Kota Kinabalu

We flew from Miri into Kota Kinabalu in Sabah on Wednesday. It was an early morning flight, & Ric had made the mistake of having a beer (or 10!) with Sampson, the extremely hard-case in-country agent for Sarawak on the Tuesday night. He loves his drink, & likes nothing more than taking World Challenge leaders out on the town. He was brilliant, he knows everyone worth knowing in Sarawak, & was a mine of information. Anyway, I was sharing a room with Ric & he eventually made it back just before midnight! I was dull & boring & decided to stay in for the night...

KK seems an OK place, we spent yesterday afternoon wandering around. It has some great handicraft markets down on the waterfront where I'll relieve myself of any remaining ringgits before I leave. It is a lot more touristy, & hence more expensive than Sarawak.

Today we went white-water rafting, although white water was in rather short supply. The kids had booked a grade 2 river trip, because the grade 3 was a bit more expensive. It was very tame really, but still a nice day out on the water. We had a glorious day for it weather-wise, & got to do lots of swimming in the river which was lovely. The highlight was a superb BBQ lunch at the finish.

For those that don't know how World Challenge works, the kids are given a budget which covers all their living costs for the 4 weeks in the country, with only R&R activities excluded. We picked up all the money for the trip in sterling at Heathrow airport before we left, & they have been changing it as they go. They have been really frugal with the group funds, & have saved over 300 quid on their budget so far. They have done some extensive research, & have decided they have enough funds to stay in the flashest 5-star hotel in KK in their last night in the country!!! Bring it on! Ric & I bought with us just over 600 pounds which they fundraised before the trip, & that is enough to pay for all their R&R activites like the rafting today, & a boat trip out to the islands just before we go home.

Tomorrow we are off to Sepilok to visit the famous Orang-utan sanctuary. We stay their 2 nights before heading to Mt Kinabalu National park to take on the mighty mountain. We have 3 more days to chill out in KK when we get back, & then we fly home Friday week. I really can't believe how fast this trip is going!