Borneo!

As we began our decent over the island of Borneo I began to get excited for our new adventure.  Kinabalu is the highest peak in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago. Mount Kinabalu is also the 20th most prominent mountain in the world by topographical prominence. (Thank you Wikipedia)

 But that's not it! It's just the Crocker Mountain Range.

And here is the entrance to our lovely hotel!

They 'found out' it was our anniversary (month), so one night our bed was decorated with rose petals. Which was a lovely gesture except for the fact the room attendant forgot to leave towels that day in the bathroom. Probably because she spent all her energy on making our bed look pretty.  Oh well, there is always a trade off.

And a nice chocolate cake with strawberries was left for us as well.

View from our balcony!

Self portrait while Tony was making himself ready for drinks at the sunset bar.

We headed to the club floor first to peruse the free hors' dourves and drinks as well as lay out our plan for the next day. Sailing, snorkeling, rainforest walk, mangrove river cruise, relax in the sun? What shall we do?

After one glass of wine we headed off to the Sunset Bar to watch our first sunset on Borneo.

It was a neat area set up on a multi-tiered wooden platform with bed-like chairs to sit on.

The Sunset Bar was hoppin', nice music and loads of people. We were told everyone comes here to watch the sunset.  The next morning we were met with brilliant blue skies and we enjoyed our breakfast out on the balcony at the club lounge.  Yes, that's sushi for breakfast. I also ate a little fruit.

We decided our plan for the day.  First a couple hours at the pool, then move to the beach at lunch time. I'd like to tell you that we struggled with this monumental decision but we really just went with how we felt at the moment. It's not too tough to be on vacation. 

With a hard day of relaxing behind us we headed once again to the club to have a refreshing watermelon juice and a view of the sunset from the back balcony of the club.

The sun set in a flame of orange and we noticed as we walked back to our room that the east view of the island was bathed in pink, very pretty and a bit startling.

I was finally able to capture a picture of the famous Mt. Kinabalu.  It is usually covered in clouds.

We did decide to take a trip to see the Proboscis Monkeys.  We went by bus with an arranged group. The drive took 2 hours and as we passed through some towns I saw this little shop.  Who knew Tony has an empire stretching to Asia. 

We were told we could possibly see wild cats as well as the monkeys. These were the only "wild" cats we saw.

Out on the boat the air was coolish (when the boat was moving) and we had a wonderful guide who taught us about the flora and fauna and kept his eyes peeled for monkeys and other wildlife.

The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) or long-nosed monkey, known as the bekantan in Malay, is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey that is endemic to the south-east Asian island of Borneo. It belongs in the monotypic genus Nasalis, although the pig-tailed langur has traditionally also been included in this genus - a treatment still preferred by some.^[3]
The monkey also goes by the Malay name monyet belanda ("Dutch monkey"), or even orang belanda ("Dutchman"), as Indonesians remarked that the Dutch colonisers often had a similarly large belly and nose. (Info and picture from Wikipedia)

Here are my shots of the monkeys in their natural habitat.

We did see two other species of monkeys - I have forgotten the names but this one is known for the hair that stands up on the top of it's head. The monkey is silver grey in color.

As night began to fall a large herd of water buffalo began crossing the river in front of us.  My camera was not able to capture the picture as the shutter has to stay open for a long time due to the low light  and I was unable to hold the camera still long enough to keep the focus. But I think you can make out what is happening here.  It was very exciting to be near the wildlife, watching them attending to their business.

Another pretty sunset.  The next part of the river ride - yes there was more was to see - the fire fly in it's natural setting.  My camera could not capture this marvelous experience but I can try to describe it to you.  Imagine being out in the dark woods (heavy with mosquito's) and all of a sudden a large bush lights up and gently pulses with teeny tiny Xmas lights.  It's a natural light show and it is magical.   As we continue to float down the dark river another tree lights up!  I could not get enough.  I was sorry for the river safari to end.

What is this magical sparkly(and fragrant) car you ask? Our cab to the other Shangri-La resort.   Tony had a golf lesson and tee time and I thought I would go with him to check it out.  What resulted was a change in resort locations.

A new beach, new room and new location 45 minuted north of our current location.  While Tony played golf I went back to the other Shangri-La resort packed our bags (Tony LOVES when I touch his stuff!) and checked us into the new location.

View from the lobby and lobby.

After the surprise was organized I settled into the golf club to wait for Tony and had a delicious raspberry lime club soda.  There was fresh puree of raspberry and fresh lime mixed with club soda - no funny tasting syrups here. It was the best drink I had all week.  As I waited I just knew Tony was going to be pleased that I changed the hotel. He would not have to get into the sparkly, smelly car and drive the 45 minutes back to the first resort.  It was just a 5 minute walk up the hill to our new digs!

This room was a bit nicer then the first and Tony was quite pleased! The outdoor balcony even had a bathtub!

Our new pool with the rainforest nature reserve just behind it.

Another fantastic sunset!

Tony took me to dinner at this wonderful seafood restaurant call Coast.  The chandeliers are suppose to look like jellyfish. Pretty cool!

The next morning we headed to the nature reserve where some wonderful Orang Utan live.  We were (hopefully) going to see some up close and then walk along the canopy walk and enjoy the cool shady rain forest trails.

This little guy came swinging right toward us!

The nature reserve does feed them so we were fairly confident that we would see at least one Orang Utan.
Next, a nice walk along the canopy.

View from up top, our beach and the resorts' sailing gear!  We went out sailing in the afternoon and had an exciting time sailing around.

What a wonderful way to spend our 10th anniversary.  OK, so a month early but I was planning on celebrating all month long anyway.

If  you are curious here are the links to the two resorts.  The first one we stayed at was the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru - http://www.shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/tanjungaruresort

And second was the Shangri-La Rasa Ria - http://www.shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/rasariaresort

Both are spectacular!