KL....it rocks

Arrived in KL last night to a really chilled out hostel...that was until the club next door kicked off. I need to send a shedload more back home to the UK due to my excess baggage on Air Asia almost doubling the cost of my flight from Brunei to KL.

I'm going to have a hard time in KL.... I walked off the airport bus last night and it felt like a new world had opened up - a big city again!!

I had a few drinks with Mia this afternoon, then saw her and Kev off to Singapore. The hard thing about KL? There is just too much to buy...knock off goods, clothes, electronics stuff coming out of your ear, and a shed load of stuff to see on the city outskirts (of which I'll probably see none, but hey, who cares).

Malaysia....truly Asia? I think so. There's pretty much everything here you want to, and you're only a short hop on to anywhere else in the region.

My rose tinted glasses may come off soon...I sure it's just another London...just a hell of a lot nicer things around, and far more better things to buy.

Does anyone want to employ an IT drop out here? Anything that is mobile, internet oriented, and preferably invloves not too long hours gratefully considered....

Lost my days

Well I did only have two days in Brunei...some would say it's enough, but with a 24kg backpack (yes, I need to send some home) you can't just go wandering around in the danger that you may see something you'll buy. It was another day of 'me' time, not leaving the hotel until almost lunchtime. I knew that at 1pm I'd be able to go and see the mosque, after the prayer sessions lasted, I mean I wasn't here on Thursday....

Only it is Thursday. I only realised that after waiting around in the baking sun for 45 mins to let them pray. I then sauntered up to the mosque, re-read the visitors notice, then realised....it was Thursday.

Totally lost track of days, so the one sight everyone would say to see in Brunei...well, it was all closed up to non-muslims, so it had to be killing some time in coffee bean, then off to the airport to head to KL.

Brunei..so much money, so little to do

Yup, the place is awash with cash, although it's not in your face, you just know it. The good thing is it's not that expensive a place to live in for a day or so. Museums are free, and you just haggle with the boatmen before you go for a tour.

I had an early start this morning in Labuan, up at 0645 to get the ferry at 0800. It's just I turned up and the first one was at 0900...oh well. Before I knew it I was handing in my Malaysian landing card (despite now having a visa for here until mid December), and getting the Brunei stamp on my passport in some shack.

I have to say a sorry to Alex though - I'm afraid I've let you down...you see I had a reservation at one of the few cheap places, then read reviews of chinese hookers etc hanging out there and it generally being a seedy place. As I knew there wouldn't be much to do here, I move to a 23 quid hotel instead, even before I left Labuan. Sorry, my days of real adventure have yet to come....

After a wee snooze (knowing a day would be a long time to kill) I wandered around Brunei. I went to the hawker stalls at the market looking for the peanut pancake things I knew you'd get there, however, probably due to Ramadan, there only seemed to be fruit and veg there. A little old lady sent me on my way asking no money for the bananas I went to buy from her... I then went for a walk around Kampung Ayer which is a stilted village in the middle of the town, one of the things I wanted to see. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let down with not as much character as expected, but a few ramshackle shacks on the way in with deserted typewriters etc. There were a few kids hanging around outside a house so I asked to take a picture then got into a wee conversation - a really cute wee girl speaking perfect English, lining up her brothers and sisters for me while welcoming me to Brunei. I ended up on a half hour boat tour on one of the hundreds of boat taxis buzzing around the river. The commentary went something like this, with a lot of pointing :

"School, school, school, fishing.........school, school, school, fishing...Brunei have many schools....school, school, firestation, boat school, Brunei have many schools, school school, police...musum (I soon worked out this was museum)... etc" Still, he was a very nice man, told me he loved me and any other english he could say while I handed him my $10BD note. I left with a distinct lack of photos I expected.

I decided to chill out again as there was hardly anyone around town, so I find myself just after a 4 quid nice meal, surrounded by young Brunians (is that correct) online gaming shouting "Fuck...Fuck...biiiiiiitch....I'm dead....Fuck....then the occasional game update in their local lingo".

