We really didn't know what to expect of The Danum Valley Field Centre and even after spending 3 days there we are still a bit confused about the place! We really wanted to go to Danum Valley as it is meant to be the best place in Borneo to see wild animals. Unfortunately the tourist 'Rainforest Lodge' in the valley would have blown about a months budget so we had been trying to get into the research centre which sometimes allows tourists. The field centre is prim...

After a bumpy ride back from the Kinabatangan river including a broken down bus we were dropped off by our driver in what appeared to be the outskirts of Lahad Datu with a friend from uncle Tan's. We spent an hour or so wandering around the streets searching for a hotel in the blistering heat through what was clearly 'the wrong side of town' before finding an odd hotel where the staff seemed to be very confused by our presence. After our long search for a hotel w...

We had heard about Uncle Tan's wildlife adventures from cousin Alice (thank you!) before leaving the UK and had also heard lots of good things from other travellers - our favourite being from a couple we met on mt Kinabalu that had woken up to find a 2m python in their room! So even though we were a bit stiff from the climb we headed straight to the ops base in Sepilok the next day. After a visit to watch the feeding time at the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary (partl...

Amongst other more seedy things Bangkok is known as the city where it is impossible to get bored as there is so much to do and see - so we thought it would be a great place to see in the new year having became a bit 'templed-out' from our previous week of exploring ancient decaying cities. Unfortunately sods law raised its head as we unknowingly coincided our visit with a three day public holiday - meaning pretty much all of the sights we planned to visit were...

When we initially planned out our trip to SE Asia one of the main reasons for coming to Borneo was to climb mt Kinabalu, which is the highest mountain in SE Asia at 4095.2m above sea level. The climb takes 2 days with the first day spent with an ascent to Laban Rata, the hostel at 3200m high. We arrived in good time after just over 4 hours of trekking and had an icy cold shower before an early night in order to get some sleep before our early rise the next mornin...