Wonderful Sabah

First of all, this would have been posted a couple of weeks ago, but I just now learned how to upload photos to my blog - yes, really.

Matt and I had the opportunity for a a wonderful three day weekend in Kota Kinabalu a couple of weekends ago. Kota Kinabalu in in the Malaysian state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo. Matt had a business trip to Labuan on Thursday, so we decided to make it a weekend break of sorts.

We stayed at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru resort (http://www.shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/tanjungaru/en/index.aspx), which was a really nice hotel. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and since Expedia had messed up our reservation (yet again...why do we even still use Expedia?), they upgraded us to a renovated suite on the top floor. We quickly went up to the room, then down to the Horizon Club (which was also included in our upgrade) for drinks. Being that it was going to be a laid back weekend, Matt didn't bring any slacks. Unfortunately, shorts on men aren't allowed during the happy hour. But...all was not lost; they gave Matt a lovely sarong to wear over his shorts! Truly though, the service at the hotel was very good the entire time we were there and Matt looked cute in his plaid sarong. Below is a view from our table:

The next morning, we got up and played tennis. Yes, I actually played tennis and I did better than I thought I would. But we forgot one important element of playing tennis...in the sun...at 11am. Sunscreen. Mistake. We are still paying for that one. After tennis we lounged by the pool for a while, and then back to the bar for drinks. Then we rounded out the night by playing cards on our balcony.

The next day we decided to go island hopping, as there are five islands that are just a quick ferry ride away. First we went to Manukan Island, where we went on a nature walk and then snorkeled. The snorkeling was great! However, we did learn about the sneaky little bastard known as the trigger fish. Trigger fish are very aggressive fish who really don't like it when you swim too close to their nest. That little discovery was made when one of them charged at Matt. Now, they are not really big or anything, but still. So Matt went to swim away and about three or four came at him and BIT him! We're talking, drew blood and everything. They were small bites, but when a fish actually bites you, it kind of freaks you out, no matter how small they are. So, after that, we opted to check out another island :) So we hopped back on the ferry and went to Manikan Island, which was just as pretty and a little more laid back. We rounded out the day with another visit to the Horizon Club and more lounging on our balcony.

Sorry that this sounded so much like a travel review, but we were so pleasantly surprised at how great everything was. We really, really love Sabah and can't wait to go back and try something a little more adventurous, like maybe a jungle trek, or white water rafting, or even climbing Mount Kinabalu!

http://www.mount-kinabalu-borneo.com/
http://www.visitborneo.com/