On the whole - nice people, boring place. Pretty much as expected. But hey, country number 32.

Labuan - The Garden Island of Borneo - who locked the frickin' gates?

Well when you look at any Tourism Malaysia brochure, or any diving websites, you'll read about Labuan...a strange offshore financial centre run from KL. Why was I heading here? Good question, but to be honest, it had a bit to do with (ducks my head) ticking off a country for once...I mean Brunei is so close to Kota Kinabalu and I decided to take the ferry there, which means via Labuan. Now I had heard horror stories of this ferry journey from a fellow Raleigh staffer, but I was branching out on my own, so it was a time for an adventure. Also, to be honest, a large part of it had to to with three of four amazing WWII wrecks which sit just off the coast, and a really cool sounding Marine Park as well - I'd be able to snorkel at the very least. Although...when I went looking for dive operators to take me here it wasn't an easy task. My faithful friends at Borneo Divers had suspended operations there, and the Tourism 'Action' Council for Labuan never responded to my emails.
Anyway, my flight from Brunei to KL was booked so off I went. The hotel desk couldn't even tell me where to find the boats to the marine park so I never bother asking them about the diving. I took this as a sign and had my one long lie in four months and sacked off the visit, to waste away a day killing time and catching up with myself.

Just as well...I went to Tourism Malaysia and they told me where to get the boats, but not the price. I found the boats, fully stocked with life jackets but "no-one is booked tomorrow, and its 250RM to hire the boat" - around 36 quid. No way for a snorkel and a sunbathe. I went to the dive operator who's leaflet I found in the tourist place...and they were locked up, despite having a dive shop with kit in it. Incase you stumble on this post trying to arrange the same thing - do it with a group and try contacting Borneo Star Dive in Labuan.

Anyway, I had no interest in seeing war or chimney museums or heading to a deserted beach on the other side of the island, so I went for a haircut, and caught up with a few things at the deserted Sheraton Hotel pool. They're not wasted days though - I would have always wandered what it was like if I didn't go.

There are a few good things I found though - a cheap food market, cheap beer, and generally a place cheaper than KK due to it's Duty Free status.

Labuan, Malaysia

Well I'm now sitting in Labuan wandering WTF I'm doing here. You see I posted a load of stuff home this morning as I figured I wouldn't need it til NZ. I then realised I still had my trekking poles, and my bag was way too ridiculously heavy. In my quest to do something different though I opted for the adventure to Brunei via Labuan, whereas I should have flown to my sister's in Manila, dumped a load of stuff like erm, waterproofs, and headed back there in Jan to collect it all. I also remembered that my sister was in Singapore this weekend so should've hooked up with her there really, but I wanted to have a few nights in KL. I also posted home my Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore guidebook before I realised that the SE Asia in a Shoestring only has half a page on Labuan.....

It was quite hard leaving KK this morning, but I think that was as much to do with the weight of my backpack than anything. The ferry here was nothing like the horror stories I had heard, and I caught up on some sleep.

I watched the news for the first time in four months tonight. Another wonderful twist in my travel planning - the holy month of Ramadan started yesterday...yes, a couple of days before I decided to head to frickin' Brunei. According to the Brunei Government website : "The Brunei government also shows its respect during the fasting month of Ramadan..... while all entertainment and sport activities are temporarily suspended." Looks like I'm in for a whale of a time.

Anyway, the one good thing about Labuan is that it is duty free. A large bottle of Tiger is only 3.50RM (50 pence) here which is less than half of what it is in KK. A 1L bottle of Bombay Sapphire is 7.50 UKP! A pack of Malboro Lights, 65pence. I went a wander around town tonight - not much happening but I stumbled on a local market of food stalls selling noodles, bbq'd meat and fish, so a box of noodles was 15pence :-)

Their tourism industry could be done with a kick in the nuts though - everywhere you read about here it mentions the fantastic wreck diving, but it's not easy to find anyone to take you there. The two people I asked here about where to get the ferry to the Marine Park (yes, the National Park!) for snorkelling didn't know, and one of them was the hotel. I think I'll head to the tourism office first thing and decide from there. I thought I may just end up heading to Brunei if I can't go snorkelling but the thought of maybe not being able to sit around and have snacks during the day doesn't really turn me on.

