Day 15 Wednesday 18th January (Galle)
We had a 0500hrs wake up call and had to be out of the hotel for 0530hrs to enable us to catch a boat out of Matara to go whale watching. Bandara used his rally driving skills to get us to the harbour on time and we spent great 4 hours out on the ocean with a boat full of Russians. The girls stood on the front of the boat getting hit with the spray whilst it shot up and down in the choppy water but they loved it. However, there were a few sick bunnies on board. One woman spent the entire trip lying on a bunk so missed everything. We spotted a few whales that were magnicificent and followed them as they surfaced and arched their tails in the water. We also saw two green turtles mating on the ocean surface seemed rough going for them with a boat full of spectators.
Once we got back to shore we headed to a café for a late breakfast then back to the hotel for a sleep and a dip in the pool. At 1700hrs we headed out again for a walk around the walled city of Galle. The architecture inside the walls still shows al the signs of its occupation by the British, Dutch and Portugese in the last few hundred years.
When the tsunami struck the coast only the buildings inside of the thick fortress walls were unaffected, everything else in the immediate area was devastated including the local bus station and cricket ground. After walking the length of the walls and ramparts taking in the fabulous views of the ocean, we picked up ice-creams and headed back through the evening traffic to the hotel. We had a lovely meal and the waiter brought us yet more ice-cream! Back at the room we packed up and the girls went straight off to sleep due to the early morning we’d had. Tomorrow is our last day in Sri Lanka as we’re flying out to Singapore. We have loved it here, can’t think of a bad word to say about the place or the people. Defintely, intend to come back here one day.
Day 16 Thursday 19th January (Galle, Airport)
We are leaving for Singapore today but before we go Bandara is going to take us to a turtle conservation centre on the way. The eggs of the turtles are taken from the site where the mother buries them and reburied at the conservation centre to protect them from predators and poachers. Once the turtles hatch they are kept until they are 3 days old and then released to ensure the best chance of revival. We saw turtles that were 1, 2 and 3 days old and were able to briefly handle the turtles that were 3 days old prior to their release. We also got a chance to hold Barbara who weighed around 15kg as they keep turtles who are damaged and would not survive in the wild on their own.
From there we headed towards the airport. Due to runway maintenance the airport does not operate flights during the daytime but for some reason we needed to be there 5 hours before the flight. All flights check-in around the same time so it was a bit of a scrum, they have more security checks than UK and we had to pass through emmigration. At the same time the airport was packed with people heading off for a pilgrimage so all in all an interesting one which occupied the 5 hours no trouble.
Day 17 Friday 20th January (Singapore)
Arrived in Singapore 0300hrs very tired. Neil picked a fight/discussion with a customs official over the use of the extra assistance lane which at that point they were using it as a overflow lane. However, one customs official was selecting people with grey hair from the other queues to move into the assistance lane. We had joined the assistance lane queue but were asked to move back because our children weren’t young enough to warrant assistance but they said people with grey hair are old so need help! Neil voiced his opinion about discrimnation against young families on late flights and the fact that the grey haired people weren’t being asked to prove age/fragility/etc they just had to be grey which was a bit bizarre. This got the woman customs official wound up, so she went around trying rally support from the other officials, who didn’t seem that bothered. We thought they we going to deny access to the country at one point, Neil wouldn’t back down though.
We arrived at the hostel after hauling our numerous bags up and down narrow stairways at 5am and after checking in collapsed into sleep straightaway. The hostel location was impressive, we are on Boat Quay in Singapore centre, which is beautiful, opposite parliament buildings, fabulous colonial architecture, brightly coloured bars, restaurants, and bridges. The hostel was also incredibly helpful and gave us a mobile phone with internet use for the duration of our time in Singapore. So after a bit of a lie-in we headed out of the hostel for a bit of food and then tried to get a taxi to the Garden by the Bay (Botanical Gardens). However, despite waiting at a taxi rank everyone in the queue was ringing ahead and bagging the taxis so every time one got to us someone else would step forward and claim it so it took us a while before we eventually got in one. Anyone who knows Neil will understand how he took this really well and wasn’t frustrated in the least!
