Day 20 - Kota Kinabalu

Today we were supposed to visit Kinabalu park, mt Kinabalu and the hot springs. Unfortunately the heavens opened and the weather was absolutely terrible, so we decided to have a chill day at home and go out in the evening if the weather brightened up. We went out and got some food and came back to watch the new Jurassic world film (which we thought was really good) we had heard some bad news that there had been an earth quack in Lombok which is close to Bali (our next destination) so we were waiting to hear some more information because we were planning on booking our flights that day too. I don't really remember what else we did. Mainly just chilled watching telly and planning the next leg of our trip. Calum made us dinner which was, you guessed it, fried rice. (Mine was better just so you know) and by the time we'd had dinner it was almost 11pm. I was gutted we didn't get to do Kinabalu park etc as we were both really looking forward to it but the weather here has been rather rubbish so far. Hopefully, Bali (if we can get there) will be a bit sunnier)

Day 19????? - Kota Kinabalu

So as it turns out. I'm terrible at this whole blogging stuff.

Today was a great day! We decided to head to the Sunday market, the weather wa nice (for once) and we had a great time walking around all the stalls and seeing all the stuff they sell! From nicknacks to fresh vegetables. It was amazing and colourful. . I spent most of the time searching for an anklet for my bestftiend Holly back home, as she gets one every time she or someone close to her goes away. I haven't managed to find her one yet. I did find some wooden figures of the three wise monkeys which I had to buy (only cost me a few pound) everything out here is so unbelievably cheap.  After walking around the market for a while we decided to take a mile long walk to the big shopping mall we'd visited the day before. We didn't really get much shopping done though. We had a spot of lunch and by this point we were hot, sweaty and uncomfortable and decided to head home. In natural Calum fashion he decided to head out to the gym a few hours later. We were gonna spend the night at the beach watching the sunset but It was so cloudy we wouldn't have seen anything. When Calum got back I made us some fried rice for dinner. (It was fairly good if I do say so myself) and then we just chilled a little before we went to bed.

Day 18? - Kota Kinabalu

Yesterday we hopped on a short 2 and a half hour flight from Johor Bahru to Kota Kinabalu. The flight was short, sweet and pretty much empty. Which was nice. We had a meal on the flight of spaghetti bolognase, which was pretty tasty. We arrived at Kota Kinabalu international airport around half 12/1 o clock, flew through immigration and made our way to a taxi. The ride to our hotel was probably about 20 minutes but the taxi was comfy and air conditioned so it was ok. We're in an apartment for our stay in Kota Kinabalu. It has three bedroom as it is shared accomadation but so far no one else is here. It's got a shared bathroom, living room, dining room and kitchen. But it's cute and clean and the bedroom is plenty big enough for the two of us (the pillows are also super comfy). We spend most of yesterday planning and booking for the rest of our stay we then had a little walk up to the supermarket and a little street were a bunch of resturants are. To get there we have to cross a really busy road with no traffic lights and it's pretty terrifying because the people in Malaysia drive madly. We stopped in some restaurant for dinner. I had some kind of burger but didn't really like i picked out the chicken and just ate the rest. Calum had steak which didn't actually taste too bad. Quite tender too. We then grabbed some milk and cereal from the supermarket to have for breakfast and made our way home. I had a really good night sleep for the first time in almost two and a half weeks.


Today. I was up pretty early and let Calum sleep in for a while. We then had some breakfast and decided that today we would do a small food shop and go to the lok kawi wild life park. It was lush seeing some cool animals (I even fed a deer, which are my favourite) however I left feeling quite sad. The enclosures were quite small and a lot of the animals didn't seem overly happy. And in the reptile house there was a bunch of dead turtles in with the live ones which I really didn't like. So we left there pretty quick. It was cool to see some orangutans and proboscis monkeys (monkeys with big noses) and the otters were really cute. The elephant enclosure was closed but I'm not sure where they were being kept. We caught the end of a show where a macaw was doing some orettt cool stuff like playing dead when the keeper pretended to shoot it and solving a maths equation. We also got introduced to a massive snake. We touched it and lifted him up and he was super heavy but so soft. We then decided to leave (after I said a last goodbye to the deers) we wandered around for ages trying to find a taxi or bus or some kind of way home. But we didn't have much luck. Finally just as we'd decided to just start walking towards the city a taxi driver offered us a lift. Not the whole way but to the city. Where we'd be able to get another taxi home. The first taxi dropped us at a shopping mall. Which was massive. We decided to have dinner whilst we were there! I had chicken satay and chicken fried rice. Calum had seafood mee mamak which is a noodle dish. We had wing tongs and spring rolls as a side and Calum ordered himself some extra chicken satay. We then had a chocolate dessert. It was absolutely delicious. I wish we'd taken a picture. We then decided to head home and get some shopping done. It's now half 11 and we're sat watching the new Pacific rim film and enjoying some rest.
I can't wait to see where tomorrow takes us!

