It was another hot day in the tropics so my first stop was the pharmacy for sun cream, insect repellent and tablets for my bites - money well spent!
After sorting out the essentials I went for a look around the harbor front.
There were some local markets with assortments of fruits and souvenirs so I sat down to partake in a coconut with a couple of local women:
When I went to meet Vivien it turned out I wasn't the only couch surfer waiting to meet her. I also met Jacqueline and Jay, both from the U.S. We had lunch together and in the afternoon Jacqueline and I set out to book our ferry tickets to Brunei and see if we could spend the afternoon on one of the smaller islands.
The big island hopping companies weren't running excursions that set off in the afternoon so we went to find one of the local vendors. As soon as we saw one, sure enough, he had his photo book out and was offering us a trip. Another Taiwanese guy showed up to and we managed to haggle a trip to two of the island with snorkeling for just 40 MYR.
It turned out to be a really good deal and perfect timing as all the organised trips were leaving the islands when we arrived so we had the place to ourselves.
The first thing we saw was a huge monitor lizard just wondering around:
After some snorkeling with fish and corals...
...we set off to the next island where I checked out just how waterproof my camera really was:
...and i'm pretty sure i got bitten by one of the fish, they definitely weren't scared of us anyway:
Once we were finished it was time to head back to the mainland before sunset:
We wandered through the night market, which smelt delicious and tried some funky coloured drinks before going home to organise our next day trip. We had a delicious meal in the evening and after eating I was in serious need of some decent sleep before the next day's adventure. My first day in Malaysia had been amazing and I already loved the country and it's people!
On day two Jacqueline and I set out to find ourselves a cultural experience so we ended up going to Sabah Museum and Heritage Village (http://www.museum.sabah.gov.my/).
Went walked around and saw the old bamboo style houses and some beautiful tropical plants:
In the afternoon we treated ourselves to a trip to the cinema to see Iron Man 3 then finished the evening with our hosts Vivien and Michael for food and drinks:
In the morning I packed up and set off on the ferry to Brunei:
In the afternoon I arrived in Brunei and was picked up by my lovely host Adeline. She was fantastic and really enthusiastic to have me. Her family welcomed me to their beautiful house and I met two other couch surfers Denise and Franz:
Then we went on our way to start our express tour of Brunei!
First stop was the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque:
We even got to enter once we were dressed appropriately:
Brunei is so rich and extravagant so the Mosque even had its own lake complete with boat:
After we went to eat near the water village:
Then we went to see the beautiful sunset...
...at the Empire Hotel, once owned and used by Brunei royalty:
Later, we toured the Diamond Arch...
...the Jame' 'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah...
...and the gates to the Sultan of Brunei's Palace:
The next morning we got up bright and early to beat the heat of the day and hike up trail near Adeline's house:
We walked trough the trees and past caves until we reached the top and were rewarded by a beautiful view:
Once we had got back to the house and freshened up we set off in to the city to take a boat ride through the mangroves to see Probiscus monkeys (only found on Borneo Island):
Unfortunately I was too slow with my camera to catch the monkeys in action but I did manage to get some snaps of the water village where everything including the schools, police department and fire brigade are all on stilts:
After our lovely scenic boat ride it was time for some lunch before heading to the airport and my next country; Singapore!