But the main thing? All this doesn't really matter. Apart from the weight of my rucksack nothing else matters - I don't have to be anywhere at any time before MOnday morning. I spoke to my mate I'm meeting in KL who has looked into Myanmar quite a bit and it turns out she knows someone there the start of October who knows their way around, so I think it may be up to Bangkok, grab a Myanmar visa, take a few pictures of tanks in the streets, dump all my electronic gear at her mates in Bangkok (to save the immigration sending me back, or keeping it at the border), then hot foot it to Myanmar for a short spell.

Apart from all that, all is well, except missing not having a compact camera!

Last night in KK

Well it feels like I've been writing this all the time - 'last night in KK', 'moving on soon','my own phase 2' and all that crap. But as long as I can get my bombsite of a hostel room in a better state tomorrow and post a couple of boxes home, I should be on the ferry to Labuan tomorrow lunchtime, and Brunei a day or so later. After a few failed emails, a quick handphone call (thats what they call mobiles here) to Brunei and I do believe I may have a room booked in one of the very rare cheap accommodation places in Brunei.

I finished my Rescue Diver course today and it was weird saying bye to the crowd at Borneo Divers. They've been so good to everyone on the expedition and getting us all through so many courses, and the head honcho is so interested in the expedition work (ok, I've bigged him up as he liked my end of expedition slideshow ;->).

Anyway, it's on a sad note to leave Kota Kinabalu. A few days ago I was flying here from Tawau (where you fly to Mabul / Sipadan) and I didn't want to come back here, but after four months it starts to mean a bit more I guess. Sabah rocks as a destination....KK is like any big city (although if I came here for a weekend I'd think it was sh!t) but around it there is so much to do, and you can anything here from fancy hotels to the lively filipino market and their amazing peanut pancake thingies you get there.

Last night I was so pleased I had only spent two pounds all day and thought I had got into 'travellers mode'...then I bumped into someone and blitzed 25 quid on beers at the fancy bars.

I ended my time here well though - I bumped into a tour guide from another country who just landed and went out for beers and food with him talking about travels, Sabah, the differences and how to relate to people back home (in a non-wanky way), gave him a whistle stop tour of KK so he can pretend he knows the place in a few weeks, and then he threw the whole night on his expenses. If Nod, Rich, Phil, Jane or Jade reads this I made sure I ended it the way I started it.... at BB Cafe like my first night here...

Diving pictures from Sipadan

Here's a couple of my diving pics from Sipadan taken at White Tip Avenue, and Barracuda Point (before the camera flooded!!). There's a shot of one of many turtles and a couple of a large 3 foot cuttlefish, and one of a school of barracudas starting to spiral down in a tornado formation.

I spent today at Mamutik Island again getting bitten by the mossies and the sand flies...those of you from Raleigh will understand that well. I expected to do more skills for my Rescue Diver but I ended up just doing the exam, and accompanying people on two dives around the island. I saw another turtle today. I then flew through my exam and will finish off the practical skills tomorrow.

I'm kinda sad to be leaving KK now but it has to be done, although that depends on how well I get on in packaging up my boxes to send home - a task that seems a lot bigger than it actually is.

Second phase...starts Monday!

Well that's the loose plan. The second phase of my non-Raleigh adventure starts Monday as I plan to leave my 'home' that is Kota Kinabalu to take the ferry to Labuan (still Malaysia) off the coast of Brunei, spend a night or two there, then a couple of days in Brunei before flying up to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. This will give me a few nights there before meeting my mate. Of course, the only thing I've booked is my flight from, Brunei - not the ferries or anything...hey one step at a time!!

Unfortunatly it doesn't look like the wreck dives will happen in Labuan as hoped - probably a good thing for the 'budget' but not so good for the experiences. There's a distinct lack of cheap accommodation in both those places so I'm fighting the urge to go upmarket in one of them....guess I need to buy a new camera sometime!

