we very much enjoyed was a days boat trip to 3 islands called, Sapi, Gaya and Manukan. These islands are stunning and remind me of the Maldives. Stunning beaches and beautiful waters. The waters are ideal for snorkeling and diving. We met up with a great group of Aussies who were most entertaining!

My only regret is not going to Mount Kinabalu, the National Park there and Poring Springs. My leg just wouldn't have coped with it but never mind.


We had a fantastic time in Borneo and can highly recommend it.