Kuala Lumpur is a modern city, and we were staying right next to the Petronas Towers, with its parks, malls and skyscrapers. Our time here was a little tainted by Coronavirus as the world went into shut down and we were consumed with our decisions about whether to go home or not. Lots of things to do here though.
Kota Kinabalu was not quite the beach paradise we thought we were heading too, but we still had an incredible time on the beaches of the islands of the Tunka Abdul Ramen NP, learnt about local skull collecting cultures and shopped for our dinner ingredients in the local markets.
Whilst we had a little mix up with our accommodation and only had a squat toilet (!) for five days, we loved staying in our homestay in Ranau on the flanks of Mount Kinabalu. The tallest mountain in SE Asia, which comes out of the cloud occasionally to show it’s impressive peak. We did a lot of walking in the cloud forests and enjoyed the cooler temperatures of the mountains.
Borneo has lost a huge amount of its rainforests, but this small section along the Kinabatangan River has one of the highest biodiversities of anywhere on the planet! It’s easy to get around and see everything too using boats on the river. We went against our normal methods and joined a tour here. We saw so much wildlife!! Just amazing.
Most people who come to Borneo are here to see Orangutans and we were no different. We based ourselves inbetween the town of Sandakan and the Sepilok area with its rainforest and nature conservation centres for a few days of trails and nature. We were not disappointed!
Singapore. What a city. Ultra modern, uber clean and seemingly an example for other cities to aspire to. We only had a couple of days here, so that’s a surface impression, but it’s certainly one of our favourite cities of our travels, and one which we didn’t expect to like.