Rescue Diver and planning next move

Well still no new pictures as I don't have my laptop online. I've been back in KK saying yet more goodbyes, often to the same people. I'm now the only Raleigh staff in the hostel so it's starting to change a bit, with several flying to KL and Cambodia tomorrow.

I spent today and yesterday doing my PADI Rescue Diver course, and will finish it off tomorrow or the next day. I'm trying to make some plans for next week but failing miserably. I thought I'd head to Brunei just to see what it's like, and get the ferry from KK via Labuan to see some of these amazing wrecks that all the tourism promotions go on, and on, and on about.....but it seems it's quite difficult to sort out a trip - a google search doesn't give me any details, the tourism board doesn't give me any dive schools, and the agent in KK says hardly anyone goes there now, despite teh tourism board still pumping out information about it. I then tried to find out cheap accommodation there and ran into another stumbling block.

Hey ho I may just take the chance, but it looks like the diving is out. It also looks like the dive operators have started to wrap up in the Perhentians already which is a bit of a pain as I am heading there on 3rd October....

It's strange to know I'll be leaving KK next week. When I came back here from Sipadan I didn't want to make the trip as I wanted to move on elsewhere, however now I'm here it's great having a place I know my way around, and I look at all the Orang-putees (dodgy spelling, but basically white folk) and wander what they're doing in 'my town'.

I'll be in KL by the end of next week, meanwhile I 'm off to try and sort out some luggage I have to send home.....! Maybe a night out with a staffer who is back in town tonight, but it depends if I hear from him or not - maybe tomorrow instead....

Oh yeh, and I saw a massive stonefish today (just after one had to be moved from the beach area), and a blue spotted stingray today...luckily I didn't tease it like some other famous folk recently...

Hmm...my camera's not switching on in this dive....and more sharks

It's the last day's diving today, so three to finish it off. This morning we were back to Sipadan at 0745. Yesterday the diving didn't look promising as we had to transfer in pretty rough seas, but it turned out ok. Last night there was a tropical storm (evidence by the trashed house in the stilted village we saw later), so it looked even worse today. I had a mad moment during the night thinking I had left my rash vest and shorts outside...and they had disappeared. Just as I was about to head out on a search in the middle of the storm, around 3am, I remembered I had hung them up in the bathroom. Quite an amazing acheivement really as I was so knackered after heading back last night, and had consumed a tiger and several 'specially imported' (ahem) shots of Filipino Tanduay Rum obtained from the local village next to the resort.

So the first dive went a bit like this.... hmmm...my camera's not switching on - weird. I had put new batteries in this morning and had resealed the o-ring on the waterproof housing. I gave it several attempts then gave up. It was then I started to see the mist forming on the inside, closely followed by a rapidly increasing bubble of water filling up the inside of the casing......not much I could do at this point apart from sack off the dive in the hope I rescued it. We had got dropped off at White Tip Point though so I knew there should be more sharks down below (albeit not that huge)......so I did the only thing that was right.....continue the dive, watching the water seeping in, and rapidly trashing my camera. I quickly calculated that Raleigh staff seem to have around a 20% hit rate on trashing cameras on this trip....... never mind, it'll give me an excuse to buy these Sony's I've been eyeing up, despite their trashed count sitting at two.

It was a weird feeling coming in and washing down my camera in fresh water. I'm currently holding out the memory card dries out successfully as I was too lazy and relaxed to download the pictures of turtles and sharks last night...arrrggg.

Anyway, the dive continued and we saw more huge turtle elegantly cruising by and a few more white tipped sharks. The second dive at Coral Reef Garden had quite a current which was hard work after a while, but loads of coral to be seen.

Anyway, my last or second last dive beckons...I must dash...