Days 10-15 - Tioman

Honestly there isn't much to report from here. We've had a wonderful time but mainly been relaxing. . There has been a few things we've wanted to do but factors got in the way. One day Calum wasn't very well, another we'd had a tropical storm which went on until the afternoon and by the no trips were running and today (the 31st) I've been feeling quite poorly. The island is beautiful and we've just enjoyed taking it all in. We found monkeys right in our 'back garden' there was loads of them. We've seen loads of monitor lizzards, which Calum's definitely braver getting closer to than I am. Lots of cats and little lizzards. Every morning whilst we enjoy breakfast we see little crabs scurrying along the beach and digging out holes to hide in. Our breakfast was included in the price of the room and is prepared by the 'hotel' managers mum. It's usually fried rice, pancakes, chicken nuggets and fried eggs but there is sometimes other stuff. Turns out the only cash point on the island is on a place called Tekek. which is only reachable by water taxi. Which was a weird experience but quite a cool one. The boat picked us up in the sea right outside our room and dropped us back in the same place. I was a bit scared to start but soon warmed up. We've also found a restaurant we really like called 'river side cafe' we've eaten there most days so far. They do a lovely fried rice (especially the Pattaya fried rice) which is basically egg fried rice wrapped in egg. I also usually get the chicken wings. And sometimes if we missed lunch we'll get some tomyam soup. Which is lush but a bit too spicy for Calum. Bless him. I don't want to leave this place it's so picturesque and wonderful but I am looking forward to getting out and doing some more adventuring. On Sunday however we did treat ourselves to a massage. We got a full body scrub with some coffee stuff a full body massage, a facial (which I loved) and then had some foot pampering whilst we drank some king of ginger tea and ate some kind of sponge cake. It was a lush evening and I definitely felt more relaxed (and silky smooth) afterwards. We've got one day left on this wonderful island before we move on to our next location. I'm going to miss it a lot.

Sorry the blog has been a little slack but the only Internet we have here is a hotspot from the hotel managers phone and he's not always around. So we haven't had much internet access whilst we've been here. I'll be sure to upload some photos when we have better wifi.

Day 9 - our journey to Tioman, Malaysia

This was a very loooong and tiring day! We woke up around 7 and had some breakfast. Went back to bed for a cuddle and got up around mid day and began our walk to the bus station. It was about a mile and a half away but with our heavy rucksacks and the humid heat it made it a challenge. But we got there eventually and we were on our way. Traffic was horrendous and we had to do the whole immigration and passport control thing again. Which is a bore but we got through it. Eventually we ended up in Larkin bus station. Ready to board our bus and get to mersing. Only to find out the next bus with available spaces wasn't until 9.30pm. It was currently about 3pm. So we bought our tickets and went to find somewhere to sit and get our rucksacks off. We ended up in a dunkin donuts shop and that's where we stayed most of the day occasionally buying something to eat or drink but mostly playing Pokemon go. Time went quite quickly considering and finally it was time to go and check in and get on our bus. It was only another 2 hour (or so) drive to our location and luckily Calum had managed to find and book a hotel only a 5 minute walk from where we were dropped off. Which after the long day we were both very thankful for. For some reason it was just as cheap for a room with two double beds, which is lucky because that's all they had available. So we still had the choice of separate beds. But it was nice to be in a double not single. I very much like to spread out when I sleep. However we ended up sleeping in one bed and I definitely slept a lot better. But I'm very thankful for aircon. Because the rooms get very hot. Especially if you have to share a bed with someone. The morning came around quickly and check out was at 12. So we got going to the ferry that was gonna take us to Tioman. It was an hour or so ferry journey but i think I just dozed off for most of it. It was quite a smooth ride which I was thankful for. Not a fan of choppy seas. Finally we it there and the second I stepped out of the boat my breath was taken away by one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen in my whole life. The sea was the bluest I think I've ever seen, meeting with gorgeous golden sands and a green jungle covering most of the inner part of the island. By this point I was desperate to get to our hotel. Drop our bags and dive straight in to the water. The hotel was a short walk away but it felt like miles with the sea looking so tempting. Our hotel turned out to not be a hotel but a little hut. Made from wood. It's beautiful and cute and set almost in the jungle and just up from the beach. I think it's definitely the quickest I've got changed in my life. Once we were checked in I was changed and straight down to the water. It is shallow water for what must be at least 150 meters before it even gets up to your waist. But it's the clearest water I've ever seen. And it's so warm it's almost unbelievable. We spent an hour of so in the sea before we cane in to get dry and changed and find somewhere to have some dinner. We had dinner at a little restaurant and we both had a mix grill (lamb, squid, chicken and prawns) I only really liked the lamb but Calum seemed to enjoy it all. We went back to the hut to get some sleep it's such a cute little building! I couldn't wait for our first proper day on this paradise island.

