Subject: Trip Report #4, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
From: "David Carlson" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 06:24:46 -0400

October 9, 2001     Kota Kinabula, Sabah, Malaysia

Well you know when I preached in my first Newsletter that "you can live very
comfortably with a lot less than we have become accustomed to living with in
Canada.  Two loads of laundry a week is ample."   That was before we reached
the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort in Koto Kinabula . for that matter it was
before we hit Jennifer & Fergus' in Hong Kong!

The last newsletter was written while in Dali, Yunnan, China.  I wrote it
just before the September 11th terrorist attacks. We know that we are now
living in a different world even though we haven't really seen any change
where we are yet.  Though I did lose my little pair of scissors to security
at the Hong Kong Airport when I stupidly left them in my fanny pack.

We spent some time in Yangshuo near Guilin before taking an overnight bus to
Hong Kong. We have checked overnight bus rides off the list of modes of
transport for the year. Visit the website for the bus details.

All the places we visited in China were very different from each other, but
we did see one custom which appeared to be the same.  We saw three funeral
processions, all in different places.  Loud firecrackers are let off beside
the coffin as it is carried down the street.  It sounds just like machine
gun fire, but thankfully after the first funeral we had clued in to what the
noise represented.

We enjoyed China, but we won't miss the spitting or having to bargain for
everything.

We arrived in Lo Wu about 4 hours later than we expected.  The bus was late
and it took us a long time to walk from Shenzhen in China to Lo Wu in Hong
Kong.  Immigration took forever at both ends.  Sensing some desperation in
my voice, dear old Fergus picked us up at the end of the KCR railway line in
Hung Hom.  That was just the beginning of fantastic hospitality given us by
the Normand/Wilmer family.  We really enjoyed the week staying with ex-pats
who are leading a rather nice life there.  A highlight of our trip was an
afternoon on Fergus's boss' 80+ foot boat.  The boat came complete with a
crew of three, and a small boston whaler which was used to take Fergus,
David, Mark and Jennifer water skiing.  We were served a wonderful Chinese
meal on board.

Gloria and Ellen, nanny and housekeeper, took care of laundry for us while
we were with the Wilmer's, so not much to report about getting laundry done.
I'm sure Gloria and Ellen were also busy behind the scenes cleaning up after
a family of 5.  Thank you Fergus and Jennifer for a most memorable stay in
Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is beautiful and not at all what I was expecting. Sadly we said
goodbye to Jennifer and children, Morgan and Cameron, and to Gaston the dog.
We had said our goodbye's to Fergus as he had flown to Canada a day or two
earlier for a boys hunting trip.  We all hoped, including Fergus, that the
only successful hunting he would engage in was hunting for bottles of wine.

After Hong Kong we flew to Singapore.  David refused to allow me to pay
$700.00/night to stay in the Raffles Hotel so we settled for a more moderate
hotel across the street.  The decision not to stay at Raffles was made
before D. looked at our latest investment statements.  Gee the stock market
has fallen, I'm surprised that my spouse hasn't got us sleeping in tents -
perhaps that's still to come! We snuck out one night after the kids were in
bed and had our token Singapore Slings, though not in the Long Bar which was
way too noisy.  Raffles has several bar areas so after scouting out the
joint, we sat in an outside courtyard and enjoyed listening to a string
quartet as opposed to the very loud band in the Long Bar. Oh dear we really
are getting old!

After a few days sightseeing in Singapore we took a bus across the border
into Malaysia.  In light of some off the fall out from the Terrorists
attacks and Project Freedom, we have decided to stay clear of  Indonesia.
Though Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country we haven't encountered any
problems at all.  David saw t-shirts in a market with Bin Laden on them but
thankfully we haven't seen anybody wearing them.

We flew business class, as we would have had to wait 5 days otherwise, to
Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, a province in Malaysian Borneo.  We've spent the
last 5 days in a 5 star resort on the Beach. life can't get much better than
this.  The food is incredible and the all in price includes laundry which is
collected daily.  We're all lapping it up though David/Dad has warned that
this is not the way we are traveling for the rest of the year.  During our
travels I had lost the 5 pounds gained in Toronto during the two years we
were there ..until we reached Hong Kong.  Somewhere between Hong Kong and
the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort the shorts and bathing suit shrunk!!

We spent a delightful day, a day or so ago, snorkeling around Manukan Island
which is part of Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park.  Chloe didn't join us but
opted instead to spend the day at the kids club at the resort.  Gee it was
quiet with just the four of us, the dynamics were quite different.
Unfortunately there wasn't much coral as it has been destroyed by dynamite
fishing but there were lots and lots of beautifully coloured tropical fish.

Tomorrow we're off to Lahad Datu for a very expensive 3 day trip to the
Borneo Rainforest Lodge, in the Dannum Conservation area. Borneo Nature
Tours has a monopoly as the powers that be in Borneo have given them the
exclusive right to offer tours in the area, but we saved quite a bit by
organizing it ourselves.   It sounds like we are about to experience the
Borneo equivalent to an African safari.  From Lahad Datu we're heading north
to Sandakan.  From Sandakan we hope to see more animals and birds  with a
guide down various parts of the Kinabatangan River staying at lodges along
the way.  We also plan to visit the Gomantong Caves, the Sepilok orang-utan
rehabilitation Centre, and hopefully we'll spend two nights on Selingan
Island which is part of Turtle Islands National Park.  The wonderful
Shangri-La Rasa Ria resort is allowing us, at no charge, to keep our superb
room with as much luggage as we want to leave in it.  We're traveling really
light for the next 10 days, only taking D's backpack and one of the kid's
backpacks.  Don't plan to lug the computer with us now that we have bought
more memory for the digital camera, so no e-mail contact from the 10th -
19th.  We're also ditching the school books for the trip as we've decided
the Borneo experience will be enough of an education for all of us.

I've been struggling a bit with Mark who has definitely become a teenager
since we left.  I'm trying to recall and put into use all the tips received
when taking the parenting course "Preparing for the Teens" in May/June.  We'
re working with Mark on tact and diplomacy which seem to be missing at the
moment.  In Hong Kong in particular I found him to be belligerent and "in
your face", but thankfully he seems to have settled down.  When he's nice he
's wonderful and when he's not so nice he's a pain in the xxx!! Having said
that the problems are minor and we really are having a wonderful time.
Sibling rivalry is certainly less than when we started.  We need to work a
bit on a routine for school work. D. thinks the kids have to take the
responsibility and initiative to get through their work or the natural
consequence is they stay behind next year.  I'm having a little harder time
accepting his approach, though we are in agreement that we don't want to
ruin our relationship with the kids.  Mark is of course the main concern as
he has reached the age when keeping up with school work is a necessity; the
girls are probably learning enough as it is.

Off to the Borneo jungle.

Sarah

p.s. David has been meticulously recording (I'm the editor) our itinerary on
the website.  He has also added lots of pictures.
http://www.canadiancarlsons.com