Shangra-awesome! Right after New Years, we traveled with Nan and Nonno to Kota Kinabalu in the Sabah province of Malaysia on the island of Borneo. After a late night Thursday arrival, we enjoyed some drinks and live music at our cool resort. The resort proved to be pretty awesome -with Scarlet Macaws on your window, a great pool, beautiful beaches and sunsets!
Friday was our big adventure. 1st we were off to Uluskan Bay to explore some beaches and snorkeling. We got a great view of Mount Kinabalu ( highest peak in Malaysia), circled the cool Pandan Pandan island and saw some very cool bright green fish snorkeling. Mom even got great views of fish by watching off the dock without even getting wet- courtesy of a little bit of bread- who needs a snorkel . Then Jay and Bee rocked the Banana Boat-getting thrown off on a tight turn mid ride! After lunch on the beach we did some great shell hunting and saw these tiny balls of sand piled up by the crabs. We then took a very bumpy ( and splashy) ride back to the dock
Our next stop was a cruise on the Tamasan River in Kota Belud search of the Probiscus Monkeys ( the ones with the really long noses- only found on Borneo). We found a whole family up in the trees right away – so cool! The boat ride resulted in sitings of huge monitor lizards, a bunch of macaque monkeys, 2 water buffalos, a kingfisher and another family of probiscus monkeys right in a clearing! After racing to catch a beautiful sunset on Nanuman beach, we took one more short boat ride to see the fireflies! Was pretty cool seeing a bunch light up in the trees- but watching the reactions ( and hearing the oohs and aahs) of our Korean friends on the tour was he true highlight ( we are guessing they don’t have fireflies in Korea !)
So after a busy day 1, we had a breakfast buffet feast, enjoyed the pool ( including a goofy Ninja warriors style balance game) and some ocean waves for a while on Saturday morning. In the afternoon, we tried a kayak adventure through the mangroves on the Menkabong river with huge coconut drinks at the finish . That evening, after sunset drinks and a cool little cultural show, we geared up for another highlight- a night hike through the huge reserve right on the resort property- a serious hike for sure as we went all the way up to a big sky bridge overlooking the coast. We saw the creepiest night creatures – crazy snakes in trees, scorpions, tons of frogs, a false scorpion that carries her babies on her back, cool spiders and even a tarantula hiding in a tree! After the walk, we enjoyed an Indian feast for dinner!
This guy was actually not on the night walk but right in the hotel hallway… 
Wow- they look just like in the natural science museums 
False scorption with babies on her back
Our last day started early for Dad, Nan and Nonno as we tried a 6:30 AM bird watching walk on the golf course. Along with beautiful sunrise views of Mount Kinabalu we spotted a ton of birds including the Flame-backed Woodpecker, an Olive-backed sunbird, a kingfisher and a few herons! (photos courtesy of Nonno Bird Photos LLC) After some more time at the pool- including hitting up the resorts ice cream stand, playing some croquet and badminton, Jay and Bee had a private gold lesson. Then we hit the road back to the airport- an excellent adventure indeed!