Swimming with the sharks and barracuda on Sipadan

It was a fantastic day's diving today, managing to squeeze in four dives. Two dives were on Mabul island, including a night dive, and we did two dives at Sipadan. There was an amazing amount to see including umpteen turtles, cuttle fish, thousands of other fish I had no idea what they were, and also several white tipped sharks. At one of the dive sights (imaginatively called Barracuda Point) we amanged to witness an amazing formation of thousands of barracuda creating a tornado formation about us before swimming away. It was quite a site with a bunch of divers having around so they would approach us, rather than scaring them off, but it was fantastic to see them in formation. On my last dive, my fins were also bitten by a trigger fish when surfacing which was a bit unsettling at first, then quite amusing.

The night dive was pretty special as well with us seeing several large turtles elegantly coasting along, and again some of them were massive. It's something pretty special to be swimming alongside them, lit up by torchlight. We also saw a number of crabs that looked as though the coral was growing on them (although I'm sure it wasn't), a miniature octopus, and loads more I can't remember. Mabul is famous for it's macro life, so lots of tiny things were pointed to us by the divemaster.

Borneo Divers have it pretty sorted here - a relaxed dive resort with pool (and bar) and a nice little beach bar open later on. The food is great as well which is just what you need. It's taken a bit of time for the folk I'm with to adjust to other people carrying our bags for us, but it's bloody brilliant at the same time.

Turtles on Mabul Island

Most of the staff attended the Malaysian Merdeka Day celebratons last night at Likas Stadium in KK. I think they rotate it around all the different regions in Malaysia and this year was Sabah's turn. Our VIP tickets had us sitting almost within spitting distance of the King. It was a pretty full on event with a shedload of dancing, singing and music but we were all too knackered to take full advantage of it and were struggling to keep our eyes open. If it wasn't for the uncomfy stadium chairs....

We were up at 5.30am today to get to the airport and fly to Tawau, then got a boat transfer to Mabul Island. You know those desert islands that people talk about? They really do exist - not Mabul, but on the way we passed a pristine island that consisted of only sand and four or five palm trees.

Soon after arriving we had two boat dives. They were both great dives, but utterly ruined by foggy goggles, so I spent most of my time clearing them - not what you want! On the second dive we saw several turtles, very close to the island. Without exaggerating one of them was about the same length as me - the divemaster reckoned it could weigh up to 100kg.

We did hear some stories about the permit limitations for access to Sipadan diving though, and some folk were turned back today, so fingers crossed for tomorrow as my name's on the list.

Oh yeh....I'm sitting here on my laptop, using wireless internet, sitting on the outside decking of the resort, and away to help myself to the buffet. Hard living ;-> But it is costing me a month in Thailand for a few days probably!

More updates tomorrow no doubt. I'll have my camera out tomorrow, I just hope I see through the goggles to work the bloody thing.

Last night in field base

The last couple of days have been very hectic as we are all preparing to leave field base at ridiculous o'clock to fly to Tawau, then get the boat to Sipadan for three days of diving. I never even found time to sort out my luggage so when I come back to KK next week for the dive course, I'll be doing that in the evenings!

One of the in-country staff, Mia, left to travel today so it was a last night out with her yesterday (there's some of my pics and a mention in her blog). All the staff that are left in KK made a return visit to Cafe Tutu at the Shangri La for a slap up buffet on seafood night. We then move to town to a salsa club, then Bed nightclub in KK watching a Malaysian trio of Spice Girl wannabees inbetween the music. We tried to stay on after they had put the chairs up and were brushing the floor but it didn't work....

This morning some of us were up at 545 to help with a fundraiser for a local stroke group, but I didn't make it until later on. In a few moments I'm off for the final 'do' which is for independence day celebrations at Likas Stadium in town, with VIP invites from the Ministry of Youth and Sport. Although everyone is extremely tired, it could be in interesting event with fireworks etc...unfortunately for the last few hours we've been subjected to some of the worst rainstorms there's been since our arrival......

I think everyone is ready for the end of the trip now and it'll be superb to get a few days on the island outside the Raleigh 'bubble'.

It's been a complete blast, and if any of you on the expedition read this, thanks for all the fantastic times and memories, and hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch afterwards.