Anyway, we eventually got the taxi and the Gardens by the Bay were amazing. We had pre-booked tickets but as they were electronic, the process at the ticket desk was a bit fiddly as each ticket had been sent on a different email and we couldn’t download all at once, as we were using the freebie Singapore mobile. Once inside though we saw the world’s highest indoor waterfall and walked on suspended walkways above exotic plants and flowers.
Then we walked around to the other side of the bay to view a lightshow where large tree-like structures light up to music. It was great, everyone lies on the floor to look up at the lights, slightly surreal but very enjoyable and well worth a view. We spent the rest of the evening taking in the sights from the roof top terrace at the hostel, watching another light display from the top of the nearby marina bay hotel, which looks like a ship balanced on top of 3 blocks of flats and listening to a nearby music concert. A top evening!
Day 18 Saturday 21st January (Singapore, Kota Kinbalu)
Today we are moving on to Borneo so decided in our last few hours to visit the famous Raffles bar. We didn’t get far down the road before we spotted a rotund building, The Stamford, which we thought may have been the hotel where we stayed on our honeymoon. We went to investigate but the weather was exceptionally hot and we had to pass through an air-conditioned shopping centre so ended up staying in there for an hour. It wasn’t wasted time though as we managed to get Holly’s swatch watch fixed and bought a new case as the zip has broken on our other one. The style wasn’t Neil’s choice but at least we will spot it going around the baggage carousel!
Long Bar in Raffles and Little Miss suitcase
We finally we made it to Raffles. Our last trip to the bar 15 years ago was not a success, it was the day after a rather heavy session on Tiger Beer watching a football world cup final and Tracey ended up sitting outside the famous Long Bar throwing up into a plastic bag. This time was far more dignified and the girls partook in the tradition of eating monkey nuts and throwing shells on the floor for the birds to come down from the rafters to eat. Tracey was going to have a Singapore Sling cocktail as that’s what the bar is famous for but at $31 a glass decided to give it a miss. We headed back to the hostel, grabbed the bags and jumped in the taxi to the airport. Our flight was jam-packed but we had a lovely curry and brownies and by 10pm we were in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. We were met by a driver and taken to our hotel for a short sleep before our first organised trip tomorrow.
Day 19 Sunday 22nd January (Kota Kinbalu)
We have a few trips booked with a company called Amazing Borneo this week, the first is a trip to the rain forest at Kinabula National park for a canopy tree top walk. We were collected at 0700hrs so we hadn’t had much sleep. We travelled with an American family who had moved to the Philippines so Neil had a good discussion with them re the newly appointed president, Donald Trump and Brexit. We called off at a small market town called Tamparuli but it was raining so hardly any of the stall holders had bothered turning up. After 20 minutes of standing in the rain we headed to Kinabula National Park for the tree top walk. Our guide, Belle, was very informative and pointed out various plant life as we walked along. It was hot and humid on the walk up but the tree top walkways were worth it when we got there. Basically, they were aluminium ladders roped together with a plank of wood strapped across the top, 40 metres off the ground, with net either side to hold onto. A health and safety nightmare but very fun to walk across. After the walkways we headed to the natural hot springs.
En route we spotted a Rafflesia which is the biggest species of flower in the world. They only bloom for 5 days in a year and luckily the one we saw had flowered that day. At the hot springs, we rented a pool for £3 and soaked in the hot sulphuric waters. Finally, we took a walk around the botanical gardens where the girls quizzed our American companions on everything American. At lunch Neil got chatting to a small group of German travellers who had just completed the mountain climb of Kinabalu. I think he felt reassured about what kit he was taking as they had managed it in tennis shoes and plastic ponchos even though there was torrential rain. However, only 6 out of 120 made it to the top so that wasn’t so good. We drove back to the hotel and after showering headed out to the local Chinese restaurant. The girls tried using chopsticks but after Sophie had dropped hers 3 times they bought us all forks! The food was gorgeous and afterwards we called into a 7eleven for provisions for our trips the next day. We finished the day packing for our respective trips occurring over the next few days.