Day 8 - Singapore (water park)

This day was allll for Calum. I'm not a massive fan of water parks but they're one of his favourites! So we took a train to sentosa and a short walk got us to the water park. Around the water park was also universal studios. Which I really wanted to go to but we couldn't afford to. There was also lots of sweet shops and resturants around. But we were headed for the water park. I was just looking forward to the lazy river to be honest. It was also just our luck that on the day we actually decide to go and do something. It decides to rain. But honestly we were gonna get wet anyway and nothing gets between Calum and his water park. He came in the lazy river with me (which went on forever) and then I stood and waited for him to do the slides he wanted to do. And then he came on the lazy river with me again... and again! We enjoyed some time in the wave pool and Calum went onto some tank which had lots of fish and had a snorkel with them. They did have a dolphin tank. But I didn't like that very much. So we didn't go to see that. We had a great day there but it had to end eventually. As i was getting changed apparently there was a massive row between a boyfriend and girlfriend and one of them ripped up the other ones passport or visa (I always miss the drama it seems) we took a little walk through the gift shop and I found an orca teddy that I loved but Calum wouldn't let me have it (meany) and we began our walk back to the train station. Where we both are some catsu curry, some Asian dessert called strawberry milk ice and strawberry sago which were actually pretty tasty! We did a little bit of shopping. Finally we caught the train back to our hostel to get some sleep. Tomorrow is time to say goodbye to Singapore :(

Day 7 - Singapore

Today was a bit of a bad one. We woke up around 7 to go have some breakfast and then Calum came to my bunk so we could have some morning cuddles, naturally we both fell asleep and didn't wake up until a bit later. Probably around mid day! We decided to find an evening activity to do so we could spend the day just resting. The heat is really really wearing us out. So we decided to go to 'Gardens by the bay' which is home to singapores famous light trees. In the evening when we got there we found there was also a flower festival and a food market. We were less interested in the flowers. More interested in all the yummy Asian cuisine around us. Calum had some 'Laksa' which is some type of soup. I wasn't so keen. I had Thai green curry meat calls and rice cakes. It was quite spicy but very tasty. We also tried some rolled ice cream. I had Oreo and Nutella. Calum had nutella and banana. It was delicious. As we were walking around we noticed a massage tent and couple resist. For 10 ringgit each (about £2) we got a shoulder and neck massage. Calum really enjoyed it. I found it rather painful and kinda felt like the lady was trying to break my skull. The end result felt good though. Don't think I've ever had so much motion in my neck. We then decided to go and actually walk around the gardens and we were lucky enough to be there to catch the Gardens by the bay light show. Where all the light trees change colour in time to music. It was amazing to see. So beautiful. We went to the gift shop and got a little singapore trinket to go with the one we got in Kuala Lumpur. To remind up of the amazing places we've seen together. Finally at around 10.30pm we got a train back to our hostel and got even more sleep, when we could finally get there still in our separate bunks.