Expedition Wash-up

It's that time already and it seems to be flying by. We had our staff party at Gayana Island Resort last night. It was a pretty well behaved affair on the whole, but was a good laugh with late night swims etc in a lovely pool that was fenced off from the sea, and staying in a nice stilted set of cabins. When we arrived we were greet with around 20 long tailed makak monkeys playing around the water, including one with two babies being carried around. Underneath us was a monitor lizard swimming in the sea.

Staff have started to leave now with our last big night out tomorrow before we head off to Sipadan which I'm really looking forward to. I've completed my post expedition report and have a long list of stuff to wrap up before heading home. I've booked flights back to KK from there to do my dive course before heading up to KL to start the second leg of the travels, or over to Brunei for a night or so. I could do with getting out of KK for a change, but the price I got for diving was irresistable.

End of expedition!

It's pretty much that time already!

The last few days were spent at the final expedition wash up, and a closing ceremony with the Minister if Youth and Sport, and his Permanent Secretary (and others) in attendance. My slideshow of the three months went down a storm, and it had a (if I may say so) cracking soundtrack from Greenday to Hieroglyphics.

We all went to a small basic resort by the beach and had a good party, with a cracking sunset, then were in the sea in the dark watching a distant thunderstorm, stuffed full of BBQ food and non alcoholic cocktails.

All the participants went home today, or we dumped them in KK to go on their merry ways. Quite a sad day, but the end of a good time, and there's definitely folk out of the group I'll miss (but hey, not a lot of you ;-> ). A few tears were shed at the airport (not mine, thank god!), a few bits of gear were left behind.

We then returned to fieldbase, then a slab of beer was cracked open and we went out for a meal.

I'm sure there are loads more I could write about the last few days but I need my bed. It's the staff party tomorrow and I'm determined to make it snorkelling before the madness kicks in. If you are checking this out after having got back to the UK, I hope you settle back in ok, and don't get too down. Just think of all the good times, and the things you've done that none of your mates will ever do.

I've confirmed my Emergency First Response and Rescue Diver courses before I leave Sabah, I only need to book return flights from the Sipadan trip. I think I'm binning the idea of heading up to Sandakan for the orangutans and turtle island due to the cost, but hey ho, plenty more adventures to come...

Trekking to the office

This morning I watched the sunrise at the top of Mount Kinabalu again. This second time seemed a lot harder than the first - probably because I hadn't warmed up trekking the Crocker Range for a week like I did the last time. I had sore knees, and my head was spinning a bit. It was quite an 'interesting' trip with two of the leaders turning back as one was ill, then we had to arrange someone to be stretchered down 6km from 11000 feet along a really rocky and 'steppy' path, with a suspected ankle injury. All in all it was a hard, but enjoyable end to the expedition. Almost everyone made it to the summit and I was almost in tears looking down to the mountain's shadow cast by the rising sun (I missed this the last time as I had my camera pointed towards the sun and never looked over the back). I summitted a bit later than the last time as I waited at the checkpoint for the tail end of the group, but this just meant I saw the sun rise from a different angle.

After a very sleepy trip back to KK in the land rover I was straight back into the office and doing final prep for the end of expedition. I can't beleive that 3 months have passed, and tomorrow all the project teams arrive back in KK for the final expedition wash up and the end of expedition parties.

On Sunday I'll be showing my slideshow at the closing ceremony in front of all the participants and some guests from the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and everyone will get a copy of the expedition CD. I'm looking forward to seeing the reactions when it's shown on the big screen with the 'funky?' soundtrack I've put onto it. It's taken me far too long to put it together but also very enjoyable realising everything that's happened across the project sites. As ever I've got last minute additions from two projects to put in.

Anyway, gotta go and pack for the next few days.....

More pictures published!

Popped out last night and got my hands on a copy of the new Sabah Tourism's Sabah Magazine last night. On the back page was a Raleigh article written by our resident PR Officer, and 6 of my pictures were accompanying the article on the back and contents pages! Unfortunately my name wasn't credited but it was great to see them in print.

