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.
The land version of Ha Long Bay, a place of towering limestone stacks and weaving waterways. We visited at an awful time to see the rice paddies (brown mud), but the caves, mountains and waterways helped us see why so many people make this a stop on their tour of Vietnam.