Day 20 Monday 23rd January (Kota Kinbalu)
This morning we all headed off early, Neil was off to climb Mount Kinabalu whilst Tracey and the girls were going island hopping and snorkelling.
Neil had to head across Kota Kinabula for a pick up at 06:15hrs at the Sabah tourist office for his mountain walk, there were 14 in his group for Kinabula. After registering with the National Park authorities they set for the overnight hut at around 09:30hrs. The weather was dull and overcast but still hot and humid so the trek was hard going along a slippery steep track. The first group of six arrived at Panalaban hut (3272m) around 13:30hrs this group consisted of a Norwegian couple, a Malaysian guy, a lad from Scotland called Stewart, Luke from Bristol and Neil. It was over hour later that the rest got to the hut. The summit start for next day was early, breakfast at 02:00hrs with a start of 02:45hrs so everyone was in bed by 20:00hrs in preparation for the summit.
Tracey and the girls visited the two beautiful islands of Manukan and Sapi. Both had gorgeous sandy beaches and clear blue water teeming with brightly colour fish and sea creatures, which we spent hours looking at with the snorkels. We travelled between the islands by speed boat and the girls whooped for joy when we bounced off the waves. After a seafood BBQ on the beach we headed back to the hotel. We had all caught the sun, Tracey mostly, so after showers and lots of aftersun we settled down to watch the film Eddie the Eagle.
After we’d all cooled down a bit we headed out for dinner. The girls had spotted a KFC so we took an evening walk to see what it was like. It was not like a KFC in the UK and they couldn’t understand what a ‘bucket’ was so we pointed at a few posters and ate it anyway. When we left we could hear lots of music and cheering up the road so went to investigate and were very glad we did. The president had arrived to start the Chinese New Year celebrations and there were dancing dragons performing fantastic gymnastic displays on poles, hundreds of drummers, the noise was deafening. A large park area was covered in stalls selling a variety of food and drink and a stage with entertainment and comperes. We loved it and the dragons even came over to pose with us!
The only dampener of the evening was having to tell the girls that our beloved Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Titan had passed away back home. He was nearly 15 years old and had lived with Tracey’s mom for the past few years because he couldn’t make it up our stairs . The girls were devastated and so the last few hours of the evening were filled with tears and cuddles.
Day 21 Tuesday 24th January (Kota Kinbalu)
The group started for the summit at 02:45hrs to catch the sunrise, the weather conditions were horrendous with driving wind and rain all the way up. The route was not very pleasant at all either, with lots of wooden stairs and flat granite slabs that had ropes running across them for support. Both incredible slippery in the wet. There was probably over 100 people on the mountain attempting to get to the summit that day, the vast majority very ill equipped and ill prepared with some even having Poundland ponchos as their only waterproofs. In the group the same six were the only ones who kept up with the front guide and were the first group on the summit that morning. All six got to the summit at 05:15hrs still 45 minutes to sunrise a collective decision was made to go straight down rather than waiting. Whilst other groups elected to huddle behind boulder waiting for sunrise in their ponchos. As it happened there was not much of a sunrise anyway because of the cloud cover. The group of six got down to Panalaban hut at 07:00hrs with the rest of the fourteen trailing in over a 3 hr period. Only three others out of the group made it to the top. Everyone had another breakfast at the hut and headed down to the gate to get the transport back to Kota Kinabula. The mountain trek was a hard two days but a great craic with the other five in the lead group and banter was flowing the whole time.
Tracey and the girls were due to go on a bike round around the city today but Sophie wasn’t feeling too brilliant. We think a combination of the islands trip yesterday, the heat, the late nights and finding out that we’d lost our beloved dog, have taken its toll so Tracey cancelled the bike ride. Instead we spent a leisurely morning in the hotel room, doing school work, writing the blog and watching James Bond on TV.
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