This Sabah map on Sabah Tourism's website it pretty reasonable and by the end of this month I'll have travelled to most corners of it.

Well some stresses and strains are coming out as everyone is starting to get ready in the head for the end of expedition. Just as I was about to pack my bag for Mount Kinabalu, I returned to field base with the end of expedition magazine (looks good) and the CD's. The magazine is great and it's brilliant seeing even more of my images (and some others) in full colour print. Unfortunately I proudly popped the CD into the tray of the deputy expedition leader's PC, only to find out the wrong CD contents had been burned!! Arrrggg. Luckily it was through no fault of our own, but there was definitely some smoothing over as to not upset the supplier too much.

Oh well, got some more stuff to do, and as usual, a later than normal bedtime before Mt K, as I know I'll be up at 2am tomorrow night to summit in the dark to see the sunrise up there again.

My blogging will be quiet as we then roll into the end of expedition parties. Oh yeh, I also slid down some of that slippery slope I mentioned a few blogs ago, and walked out a dive shop today with a mask and snorkel...it's maybe only a matter of temptation before I buy the fins, but I'm fighting it hard as they'd be a pain in the arse to carry around the world! The hire ones are pretty abysmal though, and it looks like I'll be doing the rescue diver course before leaving Sabah.

Mount Kinabalu again...and staff party

Had a fantastic day off yesterday and did two dives as mentioned earlier. Sulu Reef by Sulu Island, and Mid Reef by Manukan Island. Although not spectacular dives in the grand scheme of things they were by far the best I've done here so far, and the second one had a small wreck of a trawler type boat. There were loads of fish around here and we saw a sea snake of some kind, a cuttle fish (or whatever it's called), large stonefish and quite a bit more that I don't know the names of.

Anyway, today and tomorrow is finishing off the slideshow and prepping some images for the final wash-up as I've been asked to go up Mount Kinabalu again as they are a mountain leader short. It's no big deal to do it again, but I do hate paths like the one at the start up until the overnight rest point. It will also mean I'm a bit more hurried as I'll come back from there and straight to the wash up, venturers party and staff party. Looking forward to the staff party as we've found out it's at the Gayana Resort - check it out - very nice water villa style accommodation. Better buy that snorkelling gear....

Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar tips needed

In a month's time or less I'll be wandering around SE Asia so please send on any tips from previous travels.....

Google Maps - Kota Kinabalu and dive sites

I've arranged a diving day on Monday just off the coast from KK. As I was looking into it I found this great site wannadive.net which integrates with google maps and shows KK and the surrounding Tunku Abdul Rahman park.

Manukan Reef was the area I was snorkelling around last week. The island shown above South Reef is Mamutik where the group stays for a week of their adventure phase. Raleigh obviously wasn't there when the photograph was taken as you can't see the waterproof tarp up when you zoom in! KK is pretty detailed as well but I can't work out how to mark field base yet.

It still makes me more excited when I read the wannadive sections on Sipadan.


I'd love to fit in some diving on Labuan as there are great wrecks there, but time is making it look unlikely.

A slippery slope - I visited a dive shop today.....

I 'popped' into KK today to get pictures printed for a wee exhibition, and to be used at promotional events in the future. It's a bit of a hassle not having command of your own transport here (and the travellers mentality is hitting me trying to justify the two pound taxi in and out), so I had a good few hours to kill waiting for them to be ready.

KK doesn't have many places to just go and chill in unless you are eating or drinking (at least I haven't found them), or having a massage (again, I couldn't justify the cheap cost of this!?!) so I ended up bumming around a few shops trying not to spend any money.

Unfortunately I stumbled across the shop at o2 Diver in KK and before I knew it I had rang the bell and was wandering around their well equipped store. I had to run away before buying a dive mask, snorkel and potentially fins...but I think I'll probably be back before the trip to Sipadan, for the first two anyway. I've also made semi serious enquiries about doing my Rescue Diver and Emergency First Response course before I leave Sabah, as I'm hoping to get it for a price that would be stupid to resist....