Borneo Malaysia from Melissa

Our last week of travelling was left undecided until the last minute, this is part of the joy of backpacking, going wherever you like, whenever you like.
We did a cross comparison chart (no joke) of costs and benefits to returning to Philippines, Laos or Indonesia and then one day I happened to discover Borneo in a guide book.
Without really knowing what Borneo would offer us we decided to go and I am really glad we made this decision.
Borneo has been amazing and by far one of the greatest places we have been so far my only regret is that we do not have longer here.
We left Hanoi on August 23 (the last day of our visa) and travelled to KL in Peninsular Malaysia then we transfered to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo

Our first impression of KK was the small city feel and cleaner air.
We spent one night in KK before taking a bus to Sandakan, we didn't really know what Sandakan had to offer all we knew is that it was a good hub for tours to the jungle or mountain climbing, rafting and so much more.
The bus ride to Sandakan was beautiful, through the foggy mountain side and small villages it was a treat just to see it all.
Sandakan is another very small city in Borneo, we spent 1 night here organizing our jungle trek in Sukau.

In reality I didn't expect much from the trek, I just wanted Darryl to have the experience of outdoor adventure and nature at it's best.
Our jungle adventure consisted of 2 nights under mosquito nets (D's first time ever), in cabins; 4 river cruises on the Kinabatangan river, 2 night treks and 1 day trek.
On our tour we met an Irish and English couple who were great tour companions.
On our first cruise we say many types of monkeys including some endangered species and different types of birds. On the night trek we came close to many smaller animals such as birds, frogs, spiders and scorpions.
The next morning we had to get up at 5:50am for a morning cruise, we didn't see much except monitor lizards and birds.
That evening we were in for a real treat, we tracked wild pygmy elephants and came SO close to them, they had a baby elephant which the herd was very protective of. In total there were approximately 10 of them. I was so close to them that I could reach out and touch them (which I didn't try because they are wild animals) however I did video tape it.
We watched from for almost an hr, swimming, eating, and moving through the jungle. The only reason why we had to leave was because it was almost dark.
This is by far one of my most treasured experiences ever while travelling.
THEN the next morning we also got to see an orangutan! honestly we couldn't have asked for a better experience.

After leaving the camp, we were to take a bus to Semporna, (approximately 4 hours from Sukau) however at the highway junction we found out that the bus had broken down and we were stranded with the English couple. So Paul made a sign and the 4 of us hitch hiked. We actually ended up having a better experience than if we had taken the bus, a really nice man took all 4 of us into Semporna (which was out of his way) and we paid him less than if we had taken the local bus. He spoke very good English, wanted to show us the local sites and even wanted to make sure we had a good hotel to stay at once we arrived in Semporna. We are not naive or stupid, we know that many people here are often out to take you for your money or rob you, but this man was genuinely kind and he taught us so much about the country and it's people.
We are now in Semporna, we splurged for a 3 star hotel since it will be our last nights on vacation. Semporna is an even smaller city that is the gateway to Sipadan, one of the worlds top 5 dive sites. Due to regulations it is almost impossible just to show up here and expect to get to Sipidan to dive or snorkel (regulations only allow 120 permits per day) so we have decided to snorkel Mabul Island tomorrow which is very close to Sipidan and we have been told almost has beautiful. After that we head on our last overnight bus to KK then fly from KK back to Manila, then Manila home....
time flies